Page 8 of The Lockdown Mann

I give him a grin and a half-smile, the one I know people like, and say, “To new friendships.”

The four of us clink our glasses together before we each down the shot.

“Oh, shit, that burns,” Hunter says.

“We’re gonna dance. The two of you want to come?” I ask.

“No,” Hunter says in unison with Lucas’s “Yes.”

I laugh because if Lucas wants it, Hunter is going to do it. It’s just a couple of minutes later that the four of us are on the dance floor, Carlos grinding against my leg, my arms wrapped around him. He knows how to move his body, and there’s no denying that when he turns around, ass pressed against my groin, my dick gets hard.

“Fuck,” I say close to his ear, hand sliding up and under his shirt and pressing against his abs. Lucas and Hunter are in their own world, wrapped up in each other, Lucas whispering things in Hunter’s ear and my best friend smiling.

I can’t say why, but the smile on his face makes me lose the beat, makes my hand still on Carlos’s sexy body instead of continuing to enjoy it.

I’ve seen that smile numerous times since Hunt and Lucas got together. I was just acknowledging how happy they are together earlier, but something about seeing it now has me twisted up in a weird-ass way that I don’t understand. Like I’m missing something.

“What’s wrong, handsome?” Carlos asks, probably because I’ve stilled behind him.

“Nothing. I’m good.” I start moving again, trying to enjoy myself like I was doing before, but I’m just not feeling it. Carlos isn’t the problem, because the man is hot and fun. I have no doubt he would be a good time, but the problem is me.

When Hunter and Lucas say they’re ready to go home, I tell them goodbye. The look Hunter shoots my direction tells me he thinks we’re hooking up tonight, and why wouldn’t he? Normally, we would. That’s one of the reasons I’m surprised no one realized I was in any kind of long-term relationship when I was with Kane. I was always the guy who had fun on the road…and then I wasn’t…and then I was again.

Carlos eases closer to me, mouth beside my ear. “You want some company tonight?”

My dick perks up some. Company tonight might be just what I need, but when I open my mouth, it’s not the words I expect that fall free. “I actually think I’m gonna head home alone. I enjoyed dancing with you, though.”

Carlos pulls back and gives me a non-bothered smile. “Me too. Maybe another time.” He gives me a wink, then disappears into the crowd.

I work my way through all the dancing bodies before slipping out of the bar and heading toward Santa Monica Boulevard, trying to figure out why the hell I’m in such a funk and what I’m going to do about it.

CHAPTER TWO

Oakley

“Damn, girl. Good throw,” I tell Tiana after catching a perfect spiral pass. She loves football nearly as much as I do, and she’s damn good at it. People have asked over the years why Ree and I haven’t had any more kids, if I want to try for a boy to pass down my legacy or some shit like that, but T has football under control. It isn’t what she wants to do with her life—right now she wants to be a veterinarian—but I don’t need that as some kind of symbol of my manhood.

“I know,” she says, and I smile.

“Okay. I see how you are.” I throw the ball back to her, which she catches easily. She’s gonna find a way to always catch a pass, just like a good wide receiver does…because yes, of course my daughter would be drawn to the same position Des plays.

“Confidence, Dad,” she replies, and I chuckle, the two of us continuing with our game of catch. We’ve been on our own this afternoon and for dinner this evening. Ree’s with Sanaa, the two of them doing some shopping and going out to dinner.

We bought her and Evander a house in L.A. and moved them out last month so they can be close and we can help out with her treatment.

When Tiana is done with catch, we go in and make dinner together—pork chops, green beans, and cornbread. I love spending time with my daughter. She’s got so much infectious energy, always wearing a smile, and she gives everything a hundred percent. It’s never far from my mind that when Ree and I decide to tell her about our separation—when I’m moving out and getting a new place—that T won’t be in the same house as me every night. That there will be nights she stays with Ree and nights she stays with me, and how many of those I’ll even be able to have during football season.

I don’t know how to do that, don’t know how not to live with my little girl. I want to always be there for her when she needs me.

When dinner is done, she tries to bail on me before we clean the kitchen, but I don’t let that slide, and the two of us get the mess taken care of quickly.

“Wanna watch a movie?” she asks.

“Oh, now you want to hang out with me. Fifteen minutes ago, you wanted to go up to your room. I wonder why that is?” I can’t pretend I wouldn’t have tried to skip out on the dishes at her age either, but just like it wouldn’t have worked with my parents, it didn’t work with me.

“I changed my mind, that’s all.”

I playfully roll my eyes at her. “Yeah, sure you did. Go pick a movie. I’ll make the popcorn.”