Page 26 of The Handoff

Chapter 14

Dane

Lisa’sanklehealedafter a week of her being in her dorm and resting. She wasn’t exactly bedridden, but she said giving her ankle a break had allowed her to take off the bandage and she could go to campus on her own. She still used the crutches and it was inflamed slightly, but she could go to cheer practice, just not actively participate. I was a gentleman… well, some of the time, and as much as David promised to take care of her, I wasn’t going to let him spend every second with her. I took my turn whenever I went to campus, and I made sure to check on her. I was surprised how much it annoyed him. He didn’t tell me so, but it was written all over his face. David wasn’t good at keeping his emotions in check, unlike Daxon and I.

“If I’d known you were all about piggies, I would have stayed as far away from you as possible!” I heard a shout behind me, and I knew that voice a little too well. It was Fiona. She’d gone to spend time with her sick mom—that was the rumor on campus—but I knew her mom wasn’t sick; she just had a nasty habit which involved drinking and drugs. She would relapse, and Fiona would run to her rescue. Apparently, her mom had been in rehab more times than I’d played in football games.

Daxon had deleted some texts with Fiona. He forgot we shared the same phone at times, so he’d been careless by giving me the phone and not making sure he removed all evidence of the time he’d spent with Fiona. I’d seen pictures of the two of them together, in compromising positions. I had the evidence, so I knew he’d done the deed with her not once, but on a few occasions. When I asked him about it, he lied to my face. He wasn’t good at hiding things from me; the three of us knew each other better than our mom. When we did lie to each other—which was something we didn’t do often—it was always a waste of time. David tended to tap his left foot when he lied, Daxon would avoid eye contact, and I didn’t bother because I wasn’t good at being two-faced. Silence would be my answer, which was as good as a confession.

I turned to face her, thinking her time away would have calmed her down and she would have forgotten about Lisa. I was wrong. Fiona was headstrong, and when it came to dealing with her family issues, she took her frustration out on everyone and anyone around her. Only Penny and I knew the real reason she was a bitch at the worst of times. Her little stunt to frighten or get Lisa off the team hadn’t worked. If anything, the girls had been training and streaming from the gym, so Lisa could see they were still dedicated and part of the team. Also, they’d been doing videos, and it was clear Lisa had raised the team spirit—something Fiona had failed to do for years.

“Don’t start…” I stopped as I was just about to head to the gym. I told Lisa I would come and see her at practice, but I felt as if Fiona was following me to cause more trouble. I didn’t want her anywhere near me with her attitude, let alone near Lisa.

“Or what?” she slurred, with her dress half-hanging off her frail body. The one sleeve of her backless red dress was on her shoulder, while the other was tied around her other arm. Her hair was in a messy bun, and Fiona never stepped outside without make-up on. She was holding a bottle like a drunk on the street.

I grabbed her as she nearly tumbled to the ground, unable to walk in her matching red stilettos. “Don’t you think that this is all too much?” I asked as she tried to regain her balance.

She started to cry fake tears. “No, it’s all too much that you’re even with Ms. Porky. Now everyone’s laughing at me.”

I shook my head, wondering if she even heard the words that were leaving her mouth.

“We’re in college, not middle school. It’s not a case of you’re friends with them, so you can’t be friends with me. And as for calling her names, that’s an all-time low, even for you.”

“Friends! Friends?!” she bit back, and my mind drifted to Daxon and all the times he was always out with Fiona. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that not only was he out with her, but he was fucking her, too.

“You didn’t say that when I was sucking you dry!”

I let go of her and she had her legs wide open with her hands were on her hips, as if she was trying to stand her ground. Students loved a good fight on campus—it was better than watching Netflix—but I wasn’t about to let her make a show of me.

I could feel myself getting angrier, not only because she was making a scene, but because my horny brother had gone out of his way to be with the one girl we all vowed to go nowhere near. I was angrier with him than with Fiona.

He could fuck anyone on campus!

Why Fiona?

I turned around, fed up with the drama she was creating. There was no point talking to her in her state; she wasn’t willing to listen, only dish out dirt. I knew the only reason she was going on about Lisa was because she was jealous. Fiona loved being the center of attention, and with her poor grades, the only thing she could be proud of was being head of the cheerleaders. Now that Lisa had taken that away, I should have known better than to think Fiona would lie low like a defeated champion.

I hesitated for a second, thinking about walking around Fiona as students started cheering for me. Sympathy reared its ugly head until I was walking back to Fiona and saw Penny comforting her as the fake tears returned. I hated Fiona and all her kind stood for; she was a bully and felt I should be on my knees wanting to be with her because she desired me.

I turned to walk away and my anger for Fiona and all she stood for boiled inside of me. Once and for all, Daxon had to listen to reason and stay as far away from Fiona as possible.

***

I didn’t go to the gym. I decided that I needed to calm down after the performance Fiona put on earlier. I was thinking about Lisa most of the day, so I decided to pay her a visit in her dorm. Maybe it was part of Fiona’s plan… Talk about being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

I couldn’t take the antagonizing decision anymore. As much as I agreed we wouldn’t date and we’d never go out with a girl, the more I thought about it. The more time I spent with Lisa, it was clear she wasn’t just some girl.

She was someone special, and I didn’t want to overthink it all. Sure, she was a freshman, and I would be graduating this year, so it would be hard at first, especially with my brothers in the mix, but I knew we could make it work.

I wanted us to be official, I wanted her to be mine. I didn’t want or need to have a discussion about it with my brothers. As long as my brothers agreed to keep their grubby hands off her, then it was all good. David would be an easy one to agree to it, but Daxon… I didn’t trust him. He wouldn’t break our code, would he?

I headed up to her dorm, and I was smiling while thinking about the words which were going to come out of my mouth. “Do you want to go steady?”

I laughed at the idea of saying those words since it made me feel old before my time.

No, I couldn’t say that. I had to think of a way to do it. I’ll take her out on a date, and then ask for us to be official. Shit, it was then that it hit me like a ton of bricks. I’d never asked a girl out before. I’d asked a girl to prom, sure. I fucked a ton over my years, but I never asked them to be my girl. How could I? I’d been living a life of three for the past four years, so by the time I was ready to officially date, my brothers were already pretending to be me. This was a whole new thing for me, and the guys, too. They would freak out once I told them about it, and not in a good way. But once I asked her, I knew not only would she agree to it, but they would, too.

As I was just about to knock on the door to her room, it swung open and Tanya was on the other side.

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