Page 89 of Daring the Defender

“Reese!” Twyler shouts. “No. Murdering.”

“But not untilafterthe finals,” he concludes.

Twyler opens a storage closet and tosses us both a clean towel. Slowly, with one eye on Axel to make sure he’s not going to lose it again, I dry off. Axel takes a deep breath and says, “I asked her specifically if something was going on with you two and she said no.”

Reese scoffs and says, “Gee, I wonder why.”

“Shut up.” Axel runs the towel through his hair, making the blond hair stick up in spikes. “You promised me.”

“I know this sounds like bullshit, but I didn’t plan on anything happening. She’s a cool girl, who just wanted to experience life a little but had no idea how to go about it.” The muscle in the back of his jaw tics. “She needed a friend. Someone who wouldn’t judge her for being so…”

“Innocent? Virginal? Naive?”

“Oh my god.” We both look over at Twyler. “Stop describing your sister in unrealistic, antiquated, sexist, virtuosic terms that you wouldn’t be able to adhere to if your life depended on it.” She shakes her head. “They like each other, Rakestraw, because they’re both awesome people. Shelby could do a lot worse than a guy like Reid, who you know is a fucking good guy who treats women well. And after Darla,” she shoots me an apologetic look, “sorry man, but Darla sucked…”

“I know. No offense taken.”

She grins. “Shelby was the sweet, unassuming, down to earth girl Reid needed.”

Axel scowls, but for once doesn’t argue. “So how serious was this thing?”

I look to Reese to see if he thinks this is a trick question, but he nods for me to answer. “It started off pretty innocent. She was overwhelmed by the little bit of college life she had seen, no thanks to your girlfriend by the way,” I snort. “She wanted to go home pretty much right away after a night out with the girls. I told her if she stayed and learned to experience life a little, I’d help her.”

“You mean, help yourself into her pants.”

“No.” I glare at him, holding his gaze. “I mean by helping her get more comfortable in her own skin. Taking her shopping, supporting her when she got a job, hanging out with her when she was lonely, and yeah, telling her that I thought her ex was a dipshit who didn’t deserve her.”

Axel crosses his arms defensively over his chest. “You mean all the shit I didn’t do. Except the dipshit part. I said that plenty of times.”

I look over at Reese and Twyler. “Can we have a minute?”

Reese raises his eyebrow at Axel. “Are you going to act civilized and promise not to break anything required to play hockey?”

“Yeah, I’m cool,” Axel says, sounding like he means it. We’ll see.

“We’re going,” Twyler says, glancing around the room, “and you better clean this up before you go.”

“Got it, TG,” Axel says, using his nickname for her, ‘Trainer Girl.’

When we’re alone, I look him in the eye. “You provided Shelby a safe place when she needed it. That’s bigger than anything else. I know you know my background, but it’simpossible for me to explain how much that means. Sure, Shelby was never at risk of being homeless or without at least part of her family, but leaving home, defying your parents and breaking up with David, it took balls. It was also pretty terrifying. She’s brave.”

A flicker of understanding crosses his eyes. “She’s a Rakestraw.”

“Yep.” I nod. “She needed a little more support than you could give her, and at the time, I needed something too.”

His fist clenches and for a minute I think he may come at me again, but just asks, “You treated her right?”

“You’d have to ask her that, but I didn’t pressure her. If anything I let her take the lead as much as possible.” He winces, ever the overprotective brother. And I feel like a fool but I add, “The night before she left. I told her I loved her.” He looks up, surprised. “I also told her that I knew she had unresolved shit to deal with back home. I may have scared her and run her off. I may have fucked the whole thing up. I don’t know, dude.”

He grimaces and swears under his breath.

“What?”

“We both may have handled this the wrong way.”

“What do you mean?”

“She asked me about staying and I told her that there was no use. My mother wasn’t going to back down. Then the flowers came and…”

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