Chapter Twenty-three Rowan
Chapter Twenty-three
Rowan
“Morning,” I say as Summer’s eyes flutter open. She aims a sleepy smile at me.
“What time is it?”
“Seven.”
She closes her eyes again and stretches out. “I need to go to Charlotte’s house and get all my stuff for the game.”
“No. Don’t go.” I roll on top of her, trapping her in my bed.
She’s soft and small underneath me, so I hold some of my bodyweight up. “Okay. Tell Coach I can’t make it for me.”
I laugh. The idea of Summer missing anything soccer-related is hilarious.
“Great,” I say, playing along. “Should we go downstairs and finish the movie?”
“Mmmm. Channing Tatum.” Her eyes open and sparkle with trouble.
I nuzzle into the side of her neck with a growl. Her giggles egg me on. I nip at the delicate column of her neck, then lick, then suck. It’d be real easy to get carried away and make her late, but instead I force myself to roll off her.
“Fine. Fine. I suppose I can sacrifice for the good of the team. They need their star player.”
She lets her head fall to the side so she can look at me. “I’ve never been more tempted to be late to a game ever.”
I take that for the compliment that it is.
“Give me five minutes, and I’ll drive you to Charlotte’s house.” I get up and pull on clean clothes while Summer puts on hers from last night. Except she keeps my T-shirt on.
I arch a brow. It’s hard to look angry when she’s so damn sexy.
“I’ll give it back,” she says, a smile spreading across her face. “Eventually.”
“Keep it. Looks better on you.” I walk back over to her and pull her into a hug. “Any chance you were also planning to sleep over at Charlotte’s house again tonight?”
I could get used to having her here.
She chuckles softly against my chest. “I think eventually my parents would get suspicious.”
“Right. One of the cons of having present parents, I suppose.” I mean it as a joke, but when I pull back she’s looking at me with pity.
“Have you ever told them how much you hate it that they’re gone all the time?” she asks.
“I don’t hate it,” I say immediately, then backtrack. “They have demanding jobs that require a lot of travel. My complaining about it wouldn’t change that.”
“You don’t know if you don’t try.”
“It’s fine. I was only kidding. I mean, you couldn’t have stayed over so easily last night if they were here. There are some definite perks.”
“You should tell them. Or at least ask them to come to one of your games.”
That one does hurt. I won’t lie. But less so now that Summer’s there cheering me on.
I open my mouth to make another excuse for them when noise outside catches my attention. I glance out the window and then blink several times to make sure I’m not seeing things.
“What are they doing home?” I ask as the shiny red truck comes to a stop in front of the house. My dad must like this vehicle because he’s been driving it for more than a month. He usually swaps out as he gets bored.
“Is that your parents?” she asks, voice wavering.
“Yep. Looks like we summoned them.”
“Oh my gosh!” Her eyes go big and round and she ducks down out of view.
I fight back laughter, slamming my mouth into a tight line as I stare down at her squatting in front of me.
“This isn’t funny,” she screeches but her own lips curve into a small smile. “I thought they were gone.”
“They were.”
“And you didn’t know they were coming back this morning?”
“I think we’ve established that they don’t exactly send me an itinerary.”
Her expression softens momentarily, but when the front door opens downstairs she goes back into panic mode.
“How am I going to get out of here?” She looks all around the room like she expects a secret passageway to appear. Not going to lie, I’ve always wanted one of those. Sadly for Summer, the only way out involves heading downstairs.
I consider kissing the anxiety right off her face, but I need to focus.
“Stay here. I’ll go down first and text you when it’s clear.”
“Okay.” She nods. “Good idea.”
Now I do drop my mouth to hers, lingering for just a moment. “Last night was…”
“Yeah,” she says when I can’t seem to find the right word. “It was.”
My chest is light and every muscle in my body is loose. I like this girl. Really like her. I didn’t see this coming, but it’s better than I ever pictured.
Summer and I pull apart, and I walk backward to the door. “Avoid the third step. It squeaks.”
Then I slip out of my bedroom, shutting the door behind me. As I pad down the stairs, my parents’ voices filter out from the kitchen. I totally could have snuck Summer out without them seeing, but now that they hear me coming, it’s too late.
“Rowan?” my mom calls. “Is that you?”
I step into the kitchen. Dad is making coffee and Mom is going through the stack of mail on the countertop.
“Who else did you expect?” I ask.
“No one at this hour,” my dad quips. “Why are you awake this early?”
“Uhhh…” My tired, Summer-obsessed brain takes a second to come up with a good reason because he’s right, normally I wouldn’t be. “There’s a girls’ soccer game at the school in a bit.”
“That’s nice.” My mom smiles. “Are you going to watch Summer?”
“Yeah.” I nod. Normally I’d ask about their trip, but I can practically feel the stress rolling off my girl upstairs.
My girl. Whoa. I don’t think I’ve ever thought of anyone like that before, but I don’t hate it.
“Anyway. I better get going. I’ll see you guys later. Welcome home.” I’m one step closer to the door and pulling out my phone to text Summer when my dad calls after me.
“Wait. Before you go, I wanted to talk to you about something.”
“Sure.” I tap out a message to Summer, telling her to head out to my truck, as I walk back into the kitchen.
When I glance up, both my parents are looking at me.
Unease pricks along my skin before my dad continues.
“I’ve set up an internship for you at the dealership for after soccer season is over.”
“You did what?” I ask, confusion and surprise making my words come out a little harsher than intended.
He gives me that signature dad grin, a little playful and a little patronizing. “It’s only a few hours each day after school, so you’ll still have plenty of time to hang out with your friends and all that.”
“That isn’t…” My voice trails off.
“It’ll give you some experience to help you better decide which aspect you want to focus on and maybe give you a clearer direction for a major.”
There are so many things wrong with this situation that I don’t even know where to begin.
“I’m not worried about the hours. I want to work. I was thinking about applying at some places around town after the season ended.”
“Great. Then it’s settled.”
I don’t move, but I can’t seem to find the words either. Then I hear the third stair creak.
“Can we talk about this later?” I ask.
“Sure, honey.” My mom smiles at me. “Wish Summer a good game.”
“Yeah, I will.” I hurry from the kitchen to the front entryway. Summer is standing about three-quarters of the way down the stairs, frozen in place.
I glance back, but there’s no sign of my parents. I grin at her as I open the door, then she sprints past me. Only when we’re in the truck does she let out a giant sigh and speak. “Oh my gosh. I thought for sure they were going to catch me.”
“I told you about that third stair.”
“I forgot.” She gives me an adorable pouty face, then covers it with both hands.
I pry them away with my fingers and then lean in and kiss her. She melts into me slightly, but I can tell she’s still panicking, so I pull back and start the engine.
“How pissed would you be right now if my truck didn’t start?”
Her eyes widen, but as the engine rolls over, she smiles. “So not funny.”
I drop her off at Charlotte’s house, and then I head to the soccer field. It’s early, and we don’t have practice today, but I’m not surprised at all when I spot Vaughn out there kicking a ball around.
“What are you doing here?” he asks when I walk out to join him.
“It’s a long story.”
* * *
Historically the girls’ games aren’t as well attended as the boys’ games. We’ve gone to state several years running, plus we have Coach Collins. All of it has contributed to a loyal fan base that shows up at home games to cheer us on.
But today, Frost Lake has shown up for the girls’ game against Oakley. Vaughn went home to shower, but I stick around as the teams are warming up and people are filling the bleachers.
Summer glances around like she’s making sure no one is watching and then jogs over to me.
“Guess what?” she asks in an excited whisper.
“What?”
“Coach Endrews, the coach from FLU, is here today.”
“Really?” I whip my head around in the direction she now stares. I spot the woman in blue, a tablet in her lap.
“That’s awesome.” Pride fills my chest. “You’re going to be great.”
“I hope so. This may be my only shot to show her what I can do.”
“You’ve got this,” I assure her.
“Thanks.” Her smile widens and a little of her usual confidence resurfaces. “Okay, I better get back out there.”
“Wait.” I grab her hand before she can run off, then I tug her to me. She falls into me, standing between my legs and resting her hands on my shoulders. “Is it wild that we’ve only been apart for like four hours and I miss you?”
Her grin is sexy and playful one second, and then she looks past me and sucks in a deep breath, all other emotions replaced with surprise.
“What the fuck, Sum?” a deep voice asks from over my left shoulder.
I don’t like the tone or the question. I whip around with a scowl and come face-to-face with the last person I expected.
“Silas?” Summer’s voice is tight and questioning.
Her brother sneers, looking from her to me and back. “What is going on? Why are you all couple-y with this asshole?”
He gives me another side-eye.
“Silas, you know Rowan.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.” His jaw tightens.
She shakes her head. “I’ll explain later.”
“Explain now,” he demands.
“I told you about this weeks ago.” She keeps her voice low and quiet.
“Yeah, but you said you were faking it. That you didn’t really like him.”
I get to my feet and stand beside her. “Let’s just all chill for a second. Maybe we should have this conversation after the game.”
“Don’t tell me what to do. I’m talking to my sister. Not you.”
Well, fuck.
“Silas,” Summer hisses. She looks around. Then I do the same. We’re attracting some attention, and this is so not the time. It’s the only reason I don’t get in his face. That and he’s Summer’s brother.
“You said it yourself. This guy is an asshole.” He meets my gaze again, sizing me up like he thinks I’m scum. “A world-class prick. A joke.” He flicks his attention back to Summer. “He broke my foot for fuck’s sake and busted Micky’s face.”
“I didn’t—”
“I’m not fucking talking to you.” His voice is louder this time. “I should hit you for dragging my sister into your fake-dating bullshit. All so you can get with some other girl. Who fucking does that? Meanwhile you’re messing around with Summer like she’s a fucking toy.”
“Silas. That’s enough.” Summer shouts over him, then flushes as more people look our way.
I take a step back before I do something I can’t take back, like punch him.
“Lindsey!” Coach Bradley yells. “This isn’t personal time.”
Embarrassment creeps onto her features as she backs onto the field. She nods at her coach and then jogs back to join her teammates.
I look over at her brother in time to watch him step into my space. He’s only a half inch, tops, taller than me but he looms over me with a glare. “Stay the fuck away from my sister, Blakenship.”
He’s gone before I can respond.