Page 82 of Daring the Defender

“From Dad? Because–”

“No. Not from Dad.” He gives me a look, like he has questions but he continues on. “I heard you were on campus. Kissing Reid.”

“What?” I miss a step, literally almost falling off the curb. Axel grabs me before I can fall, and keeps me upright. “Who told you–”

“Doesn’t matter.” he shakes his head. “I came to you to ask for the truth. Were you on campus today with Reid?”

I take a breath, looking down at his hands as the wind whips my hair around my face. No scrapes or bruises on his knuckles, which can only mean one thing. He hasn’t seen Reid yet–or Reid lied. “Yes. I was on campus. Yes, I saw Reid. Yes, I kissed him on the cheek.”

“What the hell, Shelby?”

“It’s not a big deal. I saw him talking to that girl–the ex. Darla?” I ask, playing dumb. “I’ve seen her picture in some socials. He looked uncomfortable, like he needed an escape, and I decided to give him one.”

“By kissing him,” he accuses.

“On the cheek.”I roll my eyes. “And acting like I was his new girlfriend. It was no big deal, I was just trying to be a friend helping him out. Nothing inappropriate.”

That is the biggest lie of all lies ever told, because after that Reid took me down to room one-ten and showed me how much he appreciated me stepping in to save him. He was very, very appreciative.

Despite the freezing cold, my body is now officially warmed up. I look over at my brother. “Please tell me you didn’t do something stupid. Like break his face.”

His handsome, gorgeous face.

“No.” He sounds bummed about it. “Nadia convinced me to talk to you first.”

“Thank god for having a reasonable, smart, girlfriend in your life.”

“She’s awesome, right?” A grin quirks the side of his mouth. “So what was Darla saying to him?”

“I’m not sure, but he looked pissed. And sad.”

“Fuck, I hate her.”

“She didn’t seem great.”

“She’s arrogant, and led him on for way too long. They constantly broke up and got back together. It was pretty obvious to all of us that she was going to break his heart, but he couldn’t see it.” He leads us up the path that goes toward Shotgun. “It sucks, because Reid really struggles with the concept of being good enough, and with Darla, he wasn’t. Never could be.”

“That’s awful.” I think on it, then ask, “Why wouldn’t he be good enough for her?”

“I think growing up in foster care was rough. In and out of all those homes,” he glances over at me, “can you imagine?”

I shake my head. “No.”

Our family may not be perfect but we were definitely stable. Predictable, even. It makes me think back to what my father said today about David. Stability is one of the attributes my father sees in him.

“He craves what we had, I think. Two consistent parents. One home. A family that is always there for him. He thought he could have that with Darla, which probably isn’t her fault. She’s just living her college life and thought Reid would be a fun guy to date. But he got serious–fast–and she played along even though she knew she wasn’t going to stick around.” He shoves his hands in his pockets and gives me a pointed look. “My boy got played.Hard.I worry about him as much as I worry about you.”

“Which is why you really don’t want the two of us...” I let the sentence linger.

“Exactly.” We walk up to the Manor. “You’re both awesome, but you’re also both going through some shit that needs to be sorted. Nothing good is going to come from the two of you rebounding off the other.”

I stop at the bottom step of the porch. “But if we weren’t rebounding you’d be fine with it?”

“Oh hell no.” He cackles–a belly laugh, really. “Absolutely, positively, hell fucking no.”

“Why?”

“Because he’s a dirtbag hockey player, Shelly, and we’re all scoundrels. Reid’s one of my best friends, but if I find out he ever touched you for real, your ass would be on the first plane back to Texas before you could even blink.”

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