Lo

I HARDLY SPOKE TO MAVERICK all week. After our rushed conversation on Tuesday between classes, it became a pattern of missing one another. He had classes. I had classes. I had to work at the bar. He had team stuff. Maverick explained pre-season practice wouldn’t officially start until the last weekend in September, but the team still needed to train. There were open gym sessions and conditioning training. Not to mention mandatory ‘team bonding’ activities. By the sounds of it, Zac Lowell had his claws hooked in the new players good. Even Maverick.

I hated it.

It was a game the new players were forced into. One that Maverick had no choice but to play if he wanted an easy life at SU. But just because I understood it, didn’t mean I had to like it.

“What the hell is that?” Kyle narrowed his eyes as I entered the Stone-Prince kitchen.

“Hmm, it’s called a dress.”

“Yeah, I know what it’s called; I just want to know where the rest of it is?”

I looked down, my brows pinching with irritation. “Kyle, there is nothing wrong with my dress.”

“It’s practically indecent. Can’t you change? Or put on some pants? Yes, pants would be a good idea.” He gave me a serious look, and I rolled my eyes.

“Seriously, you need to lighten up. It isn’t even micro-mini.”

“It’s micro something, alright.” He covered his eyes. “I can’t look at you all night in that thing. Take it off.”

“But then I’d be nake—”

“Cous, you’re pushing a very fine line right now. I don’t want to have to call Rick, but I’ll do it. If you push me, I’ll do it.”

“You are such a twat at times,” I snapped. How dare he throw the boyfriend card at me. Especially given my current mood.

Kyle’s hands went down, and he glared at me. “Take that back.”

“What? It’s true.” I shrugged. “You’re being completely unreasonable and threatening to call Maverick? Not cool, Cous.”

“Fine. Fine!” Kyle folded his arms over his shoulders. “Wear your dress, see if I care. Just don’t come calling for help when you’re trying to fight off the vultures later.”

It wasn’t unusual for him to lose his cool about my wardrobe choices, but this seemed over the top.

“Is everything okay, you’re acting extra testy?” I asked just as voices filtered down the hallway.

“We’re here,” Laurie’s voice sang and then she appeared, wearing a dress not too dissimilar to mine. Except hers was bright pink and mine was black.

But it wasn’t Laurie’s outfit that was the showstopper. Kiera stood next to her, barely recognisable in a denim mini with a sparkly black halter-top and black chucks, with enough smoky eyeliner to make me look twice.

“Oh, hell no!” Kyle growled stomping over to his sister. “There is no way in hell I am taking you anywhere looking like that.”

“Kyle Stone.” Laurie stepped in front of Kiera. “Don’t you dare talk to her like that. Kiera looks pretty and you’re being a complete dick right now.”

“Don’t worry, Kiera,” I added. “He didn’t approve of my outfit either.”

“What?” Laurie gasped, glancing me up and down. “You look hot, what’s the problem?”

“That.” Kyle stared his girlfriend down. “That’s the problem. I don’t want her to look hot. She needs to look off-limits. I want her to wear a t-shirt that says, ‘I belong to Maverick Prince’ so it means I won’t have to spend the night fighting my teammates.”

Kiera snickered but clamped her lips together when Kyle craned his neck around Laurie’s shoulder. “And you? Don’t even get me started on you. Your mom would kill me if she knew I was taking you to a party looking like that.”

“Our mom.”

“What?” Kyle frowned.

“You said ‘your mom’ but she’s our mom, Kyle.” Her brows pinched, the color draining from her face.

“Kiera, I didn’t mean—”

“Yeah, whatever. I’ll wait outside.” She spun around and left.

“Way to go, big brother.” Laurie smacked him upside the head and Kyle yelped like a little girl.

“Babe, come on. She’s barely sixteen. Couldn’t you have made her wear pants and a sweater?”

“Get over yourself. She’s the same age as Summer and you don’t lose your cool every time Nick picks her up in his Chevy.”

“No, because Rick scared the living shit out of Nick. He knows the deal. He’s a dead guy if he so much as hurts a hair on her—”

“Are you actually listening to yourself?” Her voice was louder now as she got all up in his face. “You sound completely deranged. Tell him, Lo, tell him how unreasonable he sounds.”

“I’m going to check on Kiera.” I shot Laurie an apologetic smile and left them to it. Kyle was acting extra-douchey lately, but something told me it was just his way of coping with Maverick being gone. He’d inherited a new sister, had a cousin moping over her absent boyfriend, and a team he was expected to guide to the state championship. We probably needed to cut him a little slack.

“Hey.” I found Kiera outside, sitting on the wall picking the hem of the halter top I suspected Laurie had bought her because I’d never seen her in anything so... girly.

“He’s been different since I started school.” She refused to look at me.

“He’s adjusting.” I took the seat beside her. “There have been a lot of changes, for all of us.”

“I knew I shouldn’t have let Laurie talk me into it. But then I thought, why not? I’ve never been to a party before, well not like the way you guys do parties.” She sounded so dejected, it hurt my heart. I remembered all too easily what it felt like to find out you belonged to a new family. A family with everything you didn’t have, had never experienced.

It was a lot to get used to.

“Listen.” Shuffling closer, I nudged her shoulder. “Can I tell you something?”

She cast me a sideways glance and nodded.

“I didn’t want to go tonight. I don’t really want to do anything now Maverick is gone. Before you say it, I know it’s lame that I’m moping over him. He’s only a forty-minute ride away. It could be worse. But Maverick isn’t just my boyfriend, Kiera. He’s so much more.”

More than anyone would understand.

“I don’t think it’s lame.” Her lips curved a fraction. “I want that one day. He gets you, and you get him. You’ve both been through stuff and survived.”

“Yeah, we have,” I choked out. “Kyle loves you. His over-the-top-big-brother bullshit, it’s his way of showing you he cares. I wouldn’t worry about when he’s giving you a hard time over who you hang out with, or what you’re wearing. I’d worry when he isn’t.”

Kiera didn’t answer but I could see her mulling over my words.

“Listen, I didn’t want to go tonight but how about this. We’ll go, we’ll hang out, and who knows we might even have fun? Kyle will lighten up. He just needs a couple of beers and to get laid.”

“Whoa! Too much information.” Kiera’s eyes grew to saucers, and I laughed, slipping my arm through hers.

“If you’re going to be a part of this family, you need to get used to it. If you haven’t already noticed, your brother is head-over-heels in love.”

“Yeah, it’s kind of gross.” She shuddered and shirked out of my arm. But that was okay. I just wanted her to know I was here, and I meant everything I said. “Thanks, Lo. For everything.”

“Hey.” I smiled. “That’s what family is for.”

“Okay,” Kyle said from behind us. “Who’s ready to partay?” He sounded lighter but there was still a tightness to his words. He stopped in front of Kiera. “I was a dick. Laurie’s right, you look pretty, Sis.” He held out his hand. Kiera stared at it but then grabbed hold and let him pull her up. Hooking his arm around her neck, he steered her toward the Jeep. “You can have one beer. One.”

“Yes, Dad.”

“I’m totally going to slip her two. She deserves it after the way he acted,” Laurie whispered as she passed me and climbed upfront. I slipped in the back with Kiera, and Kyle was last. He hit the stereo and Imagine Dragons blasted out. Pressing my head against the window, I watched the scenery roll by. Looking out for Kiera tonight would give me a distraction from thinking about Maverick. He was at a party tonight too. A team party. Of course he’d told me not to worry, but the funny thing about someone telling you not to worry...

It only made you worry more.

~

LONNIE BREAKER’S HOUSE reminded me of Brendon Palmer’s. It was a big sprawling place that backed onto the beach. Since Brendon Palmer had moved to college, the team needed a new place to party and Lonnie’s house fit the description.

“Holy shit,” Kiera said as we made our way up the winding drive. “This is...”

“Something, right?”

“Yeah.” She nodded at me, eyes glittering with disbelief and wonder. Laurie and Kyle were walking ahead, hand-in-hand, whispering and laughing. It was vomit inducing, but I was glad to see he’d calmed down. When we reached the porch, he spun around and addressed the two of us. “Rule number one: don’t drink more than you can handle. Rule two: No guys. None, Kiera, I mean it.”

“Like that’s ever going to happen,” she grumbled under her breath as he went on, “Rule three: we arrived together, we’ll leave together. I’m drinking so we’ll have to walk home or get a cab. Unless Laurie wants to be designated—”

“I’ll do it,” Laurie said.

“You sure?” He cocked his eyebrow, and she shrugged.

“I’m not bothered about drinking.”

“If it makes you feel any better, I won’t drink either,” I said. It rarely ended well for me and the last thing I needed was to get wasted and have an emotional breakdown over Maverick. “We can be Dave tonight.”

“Dave?”

“Yeah, designated Dave, it’s what we say back in... never mind.”

Kyle gave me a funny look. “Okay, where were we? Drinks... guys... ah yes, no cat fights. Rumor has it Caitlin is coming to make peace. If she does, I don’t want you two,”—he looked between me and Laurie—“causing a scene. I’ll handle Caitlin, okay?”

“Fine,” I mumbled, and Laurie agreed too.

“Now can we please go inside and have fun?” She tugged his hand, but before we went inside he looked to me and then Kiera and said, “Please, don’t make me regret this.”

I glared at him and he ran a hand over his face and through his hair before following Laurie inside.

“Ready?” I turned to Kiera who looked a little green.

“I’m not sure I can—”

“It’s fine. You’ll be fine. If I can do it, so can you.” I held out my hand and raised a brow. On an exasperated breath, Kiera slid her hand into mine, surprising me, and we followed Kyle and Laurie into the house. 

The place was crammed. After Kyle said hello to a few people he found us all drinks: a beer for him, a Bud light for Kiera, and a soda for me and Laurie. Then we wandered through the house out to the yard where most of the senior class, and a few juniors, were gathered. 

“Stone is in the house,” someone called, and Kyle raised his beer in the air, keeping his arm tight around Laurie’s waist. 

“And he brought fresh meat,” someone else yelled and the easy smile on my cousin’s face slipped, revealing a twisted snarl. 

“Whoever the fuck just said that better start walking.”

“Kyle,” Laurie tried to reason with him, but he looked ready to hulk out. We’d only been here for five minutes and things were already going to shit.

“Watch your mouth,” a voice said from behind the gathered group. “That’s Prince’s girl you’re talking about, and Kyle’s sister. Show some goddamn respect.” Trey Berrick appeared, smacking one of Kyle’s teammates upside the head as he made his way over to us.

“Stone, I see you’re filling Rick’s shoes with no problem.” His gaze skirted over me but lingered on Kiera a little too long.

Thankfully, Kyle didn’t notice.

“Good to see you, man. How’s it going at UCLA?”

“Good.” Trey folded his arms over his chest. “It’s good. But it’s my mom’s birthday this weekend. She’s fifty. Dad’s throwing a big dinner tomorrow, so I made the trip back.”

“Nice.”

He shrugged. “What can I say? I’m a momma’s boy.” His cheeks colored as his eyes flicked to Kiera again. She was pretending not to listen. Her eyes anywhere but on Trey. But I saw her straighten when she felt his eyes linger in her direction.

“How’s Rick?” It was a question for me.

“He’s... Maverick.” I didn’t want to give too much away even though he and Maverick were good friends. Maverick preferred to keep things private, and I didn’t know how much they would stay in touch now they’d gone off to college.

“No need to say more.” Trey smirked. “Well, I’ll leave you guys to it. I just wanted to say hey. See you around, Stone. Laurie, Lo.” He hesitated, his eyes flickering in Kiera’s direction, and I wondered if he was going to acknowledge our fourth member or ignore her. So when he finally said, “It was nice seeing you again, Kiera,” his gaze lingering a little too long, I smiled to myself.

Hell had frozen over, but it seemed Trey Berrick had a crush.

Kyle frowned, watching as he wound through the crowd. I knew what he was thinking, and I knew how he felt about the idea of Kiera with anyone, let alone a guy two years her senior, and one of his and Maverick’s good friends. And Trey Berrick didn’t exactly have a stellar reputation around Wicked Bay.

But my cousin should have known by now that you couldn’t help who you liked. Sometimes you had no control over it. And even if you fought it, even if you told yourself it was wrong and couldn’t happen, chances were, you would lose eventually.