Page 13 of Caught Stealing

Rolling my eyes, I cross the room and plop down on the end of his bed, not planning to let either of us leave this room until the full picture has been painted for me.

“So?”

Kason drops his bag and straightens to his full height, clearly unamused. “So,what,Phoe? We’re friends, we’re teammates. He’s hot, and we’re both kind of interested in each other.”

“Only kinda?”

“Jesus,” he mutters under his breath, his cheeks tinting a little red. “What’s with all the questions? You’ve never been interested in my sex life before, so why are you now?”

I blink, not sure where the defensiveness is coming from on his end.

“Because there wasn’t a sex life before now,” I say slowly. “And the last thing I want you to do is regret screwing around with the wrong guy.”

Something I’ve learned the hard way. And with Holden himself, no less.

Except, where I see my so-calledcock-blockingas being a concerned friend, Kason must be seeing something else entirely. It’s the only explanation for the frown still etched in his features.

“You ever think maybe I need to make mistakes on my own instead of just taking your word for it? Besides, it’s not like you’re some kind of expert on sex when you’ve only done it with one person yourself.”

“Still more than never.”

His huff of indignation grates on my nerves, though not nearly as much as his response. “Well, if you’d stop playing guard dog, then maybe I’d be able to change that.”

“So you want me to just let you go fuck whoever, knowing you might regret it later?”

“Yeah, Phoe, maybe I do!” Exasperation is evident in his tone as he throws his arms out to his sides. “I didn’t say shit to you when you started seeing Nico, who I thought was a grade-A asshole the moment I met him, by the way. I kept my mouth shut the whole time, even when I could tell he would only end up hurting you. Which is what a supportive best friend does.”

“If you’d have told me how you felt about him, I’d have taken it into account. I’d have—”

“That’s a bold-faced lie, and we both know it,” he cuts in, crossing his arms. “You were head over heels for the guy before he ended things. Besides baseball,hewas the thing that took up most of your free time. No amount of complaining about him or trying to make you see him for what he was would have swayed you into not sleeping with him, let alone not dating him.”

My teeth gnaw at my bottom lip as his words sink in.

The thing no one mentions about having a best friend for as long as we’ve had each other is the fact that they can see where the weak spots are. The deep, dark shit no other soul will ever learn, they know. The shameful mistakes. The forever regrets. They have access to it all.

And because of that, they have the power to use all of it as a weapon, should they choose.

I just never thought Kason would use mine against me.

“There’s a difference between my relationship with Nico and this thing between you and Holden,” I say quietly, my ex’s name tasting bitter on my tongue.

His brow arches as he calls me on my shit. “If that’s true, why are you being like this about Holden?”

Truthfully, Kason isn’t entirely off base with these accusations. Because, yeah, Holden does remind me a lot of Nico. Not so much in looks, but rather in persona with his charming and charismatic nature. The same smooth lines with a silver tongue to match. He’s good-looking, knows it, and uses it to his advantage at every opportunity. I’ll be damned if a single person has ever told him no for anything because of it.

And he’ll throw you out on your ass without the blink of an eye…all exactly like Nico.

But it’s only because of what happened with Holden, how he’s been acting since we slept together, that I know he’s just like my ex. I’d be insane if Iweren’twary of Kason seeing him.

“I think you can do better than him, Kase. Especially for someone to lose—”

“It’s. My. Choice,” Kason says slowly, words coming out in staccato.

“I know it is.”

“Then act like it is. Because right now, it’s feeling a lot more like you’re trying to get a do-over through me.”

Maybe I am projecting some of my shit with Nico onto Kason right now. After all, it was the shitty ending of our relationship—paired with a tough loss going into the conference tournament—that led me straight into bed with Holden.

---