Rematch (The Reed Brothers Book 22)

2. Gabby

“If he tells me one more time that he could bounce a quarter off my ass, I’m going to punch him right in the face,” I murmur quietly to my best friend, Tasha, as we work together to roll up workout mats and return the free weights to their racks. She was here to take pictures of the wrestling team during workouts, but after the team left, I put her to work. We spray everything down with disinfectant and put the workout tools where they belong because it feels better when the weight room is neat and tidy.

Tasha grabs my hip, spins me around so she can look at my butt, and says in a dreamy voice. “If I had an ass like yours and nobody talked about it, I’d feel let down.” She lifts one eyebrow at me. “Just saying.” Then she slaps my butt with the palm of her hand. I reach back to rub it.

“He’s a pig,” I say as I cut my eyes toward where G.L. Stanton is standing, talking with a few other people near the door.

“I think he means it as a compliment,” she says with a tilt of her head. “A very sexist and misogynistic compliment.” She clears her throat loudly. “So,” she says, and then she glares at me. “My project.” Her gaze hardens even more. “You are going to help me with it. Right?”

I hang my head back and let out a groan. “Do I have to?” I whine.

“Girl, I am in here almost every damn day helping you put shit away, and I never complain.”

Until today, apparently.

I pick up a towel and throw it at her face. She sniffs it and grimaces. “I think this one has G.L.’s sweat on it.” She tosses it back toward me. She picks up a different one and lifts it to her nose. “This one must have been Seth’s,” she says dreamily. “It smells like all my dreams come true.” She holds it to her nose and inhales deeply. Suddenly, she sobers. “So, what happened to Seth’s nose?” she asks.

Seth is one of the guys on the wrestling team, and while Tasha might not know him, she definitely knows of him. Everyone knows of him. He’s pretty popular around the school, mainly because he’s a scholar-athlete but also because he’s so damn handsome with his curly dark hair and workout-ready body. He’d shown up to practice today, the first practice after winter break, with both eyes swollen, his face purple, and his nose a little out of shape. “What do you mean?” I ask, pretending like I have no idea what she’s talking about.

She points to her face. “His nose, Gabby,” she protests. “Don’t pretend like you didn’t see it.”

I did see it. I saw it when it happened, mainly because I was the one who did it. I was the one who messed up Seth’s beautiful face. But I don’t want anybody to know that.

“I saw it,” I say quietly. I hate lying to my friend, and I refuse to do it. But I also don’t want to tell her about the fact that Seth was with my family all through Christmas at Lake Fisher and that I hit him in the face with a football by accident. His nose had bled like crazy.

”So, what happened?” she asks. “Did he say?”

“You’d have to ask him.” I don’t want to say more than that. It would be too hard to explain.

“I will next time he asks me out.” She laughs maniacally.

I stand up straight and stare at her. “Did he ask you out?”

She falls back onto the bench she’s sitting on to stare up at the tiled ceiling. “Not in so many words,” she says. “But he will. I just have to wait for my turn.”

“Your turn?” I ask. An unsettled feeling slips into my gut. I couldn’t give it a name if I tried, but I know it doesn’t feel good.

She sits up so she can look at me with googly eyes. “Seth gets around, Gabby. You know that.” She rolls those huge eyes at me. “Everybody knows that. So, by design, any girl on campus could eventually be on his list.”

“By design,” I repeat almost woodenly.

“He’s working his way through the whole school. So, if my theory is correct, he will totally ask me out before graduation.”

I swallow hard. So hard it hurts when I do it. “Ask you out for what?” I ask quietly.

She tilts her head at me as her eyes narrow. “Gabby, do you have a crush?” she whispers fiercely.

“I do not have a crush,” I rush to say. Although I do. I really, really do. Or at least I did until I hit him in the nose with that football, and he started acting weird. Now I just have confusion. And a crush. Now, I have a confused crush. Damn it.

“You do,” she hisses at me as she points her finger. She holds up her hands like she’s surrendering to the cops. “Fine,” she bites out. “You called dibs. I’ll just have to accept that.”

“I did not call dibs,” I mutter.

“Whatever,” she replies. She grins at me. “So, my project?” She puts her palms together like she’s praying. “You’ll sit for me, right? You make a perfect subject with all that long, shiny, dark hair and your skin tone. It’s beautiful from behind the lens.”

“Tell me what I’d have to do again,” I reply with a heavy sigh.

Tasha is a photography student who needs to complete her portfolio. That’s all I know about it.

“I just need you to do some poses.” She looks everywhere but at me. Then her gaze lands on mine, and she lowers her head, looking up at me like a scolded puppy. “With… a… partner.”

“What kind of partner?” I pick up towels and toss them into a giant bin to be washed while she talks.

“It has to be kind of romantic. Like a couple”s photo shoot.” She kicks at a loose piece of tape on the floor with the toe of her sneaker. “Like with some hand holding and hugging.”

“Hugging?”

“Uh-huh.” I can barely hear her.

“You’re not telling me something,” I declare.

“That’s all it will be. You and a man of my choosing will be walking by a lake or in the park. Holding hands.”

I open my mouth to say no, but she waves her hands in front of my face.

“It won’t be weird. I wouldn’t do that to you.”

“When do you need it?” I groan out loud. I can’t believe I’m agreeing to this.

“Sometime within the next two or three weeks.” She shrugs like the date isn’t important.

“You’ll have to fit it in between workouts.”

She nods enthusiastically. “I know.”

“And the wrestling team has away matches. You know I have to go.”

“I know.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to find somebody else?” Please find someone else.

“Nope. I want you. I’ll find you the perfect partner. I promise.”

I point my finger at her. “If you make me hold hands with G.L. Stanton, I’m never going to forgive you.”

She looks shocked. “I’m your best friend. I would never do that to you.”

“Fine,” I say as I toss the last towel into the hamper. “I have to take these to the laundry. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

She nods and walks past me to leave, slapping my ass as she goes by. “See, I totally get why G.L. talks about your ass all the time.” She walks backward toward the door as she grins at me.

I smile, too. I can’t help it.

If I had to be honest, I like all the guys on the team, even G.L. They’re all friendly, and the only time they get pissed at me is when I pull them out of practice because of an injury. They’re a great bunch of hard-working teammates. They’re funny, and they’re athletes. Athletes are a different breed from the average person. I don’t know where they get the drive to accomplish what they do, but they do it.

I skid to a stop when I hear voices from behind the head coach’s closed door.

“Damn it, Seth, I want the truth!” Coach roars.

“I told you the truth,” I hear a male voice reply calmly. I assume it’s Seth. I walk past the door because whatever they’re talking about is none of my business. “I was playing football with my family over the winter break, and I got hit in the nose with a football.”

“So, you didn’t get into a fight?”

“No.”

“It wasn’t one of your teammates?”

“No.” Seth waits for a beat. “I swear, Coach,” he says. “If there were going to be any problems from it, I would have already told you. It was just a football. I wasn’t paying attention, and it hit me right in the face.”

“Whoever it was must have had a hell of an arm,” Coach says with a chuckle.

“Sure did,” Seth mutters. “Is that all you needed?” I hear his chair scrape the tile floor in Coach’s office, so I rush to walk past it and down the hall before the door opens.

I stand quietly just inside the corridor near the laundry chute, my back pressed against the wall.

I hear the coach call out to Seth. “Seth, I want you to go see Gabby. Get that nose checked out.”

I’ve already checked his nose, but I can’t tell anyone that. I checked it when it happened, right after I hit him in the face. It wasn’t broken.

“Yes, Coach,” Seth replies. Then I hear his footsteps recede down the hallway, and I can finally take a breath.

Coach startles as he walks past the room and finds me in it. “Gabby,” he says.

I nod my head at him as I dump the rest of the dirty towels down the laundry chute. “Coach,” I reply.

“Tomorrow, I want you to check out Seth’s nose,” he says.

“Sure thing, Coach,” I reply.

“Just make sure it’s not broken.”

“Yes, sir.”

He looks past me toward the laundry chute. “And the team should be picking up their own towels,” he says, his brow furrowing.

“I was just straightening up the weight room, Coach. It’s not a big deal.”

“I’ll talk to them about cleaning up behind themselves.” He looks around, like someone could be hiding behind me. “And where’s the manager? Cleaning is his job. I’ll talk to him tomorrow, too.”

“That’s not necessary,” I begin, but he cuts me off.

“See you tomorrow.” He taps the wall with his knuckles. “And let me know about Seth’s nose, okay?” He snorts out a laugh. “He tried to tell me he got hit with a football. Do I look like I was born yesterday?” He walks away, shaking his head.

A minute later, the outer door to the weight room opens with a loud whoosh, and a man stumbles into the room. He looks around, his brow furrowing. Then his eyes land on me, and he grins. “Gabby,” he says with a heavy breath. Then he walks toward me and wraps me up in a hug, one that picks me up off my feet.

“Oh, my God, Caleb!” I cry. “When did you get here?” I ask as he sets me down. He grins down at me sheepishly.

“I just got here today. I”m still trying to get the lay of the land.” He swipes a hand down his face. “I didn’t expect the school to be so big.” He blows out another breath. “It’s certainly not like home, is it?”

I shake my head. “It’s not at all like home.”

“Everything always moves so fast out here,” he remarks. He has a North Carolina cadence to his voice. His tone is a little softer, and his vowels last a little longer than those of a person from New York.

“Afraid so,” I admit. “The cars are louder, and the people are too.”

The door opens again, and another man stops short in the entryway. The light’s behind him, so I can’t immediately tell who it is, but then the door shuts, and I realize that Seth is standing there. My heart skips in my chest, even though I desperately want it not to.

Caleb raises his hand and says, “Hey.” Then he looks at me and lifts his eyebrows like he’s waiting for something.

Seth just stares, looking from Caleb to me and back.

Caleb breaks the silence when he says, “Well, I’m supposed to be meeting with the coach.” He sucks in a breath between his teeth, like he’s fortifying himself. “So, wish me luck.”

“He went that way,” I say. “Third door on the right.” I turn to face him. “I’ll see you tomorrow. At practice?”

He grins. “That’s the plan.” Then he walks toward the hallway, calling, “See you,” over his shoulder.

Seth stands there and watches him walk away. “Who was that?” he asks as he strolls toward me.

“Who?” I ask. I jerk my thumb toward where Caleb went. “You mean Caleb?”

He points his finger. “That guy. Who was he?”

“Caleb Ross,” I reply. “He’s your new teammate.”

“Huh,” Seth grunts. He just stares toward the hall.

“Did you need something, Seth?”

He shakes his head. “Are you dating him?”

I laugh out loud. “Caleb?” I wait for his nod of affirmation. “No, we’re not dating.” I narrow my eyes at him. “Did you meet Caleb when you were at Lake Fisher?”

He shakes his head. “No.”

“We went to the same high school.”

His brows shoot up toward his hairline. “You guys dated?”

I laugh out loud again. “No. We never dated. We’re friends.”

“You looked pretty close,” he says quietly.

I shake my head. “Caleb has had it rough,” I start to say. I shake my head and force myself to stop talking. That’s not my story to tell. It’s Caleb’s. He can tell it when he’s ready. “But he just got a scholarship to be on the team. He’s pretty excited about it.”

“It’s a weird time of the year to start.” Seth stares at nothing.

“Weird circumstances.” All I know is that Caleb got a scholarship to go to school here, and with a bit of Reed brothers magic, he brought his four siblings with him to live in one of their apartments. He never could have made it all work without their help. But that’s what the Reed brothers do. They fix things. And once Pop told them about Caleb’s situation, they did what they always do. They helped. “Can you do me a favor and be nice to him?” I ask.

Seth grins. “I’m nice to everybody.”

I roll my eyes. “I’m serious. He’s had a tough time. This is a big deal for him, and he’s going to feel like a fish out of water in a place like this, with no friends.”

“I’ll talk to him tomorrow.”

I smile. “Thanks, Seth. I really appreciate it.”

His lips tilt, and his eyes drag across my face, assessing me. My belly flips.

“I’d do just about anything if it would make you smile at me like that again,” he says quietly. And this time, my belly doesn’t flip. It dives.

Heat creeps up my face. I can feel my cheeks turning red, and I don’t like it. Not at all. “Stop,” I say quietly.

“Stop what?” He grins at me.

“Stop doing that thing you’re doing.” I point my finger at him. “You know exactly what I’m talking about.”

He grins even bigger. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

I step closer to him and stare at his face.

“What?” he asks, his brow furrowing.

“Coach asked me to look at your nose. I didn’t want to tell him I already did. So now I’m looking at your nose, so I can say I did.”

“How’s it look?” he asks.

“Worse than the day I did it,” I admit. I motion for him to follow me to an exam room. “Sit,” I say.

“It’s not broken,” he says as he hops up to sit on the edge of an exam table.

“I know. I still feel bad, though. I didn’t mean to hit you. I was just tossing the ball back.”

“You’ve got a hell of an arm.”

I put on my gloves and pop the wrist. Then I walk over to him. “I used to play with my dad when I was younger.”

“Your dad or Jake?” Jake is my stepdad. He married my mom when I was sixteen.

I shake my head. “Jake’s not my dad. My dad is my dad.”

His brow furrows. “I thought you liked Jake.”

“I love Jake. But Jake’s not my dad. Jake does have a very special place in my life, but he can’t replace my dad. Not ever.”

He stares at me, only wincing a little as I probe at his nose and eyes. “Explain. Please.”

“So, Jake has his own place in my life. He’s my stepdad, and he’s so important to me. I adore him, and he adores me. Seriously, he does everything my dad would do if he were still alive. But to try to make Jake fit into my dad’s shoes would be wrong. Instead, I appreciate Jake just for being Jake, not for being my dad. Does that make sense?”

“Maybe,” he says with a laugh.

I shove his shoulder. “Shut up.”

He shoves me back. “You shut up.”

I shake my head and step back. “Your nose still isn’t broken.” I turn to walk across the room, but he grabs my wrist. I look to where his warm palm is wrapped around the bones of my wrist and stare at it as my heart goes crazy, beating in my chest.

“Gabby,” he says softly. “I need to apologize. That’s why I came back here today. I’m sorry for the way that I acted after the ball hit my nose.”

He’d stomped away, angry, but I’d never understood why.

“I was hoping you might consider giving me a rematch.”

“A rematch.”

“Yes, a do-over, like in wrestling. A rematch.”

“I still don’t understand why you got so upset,” I reply quietly, still staring at his large hand, his skin dark in contrast to my own.

“I know. That’s what I wanted to explain.” He groans and drags a hand down his face. “So, there’s this thing in my family.”

“Your family or the Reed family?” I ask. Matt and Sky Reed adopted Seth’s sisters, but I know Seth was never adopted.

“My family and the Reed family are all one family.”

“Okay.” I wait.

“So, when Logan met Emily, he hit on her at the tattoo shop, and she punched him in the face.”

“Ouch,” I say. I twist my wrist so Seth will let me go. He does, but he does it reluctantly.

“So, then Reagan punched Pete in the face. And Sky hit Matt with a Wii controller in the nose. And all the rest of them did the same damn thing, all the way down to Edward. Avery punched him in the face just to carry on the tradition.”

“It’s a tradition that they all marry women who punch them.” I shake my head. That’s odd.

“Exactly. It’s a tradition. It”s kind of like an old wives’ tale. If she hits you in the face, you’re destined to marry her.” He points to his face. “Then you hit me with the ball.” He waits for me to understand. When I don’t, he gestures wildly toward his face.

“So the joke was on me,” I say.

He shakes his head. “It wasn’t a joke.”

“When they were high-fiving each other after it happened, that was the joke?”

His voice gets louder. “Again, not a joke. They were totally serious.”

“So, we’re supposed just to rush off and get married?”

He shrugs. “Maybe. Or maybe you could let me take you to dinner first.” He grins at me.

My stomach takes that dive again. “I don’t think so.” I shake my head.

His brows pull together. “What do you mean?”

“I mean no, Seth,” I say a little more clearly.

“You’re saying no to dinner?” He looks clearly astounded.

“I appreciate the offer, but I will have to decline. But thank you.” I add the last because my pop would tell me my manners stink if he could hear me right now.

“Why not?” He sits up straighter.

I shrug my shoulders. “The semester is just starting. I have a lot of work to do. That’s all.”

“You have time for dinner.” He stares at me.

“I really don’t.”

“Gabby,” he chides.

“Seth,” I taunt in return.

“Are you being serious right now?” He tilts his head and stares at me.

“Dead serious.” I stare at him back.

I hear a soft knock on the door to the room we’re in and turn to find Caleb standing there in the open doorway. “Did you find Coach?” I ask.

He grins. “I did.”

“Are you done with him?”

“I am.”

“Where are you going now?” I ask as I collect my things and stuff them in my bag. Seth sits there, staring at Caleb, slack-jawed. “Do you want to go get some coffee?” I ask Caleb. I hang my bag over my shoulder.

Caleb looks down at his watch. “I have about an hour before I have to get home.”

I smile at him. “See you tomorrow, Seth,” I call out as I walk out the door with Caleb. Seth says nothing. But if looks could kill, Caleb and I both would be laid out flat on the floor, deader than doornails.