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I chose to stay my full four years. Why? Because Lettie is my whole world. I’m not sure she knows it though.
“One question. If it was anyone but Lettie, would you care if Nick was touching her?” Reed asks with a glance.
Ignoring his question, I say, “Come on, let me give you a tour of our new digs.”
We go to the basement of The Stable, the name of the basketball team’s new lodging. There are three rooms with a gaming setup. State of the art gaming chairs with sensory components built in. A wall of headphones engraved with the players’ names.
“Must be nice to be the kings of campus,” he throws some shade.
“I’m not sure about that, but this place makes us feel like it.”
We wander into the basement kitchen, grab a beer, and head into the pool room. He breaks, and the balls scatter across the blue felt with the Stallions logo in the center. Three striped balls sink into the pockets. With a smug grin, he says, “I guess, I’m stripes.”
Damn I can’t even catch a break in pool. When it’s my turn, I hear Lettie bouncing down the stairs. “Where’s Dane the Great?”
She’s called me that since middle school.
When Lettie and Brooke walk into the pool room, I’m bending over the table, and her legs are directly in my field of vision. The slight shadow between her thighs grabs my attention right as I pull the cue stick back.
“Dane, guess what?”
I muff the fucking cue ball.
Chapter Three
LETTIE
“Nick is taking me to the adventure park tomorrow. Let’s all go.”
Dane stands, closes his eyes, and lets out a deep breath. “Lettie, can you wait to scream until I’ve hit the ball?”
I hop up on the pool table, swinging my feet. “You’ve never been good at pool. Reed will kick your ass anyway. Go with us.” His lips press into a flatline.
I pull on his t-shirt, and he’s so close, I wrap my arms around his waist, and my head hits his hard chest. His arms are slow to come around my back. I love the way Dane smells—fresh and woodsy. Why don’t other guys smell like that? Nick doesn’t, and they both play basketball for the Stallions.
“I can’t. Dad has a fundraiser tomorrow.” He tries to push out of the hug. To everyone else, it seems normal, but Dane is upset about something.
“Come on, Greathouse. Hannah’s coming.” Nick lifts his brow, and I refrain from a full-blown eye roll. “You need to have some fun.”
“I’ll call my dad. I’m not promising.”
I bounce off the pool table, pecking Dane on the cheek, twice. “You know how much I love amusement parks. Remember when we went on senior skip day? God, we had so much fun.”
“I do. I also remember you throwing up after riding the Turbine Twister.” He raises both eyebrows.
“Yeah, yeah. Never going to let me live that one down, are you? Call your dad. You know how happy he’ll be if you go on a date.”
“It’s not a date.”
“Nick and me. You and Hannah. Sounds like a double date. Please.”
His eyes dip down to mine. “I’m not interested in dating. But I’ll ask if I can get out of the fundraiser. Someone has to take care of you.”
There’s a hint of frustration cloaking his eyes. I’ve looked into those eyes a million times through good times and bad, like when my parents would claim to Granny and Paps that they were clean so I would move into a dilapidated trailer with my parents on the back of the property. But two days later, they would shoot up drugs in front of me, pass out, and Child Protective Services would take me right back to my grandparents, and they went back to jail for endangering the life of a minor.
Dane walks out onto the basement patio, leaning against the wooden post with one foot crossed over the other while making the call.
Nick strides towards me and puts his hands on my shoulders, squeezing. “He’s wound pretty tight. It seems you’re the only one who can unwind him.”
