Page 59 of Unwritten Rules
“Language, Sin,” Mum scolds, and I fight the urge to roll my eyes.
“What are you not telling us?” Dad probes, pale blue eyes searing into the right side of my face. “You and your sister are very close, so I’m sure she’s told you what’s going on with her.”
Refusing to throw my sister under the bus and air out her business, I shrug. “I don’t know what’s going on with her, Dad.As far as I’m aware, until she figures out her path in life, she wants to stay in Barrenridge with Gran.”
My heart thunders in my chest, the truth of my sister’s past weighing heavily on my shoulders. Mia asked me not to tell our parents what went down with her ex-boyfriend, and as much as I want to get revenge on the fucker, her happiness means more to me. Even if carrying the burden of her secret feels impossible at times, especially when our parents know something is up, I would do it for the rest of my life until she’s ready to share her story.
Dad hums and pushes food around his plate.
Mum, on the other hand feel, isn’t satisfied with my response.
“I told Mia not to hang around those friends of hers in uni, or go anywhere near that boy because I knew he was trouble.” She huffs, shaking her head. For once, she’s not dressed in a pantsuit—opting for a more casual look of a knitted sweater and dark blue jeans, with her hair in a ponytail at her nape. “But did she listen to me? No.”
“Look, I’m not having this conversation with either of you,” I say, unfurling my fingers. A jolt of pain shoots up my forearms. “We can either talk about something that doesn’t involve Mia or my career, or we can sit in silence. The choice is yours.”
Part of me hopes they’ll want to talk to me, their son, not their athlete son, like we used to before. We would spend hours sitting around the dining table talking about random things or playing board games, getting lost in the feeling of being together as a family. But now that I’m older and have more responsibilities, not just for myself but the family name and my father’s legacy, the family dynamic has shifted. And I’m an idiot for thinking it could go back to how it used to be.
My parents share a heated look before zipping their lips closed and throwing away the key, casting the room in total silence besides the utensils tapping against the porcelain plates.
I groan inwardly and slump in the chair, my appetite gone. Just another family dinner gone wrong. What else is new?
Not caring about my mum’s ‘no phones at the dinner table’ rule, I reach into the pocket of my black athletic shorts and retrieve my phone. Tatum’s phone number appears on the screen under the contact name ‘Strawberry’ and I smile to myself. I changed it the night she put her number in my phone.
SIN: Are you free right now?
Tatum’s response comes quicker than I thought it would.
STRAWBERRY: That depends on what you’re about to ask me.
I stifle a smile as I tap on the screen, my father’s eyes boring into the side of my face.
SIN: Are you up for a drive? I could use the company and killer playlist you promised me.
STRAWBERRY: Well, you’re in luck because I’m as free as a bird.
SIN: I can pick you up in thirty minutes?
STRAWBERRY: Perfect. Gives me time to curate the best damn playlist I can.
I drag my bottom lip between my teeth and slip my phone into my pocket, ignoring the not-so-subtle glances of my parents.
This fucking dinner can’t end quick enough.
Chapter Fifteen
TATUM
Sinnett’s car is waiting for me when I close the front door. With my hands shoved into the front pocket of the dark green hoodie I threw on, I make my way down the path, unable to wipe the grin from my face.
When I got the text from Sinnett, I had been lying in bed reading a book. After the events of last night, I needed time to myself to process everything that happened. Dad knows I’m hungover, so he wasn’t surprised when I told him I was going to Maccas to get some greasy food. The fast-food joint is a ten-minute walk, and he offered to drive me, but I played it off by saying I would be meeting Raya there and she’ll drive me home. He smiled and told me he was happy I was settling in well and making friends.
Guilt burned like acid in my stomach, the lie having slipped easily from my lips without much thought. I don’t like lying to my father, especially since we’re rebuilding a relationship that weathered away from years of minimal engagement. But he can’t know about Sinnett. If he even slightly catches wind that I’m spending time with him, or anyone on the team for that matter, he will lose his shit.
Keeping him in the dark is best. At least, that’s what I’m telling myself as I slip into the passenger seat of Sinnett’s car.
I’m immediately hit by a puff of cinnamon and cedarwood, and the most stunning man to ever walk this earth. Sinnett’s right hand grips the steering wheel while the other rests on his thigh, rubbing the area in slow circles. Even in the dark, with minimal lighting from the streetlamps, his ocean eyes are bright. Just being this close to him, feeling the warmth radiating from his body and happily drowning in his familiar scent, a shiver races down my spine.
“Hi, Sinnett.”
