Page 16 of Beneath the Stands (Sugarlake 2)

“You’re shit at it.” My mouth tilts up. “Maybe you should try harder. You’d never make the team.”

My heart skips when I see a flash in her eyes.

“Maybe I need a better coach.” She chews on a fry, cocking her head. “You really wanna get into how things are with our families? Out of the two of us, I’m the one who’s better off.”

That shuts me up quick. In all the time we’ve spent together, we haven’t mentioned my sister. It feels almost taboo, especially with the thoughts I have of Becca when I’m alone.

She drives me fucking crazy.

Besides, thinking of how close they are just highlights the fact that if Becca hates me the way she does, Lee must feel a thousand times worse. Sadness slithers its way up my spine, reaching around my neck and strangling me. I rub at my throat, trying to ebb the sting.

“You’re right.”

Her jaw drops. “I am?”

“Yeah.” I blow out a breath, leaning back. “When it comes to my family, we’re all pretty fucked.”

“Hmm.” She grabs the straw from her drink, plugging one end with her finger as she sucks liquid from the other. Is she doing that on purpose? I watch how her lips close around the straw, my cock growing as I adjust in my seat.

“You really are fucked,” she agrees. “How come you never go home, Eli?”

“What is this, an after-school special?” I mock. “It really isn’t your business, Rebecca.”

Her eyes narrow, cheeks flushing as she purses her lips. My stomach flips, excitement rushing through me at the re-emergence of my little spitfire. I was worried she wouldn’t come back out to play.

“Not my business? You are such a prick. Let me tell you somethin’, asshole. I’m the one who held your sister up day after day when she couldn’t do it herself. She didn’t have anyone there, Eli. No one except me and Jax.”

My forehead creases. “Is Jax that kid who lived behind us?”

“The one and only.” She pauses. “Truly, he’s a better friend to her than I am, and you best believe that’s a bitch for me to admit.”

“I doubt that’s true.” I can’t imagine someone more loyal than Becca.

“No, it is.” She waves me off. “But he’s stupid in love with her, and while I love your sister, I don’t want to spend my life eatin’ at her buffet.”

I choke on my Coke, coughing while I try to stop my laughter.

She grins, shaking her head. “But it doesn’t matter whether she had a thousand mes or a thousand Jaxs. She needed you there. She still does.”

I rub the back of my neck, her words muddling up my perception of my baby sister. I don’t feel needed. Never have. The only thing Lee talks about is Pops and how I need to help him, but whenever I try to dig deeper, Pops assures me it’s just Lee struggling with the loss of Ma. That she’s projecting her worries onto him.

I love my sister, but I’m more inclined to believe Pops.

“I don’t wanna go back there, Becca. I don’t think I can,” I whisper, my voice raspy.

The line in between Becca’s eyes deepens as she studies my face.

I wish she’d stop looking at me like that.

After a few moments, she runs her hand through her hair, blowing out a breath. “I get it... not wantin’ to be in Sugarlake.”

“You do?”

“Yeah. It’s what Momma was screamin’ at me for today, actually.”

Surprise trickles through my system. “You don’t wanna be in Sugarlake?”

She huffs out a laugh. “Hell no. That town judges you quicker than a duck on a june bug.”

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