Page 58

EPILOGUE

TUCKER

“T hat handsome bastard owes me a polar dip,” Cael muttered, trailing Van down the stairs.

“He’s going to flip out,” I warned, looking at them.

“I’m counting on it.” Cael grinned like an idiot and bolted the second his feet hit the ground.

“It’s his nose that has broken.” Van shrugged. "You know the rules.”

“Really?” I backed away with my hands up in surrender. "Do we have to?”

“First in the lake, Captain .” Arlo stepped off the bus in his sleeveless shirt with a wicked grin on his face.

I took another step back and he inched forward as Ella came down off the bus, watching everything transpire between us. It was a warm enough day out, and the temperature of the lake was what worried me. It was how much they let ride on the stupid superstition.

“You’ve been waiting a long time for this, haven’t you?” I asked him, looking for my outs and backing straight into Van. His hands came down on my shoulders and gripped them tightly.

“Three. Fucking. Years,” Arlo said, savoring each word like a kid on Christmas morning.

“Can’t you wait just like—” I took off running in the opposite direction, but I wasn’t fast enough, and Silas was waiting like they had seen my escape plan ahead of time and accounted for it.

“No running, Tucker,” he warned.

“Oh come on, Doc,” I lowered my voice. "I’m not above bribery?”

“Ah,” Silas smirked, his eyebrow raising in amusement. "But I am, you better run…”

“You look like a terrified calf, Tucker!” Jensen laughed, standing with Todd on the deck, blocking my way into the cabin. I was being corralled like an animal.

“Oh, I see,” I hollered out. "I’m too fuck big for any of you to pick up so I’m being wrangled!”

Arlo barked out a laugh. "Golden boy’s not as dumb as he looks!”

“You’re going in the lake, Tucker,” Van said, blocking the path to the other side of the property, down by the field. “One way or another,” he smiled, putting his arms over his chest.

“It’ll take all five of you, and you’re going to need Cael!” I challenged them.

“Three, and Cael’s busy,” Arlo said, coming up behind me by surprise, he hooked his arms under me and put me in a headlock. His biceps pressed against my jaw and kept me snug to his chest despite trying to muscle my way out of the hold. Arlo tutted as Van encroached and grabbed my legs, and Silas swooped in to help.

I fought them all the way down to the lake, and almost made it out of Arlo’s grip, but he was too strong and fast for me to get free.

I hollered a hearty “fuck you” at all of them just before I plunged beneath the surface.

The water was colder than I expected as I pushed to the surface. My t-shirt and jeans made it hard to fight upwards, but when I broke into the sunshine, I could hear Cael and Josh arguing. Arlo was standing nearby on the dock as a bunch of the other players had jumped in to join me.

“It’s the rules.” Cael fought, surging forward into Josh’s personal space.

That was going to end badly.

“Back the fuck up, Cody,” Josh warned, his stance sturdy on the dock.

Cael shucked off his shirt, throwing it and in the motion of doing so, Josh sucker punched him in the face. Ella gasped as the sickening crunch rang out and a few of the players groaned loudly in response.

“Fuck,” Cael yelled, shaking his head free of what was no doubt very loud ringing. He shoved forward, ignoring the pain and pushed Josh as hard as he could back off the dock and into the lake. "You!”

Josh resurfaced in a gasp, his dark curls sticking limp to his head and his hoodie soaked through, clinging to his muscles. Cael gasped for air, his eyes watering as he patted his nose, checking for blood.

“It’s tradition,” he coughed as Ella turned his face toward her, and he fought her grip for a split second. “You’re a Hornet now,” he barked at Josh, dripping wet and grinning.

“You broke his nose!” Ella called out.

“I’ve warned him before.” Josh shrugged.

Cael didn’t give a shit about the nose, he never had. It was just about getting Josh in the water. It was about tradition. He smiled at Ella, kissing her on the cheek. In the most dramatic fashion, he back-flipped off the dock and into the water directly in front of us.

Josh turned his face away from the splash, and I laughed.

“I hate this team,” he sighed, but there was a small smile on his face that said otherwise.

“No, you don’t.” I squinted at him in the sun and kept treading water. “How was your drive?”

“Fine,” Josh clipped. "I’m going to go change before Mark gets here, he’s going to be overwhelmed by all this shit,” he said before pushing to the shore as Cael broke the surface finally with a stupid grin on his face and a stream of diluted blood dripping from his nose. I didn’t have a chance to argue that Mark was more excited to be included in family weekend than Josh was.

It didn’t really matter, it wasn’t about Mark anyway.

“One more broken nose and you’ll be ugly,” Josh said to him in passing, and Cael looked even more proud of himself.

“There’s plenty of uses for a crooked nose,” Cael called after him. “Clem doesn’t mind!”

“That’s disgusting,” Ella laughed from the dock.

Arlo looked down at her with his arms crossed, a smile spreading across his face. “If I remember correctly, you made a new tradition last season,” he said, bending down and scooping her up before she had a chance to scramble away. He held her against his chest, and she scowled back up at him.

He launched them off the dock, and before I knew it, everyone was in the water, having fun and letting loose after the hard first half of the season. I watched as Josh stopped to talk to Coach before climbing the hill to the cottage. I wish he had stayed, but for all his growth, he was still getting used to the crowd, and that was alright.

He got into the lake.

I smiled and started roughhousing with Cael as the sun hung high in the sky. That evening we all sat around the tables, eating too much food and laughing as our families started to arrive. At first, I thought that I would miss my own being there, but as seats started to fill and the rooms echoed with laughter, I realized I didn’t even notice their absence.

Josh was pissed that he was losing at Trouble and Mark was having the time of his life strategizing with Ella.

“Isn’t that cheating?” Josh scoffed, and Ella laughed with Mark.

“How exactly do you cheat at a children’s game?” He asked Josh as he moved around the board.

“I don’t know, but somehow you’re both doing it,” he grumbled.

“Someone’s a poor sport,” Ella giggled as Mark sent one of Josh’s tokens back to the start of the game. He started to cough, bringing his handkerchief to his mouth to conceal it.

“I’ll grab you some more water.” I reached for his glass as I stood, narrowly missing running straight into Cosy as I turned toward the kitchen.

“Hey, golden boy.” She smiled at me. "You’re looking happy,” she added in passing and raised her beer in my direction as she joined her brother and Zoey.

Coach stood at the counter with Mrs. Shore, who was giggling at something he said, as I approached to fill Mark’s glass with more water. She took the glass from me and filled it with a bottle from the fridge as Coach stared at me.

“So who pulled the short straw and had to talk to my parents about this weekend?” I asked him as Mrs. Shore gave me the glass back.

“Oh, Silas.” Coach scowled. “What I wanted to say to them was rude and without professionalism. I lack tact.”

Mrs. Shore stifled another bout of laughter, and Coach looked at her over his shoulder with a smile. I watched them both interact, getting the weirdest of feelings from the situation.

“You’ll need more than tact if Silas finds out whatever this is.” I pointed between the two of them, and Coach glared at me like he might kill me if I didn’t disappear faster. I put my hands in the air and started to back away slowly as Mrs. Shore turned her back to the counter with red cheeks and the hand towel against her mouth to cover her bright smile.

I was happy for Coach, I couldn’t remember the last time I saw him smile. And for the first time, I understood the joy of just having someone around that made you feel like that. I hadn’t skipped a meal in weeks. I still had lunch with Riona, and Josh watched my dinner schedule like a hawk. But I was feeling better and it showed.

I looked around the cabin, and a peace settled against my chest that I hadn’t ever felt in my entire life because for once everything seemed to be falling into place. My eyes scanned over the room, taking in everything and letting myself be grateful for every single person.

They stopped at Cael. His hair was getting longer, and his head was propped up on Clementine’s shoulder as she sat in his lap, chatting with Silas, who seemed to finally be getting back to normal despite everything going on with his dad.

Josh found me standing a few feet away from the table. "You okay?” he asked, taking the cup from me as his other hand wrapped around my waist to my back, beneath my shirt, just to feel my skin.

Cael must have felt me staring, because he looked over, smiled softly, and winked. He had been right, I’d never admit it to him because it would make him even more insufferable. But, I had gotten everything I ever wanted and didn’t have to sacrifice a damn thing to get it.

“I’ve never been better.”