Page 56

The therapist said Becca could go back out in the sun today but stay covered with protective clothing that had UVA/UVB protection..

“How’s Becca feeling?” Corbin asks as he grabs the lounger to the right, and Reed sits sideways on the next one down.

“Better. We bought her swim shorts and a long-sleeve tee with sun protection. They want her to do one more oatmeal spa bath tonight. She’ll be here in a few. She kicked me out.”

Corbin’s smile nearly cuts his face in half. “Already tired of you, huh? That’s a good sign.”

“For you or for me?” I ask, raising my aviators from the bridge of my nose.

Reed cuts in, “Young love. It’s all consuming. Basilio, she went with the ladies to yoga.”

There’s so much I want to say, but I’m not sure my best friend is ready to hear it. Like I feel lonely without her. Incomplete. I also don’t respond to Reed using the L word. But I do love her, always have. Who would have thought that a confident guy like me would be too scared fifteen years ago to tell her how I felt? I let her rule, rule me. Took it for face value. She stuck to the no-athlete rule, and now I understand why.

I change the subject to something that’s been bothering me ever since she told me about what happened with the hockey player and the other guy.

“Shearer, do you remember which guys lived in Flynn’s apartment when you were being recruited?”

“No, why?”

“Wynward was the first one to make it to the league from the Stallions, right?”

Reed says, “Yeah. What’s this all about?”

“I’m putting a puzzle together.”

“A puzzle from over a decade ago? Come on, Basilio, what’s going on?” Corbin asks, his tone careful.

I lie. “Just something my dad said to me a few times. Now I want to find the guy.”

“I’ll ask Coach.”

It’s funny we all still call Brooke’s dad Coach. Even though he’s Reed’s father-in-law, he continues to call him Coach out of respect.

“No, Bryce will know. I’ll ask him later.”

Corbin adds, “So, umm, you and my sister. It seems you’re getting along. Are things moving too fast?”

I scoff, straightening my back and taking off my sunglasses. “Fast? Are you serious? I’ve waited for her since college,” I say with a sharp, incredulous tone.

Reed smiles at me, then glances at Corbin for a reaction. Corbin slaps my leg. “I know. Sometimes I wondered if that’swhy we became friends—why you wanted to hang out with a sophomore like me.”

“It was part of it,” I joke. “We kissed a few times back then, but your sister never let it go much further than that. But then she… well, she dated the president of the Student Council, and I didn’t see her much. She was sticking to her no-athlete rule.”

“And even The Godfather couldn’t change her mind?”

My eyes bore into Corbin’s. “Nope. Your sister was hell bent on keeping her word to herself.”

“Becca always told me that she had enough jocks in her life that she didn’t need a self-centered man who was always traveling and probably cheating,” Corbin says, crossing his arms across his chest, with a threatening glare.

“I’d never.”

“Fuck, man, you’re in love with my sister.”

I nod.

“I’m a fucking goner, but this probably doesn’t mean as much to her as it does for me. What if I’m her rebound? She hasn’t bounced any other balls, right?”

“Basilio, are you asking me if my sister has had sex since Dennis with other men? Because that’s not something you ask a brother about his sister. Besides, she’d be more likely to tell Oakley or Lettie than me. She’s always kept that part of her life hidden from me. Even Dennis.”