Page 73 of The Coach

Lincoln is my family, my baby brother. I thought that he would be baffled, maybe a little confused, but this? This was… way more than I bargained for.

“Are you okay?” Tanner’s tentative voice asks from behind me, and I turn to him, allowing the hot tears to spill over my eyelids and onto my cheeks.

“That’s not what I expected.”

Tanner shakes his head, his jaw clenching. “I could kick his ass for how he spoke to you. In fact, I plan to. I know he’s your family, but that was completely out of line.”

I shake my head but not in denial, just in befuddlement.

“What are we going to do?”

He walks to me, gathering me into the comfort of his arms and kisses the top of my head. “We’re going to stick together because that’s the best thing we can do. We’re going to give your brother a day or two to calm down, and then we’ll go talk to him and your parents. It’s time they all know anyway.”

I nod my head, letting a small breath of relief into my lungs that the first option isn’t to give into Lincoln’s demands, that this huge hiccup that’s been placed in front of us won’t be something we allow to rip us apart.

I just hope that I can change my brother’s mind, because despite how he treated me, despite his anger and how upset he is, he’s still my baby brother, and I love him.

thirty

TANNER

“You need a break,” I say, coming up behind Mick where she sits at my dining table. Her books are all spread out around her, and her laptop is open as she studies her life away.

It’s only been one day since we were confronted by Lincoln, and so far, nothing has been said that we know of. Mick has tried to reach out to Lincoln several times to no avail. It was depressing her, and rapidly.

“I’m fine,” she replies robotically, her right forefinger rubbing at her temple. “I have a test tomorrow.”

“I know you do, and you’ve been sitting here for three hours studying for it. If you don’t know the material by now, you never will.” I only say that because I know she’s ready for her test. She had told me two days ago, before Lincoln’s blowup, that this was her easy class.

The studying is just a distraction.

I sit in the chair next to her and get her eyes on me, letting her see a smile on my face.

My saving grace from not going immediately to the hockey house and letting Lincoln have it is that my girl was stronger than that. She didn’t let his threats break us apart or even mention giving in to his silly demands.

For a moment, as he confronted us in my office yesterday, as her brother tore her apart, I had almost expected her to turn to me and tell me it was over. That she couldn’t do it and wanted out for the sake of saving her relationship with her brother.

But she didn’t, and though I’d held myself rigid, waiting for the blow, the relief that swept through me when she asked what “we” were going to do, leaning on me for the support I knew she needed, was palpable.

I had one question, though. “Can I bring something up that might make you upset?”

Her eyes, which are normally happy and free of tears, turn to me, glossy and sad. “What?”

“Who’s Mark?” I’ve been wanting to find out who this past boyfriend was ever since she mentioned it at my folks’ house a few weeks ago, but our time is so scarce and it doesn’t seem to affect our relationship negatively, so I’ve been able to put it off.

She groans. “Ugh, he was a mistake.” She picks up a pencil, twiddling it between her fingers. “I dated him my sophomore year. He was a hockey player.” She gives me a look. “He’s the reason I don’t hang out with the college team or go to their bar.”

“What did he do?”

“What didn’t he do?” she replies with a sarcastic laugh. I brace myself. “He cheated, he did drugs, he drank too much. He made promises he could never keep. He was an asshole, and I thought I was going to be the one to change him.”

“Why does Lincoln hate him?”

She rolls her eyes. “Because when I broke up with him, I was devastated, even though I shouldn’t have been. And like an idiot, I went home, and Mom and Dad had been away, so it was just me and my sixteen-year-old brother who was experiencing his first bout of sister love drama. He wanted to go kick his ass, but luckily, I talked him down. But ever since, he’s hated him. I do a little, too,” she shrugs and lets loose a breath. “It’s in the past for me. It showed me that dating isn’t everything and to focus on my career.” Her eyes flutter to mine. “Well, until you came along.”

I smile softly at her, reaching over and grasping one of her hands. “What happened to Mark?”

She rolls her eyes up to think and says, “Well, I believe he went to Chicago to play professionally and then tore some ligament or another and is now retired.”

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