Fate (Steel Brothers Saga #13) - Helen Hardt Page 0,3

a strange pang hit my gut. Probably ate some bad shit last night.

“I’m Patty Watson,” the redhead said, “Daphne’s roommate.” Then she turned to me. “And you are…?”

“Brad Steel.”

Patty held out her hand, and I took it, but my eyes never left Daphne.

Was this Larry’s half sister? Larry Wade and I had gone to Tejon Prep in Grand Junction together. I knew him well. Better than I wanted to, honestly. He’d told me about his sister, said her name was Daphne and that she’d be starting college here this fall. She didn’t look anything like Larry, who was blond and blue-eyed. Of course, they had different mothers.

“You’re not Larry Wade’s sister,” I said.

“Yeah, I am.”

Shit the bed.

“I went to high school with Larry,” I said.

She nodded. “He’s a senior at CU, plans to go to law school.”

“Yeah, I know. Good for him, huh?”

What did I just say? Did I really have nothing else to say to this girl except talk about her half brother? Besides, Larry and I weren’t close. We’d run in the same circle in high school, but he was a lot closer to Theo and Tom than to me. The three of them were like peas in a pod.

Somewhat strange peas in a pod.

Then there was Wendy.

She had her own quirks, but the two of us had a physical thing that we could never quite get over.

Looking at Daphne Wade, though, I could forget Wendy in a heartbeat.

I was ready to dump a girl I’d been with for years for the first pretty face—

No.

That wasn’t it at all. Beautiful women threw themselves at me on a daily basis, and so far I’d been able to resist. Even when Wendy and I were off-again, I dated gorgeous model types, but I never felt what I was feeling at this moment as I stared into Daphne Wade’s eyes.

Daphne didn’t respond to my remark about Larry going to law school.

Luckily, her roommate seemed eager to get to know Murph and me better. “So…where’s a good place to get pizza around here?”

“Angelo’s is the best,” Murph said.

Unfortunately, the roomie was eyeing me, not Murph. Though she and Murph would make a striking couple. Both good-looking gingers. They’d have a gaggle of pretty little ginger kids.

“You ladies have any plans for dinner?” Murph continued. He was eyeing Daphne.

Yeah, we had a problem.

“We sure don’t,” Patty said. “At least I don’t. I can’t speak for Daph.”

Daphne hadn’t said much since Murph had handed her the beer. Finally, she took a drink. “No plans.”

“You’re in luck, then,” Murph said. “The two best-looking guys in school want to take you for pizza.”

Daphne blushed. Actually, she hadn’t stopped blushing since I’d begun staring at her. I couldn’t tear my gaze away.

Yeah. She was that beautiful.

“That’s awesome,” Patty gushed. “Daph and I are in Hodgekins, Room 209.”

“Great,” Murph said. “What do you think, Steel? About six?”

“Sure, works for me,” I said, still staring at Daphne Wade.

“Great!” Patty raised her red cup and took a drink. “We’ll see you then. Daph and I have to bolt now. Need to mingle, you know?” She grabbed Daphne’s arm and led her away.

I regarded my friend, who was filling up the next red cup. “Daphne’s mine,” I said in a low voice.

“Aw, man! She’s fucking hot.”

“So is the other one.”

“You know I don’t go for redheads.”

“Dude, you are a redhead.”

“That’s why I don’t go for them. Too much red, you know?”

“Maybe she’s a true redhead.”

“Most of them aren’t.”

“She might let you find out tonight.”

“Fuck it, Steel. Why do you always get the gorgeous ones?”

In truth, the gorgeous ones usually went for me. Not that Murph didn’t get his share of gorgeous women, he just got the less gorgeous one when he and I were together.

Which was A-okay with me.

Because frankly, Wendy and I were more off than on lately, and I was beginning to question certain things about her. She was still in business with Larry, Theo, and Tom. So was I, for that matter, but I was a silent partner if there ever was one. They’d taken my silent investments and done some serious quadrupling and then quadrupling some more. The four of them were millionaires now, though they kept that hidden from their families. Mommy and Daddy were paying for Wendy’s college, even though their daughter could buy and sell them.

I knew they were millionaires because they’d paid me my profits. Nice seven-figure profits.

Not that I needed the dough, but I’d put up the cash, so I took my