by L A Cotton
“She didn’t make a mistake with Nick; we both know he’s the one who—”
“I know that, and you know that, but he was her forever guy. If her forever guy could do that to do her, of course she’s going to think a guy she just met could.”
My spine snapped straight. I didn’t like Maverick talking about Nick as her forever guy. Not when I wanted it to be me.
“So what do I do?”
Maverick’s smooth chuckle filled the line, “You’re the one ass-over-elbow in love with her, figure it out.”
I USED THE DRIVE TIME to Steinbeck University to clear my head. After Maverick had imparted his pretty fucking useless advice on me, I asked him if he could keep Summer busy until I got there. I’d almost heard his smile over the line. He knew I was a goner for his sister, and thank fuck for small mercies, he seemed to be on my side.
Summer still hadn’t texted me back or answered any of my missed calls. But I didn’t blame her. Nick had done a real number on her and, if I was being honest with myself, I’d pushed her into this. She came because she knew I wanted her to come. Because I’d spent all week persuading her to take a risk on me.
But I hadn’t been fair to her.
I hadn’t given her all the facts. I hadn’t told her about Sasha and the fact she was walking into a situation where there were going to be girls who I’d been with. Summer knew I wasn’t a saint, but we hadn’t really talked about any of this stuff because I hadn’t wanted to taint her opinion of me.
I hadn’t wanted her to run.
But in trying to protect her—protect myself—I’d only ended up hurting her more. Because even though it wasn’t me in my bedroom with Sasha, Summer would have been more prepared for it if I’d have just been honest, and maybe, just maybe, she wouldn’t have run before getting all the facts.
My hands clenched the wheel as I followed the signs for Steinbeck.
Maverick had texted me his and Lo’s address. I just hoped they had managed to keep Summer there or else it was going to be a long assed drive back to Wicked Bay. Because there was no way I was heading back to San Diego without seeing Summer first.
Chapter 25
Summer
“I guess I should get going,” I said glancing at the wall clock and then back to Lo and my brother. “But thank you, for everything.”
“You don’t have to thank us.” Lo smiled. “You’re family, it’s what we do. And I really think you should give JB a chance to explain. Something doesn’t add up.”
I knew that.
I knew it made no sense he’d text me to come find him, only for me to discover him and Sasha going at it. Tears pricked my eyes again. When I’d fled the party, I knew I couldn’t go home.
I didn’t want to.
So I’d called Lo and asked her if I could go there. I could barely explain what had happened through the tears and heartache.
“You definitely saw him?” Rick asked me again. “It was definitely JB?”
“I...” What had I seen? “It was dark, and I didn’t stick around to get a good look, but it was his bedroom, Maverick. I heard her call his name.” I saw their bodies tangled together.
My brother scrubbed his jaw. He was distracted, his eyes watching the door like a hawk. “Rick?” I asked, aware he was barely paying me any attention.
Just then their apartment buzzer sounded, and he jumped up, grumbling what sounded like, ‘bout fucking time’.
“Rick, what did you do?” Dread flooded me as I clutched my neck, trying to smother my panic.
“He called me earlier.”
“Maverick!” Lo sighed, shooting me an apologetic look, and I knew she was just as in the dark about this as I was.
He moved to the door to open it. “Just hear him out, okay?”
This was the last thing I expected. I’d expected my brother to want to drive to San Diego and give JB a piece of his mind and maybe a broken rib or two. Instead, he and Lo had made me hot chocolate and sat and listened as I replayed the events of the night over and over. Nick had broken my heart, made me question everything I thought I ever knew. But seeing JB and Sasha had hurt me in ways I couldn’t even fathom. Are you sure it was him, the little voice in my head whispered?
Even if it wasn’t him, someone—most probably Sasha—orchestrated the whole thing to make me think it was JB. Because she wanted me to think it was him.
“Summer?”
I hadn’t even seen JB walk into the apartment.
“We’ll give the two of you some space. If you need me...” Rick’s dark eyes locked on mine, silently telling me everything I needed to hear. And despite being annoyed he went around me on this, there was a small part of me that clung to the idea that if my brother thought I should hear JB out, then maybe I had jumped to conclusions.
Lo came and gave me a hug, whispering that she’d only be a call away, and then they left. JB hovered near the door, hands jammed in his pockets, ball cap pulled on his head backwards. Dark circles ringed his eyes which swam with regret. He looked like shit.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, the tremor in my voice betraying me.
“You know why I’m here.” He moved to the end of the couch and I nodded. He sat down leaving space between us. It felt like an entire ocean and I hated it.
“I didn’t have sex with Sasha, Summer, I promise.” My lips flattened as I shuddered at the idea of him with someone like her. “The idea you think I’m capable of that...”
“Say I believe you. Why would she do something like that? She wanted me to think it was you with her.”
“I swear I had no idea she going to pull that shit. It was a rookie. I found them in my room. She didn’t admit it, but I saw the glint in her eye. I’m sorry. Fuck, Angel, I’m so fucking sorry.”
“I asked you.” Tears streamed down my face as I sucked in a shaky breath. “I asked you if she was someone to you and you looked me in the eye and told me she was no one. You lied to my face.”
“No, no, I didn’t... it wasn’t like that. Sasha is no one to me. We used to... we hooked up now and then—”
“Of course you did,” I cried out.
“I should have told you about her. I should have warned you she might be there, but I didn’t know you were coming, I didn’t—”
“If it hadn’t been last night, it would have happened eventually. She wants you.” And she’d had him. Maybe not last night but before.
Pain cinched my chest making it hard to breathe.
“She’s no one to me, Summer. It’s you I want. You I love.”
“You love me?” I gasped.
An uncertain smile tugged at his mouth. “I’m so fucking in love with you I can’t see straight. And I hate that things went down like this. I hate that crazy bitch has made you doubt this thing between us. Doubt me.”
“Maybe she did me a favor,” I said quietly.
“You don’t mean that.” Hurt flashed in his eyes.
“This is exactly what everyone kept warning me about. You’re in the spotlight, JB, and I live in the shadows.”
He dragged himself closer to me, taking my hand in his. “You’re all that matters to me,” he said.
“You say that now, but what happens when you go back to San Diego? When another girl decides your hers and not mine? I want simple. I don’t want all of... all of this.”
“I’ll redshirt the season.”
“Excuse me?”
He nodded slowly. “I’m not sure I’m ready to be back on the field anyway, and this way I’ll be around more for you.”
“You’d do that... for me?”
Football was his dream, the end goal.
“For us, yeah.” His hand cupped my face as he dropped his head to mine. “I want to give us a shot, Angel. If that means putting the dream on hold, then I’ll do it. I’ll do whatever it takes because you’re worth it, Summer, and I’m so fucking gone for you.”
“I...” I swallowed back the fresh wave of tears threatening to fall. “I don’t kno
w what to say.”
“Just say yes. Say you’ll give me another shot.”
“Yes,” the word spilled from me in a whispered breath and JB visibly relaxed before crashing his mouth down on mine. His kiss was like a salve to my broken heart. He devoured me like I was his oxygen, greedily taking more and more until I no longer knew where I ended and he began.
“W- wait.” I breathed, tearing my lips away from his.
“Sorry, I didn’t plan to do that. Well, I did, but I came to talk. To beg for forgiveness.” Hope glittered in his eyes.
“It’s just... this is my brother’s place. It feels weird.”
“I tasted every inch of you at the pool house... didn’t Maverick used to live in there?”
My cheeks flushed at his words and he smirked. “I’m pretty sure your brother and Lo are well versed in fighting and making up.”
My fingers curled into his Henley. “It’s going to take a lot more than a few kisses to make it up to me.”
“Oh,” His brow shot up, a devilish smile gracing his face. “I’m counting on it.” JB hooked his hands under my legs and scooped me up until I was straddling him.
“You.” He kissed my neck, sucking gently. “There’s only you. I need you in a way I can’t explain. I want you in a way I don’t want to even try to understand.” Lifting his head, our eyes locked and I saw it written all over his face.
He loved me.
JB Holloway loved me.
“I’m going to be needy,” I admitted. After Nick’s betrayal, losing the baby, I needed to feel secure. I needed reassurance.
“I like you needy.” He smiled.
“I’ll probably get jealous all the time.”
JB chuckled, peppering little kisses along my jaw. “I can live with that.”
“And I’ll probably want to see you every weekend.”
His head snapped up, eyes lighting up. “Is that a promise?”
“You’re crazy,” I said, grinning.
“Crazy for you.” He fixed his mouth over mine, kissing hard and deep and long. When he pulled away, we were both breathless. “Now where’s the guest room, before I strip you bare and show you just how much I love you right here on Prince’s couch?”
“THIS IS SO BLOODY WEIRD.” Lo flicked her eyes over to where JB and my brother stood at the bar ordering our drinks.
After JB made good on his promise to show me how much he loved me, twice; I’d called my brother to tell him it was safe to return. He took one look at my disheveled appearance, cussed, and stormed right back out. Lo had to calm him down and then she’d suggested we all go out for drinks and food to ‘break the ice’.
“Never in a million years did I think I’d ever fall for a guy like him, but I love him, Lo. I love him so much it scares me.” I admitted, even if I hadn’t told JB yet.
Her hand covered my hand and she smiled warmly at me. “I’m happy for you, truly.”
“What do you think they’re talking about?” I asked her.
“You. Me. Football and basketball. Speaking of, did I overhear you telling Maverick he’s going to redshirt?”
I nodded. “He was going to, but I told him he can’t.”
The fact he was prepared to do it meant the world to me, but I couldn’t let him give up his dream. If I truly wanted to move on from everything that had happened in the last few months, it meant taking a leap of faith.
It meant trusting what we had and hoping it was enough.
“You’re different, you know,” Lo said. “I can’t put it into words but there’s something—”
“I know. I feel it.” And I knew it had a lot to do with the guy across the room watching me.
“The way he looks at you...” Lo let out a dreamy sigh.
“Is exactly the same way my brother looks at you.”
“Yeah, but you’re in that new stage where it’s all exciting.”
“What’s exciting?”
Busted.
Lo stuttered something about her new classes, but Rick didn’t look convinced in the least.
“Hey,” JB slid in beside me, draping his arm over the back of my chair. “Everything okay?”
“Everything is fine.” I leaned up to kiss him. I hadn’t planned on making a scene but the second his tongue licked my lips I lost all train of thought.
“Fuck’s sake, cut it out. We might have called a truce, Holloway, but that doesn’t mean I won’t rip your arms off if you don’t stop manhandling my sister.”
“I think it’s cute,” Lo said.
“It’s not cute,” Rick grumbled. “It’s wrong is what it is.”
“You need to let it go, Prince.” JB eyed my brother. “I plan on being around a long time, so you might as well get used to it.”
His words made me soar. It might not have been a promise of forever, but that was okay. I didn’t want to think too far ahead or get swept away with plans for the future. I just wanted this. Me and JB and right now.
Chapter 26
JB
“We’re lucky sons of bitches, you know that, right?” Maverick nudged my shoulder with his as we watched Lo and Summer dancing. It was only supposed to be a few drinks and some food, but a few drinks turned into more which turned into Lo and Maverick giving us the tour of the local hotspots.
“And this night just keeps getting fucking weirder,” I said around a smirk before taking a long pull on my beer.
“I still can’t believe you offered to redshirt for her.”
“I don’t think there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for that girl.”
“Shit, man, you’re making it almost impossible to hate you.” Maverick scrubbed his jaw. “But yeah, I hear you.”
“Never thought I’d be whipped.”
“Welcome to my world.”
We shared a chuckle, watching our girls twirl around without a care in the world.
“You know, I almost proposed last Christmas.” Maverick let out a weary sigh. “We were away with our family and I had the ring and everything and that fucker beat me to it.”
“I heard Kyle and Laurie are getting hitched. They’re young, no?”
“Just wait, Holloway. I’m telling you, one day all you’re thinking about is having a few beers with the guys, winning the next game, going off to college, and the next thing all you can see is her and your future together.”
“So when do you think you’ll do it?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. A few weeks went by, then months, and now...”
“You’re having second thoughts?” Because I didn’t believe that for a minute.
“Fuck no. I want it all with Lo. Kids. House. The whole nine yards. But if I get drafted next year...” He let the words hang between us.
“You don’t think you’ll survive that?”
“I don’t know... it’s a different world. You’re in school and everyone always tells you to wait until college, but going pro, that’s a whole other ball game. And honestly, I’m not sure I want to put Lo through that.”
I didn’t know what to say. I knew what it meant to want something so bad you invested your whole life trying to work toward it. But since meeting Summer, I also knew what it was like to have another reason to live.
“You think I’m crazy?” he asked, and I let out a quiet chuckle.
“Actually, I was thinking I know exactly what you mean. But the draft is a long way off for you. And who knows what’ll happen between now and then. Lo knew what she was signing up for when she followed you here. She’d want you to chase your dreams.”
“Like my sister wants you to chase yours?”
Silence settled over us and then I said, “I would have done it, you know? I would have redshirted the season.”
He lifted his eyes to me, his mouth flattening into a thin line. “I know. But what’s the plan? Long term? I know my sister, and doing the long-distance thing is going to be tough on her.”
Like I hadn’t already considered that. But I had a plan, of sorts.
“What?” Maverick asked and I gave him a sly grin.
“Nothing.”
“What are you up to, Holloway?”
The girls chose that second to reappear, and Lo demanded Prince’s attention, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him without reservation.
“Hi,” Summer smiled up at me.
“Hi yourself.” I slipped my arm around her waist and dragged her toward me. “Having fun?”
“The best.” She gave me a lopsided grin. “Come here.” Her hand wound into my Henley yanking me down until our lips were almost touching. “I have something to tell you.”
“Yeah?” I asked. “And what’s that?”
“I love you, JB Holloway.”
Pulling back, I stared down at her, my heart so full I thought it might burst out of my chest. “How drunk are you right now?”
“Not enough that I don’t know what I’m saying, but enough that I might let you take me to the bathroom and...” She moved her lips to my ear and whispered all the dirty things she wanted me to do to her.
“Okay, Angel, time to get you out of here,” I said, barely able to control myself.
“We’re out,” I shouted to Maverick over the music. He detached himself from Lo’s mouth and tipped his head in my direction.
“There’s no way you’re staying at my place.”
“Don’t worry about it; I already booked us into a hotel close by.”
“You did?” Summer asked, dropping her head onto my shoulder as I tucked her into my side.
“I don’t know what I hate more, that you’re taking my sister to a hotel or that you... no, I can’t even say it.”
Lo pressed her hand into his chest. “At least it means we’ll have the place to ourselves.” She gave him a sultry look and I laughed, raising a brow.
“Fine. But I want to see you before you leave tomorrow,” he said to Summer who was still curled into my side.
