Page 72 of Absolutely Pucked
Boden left early, and Tucker volunteered me to give him a ride home, so I made him wait in the car while I pretended to give Athena her meds before taking off. Sneaking into the bedroom, I locked it behind me, finding Killian on the bed with a pillow half over his face.
“Are you trying to smother yourself?”
“I was trying to block out the conversation,” he said, voice muffled by the fabric. He pulled it down and stared at me with bleary eyes. “I didn’t expect it to hurt so much hearing him with you.”
Not even a week ago, I would have thought it was deserved. I would have told him that was karma and he had to deal with it. Now, I wasn’t so sure.
I couldn’t reconcile what he was to me with the man he’d been when he was younger.
“I’m here to steal a kiss,” I told him softly, dropping my knee on the bed. “I have to take…uh…” I didn’t want to say his name in there.
Pushing up on his elbow, Killian drew me close. “Tucker. It’s okay to say his name in front of me.”
“I have to take Tucker home.” Cupping his jaw, I tilted his head back and laid a messy, tender kiss on his mouth. “I won’t be long.”
“You don’t need to promise me that. If you want to tell him tonight?—”
My throat went a little tight. “I want more time. Iknow we promised Jonah, but…please. Just a few more days.”
His eyes cast down, but I could see the war on his face. He was tired of lying to his brother, but this was so fucking hard. “A few more days,” he finally agreed.
I kissed him again, then pulled away and hurried out before Tucker got suspicious. Locking the door behind me, I slipped into the driver’s seat and tried for a smile when Tucker glanced over. There was a good chance he couldn’t see the guilt all over my face in the dark.
“So,” he said as we hit the road. “Are we going to pretend like you don’t have something serious going on?”
I cleared my throat. “I really don’t.”
“I’m worried about you. You’ve been cagey and weird and quiet. You’ve skipped practice a few times, and you seemed like you were going to jump out of your skin when we showed up tonight. I don’t like it.”
Swallowing heavily, I took a breath and tried to find the right words—that void between truth and lies. “Have you ever…I don’t know…made a giant mistake?”
Tucker laughed so hard he started choking. “Are you serious right now?”
“I don’t mean like screwing around at the Olympics or getting shit-faced in Vegas. Those things ended well.”
“Uh, I beg to differ on the Olympics thing. I basically ruined Boden’s career?—”
“You made us family,” I reminded him. “And Boden is doing just fucking fine. He’s boning our coach andgetting a big fat six-figure signing bonus to play for Boston. That’s not a fuckup.”
Tucker was quiet until we reached his street and waited until I was in his driveway before he spoke again. “What constitutes a giant mistake, then?”
“I…I don’t know. Making decisions that will hurt the people you love?”
Tucker sighed, leaning his head back on the headrest. “I think I have some pretty good experience with that.”
“I’m not talking about us. I?—”
“No,” he interrupted me. “I know. I don’t mean you guys. I mean…” Biting his lip, he turned his gaze out toward the front window. “I wasn’t the greatest person when I was growing up. I was angry, and a lot of times, I took it out on my brother. Now, don’t get me wrong, Killian is a fucking bastard, and I’m not, like, excusing him for shit. But I didn’t make things easy on him when we were kids.”
My heart jumped into my throat. “What do you mean?”
Tucker shrugged. “He was a nerd in school. I was a dickhead jock who let my friends bully him. I was so pissed off all the time,” he admitted, twisting his fingers together in his lap. “My parents liked him more.”
“Yeah,” I said. I knew that much from both brothers.
“I had this one friend—he was on the football team. His name was Spencer. He would trip Killian into these giant trash bins my school had in the hallways. I never did it myself, but…you know. I laughed. When he cried, I let them make fun of him. It was fucked-up.”
My gut twisted. “I mean, he hurt you too.”
