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Chapter 3

The sun was beating down on my fair skin in a sudden burst of heat, drastically changing from the forty degree temperatures from yesterday. If there was one thing I hated as much as I loved about the Northeast, it was the bipolar weather. I loved that it was cold enough to snow and hot enough to go to the beach, but not when those conditions proceeded each other in the span of 24 hours. Though that never seemed to be a problem for my thirteen year old nephew and twelve hear old niece.

I watched Maya, Finn and Sylvia’s only biological child, swimming in the pool in her maroon bikini, timing how fast she could swims two laps with her

iPhone at the edge. I was just waiting for it to fall into the water; I didn’t trust waterproof cases in the slightest. Seb was laying in a tan lounge chair besides the one next to me, both of us sipping Long Island ice teas; The one good thing to come out of that God forsaken place. My mother included. Seb’s dark eyes were watching the Korean thirteen year old across the large green lawn taking shots on an overturned lacrosse goal, the water of the Long Island Sound sparkling a good fifty feet behind him. For a thirteen year old, Ace was jacked and I had a feeling it had to do with the rate at which his parents worked out.

Kids that age want to do things their parents and their older siblings do. Despite being Ace’s aunt, he definitely thought of me as his cool older cousin. Whenever Finn, Sylvia, or I were working out, he wanted to join. I wonder how long that would last. Not long, I’m sure. Then again, he was a driven kid with Olympian parents.

All I know is that at thirteen I hated running; I still do.

“I could get used to this,” Seb said while crossing his hands behind his head and closing his eyes.

“What? The open bar or the sunshine?” I teased while glancing at him over my aviators. I’m surprised my best friend wasn’t with some girl right now. Seb was definitely a ladies man and he knew it. He had the perfect combination of smarts, a beautiful dark complexion, a sense of humor, and from what I’m told; a talented penis. Let’s just say I slept with my earbuds in most of the time. Though I’m sure he did the same so I shouldn’t be talking.

“Is both an option?” Seb asked, “but I was definitely talking about the open bar.

“I knew there was a reason you came with me to babysit,” I scoffed while

Crossing my arms, turning my attention back to the two kids on this late Sunday evening.

“If Sylvia and Finn can go play dress up at a gala, I can raid their bar once a year,” Seb responded simply without looking at me. If I was Finn and Sylvia’s sister then Seb was my adopted brother. He was with me all the time, so much so that he spent Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter with us when he couldn’t fly home to Kentucky. “Now tell me about this Beck drama because I know you slept with him. You both left the party together pretty early on.”

Even in front of my best friend I could feel the embarrassment building in my neck. I wasn’t a blusher, but that didn’t mean the heat under my skin wasn’t there. “There’s nothing to talk about. He fucked me and now he won’t.”

“Bullshit. Nothing is ever that simple. It took you twenty minutes to cover those hickeys today. That’s not a ‘one time’

Level of marking, that’s an ‘I’m hitting this again by next week’ look,” Seb called my bluff. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at his exaggerated personality. He couldn’t read my hickeys just like Seb couldn’t read my palms. I was living with a lunatic.

I sipped on my Long Island ice tea while trying to think of what to say. Seb was right, it wasn’t that simple on the inside. There was a lot more riding on this. “I’m just stressed out. In reality there’s nothing else I can do but not hook up with Beck again, but that doesn’t stop my paranoid brain for wondering what happens if it gets out. To the average person it might not seem like much, but to me it’s career breaking. I need to be seen as taking this seriously.”

“And there’s also the issue of Axel,” Seb reminded me. I hadn’t spoken to him since yesterday morning when we were leaving practice.

“I’ll get over it soon enough,” I dismissed while putting my almost empty glass of ice down on the small glass table between our chairs. “I’m just annoyed he knowingly didn’t tell me Beck was the new captain.”

“His heart was in the right place.”

“I guess.” My eyes found Seb’s face again where his eyes were still closed. “So what happened that night after I left? Did you bring anyone home?”

“Nah, I was too busy getting wasted with Axel. We got pizza after then passed out in his dorm room,” Seb shrugged.

“Look at you, keeping it in your pants,” I praised mockingly. “Unless you were trying to fuck your pants again. Let not forget that time last year when you got so drunk you were trying to have sex with the fly of your jeans.”

“Shut up,” Seb hissed, opening his eyes

And sending an intense glare at me. It was that look his usually gave his opponents on the ice and it was made of pure and concentrated hate. “It was one time which you vowed never to speak of again.”

“Just have to remind you that I still remember,” I hummed in a sing-song voice.

Seb groaned bitterly and looked up at the sky, reading his head on the lounge chair again. “I’m going to concuss you just so you forget that.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at him. “That’s kind of hard to do when I’m in the goal and you’re the one that’s supposed to protect me.”

“You’re an annoying little bitch sometimes,” the right defender grumbled. “No wonder Beck liked you so much; you guys were too busy to be talking.”

“Did you just imply I’m only good for sex?” There was mock offense in my tone as I put my hand over my heart.

“No, you’re good at being a goalie. So I guess what I’m saying is you’re only good for your body,” he joked with me. I leaned out of my chair to the one he was laying down in and smacked his stomach, the sound of the slap echoing through the air with Seb’s grunt, drawing Ace’s glance. Maya was too busy swimming under the water to notice. I flashed an innocent smile and a cheesy wave Ace’s way before he rolled his eyes and laughed at me before turning back to his lacrosse goal.

“You’re lucky I can’t see your hand print or I’d beat your ass,” the tall lefty threatened while sitting up and prodding his deep skin like he expected blood on his abs. I fought the urge to roll my eyes, it’s not like a slapped him with a knife. “But I think beating ass is Beck’s job.”

“You’re a cheeky bastard, Williams, and for some reason I can’t be mad at it no matter how annoying it is.”

“It’s one of my,” Sebastian faked a ridiculous hair flip, “best qualities. Don’t worry, Baby. I have plenty more Beck jokes that you won’t hear the end of until graduation.”

“And I have plenty more pant fucking jokes.”

“I’m sure you do,” he glumly responded. Seb looked back at the two kids and cupped his hands over his mouth. “Hey, Monkeys! You guys want pizza for dinner?”

“Sure!” Ace yelled back without turning from the bounce shot he was ripping at the goal.

“Yeah, can we get extra cheese? Mom never lets us,” Maya rolled her eyes in true teenager fashion.

“To be fair,” I defended Sylvia. “You’re parents practically let you eat ice cream for breakfast lunch and dinner while they eat like rabbits. Cheese tastes the same as extra cheese it’s just ever so slightly healthier.” Okay, that was only partially true. Finn and Sylvia weren’t that lax about their children’s food choices, but they definitely weren’t like those psycho parents.

“She means ‘yes’,” Seb interrupted.

“Thanks, Uncle Seb,” the emerald eyed brunette responded before going back to swimming.

“I swear that kid has thirty aunts and uncles at this rate. I almost feel bad she has to remember them all,” I muttered under my breath.

“Don’t be jealous that you don’t have any and she does.”

“She has three aunts and uncles, two of

Whom she hasn’t even met,” I retorted.

Sebastian noticed the bitter shift in my voice and raised his dark eyebrow at me. “Where’d this come from?” He pivoted topics smoothly. “Thinking about the twins lately?”

“No,” I said maybe too defensively. “I don’t want to talk about them, Sebastian. It was just an observation. There’s nothing else to it.”

“If you say so, Danny. I’m here if you want to talk about it,” he spoke genuinely. That’s what I loved about Seb, he always knew when to back off yet offer the right amount of support.

“Thank you, Seb,” I replied just as genuinely. “But I’m good for now. I’ll tell you if I’m not.”

“Okay.” There was a pause that filled the air, only the sound of water dominating the silence. I was absorbing the last bits of warmth for today while the sun started to sink behind the trees, five o’clock slowly approaching. “And we are definitely getting extra cheese because I’m not the one paying extra for it.”

A laugh bubbled from my lips as a smile painted my face once again. “You just hang out with me for my rich brother.”

“The truth hurts, Danielle. The truth hurts.”

“It’s sure does, Seb.”

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