Page 94 of Inferno

“I know.” Manning swept an appreciative glance around. “It’s my favorite part of the house.”

“No kidding. The whole house is amazing, for real.”

Manning shrugged dispassionately. “I guess.”

Michael raised a brow. “You guess?”

“Yeah.I mean, don’t get me wrong, Mike. The house is nice, and I definitely like having my own room. But”— again Manning shrugged —“I really miss Atlanta.”

Michael passed him the basketball. “Is that why you were looking so miserable earlier?”

“That’s part of the reason,” Manning mumbled.

Michael watched as he sank a series of shots. “On the way back from the airport, your dad told me you were grounded. But he said he’d let you tell me why.”

Manning glanced across the room to make sure that the others—especially Mason—weren’t eavesdropping. Thankfully the boys were absorbed in the video game, laughing boisterously and taunting one another.

Turning back to Michael, Manning gave him the rundown on his fight with Rory Kerrigan and his three-day suspension from school.

When he’d finished his account, Michael clapped him consolingly on the back. “Sucks that you got in trouble, but you did the right thing. That asshole had it coming.”

“Most definitely,” Manning agreed.

“Has he tried to step to you since then?”

Manning snorted. “I wish he would.”

He and Michael laughed.

As Manning resumed shooting the ball, Michael said slyly, “So you like Taylor, huh?”

Startled, Manning stared at him. “I never said that.”

Michael chuckled. “You didn’t have to. I could tell by the way you were talking about her.”

An embarrassed flush heated Manning’s face. “I hardly said anything about her,” he mumbled, setting down the basketball. “And she’s not even my type.”

“Then how come you were kissing her?”

Manning whipped his head around to see Mason smirking gleefully at him from across the room.

“Kissing who?” the others wanted to know.

“That weird-looking girl who came over to our house,” Mason replied. “I saw Manny kissing her.Eeeuuuwww!”

Manning blushed harder as the others howled with laughter. Glaring accusingly at Mason, he growled, “I thought you promised not to tell anyone.”

Mason shrugged, lifting his palms in a helpless gesture. “You were mean to us today.”

“Now we know why,” Montana joked. “Taylor probably dumped him!”

This set off another round of laughter that had Michael grinning and shaking his head sympathetically at Manning. “Dontcha just love little brothers?”

Manning scowled. “At leastyouonly have one.”

“One is more than enough.” But Michael’s expression had softened as he watched Marcus wrestling playfully with Magnum. The ten-year-old cousins were like two peas in a pod, so close that they’d probably end up rooming together in college.

“It’s good to see Little Man laughing again,” Michael said quietly. “It’s been a while.”