Page 88 of Daring the Defender

Reese nods. Twyler holds up the tube, gesturing for my hand, and asks again, “What girl?”

“Some girl he’s been hooking up with,” Reese answers for me. “No one has met her.”

“Is she a secret?” she asks, squirting a dollop of cream into my palm. “Rub that in.”

“No,” I say quickly. Too quickly, because her eyes narrow in suspicion. “Like I said, it’s no big deal.”

I busy myself rubbing in the cream, letting the tingling sensation spread. It’s a numbing cream, something to dull the pain. “So,” she says slowly, “you had a crap week, stopped seeing your mystery girl, and played like ass.”

“That about sums it up.”

Her arms cross over her chest and her hip pops out. “Reid.”

“Twyler.” I lift an eyebrow.

We stare at one another, and I’m not exactly sure what is happening between us, but a sheen of sweat coats my neck.

“What is this?” Reese asks, picking up on the strange energy. “What’s happening here?”

“Hell if I know,” I shoot back.

But I’m starting to think that Twyler knows something she shouldn’t. Something that could blow my whole world up. But that’s the thing. There’s only one person that wants Wittmore to win the championship more than Reese.

His girl.

“I think I know why Reid is playing like shit all of a sudden,” she says, tone dripping with accusation.

“Yeah?” Reese asks, looking me over, like he’s searching for an injury. I mean, there is, but no one can see a broken heart. “What’s wrong?”

“Tell him,” she says, lifting her chin. “Tell himor I will.”

Shit. She knows.

I swallow, realizing there’s no way out of this. I look at my buddy and say, “The girl I’ve been seeing… she’s, uh,” words failme, because I feel like the biggest asshole ever. I look at Twyler for help.

“For Christ’s sake,” she sighs, throwing her hands in the air. “It’s Shelby.”

“Shelby?” Reese looks shocked. “You’ve been…Dammit.God dammit, Reid. There was one girl you weren’t supposed to mess around with and you had to–”

“I knew it!!” Axel shouts from the hallway. A range of emotions cross Axel’s face, the final one landing on pure rage. His bag hits the floor, but a second later his body is in the air, diving at me. Before I have time to react, he hits me full force, and we both land on the floor. My bruise screams in pain and I bite off a curse, angling to protect my side. There’s no way in hell I’d fight back, even if I could. “I’ll murder you!”

His elbow rears back to slam, hand balled into a fist. I brace for it, but Reese gets his hands on him, lessening the blow. I shove him off, kicking him with my foot, but he’s not done. He struggles against Reese, shouting, “You lied to me. You both did. Sneaking around under my roof. What the hell, man?!”

“It’s not what you think–” I try to work my way to a sitting position and Twyler squats down to help.

“Don’t you dare say you didn’t fuck her.”

“Ax, come on,” I start, but I’m barely sitting upright when he escapes Reese and lunges at me again. Twyler yelps, hopping up and out of the fray, and I manage to dodge his fist. “Calm down and let me expla–”

Cold water rains down from above. And we both scream in surprise. The shock allows Reese to get his hands on Axel again, dragging him across the room. I push the soaking wet hair out of my eyes, and look around. Twyler stands over us, a jug of water in her hands.

“Son of a bitch!” Axel shouts, body shuddering.

“Smart move, Sunshine,” Reese says, grinning at her, over the top of Axel’s drenched head.

“My dad taught me this was the best way to get two dogs separated when they were fighting.” She looks down at us, her expression smug. “Works on dumbasses, too.”

Axel continues fighting against Reese, but way less effectively now that he looks like a drowned rat. Reese shakes his head and says, “Dude, listen, you can murder him all you want–”

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