Page 128 of Honeysuckle
“It is,” I nodded, ready to tell him the truth. “I’m not scared of the news, or what they’ll say about me or the Shores,” I confessed, and his brows pinched together tightly in confusion. “I’m scared that I can’t control how it affects all this progress. What if I end up back where I started because I shut down again? I can feel it starting,” I rubbed my hands in my hands. “I’m going to get lost in that anger again because it’s comfortable, Dean.”
“It’s different this time,” Dean said, shaking his head and sitting up a little in the bed.
“It’s the same anger,” I argued.
“Only this time I won’t let you get lost in it, we’re tied together.” His hand reached out, crossing the gap between us, and he pressed his fingers to my racing heart. “Wherever you go, I follow,” Dean said, so matter-of-fact I felt a heat bloom across my chest—and for the first time, I believed it without doubt.
LOGAN
AfewweeksbeforetheGala, the news broke. We never stood a chance once Charles was arrested—those reporters moved fast. The statement we wrote to deliver at Friday's game was sitting on Silas’s desk in his office.
I sighed.We were screwed.
In the short time of living at Dansby I had never seen them close the gates to the driveway but as Jensen and Arlo pushed the large, black doors together and locked it I realized that everything had gone to shit.
Reporters weren’t just harassing the players at the stadium anymore—they’d climbed the hill to the Hornets' sanctuary, desperate for any scrap they could find. The cameras flashed at all hours, and the yelling never stopped even as the sun went down.
Silas pulled up the morning after on his bike, he had been staying at his mother’s place in the city more and more. He looked exhausted with dark circles heavy under his concerned grey eyes, and his jaw set tightly at all times. He stood in the driveway with Jensen and Arlo, the three of them watching the gate as they spoke.
“That can’t be good,” Cael muttered, leaning against the wall beside me as we watched from the upstairs hallway window. “They didn’t even close those after the accident…” he said.
“Yeah, Cody, I know,” I huffed, and he put his hand out to stop me as I started to walk away. I didn’t have the emotional bandwidth to deal with Boy Wonder. The issue at hand was bigger than just some drugged-up baseball player crashing a car, I wanted to say, but kept my mouth shut. He didn’t deserve that. He was just trying to be nice.
“How are you doing?” he asked me, crossing his arms over his chest when I stopped and squared up with him. If Cael was good at anything, it was getting under my skin at the exact wrong time.
“I’m fine,” I said. Everyone seemed to want the answer to that question. Silas, Coach, Dean… Riona and her annoying nephew.
“Mmm, no,” Cael hummed and shook his head. "Try again.”
“I’ll throw you down the stairs if you don’t get out of my way,” I threatened him.
“Empty threat when it would mean having Dougie as backup for the rest of the season,” Cael called my bluff.
“Would feel really fucking good right about now though.” I narrowed my eyes on him.
“Answer me honestly and I’ll let you go.” he smiled at me and I wanted to knock all the teeth out of his mouth.
“I’m stressed out, tired, overwhelmed and right now, really fucking pissed off,” I snapped at him.
“Is it ‘need a meeting’overwhelmed?” He asked me, finally getting to his concern.
“No,” I snapped. “Are you finished?”
“You love him, don’t you?” Cael asked. It should have felt blurted out, rushed—spontaneous. But nothing Cael did was without thought. No matter how much people liked to believe him to be chaotic. It was just him, brutally honest to a fault and never one to cut corners.
“It’s none of your business, Cody,” I said, clenching my jaw. It was such a heavy question, one that if I answered it wrong, everything I was building towards would come crashing down around me. And with everything else going on, I couldn’t afford for the one safe place I had left to become hostile territory.
“It is my business,” he said, his tone dropping.
“It’s really not,” I argued. "If he wanted to talk to you about it, he would.”
“I’m asking you.” Cael stepped forward, that possessive little shit head reared his ugly head and I couldn’t help but laugh in his face.
“You walked away from him, remember that,” I snapped. I watched him wince, his jaw ticking in anger before he shoved it aside and nodded.
“Do you love him?” He asked again, but I couldn’t figure out why he was pushing so hard. It was a hilarious notion, and I couldn’t tell if he was jealous or just genuinely concerned about the whole thing.
“If this is a pissing contest over Tucker, you better be prepared tolose,” I warned him and a stupid smile formed on his lips. “What the fuck are you smiling about?” I asked, my voice breaking into a snarl.
