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“Piper is great. We don’t have any issues being roommates, and the friendship part will come. I’m not worried. Plus Jaxon is here if I ever get lonely.”
I let her see desire as I fixed her with a heat-filled stare. “You’ve got me.” It was calculated, but she didn’t need to know that.
The pink returned to her cheeks, and she shifted in her seat.
I teased her the rest of the night and got her to laugh. I had no intention of taking things any further and dropped her off at her dorm with a kiss that I refused to let go anywhere, not yet anyway.
Back at the football house, I went to my room and powered up my laptop. My single focus was Winter. I had no energy to worry about Joe or Grandad or the car right then. I needed to find out why she’d left and what she had been up to since she’d been gone because I didn’t believe a goddammed word that came out of her mouth.
I typed her last name and Santa Monica into the search engine, hoping that would narrow things down. Articles flooded the page about a murder trial involving Katrina Patten. I clicked on the first one and settled in to read everything I could find.
An hour later, I still couldn’t believe it. It seemed as if Winter and I had something in common. Sort of. She hadn’t committed the crime. I had. But murder ran in her family too. Her sister’s murder specifically, and her mom had gone to jail for it.
Holy fuck. How did I not remember that?It’d been a big deal at the time. I shut my laptop and leaned back in my chair, clasping my hands behind my neck. Her mom going to jail was why Winter had left—and why my life had improved significantly.
A small part of me felt bad for her, but that was before I found an obscure post that speculated whether Winter had been the one to kill her sister and not her mom. That sounded about right with how cruel she’d been back then. I could believe it of her easily. She might pretend she was different, but I remembered every dark thing she’d done to tear me down and leave me out on the edge, hanging on by my fucking fingertips. So, no. I wouldn’t go easy on her.
Though I couldn’t remember details about the trial or what had happened to her, I knew someone who would—my mom. I would check in with her tomorrow. My reading had helped me develop a plan.I’ll get every grisly detail about her past and post it on social media.
* * *
It was late when I sent out the group text to my brother and cousins. I couldn’t sleep, and the gym would be mostly empty, so I headed there and waited. It wasn’t long before they showed up.
Cole and Damon entered the gym and went to the mats where Phoenix and I were stretching. The punching ball and a bag weren’t in the way where we planned to spar. Unlike what we were used to when we did it back home, the gym wasn’t private. But we sparred together, and it helped with the anger we each carried.
Our cousins, not as much. Phoenix had changed after the accident, but he had worries of his own, and it was a great outlet when football or sex wasn’t enough. Then there was me. I was a fucking wreck. I needed it like my next breath.
“I’m surprised Sky and Riley let you two out,” I teased.
“Shut the fuck up.” Laughing, Damon cracked me in the back of the head.
Cole grunted then dropped his bag. “We gonna do this?”
He leveled his stare my way, and I jumped to my feet. “Yeah, I’m first.”
We took a minute to tape our hands, flexing them to ensure they weren’t too tight. Before long, we sparred, circling one another and exchanging punches, working up a sweat. It felt good to burn off some excess energy and do something with my cousins and brother.
I stayed constant in the ring while Cole swapped out with Damon then Phoenix went in last. Two hours later, my arms were almost too heavy to lift, but I felt lighter than I had in a long while, and I felt confident I would pass out when I got back to my room. I needed it.
Damon smacked me on the back, grinning. “We need to do this more often. Football clearly isn’t enough.”
“Yeah, once or twice a week if we can manage it,” I agreed. “How’s Sky doing?” Damon’s girlfriend wrote for the school paper and was on the editorial team. I didn’t see the girls enough.
“Busy with classes. I tried to get her to cover sports again.”
“You’re an idiot.” Cole snorted. “She won’t give you more space in the article or brag about how awesome you are.”
“Yeah, she would. I would withhold orgasms until she did.” Damon winked. “We’ve already had this discussion. I would win.”
“She’d kick your ass is what would happen.” Phoenix tossed his wadded-up hand tape at Damon.
Sky wasn’t easily intimidated and had a quick wit. It’d been surprising when Damon had won her over our senior year in high school. Phoenix and I had secretly been rooting for her, especially after the bullshit her friend had pulled by bullying her.
“I found a house,” Cole dropped. “It’s big enough for all of us.”
“Is it Riley approved?” Phoenix asked. “If it is, then Aspen will be more excited to move in. She doesn’t think we’ll pick something livable.”
I snorted. “Like the usual frat houses?”
