CHAPTER 24
BRADY
West had woken me up at nine this morning. He was going for a run and wanted me to go with him. Maggie had turned him down, so I got up and went. It was good to work out the stiffness from Friday night. It also gave Mom time to fix breakfast.
The route he was taking us on went right in front of Riley’s house. My plan had been to text her this morning and find some way to see her. I’d lain in bed for hours last night thinking about our day. Her laughter, her smile, the feel of her lips on mine. All of it. I wanted to see her again. Now.
Looking toward the house, I wondered if she was awake and what she was doing. Did Bryony wake her up early? Did she fix breakfast at her house? Was her grandmother being difficult today? What did she normally do on Sundays? I had a million questions. I wanted to know everything about her. I just needed time and freedom to run up to her door right now and see her.
“What’s going on there?” West asked, and it snapped my attention back to the road we were on and the fact that I wasn’t alone.
“What do you mean?” was my response. Although I knew exactly what he meant.
“With Riley,” he replied.
West wouldn’t be on Maggie’s side about this. Sure, he’d offered to help find her grandmother, but he wasn’t about to become her friend.
“They’re living here taking care of her grandmother,” I told him, although I knew he already knew that.
“Not what I meant, and you know it.”
I didn’t say anything to that. We were running, not talking. He needed to stop being nosy and focus on his own love life. Mine was off-limits.
“You suck at hiding things. It’s going to come out,” he finally said when I didn’t say anything.
“Nothing to hide,” I lied.
He laughed. “Sure.”
I picked up speed in hopes of getting home and safe from his questioning faster.
“Gunner’s gonna find out. Then all hell will break loose. Might as well tell me now what you’re thinking. You’re my best friend. I’m not going to turn on you.”
Out of everyone, I never really expected West to turn on me. He was closer to me than he was Gunner. There was also Maggie, who was going to take my side in this. And there was no way West wouldn’t be on Maggie’s side.
“Right now there isn’t anything to find out. After we win the championship, then things may change.” That was all he was getting out of me.
“You need to do a better job of hiding it, then. Because at this rate you’re gonna get found out and you’ll have Gunner to deal with. We need him to win.”
He’d have his followers too. People who would side with him and turn on me. That would split the team, and we would be over. I had played this scenario in my head a million times, it seemed. I knew how it went and how it ended.
“I’ve got this under control,” I assured him.
“The way you were looking at her house, it didn’t seem like it.”
Point made. I had to back off for now. I could talk to Riley on the phone and see her when we could get out of town on weekends. Just for the next two weeks. Then I’d be free.
“Noted,” I replied. Luckily my house was in sight and this conversation could be over.
We ran up to the sidewalk in silence and slowed as we got to the door. Just before my hand touched the knob to go inside, West said one more thing. “Even if Rhett didn’t do it, she was still only fifteen. He shouldn’t have been alone with her.”
I paused. I knew Rhett had done it. But he was right. Even if he hadn’t, the situation was still bad. Rhett had no business with her, and everyone knew he was sleeping with other girls in our grade. Serena, to be exact. It wasn’t like he was above it.
“Yeah. I know. But he did it” was all I said before going inside to the smell of biscuits and sausage.
“Your house always smells like food. I love it here,” West said as we walked to the kitchen.
“That’s because you only come at mealtimes.”
“When it’s not a mealtime, it smells like cookies.”
I laughed as we entered the kitchen to find Mom in her apron and Maggie putting butter in biscuits. She glanced up and made eye contact with West before smiling.
“Smells good, Mom,” I told her, ignoring the lovebirds and going to the fridge to get the milk.
“You two stink,” she replied. “Have a good run?”
“Woke me up,” I said.
West chuckled and sat down. I didn’t look his way, but I could feel Maggie studying the two of us. She was good with body language and would have this figured out soon enough.
“Ivy came by yesterday. I forgot to tell you when you got home last night. She left you some cinnamon rolls. I put them in the fridge.”
My mom knew my issues with Ivy, but she reminded me to be kind to her. The girl was hard to shake when you were kind, though.
“She needs to stop that,” I said with an annoyed grunt.
“I like the brownies,” Maggie replied, sounding amused.
“Well, you can have them,” I told her.
“You gonna share with me?” West asked.
“Of course. I can’t eat them all.”
I rolled my eyes at their attempt at humor and fixed my plate before my mom could. “Thanks for cooking,” I told her, then sat down to get full after burning all those calories.
“Do you think she’d send some of that caramel pound cake her mom makes?” West teased.
I ignored him.
“Wouldn’t hurt to ask,” Maggie added.
“All right, you two, stop giving Brady a hard time,” Mom said with a smile in her voice. She patted me on the back.
I doubted Riley would ever send me food, and I was good with that.