Page 55 of Show Me

“Yeah? Which one?” Sam rolled upright slowly, not getting the five-alarm memo. He stretched his arms overhead, every human muscle known to man putting itself on rigorous and artful display. I sighed internally.

“Matt.” It was visitors’ weekend, and even though he’d already applied to the U early decision, he craved time out of our crazy house, too. Of all my brothers and sisters, we were probably closest even if just by default in the birth order.

“My brother’s coming, too. But not until later this afternoon.”

“Does he play any sports?”

“Ha. Nope.” Sam rubbed his lower lip thoughtfully. “There’s a Sigma party Saturday night, though. You should bring Matt if you’re not working. Give him a taste of the Greek life.”

I beaned him with my pillow.

“What?” He laughed.

“On a scale of one to I-don’t-even-need-to-ask, how hard did you have to exert yourself holding back something aboutmetasting the Greek life?”

Sam lurched forward, lips brushing over mine before I could react. It was so quick, it was hardly more than the sensation of crackling static. A little zing of electricity and then gone, but boy did it have a lasting impact on my heartrate and my ability to breathe properly.

My mouth fell open, and I waited for words to follow. An admonishment or joke or…something. But nope. My throat had ceased working, too.

Sam slid from the edge of the bed and stood for another languid stretch, this time exhibiting his back muscles. God, all that was missing was a fan of peacock plumes bursting from his ass.

He glanced over his shoulder at me, gaze dropping to his own asscheeks and then lifting to meet my eyes. His lips split in a smug grin as he flexed each cheek individually.

“Smug isn’t cute on you,” I pointed out, and he laughed as he strolled to my door. He peered out through the crack, then opened it wider, which I took to mean Cam had already left for work.

“Think about that party, though, for real. It’d be fun.” He started through the door and then swiveled around to face me. “John’s loss, by the way. I didn’t think he was a good match for you, if you want my honest opinion. You’d have been bored of watchingLaw & Order: SVUwith him in a month.”

I exhaled a gusty sigh because he wasn’t wrong. But I didn’t know what to do about my pounding heart or the fact that it had absolutely nothing to do with John.

19

Sam

Kimpton U had us running all the fuck over the field Friday night. I was drenched a half hour in and at the hour mark, actively hurting.

“Harding, get some water for fuck’s sake,” Coach hollered at me during half-time.

“Gladly,” I muttered under my breath and trotted off to the cooler, scanning the student section in search of Jesse. I found him sitting with his brother and mine, as well as Mark, Chet, and Cam, color high in his cheeks, pom-poms in his hands that he and his brother kept bopping each other with. He was wearing a football jersey that’d been cropped above his belly button, and Jesus, was it distracting.

A tingle ran over my lips as I thought back to this morning. I hadn’t wanted to get out of that bed, and I was bummed I wouldn’t see him the rest of the night since I’d promised my brother we’d have a night out with the football guys after he claimed it was the closest he’d ever be getting to football.

“What’re you staring at?” Reid’s voice came from behind me.

“Just checking out the stands.” I said, affecting a casual tone.

Reid squinted in that direction, his lips parting slightly. “That must be Jesse’s brother. Wow, Jesse wasn’t lying when he said he was bigger. Jesus.”

I frowned. “When were you talking to Jesse about his brother?” I thought Reid had long since turned in the pass that allowed him to have that kind of familiar conversation with Jesse, even if he had tried to make amends recently.

“I don’t know. Freshman year, probably.” He shrugged. “Hey, are they coming out with us tonight, Jesse and his brother, I mean?”

I stared at him. “I don’t think so.”

I didn’t want to get in the middle, but shit, I started wondering if Reid was up to what I thought he was. If so, I didn’t like it.

When he caught me watching, he cocked a brow in question, and I finished off the rest of my water before tossing the bottle back on the bench and heading back out onto the field without answering.

Reid stepped under the showerhead next to me after the game, soaping himself up vigorously. A current of tension ran between us, but I wasn’t sure if it was just me until Reid gave me that same assessing look he’d given me on the field earlier.