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How was I supposed to backpedal out of that?
For the first time since this whole thing started, guilt twisted in my stomach. Because somewhere along the way, what this man thought began to matter. And lying to him made me nauseous. Nauseous enough that my breathing had picked up tempo, head spinning as what could only be a panic attack began creeping into my body. I wasn’t ready for this. Wanted to vanish. Wanted to start over—start fresh. Five thousand miles and it still wasn’t enough.
His voice dropped as he tightened his self-control. “I need you to tell me the truth—”
“Jameson! They’re ready for the Blessing of The Fleet. We gotta get down to the boat.” Axel said as he loped up beside us, Maverick and their cousins beside him. Saved by the little brother. I didn’t know what the hell a Blessing of the Fleet was, but hopefully it bought me time to think. A perplexed little sound rumbled from Axel as his eyes flicked between me and his brother. “Everything alright here?”
“Peachy,” Jameson and I answered in unison, his as a growl and mine more of an anxiety-ridden, bird-like chirp.
EIGHT
JAMESON
“Is thatallholy water?” Maverick snickered, walking up beside me and crossing his arms. I granted him an amused scoff. Maybe stupid traditions weren’t the result of an obnoxiously involved family, but a town with a love of theatrics. Some years, the priest stood at the end of the channel flicking holy water off the dock, and some years—this being one of them—he showed up with a freaking hose. The idea was a formal prayer and ongoing blessing of all the boats about to head out for the season. When fishing made up the bulk of the local economy, everyone turned out to support us before summer, as we paraded through the channel between islands.
“Whatever they say, I guess,” I said, glowering up at the dwindling crowd. Yeah, the priest passing off the city water for the supposed blessing was irritating enough. I wasn’t exactly a religious man, but at leastattemptto try, for pity’s sake. More aggravating than that was that not-Lizzy was standing between my sisters, with Brexley and Rhyett on the other side, all grinning and waving down at us. Only, she wouldn’t look at me, just occasionally Axel or Mav, as Milo stayed securely locked in the wheelhouse. It was pissing me off. And confirming exactly what my instincts were telling me.
It didn’t matter what she or Axel said, I couldn’t shake the knowing in my gut that she was lying to my face, keeping secrets from our family. And that didn’t spellgood newsin my mind. She might have been cute as sin, but there were few things I loathed more than a liar. Especially one that had already infiltrated my line of soft-hearted sisters.Especiallyone that had her damn claws in me. I wasn’t a sucker. The first time I could shrug off, but there were only three feet between us today and she didn’t give me a single response. Not in that squirrelly way girls would if they were playing deaf because they didn’t wanna talk to me. Skittles—because what the hell else could I call her?—didn’t shift her feet, her cheeks didn’t pink up, there was no nervous lip biting. She actually hadn’t realized I was talking to her until I got up in her face.
Worse yet, when I tried to tell her I wanted to help, she thought so fucking little of me, she assumed I was mad she was here. Iwasmad. Pissed, actually. The reasoning was just different than she’d sograciouslyassumed.
My anger derived from three things. One: she, Brex, and my brother were obviously in this together. Two: my gut was convinced she’d lied to us—to me, tomy parents, who had been nothing but welcoming to her. Three: fear hid under her bubbly exterior. And that pissed me off. Because what the fuck was she running from in this ‘fresh start’ of hers? My instincts were screaming to protect her against whatever threat had those big brown eyes so desolate when she was on that call.
Maybe it should have been obvious. What color-loving, crop top wearing sun beam traded Florida for Alaska? Willingly. My brother was lovable, but he wasn’tthatlovable, and had certainly never been one to ride the unholy tricycle. Hell, not even I had pushed that boundary, and that was certainly statistically more likely. Which meant she was here for a reason, and I highly doubted it was to give Brin a maternity leave. Rhy could’ve had Alice or the twins step in with way less hassle.
Moving her into his house. Jesus Christ, I was dumb as rocks. Skittles was in trouble. And I was damn well going to find out how hot that water was.
* * *
The steadythud,thud, thud, swooshsounded like coming home. Yeah, I smiled, and I didn’t give a shit that I looked like some idiot kid coming downstairs Christmas morning as my engine cut off and boots met pavement. All thoughts of trouble wandered to the back burner as I watched Rhyett move, the motions still practiced all these years later.Thud, thud, thud, swoosh.
My brothers and I grew up shooting hoops on that driveway. Hell, Rhyett would play at all hours of the night, the steady, predictable pattern served as the background to many a lullaby as mom got the younger kids to bed. Music cranking, we’d run drills until the last light faded during the summer. Sometimes on school nights, too. As he pivoted to find me watching, Rhyett broke out that signature grin of his before tossing me the ball. It was firm and rough, obviously new. He must’ve picked it up when he got into town.
Dribble, dribble, dribble, shoot. Net. Victory.
Our high-five was an easy muscle memory. Wordlessly, we moved back into old habits. Ancient habits. Hell, I think Milo bought that hoop when we were twelve. The back was missing; the top had long since rusted, and the hole in the net was almost—almost—big enough for the ball to fall through. When we finally paused for a water break, Rhyett jerked his chin over towards his truck, the tailgate down. He coasted a palm over his sweaty forehead, snagged the case of water from the bed of the pickup, and tossed me one.
“What’s on your mind?” He asked, finally taking the Bluetooth headphones out of his ears, placing them in their case after wiping them clean, and setting them beside his water.
“Nothing,” I breathed, deflecting. For a beat, I just wanted to play. Clear my head. Not think about sexy little sunbeams and their baggage.
“Right,” he muttered before taking another drag of water.
“Should therebe something on my mind?” I hedged. Rhyett puckered his mouth, shaking his head before taking one last swig of water.
“Nope. Guess not. You up for another round?”
“I could do this all day.”
“Oh, I remember,” he said, grinning as we both put the lids back on our bottles. It wasn’t an exaggeration. We’d played ourselves half to death out here. Right as we both wandered back onto the court, Axel’s white pickup turned down the long drive and, judging by the tunes emanating from the cab, he had Maverick in tow. They were out of the truck and heading our way in ten seconds flat.
“Hey, old men! Wanna learn a thing or two?” Mav taunted as he came down the drive. Rhyett and Axel both laughed as I scowled in his direction.
“In your dreams, kid,” Rhyett said back, peeling his sweaty shirt from his body. The idea had merit. The sun was blessedly shining, and something about the Alaska sun was warmer. Maybe it was just because we had such a stark comparison in mind, but fifty up here felt like sixty or seventy degrees in the lower forty-eight. Mimicking the motion and tucking it through a belt loop, I glanced Rhyett’s way.
“Well, this should be fun.”
It wasn’t until we were all dripping sweat, and Elora came out to hound us about helping with dinner, that any of us were willing to slow down. With Mav anywhere-bound in a matter of months, and Rhyett days away from flying home, these moments were fucking sacred. Yeah, growing up in a big ass family was loud. And overwhelming. And sent my anxiety through the roof because nobody could hold still long enough to keep track of, or make sure they were safe. But I fucking loved having five brothers. The six of us couldn’t have been a more eclectic gathering, but it worked. And this was what I missed the most about all being on the island.
