Page 34 of Brutal Days

#Bros

When I got home from dropping Gia off, I heard Raelyn and Riley chatting in the family room. Dad was on the phone in his office, and I suspected he’d decided to get work done so they could have time alone. Which was what I wanted with my brother. I found him in the basement with a game on the TV.

“Hey.” I fell onto the seat diagonally from him, the game still in view. “How long are you in town?”

“We have a few days off school. Riley and I wanted to catch your game.”

“You have a bye week?”

“Yeah, and she didn’t have meets either.” Cole muted the TV. “What’s the deal with you and the blond chick? She’s not your type.”

“I like blondes.”

“Sure. But not clingy, obsessive ones. And that girl screams stage-five clinger from a mile away.”

“Phoenix and Shane didn’t fill you in?”

Cole grimaced. “Yeah, I know about your deal with Sky to date Gia, fulfilling the girl’s senior year list. What I don’t get is why you would do it. You and Sky… you hated her last year.”

“Sky is… tempting. She drives me crazy, and when she came to me about helping her friend, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to get into her pants.” It sounded crass as hell. Usually, I wouldn’t care, but a small part of me rebelled at talking about her like that.

Cole said nothing, but his look unsettled me. He saw too damn much, and I didn’t like it.

“How’s football and Thane?”

He grinned and relaxed back on the couch. “It’s hard as hell but amazing at the same time. Riles and I are so busy. Both our sports are like a full-time job. Then fit in classes and studying around that. It’s a lot. I love it, though. You need to hurry up and get there. I miss the hell outta you.”

“What are the guys like?”

“Better. Their mentality is either the same or similar to mine. We’re close, more like a family than a high school team.”

I was ready for it. “I’m tired of it here. Time can’t move fast enough.”

“You say that, but when you get to Thane, you’ll want it to slow down.”

“Maybe.” I kicked my feet up onto the coffee table.

“What’s new with our cousins, anything?”

I snorted. “Nothing. Phoenix is focused on football, and no girl can get her hooks into him for more than a night, which drives Tracey oddly crazy. She seems to want to hook him up with a friend. Shane’s still whipped. And did you know that Tracey is afraid of Riley? That was a fun tidbit I learned.”

Cole’s laughter filled the basement. “I’m not surprised. Nothing Tracey and her friends did could get under Riley’s skin. All their efforts to intimidate only amused her.”

“I’ve always liked her. I’m glad you pulled your head out of your ass.”

“Bullshit, you didn’t like her initially, either, or when I told you who her mom was.”

I tossed a pillow at his head. “You’re projecting. I defended her a few times. She had our backs when you tried to blame her for throwing that party in our house and left the mess for Dad to come home to. If you would’ve looked at the crap you did to her and her reactions, like how she hadn’t ratted us out, you might have pulled your head out of your ass sooner.”

“Whatever. We had a rough start. Things are better than good now.”

“What’ll happen when you go into the NFL?”

My brother was destined for that path. It was what he’d always wanted, and he had talent in spades.

“We’ll figure it out.” His green eyes shone with determination. “She’s the one. Besides, she’s an Olympic hopeful. Wherever we end up, we’ll find a way to accommodate a coach and the type of pool and boards that she’ll need.”

Colewouldtoo. If he set his mind to something, it would happen. Riley was a lot like him in that respect.

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