Page 1 of My Brother's Teammates

***Jenny***

Ofcourseitwasraining. Why wouldn’t it be raining on possibly the worst day of my life? I took a deep breath and knocked on the large wooden door looming in front of me. Not possibly the worst day of my life, I mentally corrected myself. Itwasthe worst day of my life. Worse even than the day I’d split my pants in front of the entire school during a forced performance about saying no to drugs. After that day, I’d needed drugs to get over my humiliation. Too bad no one ever got them for me. Maybe if they had, I wouldn’t be in the position I was in right then. Which was waiting for someone to open the door to my older brother’s house, completely soaked through.

I knocked again and bit my lip hard. I wasn’t going to cry. I’d done enough of that. Although, if there was ever a time for me to cry and have it go unnoticed, standing in the pouring rain was that time. My throat burned and my lip wobbled. Yeah, I was going to do it. I was going to cry until the moment someone finally opened the door.

I tipped my face up to the sky and closed my eyes. How could I have been so stupid? Of all the ways to mess up, I’d done it in a way that had left me homeless. Homeless and heartbroken. I let my backpack drop to the ground next to my feet and groaned. I’d dropped a nuke on my own life and it was so unlike me that I wasn’t sure what to do next. I wasn’t someone who made dangerous choices. I was safe. Boring, a lot of people would say. Dull, meaner people might add. Yet, there I was, standing in the rain, hoping my brother was home and loved me enough to let me crash on his couch for a night or two.Homeless.

“Well, hello.”

I flinched, surprised by the voice coming from next to me. I recognized the deep voice easily. No one else on campus had that same Irish lilt to their voice. Axel Fitzgerald had been my brother’s best friend for their entire college career and even if he hadn’t spoken, the energy of his flirtation would have alerted me to his presence eventually. He probably slept around more than my brother, which was saying a lot.

“Selling Girl Scout cookies?”

Annoyance bit me. The last thing I needed was a complex about how young I looked or how flat my chest was after the day I’d had. I wiped my eyes and turned to Axel. He probably didn’t know what Jason’s nerdy little sister looked like.

It sucked that even in my heartbroken state I could still notice how attractive Axel was. Despite the rain, his thick black hair looked effortlessly perfect, his forest green eyes were bright with humor, and he somehow managed to look like a sunny day. I didn’t even know what that meant, but there it was, staring back at me. With his tan skin and shadow of a beard, he just looked like sunshine and fun.

I wanted to shove him down in a puddle and wipe the big smile off his face. The violent urge wasn’t like me, but I blamed the rain. No matter how violent I felt, though, I’d never be able to budge someone the size of Axel. Tall and built for football, he was a wall I’d have more luck digging my way under than ever pushing through.

I sighed and squeezed my eyes shut for a moment. When I opened them again, I stared at my feet. My Crocs were squishy wetlands. Neon yellow squishy wetlands. “Is Jason home?”

“Jenny, right?” He reached down and grabbed my backpack. “He should be inside. Either way, you should come in and get out of the rain. You look like you’re about to fall apart.”

For some stupid reason, him knowing who I was became the final crack in my emotional dam. The whole thing crumbled and all I could do was sit down on their front step and bury my face in my knees as I sobbed.

“Jason!” Any other time, Axel’s horror-filled voice would’ve been funny.

“What the hell are you yelling about? You- Jenny?” My brother’s familiar voice filled with panic and then I was being lifted like I was a sack of potatoes. “What’s wrong? What happened? Who do I need to kill? Why didn’t you come in?”

I could tell he’d carried me inside by the scent of sweat and old pizza lingering in the air. It was rude of me to cover my nose, but I couldn’t help it. I grunted as Jason dropped me on what I hoped was a couch and not one of their beds. Not that I thought the couch was probably that much better. They were four single guys living together in their senior year of college. I just assumed a blacklight would light the place up like a fireworks display.

I forced myself to open my eyes and found Jason squatting in front of me. Beyond him, I could see more mess than I wanted to think about. “It smells.”

Axel laughed and I saw he was hovering beside the couch. He grinned down at me and nodded. “That would be Hudson. He’s used to having a nanny and a maid.”

“Jenny. What happened?” Jason rested his fisted hands on my knees and I could feel his stress as he waited for me to explain.

I couldn’t tell him, though. I couldn’t tell anyone. “Um… I lost my apartment.”

He frowned. “You’ve had that apartment for the last two years. You had it locked in with the landlord, right?”

Fresh tears filled my eyes as I nodded. “Yeah.”

“Jenny. Spit it out.”

I shook my head hard enough to send droplets of water flying. “I can’t, Jason. I can’t tell you. I’m sorry. I just need a place to stay for the night. Please. I won’t be in the way.”

A door slammed somewhere else in the house and heavy footsteps pounded down the stairs. “Turn the music up already! We’re celebrating!”

Jason winced. “Jenny… Are you sure you can’t stay with one of your friends? We’re having a party tonight. It’s not exactly the place I want my baby sister.”

Desperation had me grabbing his hands and not bothering to hide the fat tears streaming down my cheeks. “Please, Jason. I don’t have anywhere else to go.”

Hudson DuPont strolled into the room, shirtless and flexing until he saw me sitting on the couch. “Whoa. Who hurt the baby Ramsey?”

***Jenny***

“Shewon’tsay.”Axel leaned against the arched doorway into the living room and studied me. “Which makes me think it was a guy.”

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