Beckett: I need Sara.
Gavin: No
Beckett: This isn’t up for debate. Liv has morning sickness.
Gavin: You have Hannah.
Beckett: Hannah is Hannah. I need someone to be Liv for me.
Me: Bro, that’s weird.
Beckett: Not like that. Don’t be an idiot.
Aiden: You can’t have her. I need Sara
Gavin: What the hell do you need Sara for? And why aren’t you on the damn plane? We’re leaving in five.
Me: None of you can have Sara.
Gavin: Watch out boys. Brooks was never great at sharing his toys.
Me: Sara is not up for grabs. She’s a person.
Gavin: Yeah, your person.
WHEN I STEP onto the plane, I zero in on my brother and shoot him a glare. He’s settled in beside my girlfriend, fingers laced across his abdomen and one ankle crossed over the opposite knee, like he’s ready for takeoff.
“Move,” I grumble.
War, who’s a pace ahead of me, snorts. Then he continues down the aisle of the team plane.
Gavin tips his chin up, brows lifted. “Excuse me?”
“Please,” I add. I’m grumpy. I’m never grumpy, but I haven’t seen Sara since Saturday, and I’m feeling territorial. Like I want to put my hands on her and physically fight off my brothers when they try to steal her attention from me. It’s slightly pathetic. I know. Okay, it’s really pathetic. And they were sure to point that out during Sunday night dinner at my mom’s yesterday.
A squeak beside Gavin snags my attention, and for the first time, I really take Sara in. She’s watching me with wide eyes and parted lips, clearly shocked by my insanity.
“Where’s Sara?” Aiden stumbles onto the plane, curly hair a disaster yet again. “I need to talk to her about—”
When his words cut off, I spin to face him.
He’s frozen at the front row, his hands on the seat backs on either side of him. I follow his line of sight, and for the first time realize that Lennox is sitting across from Sara and Gavin.
Blowing out a breath, I home in on Gavin, ready to ask him what the hell is happening here, but behind me, Aiden heaves. I spin, and sure enough, he cups his mouth and does it again. What the fuck?
“Shit.” Gavin is up and out of his seat in a flash, hustling down the aisle toward our baby brother. On his way, he nods at the group of medical staff seated near the front. “Let’s get him checked for a concussion again.”
Once they’ve ushered Aiden to the back of the plane, I stuff my bag into the overhead compartment, then settle in beside Sara in what used to be Gavin’s seat. “Hey, Lennox.”
There’s a cup of coffee on the table between us that I’m almost certain belongs to Gavin, so I slide it across the surface so it’s in front of the empty seat beside Sara’s best friend.
“He okay?” Her focus is fixed on the closed door at the back of the plane where Gavin disappeared with Aiden.
“He probably ate something he shouldn’t have. Kid is always having too much sugar.”
The laugh that escapes her is forced. She knows Aiden, so she probably realizes it’s more than that.
“You joining us for the trip?”
Sara answers this time. “Yeah, Gavin said she could stay with me since she’s off this week.”
My stomach sinks, but I force a smile to my face. With Lennox staying in Sara’s room, I doubt we’ll have any time to spend alone. I always bunk with Aiden, even though we could easily afford our own rooms. The rest of the guys double up, so regardless of our last name, we do too.
Honestly, most of the time I don’t mind. Like me, Aiden doesn’t sleep around. He’s faithful to Jill, and before they started dating, he was a serial monogamist. Most nights, we watch TV and go to bed early.
One of these nights I’ll have to make an exception. Maybe put Aiden and Lennox together. That would certainly be interesting.
“You okay?” Sara edges in closer and squeezes my thigh. My entire body relaxes at her touch.
I lean back against the seat and let my head loll to the side. “Yeah, Pumpkin.” My smile is all genuine affection. “Just needed my hit of sweetness this morning.”
She bites her lip and presses a kiss to my jaw. “That work?”
I tip her chin up so her lips are a breath from mine. “That how you kiss your boyfriend?”
Her smile grows, and pink stains her cheeks. “You trying to tell me you want a real kiss?”
“Yeah, Sar. That’s exactly what I’m saying. You going to give it to me?”
We watch each other for a beat. I’m sure my smile is just as dopey as the one she’s wearing. Then, finally, she leans in and fuses her plump lips to mine.
I slide my hand from her jaw to her nape and thread my fingers through her hair so I can angle her up for an even better kiss.
The connection is broken all too soon when she eases back with a heavy breath. “Shit.”
I chuckle and kiss her once more, soft and sweet, then force myself to sit back in my seat. But I take her hand in mine as I do and hold it on my lap.
“Nice seat.” Gavin drops into the row across from me and picks up his coffee.
“Aiden okay?” Lennox asks.
I’d honestly forgotten she was here. Whoops.
“Yeah, they think it was something he ate. But if you notice any concussion symptoms, Brooks, you better tell me.”
“Got it.” I dip my chin. I don’t always love taking orders from my older brothers, but in this capacity, Gavin is my boss, so I’ll always defer to him.
He shifts in his seat and focuses on the woman beside him. “Now tell me what you’ve been up to since high school, Lennox.”
“Did she say anything to you on the plane?”
I kind of want to kill my brother. He hasn’t stopped asking about Lennox since we entered our hotel room. We have an early morning tomorrow, and I have a game-day ritual to follow, only he’s already fucking with it. Sara should be sitting on my face right now, and I should be nowhere near Aiden’s whiney ass.
“No.” I unlock my phone, breathing through the mounting frustration.
He flops over to his side and huffs. “It’s weird, right? Her being best friends with Sara?”
“It’s only weird if you make it weird.” Holding my phone overhead, I pull up Instagram and scroll mindlessly. “You dated in high school. And I thought you and Jill were serious.”
“We are.”
My annoyance ramps up another notch, and I let out a humorless laugh. “Then why are you so worried about Lennox?”
“I’m not worried about her. It’s just weird. And it’s weirder that you don’t think it’s weird.”
“Whatever you say.”
Snatching the remote from the nightstand, he sits up and aims it at the television. When he finds SportsCenter, I go back to scrolling, thankful that he’s finally stopped talking.
Sara: Ready for the game tomorrow?
Me: Not really. I was promised a certain ritual, and after one game, it’s already been abandoned.
Sara: You didn’t get a shutout. Figured you wouldn’t want a repeat of that night at the risk of losing another one.
Me: We dominated that game. And all this means is that we have to try another position. You know what coach always says. Practice makes perfect.
The dots on the phone dance, then disappear completely, and my stomach lurches. Shit. Did I push too hard?
Just as I’m considering how to play it off, the dots are back. Then a message appears.
Sara: We both have roommates. There’s no privacy.
Me: Privacy is overrated. Meet me at the hot tub?
I’m already up and out of bed, confident she’ll say yes. Sara isn’t an overthinker. She’s also not shy.
“Where you going?” Aiden tracks me as I shuffle over to my suitcase and pull out my board shorts.
“Gonna go get in some laps and then hit the hot tub to relax my muscles. My quads are still tight from Saturday’s game.”
Aiden swings his legs off the bed. “Cool, I’ll come.”
I point at the bed. “Lay back down.”
Hands thrown up, he follows the command, but he’s wearing a bewildered frown. “What the fuck?”
I sigh. “I’m meeting Sara up there.”
“Is Lennox going?” He sits up again, his palms pressed to the mattress on either side of him. “Did she say she doesn’t want me to be there?”
“Oh my God, dude. Dump Jill and talk to Lennox.” I swat at him with my board shorts. “This is pathetic. No, Lennox is not coming. I’m going to spend some time with my girlfriend. Alone. Okay?”
One side of Aiden’s lips quirk. “You really don’t share well.”
Ignoring him, I stomp to the bathroom to change. When I’m finished, I grab a key card from the table, and then I’m gone without another word, anxious to get up to the roof to see my girl.
