Page 2 of My Brother's Teammates

Jason grunted. “No. Jenny isn’t dating anyone. Right?”

I wasn’t dating anyone anymore. I wiped my eyes and cleared the emotion from my throat. “I’ll stay in a corner somewhere, Jason. Just for tonight.”

“Was it a guy, Jenny?” Jason frowned at me with my same amber colored eyes. Only he had perfect vision and I walked into walls without my glasses.

“Does it matter?” I took my glasses off and handed them to him. Since we were kids he’d always just taken them for me and cleaned them before handing them back. That time was no different. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Does it matter if a guy made you cry like this? Fuck yeah, it does.” Jason put my glasses back on my face awkwardly and moved away as I straightened them. “Did he hurt you? Did he touch you?”

I wrapped my arms around myself and shook my head. “Jason, please.”

“He touched her.” Axel’s commentary wasn’t helping but when I darted a glance his way, he looked as annoyed as Jason. “Who is he? Do we know him?”

The front door opened and closed and a few seconds later, the energy of the room darkened just slightly as Ryder Tuff entered the living room. I didn’t need to look up to see that it was him. His attitude preceded him into any and every space. “The fuck?”

Hudson was so helpful in filling their last roommate in. “Some dickhead hurt Baby Ramsey and she wants to stay here tonight. She won’t say who it was. Jason’s going King Kong. Axel’s helping ask questions. The party’s going to be awkward with Baby Ramsey crying in the middle of the living room.”

I felt my cheeks darken as shame filled me. I jerked to my feet and looked around for my bag. “Sorry. I’ll go.”

“Shit. No. No, Jenny. You can stay. I’m sorry.” Jason tugged me into his arms and hugged me tight. “You’re not getting out of talking to me about this, though. I need to know what happened and who to knock out.”

I sagged into his arms, relieved that I wasn’t going to be sleeping in my car. “Thank you.”

“Clean your shit up, Hud. The place smells like a gas station bathroom. That’ll be the real party killer.” Ryder’s voice faded as he stomped away.

Hudson snorted. “You act like you’ve never left a plate of food sitting out for a week or two.”

“This place is going to be swarming with people in about an hour, Jenny. Loud, drunk people. Can you handle that?” Jason held me out at arm’s length and searched my face. Apparently what he saw concerned him. “Jesus, Jen. You’re not okay, are you?”

I looked down and shook my head. More tears threatened to fall and I blinked quickly to fight them. “It’s just for tonight. I’ll find a new apartment tomorrow.”

“She can stay in my room tonight.”

Jason and I both snapped around to look at Axel. Jason didn’t take as long as I did to recover. “What the fuck, Fitzgerald? That’s my little sister you’re talking about.”

I made the mistake of looking up at Axel and watched as he wagged his brows at me. My entire face warmed and I turned away, embarrassed.

“She’s not that little, Jace.” Axel’s voice was dangerously flirty and I could feel Jason tense. Thankfully, Axel finally laughed. “I’m fucking with you. We’ve all had the talk, bud. We know. Baby Ramsey is off limits.”

I was too mentally and emotionally exhausted to deal with them teasing each other. I just wanted to change out of my wet clothes and go to sleep for the next forty years. I didn’t even know how I was standing.

“She can have my room for the night. That’s what I was saying before you perverts all took it wrong. We all know I’m not going back to my bed tonight.” Axel and Hudson did a handshake that just felt misogynistic and then Axel turned his focus on me. “Come on, Baby Ramsey. You can crash in my room. Lucky for you, the sheets are clean.”

Jason hugged me tighter and then gently pushed me towards Axel. “Lock the door. It’ll still be loud, but at least you’ll have privacy. We’ll talk tomorrow. Okay, kid?”

I wanted to cling to him for comfort but I just nodded and moved towards Axel. I saw that Axel still had my backpack and reached for it, just to have him throw it over his shoulder and grab my wrist. He was at least a foot taller than me and I had to race up the stairs to avoid him dragging me.

He led me to a room at the end of the hall and pushed open the door to reveal a space that didn’t smell like anything terrible, thank god. His room was clean, minus a few notebooks and books stacked on his desk. The bed was even made.

Axel set my backpack down next to his bed and went to his dresser. He pulled out a few things and tossed them on the bed before walking into the bathroom and flipping on the light. “The shower gets fucking hot, so be careful. There’s towels in the bathroom closet. I’m assuming your clothes are wet if they’re in that backpack, so you can wear what I put on the bed.”

I hovered next to the door and wrapped my arms around my waist. I couldn’t look up at him. I just wanted to be alone. “Thank you.”

He stopped next to me at the door and tucked his finger under my chin. Lifting my face so I had to look at him, he looked me over and shook his head. “You’re going to have to tell Jason what happened or he’ll lose his mind. If you haven’t noticed, he thinks he’s your father.”

I looked away and tucked myself in tighter. “I can’t.”

“You won’t. There’s a difference.” His slight accent made him disagreeing with me easier to handle. “Get some rest. You’ll need your energy to fight off Jason tomorrow. Try not to get too comfy in my bed, Jenny.”

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