Rematch (The Reed Brothers Book 22)

3. Gabby

Caleb and I stand in line at the coffee shop long enough to get a coffee each, and then we walk over to a table. He sits down across from me, and then he stares at me. He narrows his brown eyes at me and stares. Hard.

“What?” I ask, and a sound that betrays my nerves slips out.

He snorts out a laugh. “You want to tell me what that was all about?”

I set my coffee on the table between us. “What was what about?” I ask.

He rests his hands on the edge of the table and leans toward me. “You know exactly what I’m talking about, Gabby.” He shakes his head like he’s absolutely disgusted with me.

I lean toward him, albeit a little more dramatically than is necessary. “I don’t have any idea what you mean,” I hiss back at him. Then I sit back with a sigh. Because I know exactly what he’s talking about. I just don’t want to know what he’s talking about.

“So, that’s the Seth, huh?” He sits back, his hands wrapped around his coffee cup. He shakes his head. “You could have at least warned me.”

“About what?”

“You could have warned me that I needed a full-body condom to be in the same room as you guys. The sexual tension in that room was so thick that I had to wipe some of it off me.” He pretends to wipe his shoulder and then flicks a pretend substance away. “Gross.” He snarls up his face like my little sister did the first time she ever tasted a lemon.

“That was not sexual tension.” I pick up my napkin, roll it up, and flick it at him. It floats down and lands on his lap. “That was sheer disdain.” And confusion. A whole lot of confusion.

“You totally used me,” he says. “And I’m trying to figure out how I feel about that.”

“I did not,” I start. But I stop and bite my lips together because I totally did.

“I stood outside the room, Gabby,” he admits somewhat sheepishly. “I heard him ask you out. I heard you say no. I heard him sit there in stunned silence for a second.” He chuckles. “Do you think anyone has ever said no to him before?”

“Doubt it,” I mutter. I think Seth has been able to win over any girl he has ever wanted with a crook of his finger.

“So, now he’s going to hate me,” Caleb says. “I hope you’re proud of yourself.”

“He doesn’t hate you,” I scoff. But what if he does? Did I just set Caleb up for failure with the team? I hope not. “I’m just glad we’re not in the same weight class, or he might try to take out some of that latent hostility on me.”

“He’s not that kind of guy,” I start. But, to be quite honest, I have no idea what kind of guy Seth is. I only spent a couple of hours with him over the holiday. And we went for coffee once a while back. That’s my only experience with him. “I think it’ll be fine.”

“I think he wants you,” he sings out in a playful tone.

I shake my head. “Any warm body would do.”

Caleb narrows his eyes at me. “That’s not the impression I got. I saw how he looked at you. And I saw how he looked at me when you asked me to go get coffee right after you turned him down because you have so little time.” He raises a single eyebrow at me. “Genius move, by the way.”

I grin at him. “Did you guys get settled in okay?” I finally have the forethought to ask.

He suddenly looks weary. “Yes. The bus ride was hot, and Jonah complained the whole way while Jonathon slept.” He rocks his head from side to side. “Jonah might have been complaining the whole way because Jonathon was sleeping on him. I didn’t have time to look since Randall got carsick and puked most of the ride.”

“Ew.”

“It wasn’t pretty. The only one who behaved was Ricky, and that’s because all the sights entranced him.” He heaves out a breath.

“How old are Jonah and John now?” I ask. I know they’re twins. But I’m not sure of their ages.

“Almost eighteen,” he says with a huge breath. “And they think they’re grown.”

“I thought I was grown at that age, too,” I admit sheepishly. “So, did you, if I remember correctly.”

“Hell, I was grown. I was raising four younger brothers after my grandma died. I had to get grown. Quick.” He taps the table to get my attention. “How much do you know about the Reeds?” he asks.

I shrug my shoulders. “Nothing that you haven’t seen on TV.”

“You watch their show?”

“Doesn’t everybody?”

He shakes his head. “Never had the time, honestly.” He looks off into the distance like he’s seeing nothing, and then he shakes it off. “They were really nice in giving us our apartment. I have a feeling your pop had something to do with that.”

I grin. “Maybe.”

“They even stocked the fridge,” he muses. “And they left gift cards in the kitchen drawer for groceries and other things we might need.” He leans closer and drops his voice down to a whisper. “And one of the drawers in the kitchen is full of condoms,” he hisses. “What do you think that’s about?”

I bark out a laugh. “No idea. You could ask Seth tomorrow.”

“I keep forgetting he’s one of them.”

“He’s one of them, and he’s also not one of them,” I say. His eyes narrow. “His Aunt Sky, who became his guardian after his mom died, married Matthew Reed. That’s his only connection.” I shrug my shoulders because I don’t know what more I should say about all that. I don’t fully understand how Seth fits into that family, aside from the basics.

“I could think of worse things that could happen to someone than being adopted into an affluent family,” Caleb mutters, and it’s the first time I’ve ever heard him speak in such a way. I’ve never once heard him complain about his situation. But now, he sounds almost envious. “How do I sign up for that?”

What’s funny is that I think he already did. The apartment, the food, the gift cards— those are things family members do for you. So, I have a feeling that Caleb has been given a more significant gift than he can even imagine.

“Are you ready for your first practice tomorrow?” I ask.

“As ready as I’m going to get,” he says with a grin.

We finish our coffee as we sit and chat about what has been going on back home, Caleb’s new apartment, and his class schedule.

But I can’t get Seth off my mind, which is nothing new. He has been on my mind ever since he told me about how his mother died, how he’d been raising his siblings, and how Matt and Sky had taken over to give him some freedom. And now he’s on my mind for a lot of other reasons.