Page 29 of Our Secret Moments

I look down at them who are still rolling around on the ground. “Nora and Wes?” I laugh.

Connor scoffs. “There’s a better chance of flying cars than that fu–” Eve’s innocent green eyes widen before Connor stops himself. “Fudging silly boy marrying my sister,” he says smoothly.

The second the words leave his mouth, everyone is looking down at them again. Wes has somehow managed to get on top of heragainas he pins his knees on either side of her, holding her hands above her head as she writhes beneath him.

“Can’t paint me now, can you, Nor?” he asks playfully.

“You’re so annoying,” she says, laughing. If she wasn’t covered in paint, she would definitely be blushing right now. She can act tough all she wants, but I know that sometimes with the things Wes says or does, she clearly gets flustered over it. He’s the world’s biggest flirt, and she’s taken, but sometimes that line is on the brink of breaking.

“I’m annoying, huh?” he teases, and she nods, unable to stop laughing. He rubs his painted cheek against hers, causingthe colours on their faces to merge together into a deep, dirty, green-purple colour. “Is this annoying? Is this annoying? Is this annoying?”

She’s still giggling as she says, “Yes. Oh my god, Wes. Stop!”

“That’s not usually what women say to me when they’re in this position,” Wes says.

Connor sighs beside me loudly. “Get off her, you animal,” he says to Wes and eventually he does. Not before covering her face with another blob of paint.

Yep.

Damn puppies.

All of them.

CONNOR

Maybe painting in silence while the rest of the team runs wild is my calling. I’m not exactly great at it, but every month, I try something new in hopes of getting better. I guess the trying part is what counts.

I’ve spent most of the day trying to pretend that Catherine’s proximity doesn’t make me want to curl up in her lap and let her hold me. Is that weird? Probably. Whatever. I just don’t understand how she can come in here, in that black skirt and tights and not expect me to lose my fucking mind.

Once Nora and Wes have cleaned up from their fight and we’re all back around the small table again, I watch as Cat watches everybody else. I don’t know if this is part of her process for getting to know us as a team, but she seems to be so lost in whatever bullshit Sam is feeding her. The team is a mess on and off the pitch which is understandable. But there are moments like these where we feel like a team in nearly every aspect of life.

“I bet this isn’t what you thought you’d be getting into when you got told about this, huh?” Sam asks, not taking his eyes off his turtle. Cat shakes her head, laughing a little.

“No, but it’s fun, though. It’s better than being in that tiny classroom with you guys,” she says before adding quietly, “You’re like a little family.”

I shrug. “Yeah, you could say that.”

“Oh, that reminds me,” she says, wiping her hands with a wet wipe before pulling up her phone. “That’s a good question, actually. Who would you say are the parents of the group? People do that all the time for celebrity friendship groups. It could be a good segment for a poll of some sorts.”

Wes and Sam exchange a mischievous look. “Well, we all know who the mom is,” Wes says, doing a very bad job at trying to discreetly point his head in my direction.

That fucker.

“Oh, one hundred percent,” Oliver chimes in. He turns to Catherine, pulling all of her attention on him. “You should have seen the day you came into the locker room. He was telling us all that we couldn’t go anywhere near–”

“Okay,” I say, cutting him off as Cat leans further into my side, only to get closer to him to listen to his story. Her scent throws me off a littleand the memory of her hand on my knee. She does not need to know that I told them to stay away from her just because I secretly want her to myself. It’s true, though. Catherine has always been my little secret. She had been my first crush and has been the only reason I ever looked forward to my English class at the thought of bumping into her. She’d always beenmyCatherine before she ever knew it. “So, if I’m the mom then who is the dad?”

Cat studies me for a second, silently judging me as if she knows Oliver was about to say something stupid.

“Me, obviously,” Sam says proudly.

“Just because you have a kink for people calling you ‘daddy’ doesnotmake you the dad of the group,” Wes says, pinning his arms across his chest, pouting.

“So, you can see who is so obviously the moody child,” Nora says, ruffling Wes’s hair like he’s a puppy. The satisfied grin on his face shows that he loves every single second of attention my sister gives him.

“Yeah,” I say quietly, laughing at the two of them. I look over at Cat, but she’s already looking at me. “I guess you could call us a family.”

Once everyone has finally settled down and ready to clean up, I offer to help clean the pallets and paint pots because I know Catherine is there. She was the first one up when Mrs Redford asked people to help her with the washing up.

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