Page 87 of I Blame the Rival

Her bottom lip starts to tremble and tears spill over. Gently kissing away each one, I wrap myself around her, trying to help her find the thing we both need the most.

To not feel alone.

Chapter 18

Lacey

“I need your help.”

Vector grins, passing the gravy to his mother, “I need you to convince Sky to join the track team.”

Amber beams, taking the jug from his hands, “That is a wonderful idea! Skylar, honey, I didn’t know you were thinking about trying out for the team.”

“I’m not.”

“But think of how much fun it would be! You could meet more kids your age.” Excitement fills Amber’s voice, “You could even train with Vector to get ready for the competitions.”

Skylar shoots his brother a glare before turning back to his mom, “Tryouts ended back in September. Even if I wanted to join the team, which I don’t, I wouldn’t be able to.”

She purses her lips, “You could start training for next year?”

I stifle a laugh by taking a bite of Shepherd’s Pie. I still don’t know if this meal is Skylar’s favourite, but his mom makes it every time I’m invited over for dinner.

Not that I’m complaining. Amber Vin is a wonderful cook.

“Yeah, Sky. You could start training for next year.” Vector throws me a wink, “I’m sure Lacey would love to come watch your meets.”

Amber claps her hands, “We could all go!”

“No one is going anywhere because I'm not joining the track team.” Skylar’s hand finds mine under the table, “I’ve already had my opportunity to be a varsity athlete.”

I smile down at my food, knowing exactly what he’s referring to.

Vector shrugs, “I could talk to the coach. Get you on the team this year.”

“I don’t want to be on the track team.”

Amber sighs, “You used to love cross country running. I just don’t know what changed.”

“The people I enjoyed doing it with changed. So did I.”

Skylar stares down his brother and irritation flashes across Vector’s face. I shift uneasily in my chair, glancing between the two brothers as they silently argue with each other across the kitchen table. Vector grows more agitated by the second, the muscles in his arms twitching with every inhale.

He catches me staring and the anger quickly melts into a smile.

“You’ve got nice long legs, Lacey. Are you a runner?”

Skylar stiffens beside me and Vector gives him a satisfied smirk. Whatever went down during the silent exchange ignited a fire between the brothers and the older one seems keen on handing out a punishment.

Oblivious to the tension, Amber turns to me with a smile, “You must have been an athlete with that remarkable height of yours.”

“Um, not quite.”

“Really? I would have guessed you played basketball in high school.”

“Unfortunately, Wesley stole all the athletic genes in the family. But I did spend a few years playing-

“What about a model?” Vector cuts me off, leaning his elbows on the table, “Those legs would easily put you over the height requirement for that.”

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