Page 41 of Honeysuckle
“I am—a piece of toast,remember?” I rolled my eyes and sighed.
“Dean, come on.” Silas pushed, stepping toward me and running a hand through his dark hair. “The last thing I want to do is force you to get help, I’m not qualified to coach you through this, or I would. But I will not pick you up off the field again. It was scary enough the first time.”
He was right. The first time I’d collapsed because of the neglect was in the middle of a game with a stadium full of people. The lights had been so hot and the noise from the stands had made me dizzy. It was like my muscles all went slack at the same time, and everything went black before I hit the ground.
He placed a hand on my shoulder, holding my gaze for a moment. “I know that everything is messy right now. I know that your family is suffocating and the stress of taking captain has got a chokehold on you…” He paused, feeling me tense under his fingertips. “I’m not saying you can’t handle it, I know you can. I’m saying you don’t have to do it alone.”
“Two steps at a time,” I grumbled under my breath and looked down between us. “I’ll stop skipping breakfast.”
“If I don’t see you in this hall, I’ll send Arlo after you,” he threatened.
“Not funny.” I shuddered.
“Wasn’t a joke.” He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes.
LOGAN
“Youcomingover?”Vanasked, before I could slip away after dinner. The fire had already started, the last one before we packed up and left the camp. There was no way I could refuse, not after how well the practice had gone, but I wasn’t really in the mood to be surrounded by their toxic love for one another.
Not with my mom’s missed calls still lighting up my phone. I hadn’t gotten the chance to call her before I lost service again, and I wasn’t going to do it around Cael. She was calling for money; she always was.
“Uh yeah…” I sighed and changed my direction to follow him over toward the glowing ember haze and the sounds of laughter.
I watched as he settled down against the log between Cael’s legs and floundered. His long arms rested across Cody’s knees, and he leaned his body into him to listen to whatever story Nicholas was telling.
I looked around at them all and noticed Dean was missing. So was Silas, and my thoughts flickered to the brief conversation we’d had earlier.
“Where did you and Cael go?” Silas asked.
“Into town for a meeting. He needed one,” I lied.
“Funny, he said it was you who needed one.” Silas narrowed his eyes at me.
“Why ask if you knew what we were doing?” I slumped against the door frame and looked over my shoulder to make sure we were alone. More than one Hornet player had a bad habit of sneaking up behind people and eavesdropping.
“I wanted to see if you were going to lie to me again,” he answered, resting his hands on his hips. He shifted uncomfortably in the navy polo and jeans, his lips pressed into a tight line.
“I’m not the liar in the room, Shore,” I reminded him.
Silas sighed. "I’m not a liar, I was an unaware party and the moment—”
“Yeah, did you call me in here for excuses or?...” I offered him a tight, annoyed smile and stood up straight in the doorway.
“No, I wanted to see how you were doing,” he said.
I let out an unimpressed chuckle and shook my head. "Stop it.”
“What?” He asked, and I couldn’t tell if he was genuinely confused or just being an asshole and baiting the answer out of me.
“Acting like my brother.”
“I am your brother.”
I swallowed tightly and shook my head in disbelief at his calm tone. I hated that he just so easily accepted it. He should be angry, wound up and mean about all of it. But instead he was just there, asking me what I needed, and it was infuriating.
“No, we share the same bastard blood, but we’re not brothers, Silas. You’re just some rich asshole with a guilty conscience and too much time on your hands. How about you focus on your real family? Tucker’s missed 14 of the last 21 meals.”
I watched him open his mouth to argue with me and then close it again, his hands tightening around his hips. The look on his face went from frustration to concern with a single blink.
