Page 41 of Send It

Lincoln

Reiss is pissed at Stas and lowkey, so am I. Why would she be talking to Landon?

I worry that it is just another way for Landon to get to Reiss. But how would he know that Stassie would be the way to do that?

I have questions and I can’t wait until we get away from Reiss so I can ask her all of them.

“Thanks for driving the boat,” Stas says when Reiss hands her the keys back, causing Colson to scoff. “What about me? I drove!”

She rolls her eyes, “Thank you both for driving the boat.”

London Boy stands off to the side and I can tell he’s waiting for Stas to walk back up with him, so I allow her to walk inside with him and hang back with Colson.

Reiss has already started loading the stuff into his truck and it’s the first private moment we’ve had all day. His cheeks are a little red from the sun and it makes me reminisce on summers past, back when he had braces, pimples, and a buzzcut. Even then my entire world revolved around him.

“Why are you gawking at me like that, baby Bane?” He walks toward me on the dock with a pack of Trolli gummi worms in his hand. My eyes rake over his body as I think about last night and how amazing it was.

I reach into the bag to grab one of the sour worms but he yanks it back, “No way, you don’t even like these that much.”

“Stop being stingy,” I demand. “Give me one of those worms right now!”

I stand there with my hand held out and he just grins. “I got a worm I can give ya.”

Charging him, I do my best to grab the bag of candy from his hand. He dodges me on the skinny dock and I poke his ribs, causing him to lose his balance. His feet teeter on the edge and, just before he goes into the lake, he yanks me down with him.

We both fall into the water with a giant splash and the candy wrapper floats on the top, empty.

“Good job, dipshit.” I laugh, the nickname earning me a splash in the face. “Now neither of us can have them.”

He splashes me again and I wrap my arms around his neck, trying my best to playfully push him under. He grips both of my ass cheeks as I wrap my legs around his waist. We’re both thrashing around and giggling when Reiss clears his throat.

He stares at us, but his eyes fall straight to Colson. The second they do, Colson releases his grip on my sides and I float away from him. He quickly swims to the edge of the dock and lifts himself up.

“Let’s go,” Reiss demands. “I need to get to the track, that is, if you’re done groping my sister.”

I nod firmly, knowing the furrow in his brow means he needs to get behind the handlebars so he doesn’t do something stupid.

“I’m coming. Let me go tell Stas bye.”

I pull myself up onto the dock and wring my hair out. Colson gives me a reassuring look because he can see the worry in my eyes over what Reiss just said about him groping me.

I stare at them both for a second and grab a towel out of my bag before taking off up the stairs into Lakeside.

When I walk inside, Stassie is sitting at the bar with two empty shot glasses in front of her, looking absolutely miserable. London Boy is nowhere to be found.

“What happened to Drew?” I ask, taking the stool next to her.

She only shrugs, never looking up from the empty glass. Her blonde hair is tied back in a slick bun so I can see her eyes and I swear they have tears in them.

“Stas…” I whisper “What’s wrong?”

She shakes her head and quickly wipes away her tears, not wanting me to see that they were even there.

“Nothing, okay.”

My chest is tight with emotion. I don’t like seeing her upset.

“It doesn’t seem like nothing.”

She pushes the stool away from the bar and stands up, “I don’t want to talk right now. Can you call me later? I need to get home before my dad realizes his boat keys are missing.”

I narrow my eyes at her, classic Stas to take the boat without permission. She just laughs through her tears. “I’m fine, I promise.”

I don’t press, knowing that sometimes it’s better to just give someone space. That’s exactly how I felt the night Jackson came into my room. I didn’t want to talk to my brother about it, I didn’t know how to talk about it. I still don’t.

Something tells me that there’s a lot more going on with Reiss and Stas than we all know and I hate that he is hurting her with Mira.

Twenty minutes later we are pulling the bikes out of the shop and gearing up to ride. Colson has been on his leg a lot today and doesn’t feel like riding so he’s working on the bike trying to finish putting it together. It’s just going to be me and Reiss this time.

“I want you to push me,” Reiss says. “Like more than usual.”

I laugh because he has no idea that I beat him last weekend at East Bend.

“Yes sir,” I tease, saluting him. He doesn’t entertain the idea of joking around. He straps his helmet on and we both line up at the gate. When the ten laps are over, we pull off to the side and Reiss cuts the bike off.

“Are you getting faster? I thought you were coming around me in the corner before the finish.”

I could’ve passed him but I didn’t want to tip him off to anything. Especially not the fact it was my dust he was eating last weekend.

“Almost but not quite, good run.”

He fist bumps me and pushes his bike back over to the shop. The sun is beginning to set and the home track doesn’t have lights so we have to call it a night because in about ten minutes we won’t be able to see.

The flood lights on the outside of the shop building illuminate the gravel lot and Colson is still inside working on the bike for Nationals.

“What happened with Stas?” I ask Reiss. “She was really upset. I’ve never seen her like that.”

He pulls his brows together and I can tell he’s bothered. “When was she upset? She didn’t seem upset when she was screaming at me over Mira and throwing Landon in my face. She seemed pissed off more than anything.”

I cross my arms, “Don’t bullshit me.”

“I’m not. I don’t know why she would be so upset about it anyway, she’s your best friend and that’s it. She’s nothing to me.”

He stomps away and I watch as he disappears into the shop with Colson, but I’m not letting him get off that easily.

“I don’t believe you,” I say, chasing him down. “I think you like her and I think she likes you too but you both are too stubborn to admit it.”

Reiss turns around, screaming at me through his helmet. “Just drop it, Lincoln!”

Colson stands up, pushing him back, “Don’t yell at her, dude. Come on.”

Reiss’ eyes dart between myself and Colson and he starts to backpedal. “Oh my God,” he starts to panic. “Are you fucking my sister?”

Colson’s eyes jerk from Reiss’ to mine and I silently plead with him not to do this yet .

I can tell Colson’s having a hard time so I cut in, “No we aren’t fucking but what would be so wrong with that since you’re obviously in love with Stassie?”

Reiss just stares at me, so I don’t back down. “You were fine with Jackson wanting me but God forbid it be someone decent.”

“Don’t throw that in my face,” he growls. “I didn’t know any of that was going to happen.”

“I don’t blame you,” I cry, my voice breaking. “I just don’t understand what would be so wrong with me and Colson?”

He shakes his head, “I always knew you had a thing for him. All the times you’d drag him away from me at the races to hold your hand while Dad raced. I figured you’d grow out of that shit and realize he just felt sorry for you. You can’t have him like that, Lincoln. It will fuck everything up.”

My gaze finds Colson’s as I wait for him to tell my brother the truth, that he didn’t just hold my hand out of pity but he doesn’t speak.

I know it’s because we agreed to tell him after Nationals but for Reiss to sit here and talk to me like that and Colson not say a word kind of hurts.

I know deep down Reiss is just upset and projecting his emotions onto me.

My throat burns with the threat of screaming, what comes out is nothing but a whisper.

“When the time comes for me to decide who I want to spend my life with, my brother won’t have a say in it.”

I walk out the shop door, slamming it behind me. I love Reiss and he’s my brother, but tonight he’s just an asshole.