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Bright lights come from my back, the soft purr of an engine coming closer. I expect the car to pass by, but it slows down instead.
This time, my heart starts beating faster, but for a completely different reason as the panic sets in.
I turn around, trying to see who’s in the car, but the bright beam of the headlights is blinding me.
The door of the car opens, and I take a step back.
“Jade?”
CHAPTERTWENTY-SIX
PRESCOTT
“Is it just me, or is Coach getting more intense in his old age?” I ask Nixon as I push the front door open. The cool night air hits me in the face, and I welcome the chill that runs down my spine. It’s late September, and the nights are coming sooner, temperatures dropping lower. It was a nice reprieve from the intense heat over the summer.
“He knows we can do better, and that’s why he’s pushing us so vigorously.”
“I just think the guy likes to torture us,” I mutter, that familiar jab of pain going through my leg with every step I make.
Today’s practice was more intense than ever. It’s like nothing we did was good enough, and Coach just kept on pushing and pushing until he finally called it quits almost an hour after our usual end time.
“There is that too,” Nixon lets out a soft chuckle as we get to our cars.
I throw my bag into the backseat, pulling open the driver’s door before glancing at him. He’s still just standing there, a contemplative look on his face.
“You not planning to go home tonight?”
Nixon gives his head a shake as if he needs to clear his mind. “No, it’s not that. It’s just…” He runs his fingers through his hair. “Did Jade seem strange to you?”
My fingers tighten around the metal as I watch my best friend over the hood of my car. “Strange how?” I ask slowly, unsure of where this is going.
Was today strange? Did we somehow mess up? Does he know there is something going on between us? That I slept with his little sister behind his back? Repeatedly.
Sweat coats my palms as the nerves set in.
Get a grip, dude. There is no way for him to know.
“I don’t know. She just acted… strange.” He lets out a sigh, “Maybe I just worry too much about her. But she isn’t making it easy.”
“What do you mean?”
We generally don’t talk about Jade, but I can see something is worrying him, and the team can’t have his attention divided.
Or at least that’s what I keep telling myself.
It’s not like I want to know more about her.
This isn’t what this thing between us is. It’s just a hookup—a temporary release with mutual satisfaction.
“She spent the summer partying her way through New York and just continued the same way once she came to campus. For fuck’s sake, she took off her underwear in front of a bunch of people and drank a shot fromyourmouth! I’m pretty sure she thinks I don’t know the half of it, but when your sister gets back to you only once a week, if that, you learn how to find the answers you need yourself.”
“You’ve been stalking her online?”
Nixon glares at me. “If you had a younger sibling, you’d know what I mean.”
His words are like a punch to my gut. They shouldn’t be, but they are. I can feel the ringing in my ears as the memories from different times come surging back, but I push them back as I try to concentrate on what Nixon is telling me.
“I’m not only her big brother but the only family she has left. If I don’t worry about her, who will, you know? I asked her to come back home with Yas and me for the summer, but she didn’t want to talk about it, just said she was going with Grace to the city. She hasn’t been home once since coming to college, and I worry about her. She keeps saying she’s fine, but the way she acts…”
