Page 46 of Brutal Days

“What’s the deal with her car?” Shane asked.

“I don’t know. She called from work and said that it wouldn’t start. She was pissed, so she didn’t go into detail.”

Shane took his eyes off the road for a minute, his brows furrowing, before he refocused on where we were going. “Do you think someone tampered with it? Jessica is furious about whatever’s going on with Gia, and she and Sky are best friends. It makes her fair game.”

“Jess would be stupid to do something like that. Gia isn’t a threat to the nonexistent relationship she and I have.”

“It’s not as black and white as you’re making it, D.”

None of that sounded like him, and I frowned. “This is coming from Tracey?”

“Mostly,” he admitted. “You know she wants you and Jess to be official. And Jess is the one you go to most often. Everyone else is a one-nighter.”

“And why does what Tracey wants concern me?”

Silence hung between us for an awkward second.

“It doesn’t. I’m just relaying information.”

“Look, I know you have your reasons for being with Tracey for as long as you have. But her opinion isn’t important to me, nor is her friend’s. They’re not who I would see myself with if I ever wanted to get into a relationship. Which I don’t. But one thing you might want to consider is that your twin, the person closest to you in the world, doesn’t get along with her. What does that tell you about Tracey?”

Shane pulled into the parking lot, a muscle in his jaw jumping. I probably shouldn’t have said what I did, but he should have kept Tracey’s opinion out of my life.

“I’m sorry I went there.” I smacked him on the shoulder before getting out. He didn’t need my opinion on who he chose to date, either, especially with what I was doing with Gia and Sky.

Shane went around to the back of his SUV and retrieved a toolbox while I unlocked Sky’s car and popped the hood.

“Try to start the car,” Shane instructed.

I got in and turned the key in the ignition. A clicking sound followed but nothing else.

“It sounds like it’s the battery.”

I grunted and got back into the SUV so we could go pick one up. It would be easy to change, something we both did in shop class. If I’d known that was all it was, I could have managed that myself, but Shane had taken an extra class in mechanics that could have come in handy.

We were back at Sky’s car, replacing the battery ten minutes later, when Shane responded about Tracey. “I know Phoenix doesn’t like her, and yes, it bothers me. But Tracey was there for me when I needed her. It goes a long way. I don’t expect anyone to understand. She has her faults, but I see a lot of good there too.”

“I shouldn’t have said anything.”

He shrugged then attached and tightened the positive and negative cables to the new battery.

“Cole showed me his first-year costs with and without the scholarship he got. Did he send it to you and Phoenix?”

“Yeah. It was an eye-opener. Phoenix’s scholarship covers almost everything.”

“But not ours.” I grinned.

Cole and Phoenix were the stars. They took everything about football seriously. They lived and breathed it. Shane and I loved the game, but it wasn’t our be-all and end-all, even if we didn’t discuss it openly. The number of times we blew off the runs our brothers did said enough.

“I talked to Granddad about it the other day.” Shane returned the screwdriver and wrench to his toolbox and shut the lid. “He covered a majority of the academy’s cost to help Mom, though she didn’t want to accept it. But college is another story, and he hinted at how proud he was that we were making our way by getting scholarships and figuring things out.”

Which meant Shane probably needed even more money than Phoenix. I was glad we’d kept the underground fights going. It was good money and would go a long way to help him manage the upcoming bills. “You got the ‘builds character’ speech?”

“Yep.”

I sensed he didn’t want to go too deep into what was expected of him. College was stressful enough with how big of a change it would be. “Aunt Cece is stubborn. Remember when Dad bought you guys the SUVs like ours?”

Dad had bought all four of us identical Range Rovers when we’d gotten our licenses. Shane’s mom had had a fit about it, saying she could have bought her sons used cars and didn’t need or want anyone to do her job for her.

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