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“Thanks again for the practice,” she says with a coy smirk.
I grin back shyly. “Yeah. You too. It made me feel better.”
Her cheeks darken, and I hold back an audible reaction. I have no idea what’s happening inside of me, but my body and my brain are definitely not on the same wavelength. And every little thing she says or does is garnering a reaction from one or the other.
“And, hey, a promise is a promise, right?”
“What?” I ask, confused.
“This stays between us, no matter what?” she clarifies, her expression hopeful.
“Oh, yeah, right. Of course.”
She nods and stands, so I follow suit. “Well, good luck with your brother problems, Blake Bourgeois.”
I laugh shortly. “Yours too, Loren Reed.”
She smiles again and turns to walk out, and I trail behind her.
“Oh, great, you found her,” I hear Landry’s voice as soon as we step out of the pool house. “Lo, I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”
Her brow goes up sharply. “You have?”
“Yeah, I hadn’t noticed you disappeared at first.”
She ducks her head. “And just like that, I’m back to being invisible,” she mutters.
I clear my throat, stepping forward. “I noticed her,” I say to Landry, my eyes flashing to Loren’s. “In fact, she’s been here with me the whole time.”
Don’t ask me what the hell I’m doing picking a fight with her brother, especially since she just made me swear not to tell a soul what we did. Maybe I just want him to pay for making her feel bad all the time.
“Is that right?” He closes in the space between us.
I glare at him as we stand toe-to-toe. We’re pretty evenly matched, size-wise. But unlike him, I grew up with a brother, which means I’m a more practiced fighter. “It’s what I said, isn’t it?”
“Landry, don’t,” Loren pleads beside us. “Nothing happened, all right,” she adds quietly, to my disappointment. But I can tell she hates this kind of attention, and the last thing I want to do is hurt her.
“Is that true?” he asks me without looking away. I’m vaguely aware of the crowd gathering around us. “Or were you messing around with my sister?”
I huff, lifting my chin and glaring at him with disdain. “Of course not.”
And then I hear the rumble of laughter as it makes its way around, and I glance over to see Loren’s face flushing. They’ve apparently taken it to mean that I wouldn’t stoop to her level, and although my intention was to save her from further embarrassment, I’m afraid I’ve accidentally made her the butt of a cruel joke.
I clear my throat. “I mean, no, I would never …”
But even Landry is biting back a smile now. I only wanted to convey that I’m not desperate enough to take advantage of a girl or force myself on someone who doesn’t want me, yet I’m only making things worse.
“Right, because who would?” Loren mutters sarcastically, her arms crossed and her watery eyes trained on the ground. Her friend Tenley comes over to drag her away.
“That’s not—it’s not what I meant,” I stutter, too little too late. I watch helplessly as Loren and Tenley walk off, just as my brother makes his way to the scene of the crime. He bumps Landry’s shoulder as he approaches, and the two of them exchange heated looks.
I groan and push JD back. “Come on, man, we’re leaving.” But, of course, JD has to make a show of shoving Landry out of our way, and I’m torn between chasing after Loren and stopping an impending throw down. I sigh as I take one last look at her retreating form before turning to land a right hook directly on Landry’s jaw, throwing as much of my weight into the punch as I can. Then I grab my brother and walk away.
CHAPTER 1
Loren
My head pounds,and I keep my eyes shut as I push away from whatever firm surface I’ve been using as a pillow, leaving behind a small puddle of drool. I groan and wipe my mouth with the sheets, trying like hell to wake my brain.
