Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 152045 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 760(@200wpm)___ 608(@250wpm)___ 507(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 152045 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 760(@200wpm)___ 608(@250wpm)___ 507(@300wpm)
“You trying to lose your phone too?” Dad growls. “Move.”
Finally, Kade steps back, giving our dad space to enter. He goes in, and I watch him look around and dive into Kade’s bathroom, searching for the girl who slept over last night.
I almost smile. It’s kind of funny, my dad trying to catch his kid with a girl in the same room that we accidentally found out that our dad took our mom’s virginity in when they were sixteen. Same age as we are now. I’m not going to remind my dad of that. He’s not mad at me—yet.
Kade stands there, his chin up but his eyes down, relishing in the knowledge that our father will come up empty-handed.
Gemma stands behind my door, listening.
Dad comes back to Kade, his jaw hard as his chest rises and falls. “Are you really going to make me install cameras inside this house?” he asks Kade. “Is this what it’s coming to?”
“Do whatever you want,” Kade says. “You won’t install them in the bathroom.”
My brother breaks into laughter, and my dad yanks at his tie, loosening his collar already and it’s only nine.
“And why are you always blaming me?” Kade blurts out. “Check Hunter’s room.”
He waves his hand in my direction. My face falls, and Dad looks at me.
I glare at Kade. Oh, you motherf—
Kade laughs quietly, his eyes gleaming with amusement.
But Dad turns back to Kade, half-rolling his eyes, because I don’t have sleepovers.
More footsteps hit the staircase, and Kade swats our dad in the stomach. “Come on. We’re going to be late. Let’s get a move on.”
Dad grabs the back of his son’s neck, pulling him in. “I’m not raising your kids. Got it?”
Kade nods, finally looking contrite. “Yeah, yeah…”
Dylan appears at the top of the stairs, and Dad twists around, meeting her halfway. “Make sure they’re downstairs in twenty,” he instructs her.
She nods once, big and decisive, like he’s her general, and she continues toward us while he disappears down the stairs.
I watch her eyes light up when she sees us, the blue so marine behind the brown hair framing her face and falling down her arms. She skips up to us, tan legs so full of energy in her blue shorts. I love the way her smiles start close-lipped but so big, making you notice how her eyes dance and the blush on her cheeks before she shows you her teeth and all you see is her perfect mouth.
My chest tightens.
“You’re not going dressed like that, are you?” Kade asks her.
I jerk my head, glaring at him. “Shut up.”
But it comes out breathless because my heart is beating too fast.
She looks at him, her smile fading, but she turns back to me, forcing another one. Close-lipped, and it won’t go any further this time. I already know that.
She clears her throat. “Can I borrow your JV jersey today?” she asks me.
I start to nod, but just then, Gemma comes out and slips between the doorframe and me, stepping into the hallway.
Dylan’s spine straightens, and she watches Gemma put a hand on my chest. “Thanks,” the girl says.
Her voice is silky smooth, and I open my mouth to...what? I don’t know. Tell her to get back in Kade’s room? Or ‘no more hiding in mine?’ Anything to make it clear that I didn’t fuck the girl last night who talks about Dylan behind her back and makes fun of her.
But before I figure it out, she’s throwing Dylan a look and walking the opposite way my dad came, heading for the rear entrance through one of the guestrooms. It has an outdoor staircase she can get down from and make it to her car.
I lift my eyes, seeing the crease in Dylan’s brow.
“Wear mine,” Kade tells her. “I want you to.”
He walks back into his room and opens a drawer, grabbing the jersey.
He returns, holding it out to her. “It got a lot more wear than Hunter’s did, but it’s clean.”
I clench my teeth as she takes it, looking at him like he’s her fucking hero. “Thanks.” She walks back toward the stairs, not looking at me again. “See you guys downstairs.”
I watch her go, my stomach sinking into the goddamn floor.
Kade’s voice is light with humor. “You could’ve just told her.”
It takes a second, but finally, I say, “So could you.”
I retreat back into my room, slamming the door between us.
It wasn’t Dylan’s fault for believing I fucked a girl who treated her badly. For believing I’d been a disloyal friend.
It wasn’t my fault she thought that, either.
It was Kade’s. I shouldn’t have had to explain myself, and even if I did, he still would’ve come out of it innocent.
Because as it happens, I would hate for her to think he’d been a disloyal friend, either. I didn’t tell her because it wouldn’t have made me feel better to make him look bad in her eyes.