Page 14 of Mine to Take

Not that he feels it.

When pain shoots through my fist, I shake it out and glare. “Did you seriously just blurt that out in front of everyone?”

With a frown, he jerks his shoulders. “What? What did I do?”

I narrow my eyes.

I love my brother, but sometimes, I just want to kill him.

Slowly.

With my bare hands.

This is one of those times.

It’s the main reason I decided to transfer after my sophomore year. I was tired of him hovering, outing my diagnosis before people could get to know me as a person, not a medical condition.

“You know exactly what you did,” I grumble, opening my purse and rifling through it for my keys.

Deep down, I knew this was a mistake.

When I pull them from the bag, River blurts, “I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t mean to say it.”

I pause with them clasped tightly in my hand. “If this is what the rest of the night will be like, then I’m just going to head home now and skip the embarrassment.”

“I’m sorry, Willow. I’m just…” His voice trails off. “Protective of you. I want everyone to understand that you’re off-limits.”

Even though I don’t want it to, everything softens inside me. It’s always been impossible for me to stay mad at River. “There was no need to humiliate me in order to get your point across.”

“You’re right. It was a shitty thing to do. Please don’t leave. I want you to come out and celebrate with us.”

It takes a minute or so for my muscles to loosen.

When I remain silent, he gives me sad, puppy-dog eyes. The ones I can never say no to. “Do you forgive me?”

“I don’t know,” I mutter, trying to hold on to the last wisps of my anger. “If I hear cancer or leukemia come out of your mouth one more time tonight, I won’t talk to you for a month. Maybe longer.”

He holds up his hand with a solemn promise. “I won’t say another word about it. I swear.”

“Fine.”

River throws a muscular arm around my shoulders before hauling me close. “We’re going to have a blast!”

The group moves en masse to the exit at the front of the building. Now that all cancer talk has screeched to a halt, the mood once again turns celebratory.

Some of the Wildcats players are still hanging around as we reach the lobby. A shiver skates down my spine when my gaze is snagged by a dark, brooding one. Even without a jersey that has his name stamped across the back of it, I know exactly who this guy is.

During the game, I’d tried telling myself that the little zips I’d felt every time our eyes locked were a figment of my imagination.

That’s no longer possible.

His eyes narrow as he pins me in place with a hard-edged stare.

The connection is only severed when one of the girls who’d been holding a sign with River’s name scrawled across it slams into his chest and twines her arms around his neck before pressing her lips against his.

I hate referring to any girl as a flavor of the week, but that’s been River’s track record for the past few years. There’s absolutely no point in me getting to know them. They’re here and gone before I can blink. There hasn’t been anyone of significance since he and Sabrina parted ways freshman year of college.

I’m just about to untangle myself from my brother when he slips his other arm around the overenthusiastic girl as we head to the exit.

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