Adam
Ifinish my chores and head back inside with my little brothers grumbling and moaning about how tired they are. Which I get it, it’s hard work, but I love the burn my muscles have right now. The sweat pouring off of me after a morning full of strenuous activity.
Always have.
“Boys. It’s not that bad.” My dad tries, but they’re still a grumbling mess as they make their way into the kitchen, both plopping down at the table. The smell of bacon fills my nostrils as I breathe it in.
“Boys.” My mom looks at them, nearly distraught, “You’re a mess. Go clean up before breakfast.” She looks at the mud on their shoes and on their faces with horror and I try to stifle my chuckle. Mom hates messes. She keeps a clean house, but with four boys and a husband—she never had a chance.
They head off to clean up, which I’m almost certain will only be them changing thier clothes and splashing water on their face as I give my mom a kiss on the cheek. “I’m going to go get a shower in. Save me some bacon.”
“Adam, is Zach here?” She asks, as I start to head toward the stairs.
I turn to face her with a slow nod. Not that I’m worried she’ll be upset—they treat Zach like their own. So much so that my father was irritated he didn’t come down to help this morning. I told him he wasn’t feeling well and he grumbled but let it go. “Yes.”
“Is he okay?” Her face is full of worry and I know my parents aren’t totally naive to all the things going on with Zach’s family, but she usually don’t ask about it.
“Yeah. He’s okay. Just needed a night away.”
Her mouth is in a firm line and she doesn’t look satisfied with my explanation. I know my mom, she wants to mother him. She wants to make it all okay, but I’m not sure she can do that with Zach. He’s stubborn as all hell and kind of rivals me when it comes to the strong silent type.
“He’ll be okay, mom.” I try to reassure her, but all I get is a stilted nod and I take it as I exit the room and head up to my bedroom.
I find Zach still in my bed, but he’s awake.
His eyes meeting mine as soon as I walk into the room.
My bed is a mess. Sheets and the comforter all thrown around like he couldn’t get comfortable.
He’s still shirtless, the blankets covering his lower half and for a brief, slightly weird moment, my eyes sweep over all his bare skin.
I don’t know why I do it and I try to very quickly meet his eyes again, but when I do I see him staring back at me with curiosity.
The whole thing lasts a matter of seconds, but it feels like several minutes and I’m going in slow motion, trying to move past it. I sit on the edge of the bed and keep my eyes on his face.
“Why did you drink so much?” It’s not like him and even if I won’t admit it, it scares me to see him lose control like that. To most, it would seem like a kid letting off a little steam, but that’s so not like Zach.
If he wants to do that, he goes to the gym. He takes it extra hard at practice or at the gym. He doesn’t drink.
He sits ups, scooting up the bed to rest his back against the headboard. I try not to watch his muscles flex, his abs pulling tight and his bicep flexing as he runs his fingers through his hair.
I have no idea why I’m so fixated on him not wearing a shirt at the moment. I’ve seen him without a shirt before. Hell, I’m seen him buck naked many times—happens in the locker room, but my eyes never linger.
“Chloe.” His answer gets my attention back to his face. Thank fuck.
But it’s temporary relief because when the hell is he going to stop blaming himself for that? “Zach…” I start, but he shakes his head, stopping me.
“I hurt her. She should be mad at me, Adam. She has every right to hate me.”
I wince because hearing that physically hurts me somehow. I don’t want him to feel so guilty. I don’t want him to blame himself. “People break up. Especially in high school. It’s normal. It was a long time ago. She needs to let it go.”
“Adam.” His voice is stern and the look he’s pinning me with right now even more serious. “Please don’t.” He sounds so damn tortured.
I don’t get it. They didn’t even date that long. Chloe needs to move the hell on. I’m sorry she lost a good guy like Zach—I am— but it’s not like they were going to get married.
He didn’t cheat on her. He was a great boyfriend from what I saw—not that I have any idea what a great boyfriend entails, but still. He walked her to class. He forced me to eat lunch at the same table as her and her annoying as hell friends.
He was a good boyfriend.
But I still feel like there’s something there he isn’t telling me. Which really, really sucks because we’ve always told each other everything.
Well—almost everything. I guess I may have a thing or two I keep to myself, but that’s because I don’t fully understand it. Never have. So I just don’t really pay much attention to it. If I can’t explain it to myself how am I supposed to explain it to him?
Maybe that’s how he feels about whatever happened with him and Chloe.
I don’t know. But surely he can manage to tell me something about it. All I know is he broke up with her and she went batshit crazy afterward. Telling everyone he’s an asshole. That all football players in Kensley are assholes.
Never really saying more than that. But it hurts him deeply every single time and I don’t understand why. It’s gutting me not to know what’s really going on with him. How can I fix it if he won’t tell me the whole story?
That’s all I want to do too. I want to fix it for him. Make it better.
I sigh deeply and stand up, patting his calf over the blanket. “Fine. But get up and get your ass dressed. We have practice in an hour and mom made breakfast.”
He groans at that, reaching both hands up to cover his face. “Tell Coach I’m sick.”
“Yeah. Not a chance.” I grin a him when he drops his hands and looks at me with bleary, tired eyes, “I’ll do almost anything for you, but I’m not facing Coach and lying to him.
” I head for the door and then look back at him quickly, “And I’m not letting you miss practice. Our first game is coming up fast.”
He flips me off which makes me laugh as I grab some clothes and head toward the bathroom for a quick shower. I may love farming and that’s where my future goals are, but I love winning also. Football, is where Kensley wins.
We’re a great team and we have a chance to go far this year. So, yeah, Zach better brush it off and get the hell out of bed.
Practice is just as important as the actual game.
And we’re going to give it our all, even if I have to drag Zach’s hungover ass there and back.