Page 28 of My Brother's Best Friend

So, I slipped my hands underneath his arms and pulled him up with all my strength. When he was on both his feet, he turned away from me, like he had this morning, and placed both hands on the white brick wall, smashing his fist into it and splitting the skin.

“Sorry,” he gritted out. “You don’t have to stay with me.”

“Come on,” I said, knowing if he apologized once more for Friday night and for this morning, I wouldn’t want to be so nice, because I didn’t want to feel all these damn emotions that I had for him anymore. “I’m taking you home.”

“You don’t have to,” he said quietly. “Go back to the game.”

I crossed my arms. “No.”

“Maddie,” he growled, “please.”

Because I could be a stubborn and stupid bitch sometimes, I wrapped my hand around his bicep, yanked him away from the wall, and dragged him to the exit of the restroom. “No,” I said through my teeth. “I’m bringing you home.”

To my surprise, he didn’t try to argue.

With Alec Wolfe in tow, I marched down the hall and to my car parked in the student lot. I shoved him into the passenger seat, not caring that he was perfectly capable of driving himself home in his own car, and slipped into the car beside him.

“You don’t have to do this, Maddie,” he said. “I’ve been a dick to you.”

“Yeah,” I said, backing out of the spot. “You have been.”

He stayed quiet for half the ride, his body becoming tenser and tenser by the second. I glanced over at him to see hives had broken out on his neck, a bead of sweat rolling down his cheek near his hairline.

What the hell is going on with him?I had asked him before, but he wouldn’t tell me.

Once I pulled up to his house and shut off my car, he stared with trembling eyes through the windshield. His balled fists were pressed against his thighs, his jaw tight. For a moment, his shoulders bucked forward.

“Sorry,” he repeated. “I’m sorry.”

“Stop saying that,” I said.

“I’m sorry,” he sobbed, tears bursting from his eyes. “I didn’t mean it.”

My eyes widened, my breath catching. Alec Wolfe didn’t cry about anything. Rarely showed any emotion other than his flirtatious eyes and smirk, throwing them to any pretty girl he saw in the stadium, in the halls at Redwood.

“What are you talking about?” I asked.

Because there were a couple of incidents I wished he’d apologize for.

He pressed a hand to his mouth to muffle another sob and squeezed his eyes closed. “This is all my fault. I shouldn’t have been drinking so much. I shouldn’t have come up to your bedroom and left angry. I shouldn’t … I shouldn’t have been at the party. I’m sorry.” He wrapped his arms around himself. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine, Alec,” I whispered. “Please, settle down.”

While I had wanted him to be apologetic, this was … a bit too much. I mean, he was sobbing in my car, had thrown up in the women’s restroom, and looked like he was in the middle of a panic attack, all because I had been angry that he—Redwood’s player—had slept with another girl after being with me.

“N-no, you don’t understand,” he whispered, suddenly quiet. “Nobody understands.”

CHAPTER16

MADDIE

Ilay in Alec’s bed and stroked his messy brown hair as he slept on my chest. After Alec had calmed down in my car, I had convinced him to let me bring him inside. I hated seeing anyone this way, but especially him.

With his head on my stomach, he clutched my waist and snored softly. I rested my head against his pillow and wished that I had never slept with him on Friday night. Would things be different between us? Would Alec not be acting this … weird?

“Alec!” Mrs. Wolfe said, opening her son’s bedroom door.

I froze in my spot, my fingers deep in his hair, and widened my eyes.Fuck!

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