Hog Heaven by Ben Rehder Read Free Book Online

customer.”
    “Wait a sec. What does Armando do exactly?”
    “Florist. For the wedding. Coming down from Marble Falls.”
    Red hung his head for a minute and took a deep breath. This was almost more than he could handle. “Let me get this straight. We have to stop hunting a fifty-thousand-dollar pig because you have to go talk to some guy about flowers?”

    Colton Spillar sat on the weightlifting bench in his garage and used a towel to wipe the sweat from his forehead. His heart was absolutely thundering, as it usually did when he worked out.
    Colton was eighteen years old, a high school senior, and he could bench-press 380 pounds. That was his personal best. He could complete 28 reps of 225 pounds. His biceps were larger than the average person’s thighs. His thighs were larger than the average person’s waist. He stood six-foot-three, weighed 303, and his shoulders brushed on both sides of an average doorway.
    Still, he didn’t know if he had the strength—in the mental sense—to do what he was about to do. Push one little button. That’s all it would take. Send a tweet and change his future. He would let a few people down, yeah, and he didn’t like letting people down.
    He’d made a verbal commitment, but players changed their minds sometimes. Was that something to be ashamed of? Sure, it was nice of UMT to offer him a full ride, but so had the University of Texas. And the way things were shaping up, UT was the place to be.
    Adrian Lacy said so.
    Adrian Lacy was going to UT, and he had managed to convince some major badasses to join him. On both offense and defense. Not just stars, either, but less visible players who were nonetheless critical for a team’s success. Nose guard. Blocking back. Punter.
    Colton fit in that category. Not a star, because how often were offensive tackles stars? You didn’t see many newspaper articles about offensive tackles, and they didn’t win trophies that the average person had ever heard of. Offensive linemen didn’t score heroic game-winning touchdowns, but they sure as hell allowed those touchdowns to be scored. So the stars—guys like Adrian Lacy—knew how important players like Colton were.
    And Adrian Lacy had been reaching out to Colton on Twitter and Facebook. Flattering him. Reasoning with him. Promising big things. A shot at a national championship. A better chance at a pro career. Tempting as hell, especially now that Sammy was gone. Sammy had been a true superstar, and when he had originally committed to UMT, it had made Colton’s choice all that much easier. But now...
    Colton looked down at the screen of his cell phone. He tapped out a message.
    Got nothing but love for UMT, but I’ve decided to be a Longhorn instead. Hook ’em!
    His finger lingered over the button. Not yet.

CHAPTER 7
    Aleksandra Babikova made her way toward the boarding gate with a handful of her fellow first-class passengers, fully aware that she was the subject of intense scrutiny by virtually every person—man or woman—in her immediate vicinity. Some of her fellow travelers were ogling, others were glaring judgmentally. Some were simply in awe. Some were discreet, others were not.
    It had been this way for all of Aleksandra’s adult life. She was, after all, a striking person to behold: Nearly six feet tall and ridiculously beautiful—even here in Dallas, where attractive women were as commonplace as cowboy boots. Many of these Texas women were blond, whereas Aleksandra’s hair was as black and shiny as a raven’s wing. Her eyes were a shade of turquoise normally only viewed from a beach in the Caribbean.
    “Poarding bass, please,” the young man at the gate said. “Uh, boarding pass.”
    She handed it to him, noticing that he was becoming flustered, as many men did in her presence. Their cheeks would flush bright red. They would become tongue-tied—even more so when she was dressed in a manner they found pleasing. Today’s ensemble included a form-fitting pencil skirt