Chapter 10
ten
“I don’t think it’s fair that your boyfriend working at the cafe means you get food for free,” I told Imogen as we walked up our street after school on Wednesday.
Sebastian and Lavender were a few steps ahead of us, laughing at something on her phone.
The four of us had decided to walk over to The Corner Cup together since the weather was getting nice and, as much as I hated to think about it, the times for us to hang out together like this would become fewer and fewer soon when Sebastian and Lavender both went off to university in the fall.
So even though I had to sprint inside and get dressed for dance class that started very, very soon, I was still taking my time walking home, enjoying us all getting to be together.
Imogen stuck out her tongue at me then took a happy bite of the sugar cookie Cole had given her along with the drink. “You’re just jealous that I have a boyfriend to give me free stuff.”
Unconsciously, my eyes flicked across the street to Rhys’s house. We were still at the end of the street, not quite passing his place yet, but my eyes locked onto it easily—mostly because I was suddenly realizing that Rhys was outside.
He was out on his front lawn, pulling his family’s push-mower out toward the grass.
He was wearing a dark gray tank top clinging to his chest and back, hair messy like he’d just come from a workout.
Every time he moved to adjust the throttle, the muscles in his shoulders flexed under the late afternoon sun.
He looked absurdly athletic, broad, and completely unbothered by the cold breeze cutting down the street.
As if he felt my gaze, Rhys paused and looked in our direction. His eyes locked on me only for a moment before brushing past and landing on Sebastian instead. I felt like my breath lodged in my throat as he yelled, “Hey, Novak!”
All three of my siblings turned at the sound of their surname being called, but Rhys didn’t give anyone his attention except my brother.
My heart pounded as I waited for his next words—I knew logically, of course, that he wasn’t just going to announce our fake relationship in the middle of the street, but that didn’t stop the fear from popping up.
It would have ramifications for him too, I reminded myself. He can’t say it’s fake publicly.
But would he make a comment about me anyway just to get under Sebastian’s skin?
Something he thought would be innocuous to anyone who didn’t know what we were doing, but would be just enough for my siblings to start asking questions?
I wished there was a way I could tell him to shut up without being too obvious.
“Nice performance last week.”
Sebastian narrowed his eyes at Rhys, clearly not believing the compliment. “Is that so,” Sebastian mused.
I let out an almost imperceptible sigh. This was normal. While Sebastian didn’t generally go out of his way to antagonize Rhys off the soccer field, Rhys was more than happy to start arguments. As long as he kept them about soccer today, we were fine.
“Didn’t know Parkhurst was giving out free lessons on how to give away possession in the final four minutes,” Rhys added, his voice carrying easily across the asphalt.
Sebastian stepped down to the edge of the curb, thrusting his hands deep into the pockets of his hoodie. His voice was sharp as he called back. “Brilliant feedback, Montgomery. Especially coming from a guy whose defense looked like a lost toddler for the entire second half of his game.”
Rhys let out a low laugh, leaning both elbows over the mower handle. “We won 2-1. Check the scoreboard.”
My pulse did a strange, unwelcome jump against my ribs.
I wasn’t supposed to look, but my eyes traitorously tracked over him anyway.
He looked ridiculously athletic standing under the fading sun.
His hair was damp, pushed back off his forehead, the moisture making it look a deep, rich brown instead of its usual light, dirty blonde.
There was a faint smudge of lawn dirt high on his left cheekbone, and a thin sheen of sweat ran down the line of his throat.
Every time he shifted his weight, the heavy muscles in his shoulders flexed under his skin.
I bit the inside of my lip, forcing my gaze down toward my trainers.
Stop looking, I told myself sharply. He was my brother’s archnemesis.
He was the guy Sebastian spent half his life complaining about.
The fact that I was secretly fake-dating him didn’t give me permission to start ogling the sweat running down his collarbone.
I was so focused on not looking at Rhys that I didn’t hear my brother’s response, but I did hear Rhys as he responded, “If you need help learning how to score under pressure, I’m free Tuesdays. I can set up some cones in your driveway. Your little sisters can watch and take notes.”
My stomach flipped. Little sisters.
Rhys gave a subtle tilt of his head as he said it.
His green eyes flicked past Sebastian’s shoulder and locked directly onto mine for a fraction of a second—a quiet, dangerous reminder of the secret we were keeping right under my family’s nose.
My heart hammered against my chest. He was playing with fire, standing on his lawn in a sweaty tank top, provoking my brother while secretly holding the leash to our fake relationship.
“Stay on your side of the road,” Sebastian snapped. “And if you bring that loud piece of junk near my property, I’ll throw it in the pond!”
“Try it,” Rhys said, a slow smirk spreading across his face. “I’ll make you push it back up the hill yourself. Build up those soft legs.”
“My legs ran circles around your midfield for ninety minutes,” Sebastian countered, stepping an inch closer to the street. “You were gasping for air by the seventy-fifth, you absolute—”
“See you next Wednesday, Novak,” Rhys interrupted, turning his back on us before Sebastian could even finish his insult and grabbing the mower handles properly. “Try not to trip over your own feet this time.”
He shoved the mower forward, the heavy blades cutting a clean line through the grass as he completely ignored us.
Sebastian stood at the bottom of the driveway for a few seconds, his chest rising and falling as he stared across the street. “Gosh, he is an insufferable prick,” he grumbled, turning on his heel and marching back up toward the car. “Every time he opens his mouth, I want to hit him.”
“You love it,” Lavender teased, bumping his shoulder. “You’d be bored without him.”
“I would thrive,” Sebastian insisted, taking a long and aggressive gulp of his drink. I pulled my sweater sleeves down over my hands, my face still burning hot. I took one last, quick glance down the street.
Rhys was turning the mower around at the edge of his lawn. As he pulled the machine back, he raised two fingers to his forehead and flashed a tiny, quiet salute straight toward me and mouthed, “See you tonight.”
It was fast, subtle, and completely out of Sebastian’s line of sight. But as his eyes met mine across the dark asphalt, I knew exactly who it was for.