Best Friend's Brother #5 (Best Friend's Brother Romance Series - Book #5) Read Free Page A

than that
Alexa. You deserve more respect than that. Don’t sell yourself short, honey.”
    “If I’m as good as you tell me I am, why does this
keep happening to me?”
    “If I remember correctly, last time you found out
that your dad scared him off. That wasn’t your fault. Your dad was nice this
time though, you said, right?”
    “Yeah, I mean…as nice as Dad can force himself to be
to one of my dates.”
    “You don’t think he ran into him or called him or
something, do you?” She had a point. The last guy had run into my dad at the
supermarket. Dad had promptly told him that he wasn’t good enough for me and he
shouldn’t come back around. He didn’t, but he did tell me at school one day
finally why he was avoiding me. Feeling fired up, I jumped up and ran in the
house, calling for my dad. He came out of the bedroom and said, “What’s wrong?”
    “You tell me, Daddy. Have you talked to Rob?”
    “Oh pumpkin, I’m sorry. He called last night while
you were in the shower. You’d left your phone on the counter so I…”
    “Oh my God!” I grabbed my phone and started looking through it. Sure enough, Rob had called
the night before. “What did you do?”
    “I didn’t do anything. Why are you yelling at me?”
    “Daddy! I’m going to ask him so you may as well come clean. What did you do?”
    “I just asked him where he planned on going to
school and about his parents….”
    Oh God! Rob told me his dad left them when he was
little. His Mom remarried twice since then. In my father’s eyes, that would be
an “unstable” influence. “What did you say to him, Daddy?” I was in tears.
    “I just told him I worried about where he came from
and that I wanted better for you than that.” Poor Emma had been a silent
witness to my wrath.
    “You have to stop trying to control my life or the
second I turn eighteen I will leave and never come back! He was the nicest boy
I’ve ever been out with . Would you prefer I went out
with the ones who try and attack me on the first date?”
    “I just think maybe you should just concentrate on
your studies for now. There will be plenty of time for you to meet boys in
college…..”
    Frustrated, I’d turned to Emma and said, “Please get
me out of here.” She’d taken me to her house and I’d cried most of the night.
The next day at school, Rob wouldn’t even look at me. The worst part was that
he told all of his friends about my Dad. I didn’t have another date my entire
senior year.
    I looked up at the screen and realized the movie had
stopped. With a sigh I pushed myself up. I had to go home and talk to him. I
didn’t want to fight with him, but I had to do this. I wasn’t going to lose Ian
too.

 
    CHAPTER
THREE
    IAN
    After Alexa left I was antsy. I was really glad that
she wasn’t mad at me anymore. I was afraid I’d blown it again when I told her
about her dad at first. I couldn’t help but wonder how that conversation was
going to go. I couldn’t help but worry about how her dad was going to react
when she told him that not only did she know what he’d told me… but that she wanted to keep seeing me. I believed what she
said about him being this way because of her mom…but I also worried that maybe
some of it was that he really didn’t like me either. I wouldn’t win first prize
in an “I’d love for you to date my daughter” contest. What I’d told her was
true too…I didn’t meet many dads. I wasn’t a dater. Every so often I’d be
seeing a girl like Kristy who would attach themselves to me and insist they
were my girlfriend, but the truth was , I didn’t do
girlfriends or dates….until Alexa. I suddenly wanted her to be my girlfriend.
And I suddenly wanted to be good enough for her and her father. Maybe after my
championship fight tomorrow. If I win that one, endorsements and offers from
UFC were sure to follow. Maybe if I was in a “legitimate” occupation, albeit
still using my fists that would be at least one
redeeming