Chapter 12
Locke
Decker’s out of his goddamned mind.
He’s like a brother to me, but this has to be the most ill-conceived, harebrained idea he’s ever had.
“You can’t keep her here against her will,” I grit out again, bracing my hands on the edge of the stone countertop until the un-inked skin around my knuckles turns so pale it’s translucent.
It’s the argument I’ve been issuing for hours. The one the guys clearly don’t understand. Or maybe they do, and they’re choosing to ignore it.
“We voted,” Kylian states matter-of-factly.
That we did. Three to one, the group elected to force Joey to live here until further notice.
We’ve been making decisions this way for years. First as friends on the middle school football team, then through high school, and since we became roommates. It’s Decker’s house, and he’s our captain on the field, but he leads in a way that’s democratic and inclusive.
Most of the time.
But this girl has them all bugging out and on edge. Ironic, since I’m the only one who really knows her.
I’m sick over the whole thing. Joey doesn’t deserve this.
I only met her a week ago, but a deeper part of me knows her. And I believe it when she says she has no idea what kind of treatments Kendrick and I received last night. Or why.
It’s Kendrick’s fucking fault this is all happening now.
His reaction when she followed us to the parking lot was over-the-top.
I don’t know what’s gotten into him. I’ve never seen him so viscerally angry toward someone for no apparent reason.
On the field, sure. The guy carries the record for most rushing yards in our division, a title that requires an unstoppable tenacity and bullheadedness.
Now, his hotheadedness paired with the lack of information we can dig up on the girl have created the perfect storm.
“She’ll be fine,” Decker mutters, scowling at his phone.
He’s trying to come off as unaffected, but I know him too well.
He’s twisted up because he can’t figure her out—there’s no easy answer in this situation.
There’s very little he can’t control. But apparently, Joey Meyer is an exception.
“She’ll be more of a nuisance than anything,” he adds.
“What is wrong with you?” I fume.
That gets his attention. His dark eyes are on me in an instant, swimming with anger as his jaw tics incessantly. It’s one of his few tells—that damn jaw tic.
“What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with you?” he counters. “You’re the reason we’re mixed up with this girl. If you had just kept it in your pants—”
“She doesn’t know anything!”
It’s what I suspected all along. And Joey hasn’t backed down from that claim. But the situation escalated when Kendrick shot off a text to the group chat last night.
“I don’t believe that. Even if it’s true, she has access. Would it be worth it? Do you want to spend senior year in the stands? If they don’t expel you and ban you from campus? Do you want Kendrick to be kicked off the team, too?”
Fuck.
I hate it, but he’s right.
Joey isn’t a threat. I’m certain she has no idea why we were at Radiance. But if shit got out…
Kendrick and I have both received peptide therapy since high school. The treatment does wonders for my rheumatoid arthritis, and Kendrick’s lupus has been in remission for almost two years. If it stays that way, he’s got a real shot at going pro.
But peptides are classified as a banned substance by the NCAA, meaning our football dreams would be dashed if our visits to Dr. Kline at Lake Chapel Radiance were to be uncovered.
Between a discreet doctor and Kylian’s computer wizardry, we’ve kept it under wraps for years.
Honestly, I sometimes forget that what we’re doing is against the rules.
We have our routine down to a science, and the risk of being caught has always been negligible given who we are.
Until her.
I blow out a long breath, glaring at Decker with as much disdain as I can muster. He meets my gaze and holds it. As much as I want to keep fighting him on this, I won’t. He knows it. I know it. So after several tense seconds, I drop my head in defeat.
“Look, if we could find some fucking information on her, it’d be different.” His tone isn’t as hard as before, his words an olive branch.
We all turn to Kylian, but he just shrugs.
“I’ll keep digging. If you all get to know her better while she’s here, maybe you’ll uncover information that’ll help.”
Decker nods but side-eyes me again. As much as he likes to be a bossy asshole, he tries to lead by consensus. I know he wants my agreement.
I still don’t like what we’re doing. But I understand his reasoning.
With a subtle dip of my chin, I relent.
He sighs, crossing one arm in front of the other in a stretch, obviously itching to get into the gym and work through some of this tension. We all are after the fucking night we’ve had.
“That’s what this is about when it comes down to it.
Kylian can’t find anything about Josephine Meyer from Blakely, Ohio.
No records. Nothing on social. Maybe it’s a coincidence.
Maybe we’ve stumbled upon the last remaining twenty-one-year-old without any sort of online presence.
But something about her doesn’t add up. I don’t trust it. ”
That’s the heart of what has Decker so paranoid.
Out of thin air, a new girl shows up in Lake Chapel.
She’s a nontraditional student and the recipient of the Crusade Scholarship.
She’s already been to the house. She and I have texted every night this week.
Then we just randomly run in to her after our treatments?
Even I can see how unlikely the coincidence is.
Decker determined she’s a threat. It’s the only logical conclusion, even if it doesn’t track with what my gut’s telling me.
I can’t even fault him for it. He’s always been our protector, and he’s a damn good leader. Between his dad’s celebrity status, what happened to his mom, and what he’s destined to be, Decker has every reason not to trust people.
Everyone has an angle. Everyone wants something from him. Everyone except the guys in this room.
There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for Decker, Kylian, or Kendrick. And I know without a doubt the feeling is mutual.
My hands are tied.
I don’t agree with him. In fact, I’m fucking pissed at how over-the-top this whole thing is.
But Decker is my brother. I owe him for so much. I trust him. I love him.
If this is what he deems necessary, then I won’t fight him on it.
Even if it means losing Joey’s trust and blowing up the sizzling connection between us I wasn’t anywhere near done exploring.
Fuck.
Every time I start thinking about her as a threat, I forget that she’s just a girl.
No, not just a girl. A woman. A woman I was fucking lucky to be intimately acquainted with last weekend. A woman I desperately wanted to get to know even more.
She’s got to be so pissed, and there’s no doubt a lot of her rage will be aimed at me. At least I’ll have plenty of opportunities to make it up to her now that she’s staying at the house.
I’m not giving up. If she’s living here, we’re bound to be forced to spend time together. I’ll find my way back into her good graces. Even if we don’t pick back up where we left off in the pantry last weekend, I’m sure she could use a friend.
Pushing off the island, I turn toward the windows, searching for the woman who’s held my attention for the last week. Guilt clogs my throat when I spot her slender frame huddled at the end of the dock.
“I’m going to check on her,” I announce.
“She’s gonna push your ass in the lake.”
I glare at Kendrick, but he’s not wrong.
“I’ll go,” Kylian offers, shocking the shit out of me. “I have to give her phone back anyway.”