She leaned back on her heels. “In what universe did you win that game?”

“It was obvious.”

“I think not. You ended the game prematurely.” She righted the game, then refilled their wineglasses. “Now we start over—regular checkers this time.”

He took a long swallow of wine, then leaned over the board. “Sure, if you feel like losing again.”

She slanted a glare at him. “Barrett, I’m going to kick your ass.”

He laughed. “Game on.”

Thirty-Four

Barrett had put off that important conversation with Drake all week.

He couldn’t put it off any longer.

They were at Mama Diane’s house tonight for dinner. Tomorrow they’d leave for the road game against Dallas.

It was a light crowd tonight. Just Drake, him, Harmony and her friend Alyssa, and a couple of the guys from the team. Mama Diane’s sisters weren’t here, and neither were a few of her friends who usually showed up.

It would be a good night to talk to Drake. They’d had awesome practices all week. Drake was confident about the team and in a really great mood.

Barrett figured now was the time. He was in love with Harmony and he needed to tell Drake so his relationship with the woman he loved could be out in the open.

Hell, he needed to have that all important conversation with Harmony. He hadn’t yet told her how he felt about her.

But first he had to get things straight with Drake.

He pulled Drake away from the crowd of other players. “Hey, Drake. I need to talk to you.”

“Sure.”

“Let’s grab a couple of beers and step outside.”

Barrett caught the concern on Harmony’s face as he and Drake headed for the door, but he hoped Harmony didn’t interfere. This was between Drake and him.

“What’s up?” Drake asked, as he sat in the patio chair.

Barrett cradled his beer in his hands, trying to hide his nervousness. It was like asking permission to date a man’s daughter. In a lot of ways, that was the case. Since Harmony didn’t have a father, Drake was the closest thing to that, and had been since the two of them were kids.

“It’s about Harmony.”

“What about her?”

The words hung, and he didn’t exactly know how to say them. “I’ve been seeing her.”

Drake frowned. “What do you mean, you’ve been seeing her?”

“She and I . . . We’ve been seeing each other for a while now.”

Drake laid his beer on the patio table. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“I’m in love with your sister, buddy.”

“I don’t understand. You’re sleeping with Harmony?”

He’d blown right past the part where he’d admitted he was in love with her. And the tone of Drake’s voice spelled trouble. Barrett stood. “It’s not like that, man.”

“Then you tell me what it is like. You tell me you’ve been seeing her. How long?”

“A couple of months.”

He saw the anger tighten Drake’s features. “A couple of months? And you didn’t tell me about it? Why not?”

Drake’s voice was getting louder, and Barrett knew his best friend well enough to read the escalation in it. “Because of the way you’re acting pissed off about it right now.”

“I’m pissed off about it because you didn’t have the decency to tell me you wanted to date my sister when it first started. I thought we respected each other. What did you do? Start screwing her and decide if it didn’t work out, no harm no foul? I didn’t need to know?”

Shit. He reached out for his friend. “Drake. It’s not like that.”

Drake slapped his hand away. “Fuck you. It’s exactly like that. I can’t believe you. I thought we were friends.”

Barrett mentally counted to ten. His friendship with Drake was important, and he didn’t want to get into a fight with him, but Drake wasn’t seeing things clearly.

“This is between Harmony and me. It always was. We wanted to keep it between us at the beginning. I’m sorry that hurts you. That’s not what I intended.”

“No, I know exactly what you intended. You intended to screw her, then screw over our friendship by not telling me you were seeing my sister. Hell, you didn’t even ask me what I thought about it. What the hell, man?”

Barrett threaded his fingers through his hair. “It really was between Harmony and me. I’m telling you now.”

“You’re telling me too late.”

Now Barrett was angry, and he knew it was the wrong thing, but goddammit, he didn’t need to ask Drake’s permission to date Harmony.

He stood. “Look. I know you’re pissed, and you have a right to be because I should have talked to you about Harmony when things first started up between us. But I didn’t need to ask your permission to see her.”

He started to approach, and Drake shoved him.

And that was enough. Barrett shoved back.

He was trying so damn hard to keep his cool. “Come on, man. We don’t need to get into this.”

Drake had a fistful of his shirt in his hands. “Fuck you, Barrett. You know what? I trusted you, and I don’t trust a lot of people. Damn you for violating that.”

“You can fucking let go of me now.”

The door flew open and everyone spilled out, from his teammates to Mama Diane to the last person he wanted out here—Harmony.