Stephan(44)

“No. They want me there. The guys are kinda pissed I haven’t been going.”

“Really, and you haven’t because?” Dad picked up his pace going from a brisk walk to a jog.

“Okay, okay, I’m going. When you see Mum will you tell her and Jade where I am.”

“Jade’s not with your mum, son. Jade’s with your brother.”

“What?” I didn’t wait for his reply, running out to the garage. The little minx. I knew she was up to something when she was talking to Cassie, but I thought I foiled her by telling Derick, obviously my brother’s loyalties have changed.





Chapter Ten





Jade





I sat with the girls. We wolf-whistled and fooled around. I didn’t care I was having so much fun. Derick had driven me to practice, but what he didn’t know is I’d arranged to stay at Cassie’s with all the other girls. We were having a girly night.

“Thank God my brother was shirts this week. I’m telling you I couldn’t be like this if he wasn’t. It is so wrong to wolf-whistle and blatantly glorifying the male specimens in front of you when your brother is half naked too.”

I laughed at Cassie and decided she needed some payback for the help she’d been with Stephan…not. “Your brother is pretty hot, Cassie. He’s super sweet too. I mean redheads are in and he definitely has the bod—”

Cassie stuck her fingers in her ears. “La, la, la. Stacy, nudge me when she stops traumatizing me. The bitch.”

We all cracked up laughing and Stacy nudged Cassie and stuck into her too. “Oh, Cassie, Jade’s right. I love coming over your house now.”

“Oh me too,” Renee said.

“Yeah, pool weekends are always the best,” Patricia piped in. She wiggled her eyebrows. “Tonight is gonna be fun.”

We all held our stomachs as our laughter deepened when Cassie turned bright red. “You guys are so cruel and here I thought you were all my friends.”

I was having so much fun I missed a new addition to the field. We all giggled and mucked about that it took me a while to see a new body joined the shirtless team. A body I knew very well because I’d slept on it for the last week. I smiled when I saw him and waved. Good, I was glad Stephan was here. He should have been here when it started twenty minutes ago. I didn’t want him to give up anything he loved for me and I knew without him telling me he loved rugby. I remembered him telling me he loved playing sports.

Cassie wrapped her arms around me and I did the same. “I’m glad he’s here. He needs to get out more and have fun with his friends. Just because we have each other now doesn’t mean he has to devote every second to me.”

“You need to tell him.” Cassie squeezed me and I squeezed her back.

“You’re right. When did you become so wise?”

“Oh when I started being friends with you.”

“Argh, bitch.” I pinched her and she did it back until we both were laughing so hard we couldn’t move.

*****

Stephan





It was hard concentrating on practice when my favorite thing in the world was going on…Jade laughing, giggling and smiling. I’d driven over to the oval furious Jade had left without telling me. What I came upon on the field made my anger disappear in an instant. Jade was on the seats with her girlfriends, they were cat-calling and basically being crude teenage girls. I chuckled when Jade yelled, “Tackle Brad again, and that was a pansy grab.”

I should be annoyed Jade was so blatantly checking out other guys, but she was laughing, giggling, and pushing and shoving her friends and having so much fun. Jade happy was my favorite thing to see.

“I think you all need cooling off,” Renee, one of Jade’s friends, yelled.

I went over to my coach who didn’t even comment about me being late and asked to be on the shirtless side, I figured if Jade was going to check out the guys she might as well look at me too. I was twenty minutes late but I got into the game right away. Enjoying myself, the forty minutes left of practice flew by.

“Can I expect you to be at the game tomorrow?”

I hadn’t been to a game in weeks. I had really been letting my team down. I looked up to see Jade sitting with her friends smiling and laughing. She needed to get out, we both did. My dad was right, we couldn’t stop our lives when we were attacked. We moved on—more cautious and alert—but we lived. “Yeah. I’ll be there tomorrow.” I gazed around at my teammates. “I’m sorry for letting you down, but family comes first. I’m ready to be back in the game if you’re still willing to have me.”

They guys patted me on the back. “All good, man,” one said.