Page 2 of No Second Chances

Absently, I rub at the scars on my wrist, trying not to think about that night and everything I’ve lost. Then, like the big girl I am, I pick up my feelings and shove them down deep. I plaster a smile on my face before I screech into the parking lot of the airport and scare the shit out of a few grandmas as I do so.

Everything is going just as planned, too. I’m ready to finally see my big brother. Until I see his best friend by his side and my entire world begins to tilt on its side.

* * *

Linc

“You’ve gotta be fuckin’ kidding me, man. Couldn’t it be anyone else?” Of course it has to be Remy’s sister who is picking us up from the airport on fucking Valentine’s Day. The same sister I was obsessed with and have been for years. The sister my best friend would murder me for even thinking of touching. And to top it off, Remy has to open his mouth about it right before my least favorite part of the flight.

I shut my eyes as the wheels of the plane hit the tarmac and shake all of us around like rag dolls.

“Hey,” my best friend and current enemy says with a smile. “It’s not my fault you and Kennedy got into it.”

My brother, the asshole on the other side of me, snorts. “They’re constantly fighting about something.”

“Shut up, Danny.” I open one eye and shoot him a glare. He doesn’t know shit about me and Kennedy. Nobody does, not really.

The way Remy stares at me with wide and knowing eyes says more than he does. Yeah, Kennedy and I got into it when she started dating one of the guys on my former football team. A guy I knew for a fact was a prick only out to get his dick wet. He was two years behind us, the same as Kennedy. I knew him and exactly how his brain worked. Hell, I had been him at one time. Absolutely no one treated Kennedy the way I knew he wanted to. At least, they didn’t act that way and walk away unscathed.

The plane finally comes to a stop and I unclench my fists. When the light above our heads turns off, I push Remy out of the way and grab my bag from the overhead bin. Yeah, I may have shoved him harder than I should have, but he deserves it. He has a complex and honestly thinks no one would use his sisters because of who he is. He doesn’t have a clue.

“Hey.” Danny slaps me on the shoulder. “I gotta use the facilities. Wait for me?” He doesn’t wait for a response, though. He just pushes his way through the crowd, practically sprinting to the bathroom.

Remy snorts as he drops his shit next to the nearest wall and takes a seat to wait.

“She was so pissed that last time we were home she didn’t even come to see us once.”

I almost miss the look on his face and I would have if I’d been staring at my phone’s screen like I had been a moment before. Instead, I was trying not to trip up the walkway with my heavy-ass bag on my shoulder.

He is obviously pissed, but there is more there. I’ve known the man since I was five years old and know all his expressions, every single one. I knew the expression he had when he was beating the snot out of some kid in third grade for putting Casper’s hair in paint. I knew the way he smiled when we graduated from boot camp. He is my best friend.. Yet his current expression almost stops me in my tracks. This is the closest I’ve ever seen him get to being afraid.

“Kennedy has a lot of shit going on.”

That’s all I get out of him for the next fifteen minutes while we wait for Danny, watching as everyone else clears out. Once we are alone, I give in. I’m hungry, and I really want to get something to eat. Maybe I can find a cheeseburger with extra fries.

“Are we gonna go?” I glance over to the bathroom. “Danny can just meet us out there… Or better yet, he can call a cab.”

“Hey.” Remy laughs. “It’s not my fault your brother is an idiot and had to shit his brains out. What do you want him to do? Take a cab the entire forty miles back to town?”

“Yeah.” I grab my bag. “That’s exactly what I want.”

Remy doesn’t even move as he calls out after me. “If you go now, you’re gonna end up alone with Kennedy. Anyway, I’m pretty sure she threatened to gut you the next time she sees you.”

His words have the intended effect. Immediately, I turn my ass around and sit down until Danny comes out of the bathroom a few minutes later.

“Let’s go already.” Danny lifts his bag onto his shoulder and has the audacity to pretend like we haven’t just waited for the past twenty minutes in the almost deserted lobby for him to finish blowing out the toilet.

He almost gets away with it, too. When we are walking past the bathroom on our way out, another guy practically runs us over in his rush to get away.

“You don’t wanna go in there,” he gasps. If it had been anyone but Danny in the bathroom, I’d have thought he was exaggerating. My brother has something seriously wrong with his gut. We used to leave the house when he had to use the bathroom. “Seriously. It smells like something died in there.”

Danny rushes away, and I can see the back of his neck turning red in embarrassment. We don’t let him go very far before starting in on him.

“Hey,” he defends himself. “At least I didn’t do it on the airplane.”

“Oh gods.” Remy laughs. “He’s got a point there.”

By the time we make it through the airport and down to baggage claim, I’ve almost forgotten who is picking us up. I managed to forget all about Kennedy Townsend and the way she made my heart race while we were gone. Still she never really strays far from my mind, and as soon as we step into the open area, I know exactly where she is.

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