Page 7 of Strong Side
Beck follows close behind, wearing a smirk as he watches his girlfriend jump on her brother’s back.
“Char, get off! My hands are full.” He tries to get her to slide off, but she doesn’t.
She just laughs. “Awww, come on, little brother. You can’t carry me? Not strong enough?”
“Seriously, bro. Get control of your girlfriend.” Casey does a half spin to try to get her to fall off.
Beck just shakes his head.
“As if he would ever control me. Right, baby?” She jumps off Casey’s back and moves to Beck and takes his hand.
“You’re the boss, baby.” He leans over and kisses the side of her head.
This.This is the way a relationship should look.
Trey never wanted to hold hands or show any kind of affection in public. It made me feel like he was embarrassed to be with me, but now I wonder if it was because he didn’t want people to know he had a girlfriend so he could keep fucking around on me.
We reach the boat at the end of the dock, and Beck climbs in first and holds his hand out to Charlie to help her get in. Caseyis next, and after he drops the bag and drinks, he holds his hand out to me, but I’m already halfway in.
“You want me to drive, or you got this?” Casey asks me.
“I’m good. I thought we would go around to the side of the island. We can see the fireworks better from there, and it’s less crowded.” I take the key out of my shorts pocket and start the engine.
After driving around the lake for a while, I get us to the side of the island. “Hey, Casey, can you grab the anchor? I think we’ll drift too much if we don’t drop the anchor.”
“You got it.” He stands from his seat and moves to the front of the boat, where the anchor sits.
Once he’s lowered it into the water, I turn off the engine and make my way to the back of the boat. Charlie is curled up against Beck, her feet lying across the seat. They’re both silently looking out over the water.
“You good?” Casey asks when he sits next to me and drapes his arm around my shoulders.
“I’m good. Ready for the show, you know?”
“Aha! That rhymes.” Casey laughs, which makes me laugh.
A few minutes later, the first sparks light up the sky. It’s a barrage of fireworks in blues, reds, and whites. A particularly loud firework shoots off, and it makes me jump. When I look at Casey, he’s watching me.
“That was a loud one!” I scoot in closer to him.
He smiles at me softly. “I got you, pretty girl.” Then he tucks a piece of my hair behind my ear.
His attention on me is making me feel … things. And as my gaze roams over his face and I see the fireworks reflecting in his eyes, I can’t look away. Our faces are so close, in fact, that if I just leaned in a little, we would kiss—which would be crazy, right?
The thought startles me and snaps me out of my Casey haze, but my eyes are still on his. His thumb is brushing my shouldersoftly, and if I didn’t know better, I’d think he was looking at me in a more-than-a-friend kind of way.
CHAPTER
FOUR
CASEY
Practice started today,and my ass was cooked. I thought I had prepared and stayed in shape this summer, but the drills they had us running today nearly took me out. The heat didn’t help. A few of my teammates even threw up on the field.While they were running.It was pretty gross, but not all that uncommon at the beginning of the season.
I’m sitting in the ice bath when my new roommate and teammate, Silas Arbuckle, walks over.
“Already in an ice bath, King? You a pussy or what?” He smirks.
“Fuck off, man. My legs feel like jelly. I need some recovery time. My body is a temple.” I splash some water at him.
