Page 31 of Breakaway Goal

“You’re ridiculous,” she says, turning away and walking ahead of me down the aisle. But I don’t miss the way her smile turns her cheeks red.

And I sure as hell don’t miss how fucking good her ass looks as she walks away. I’m thanking whatever muse of fashion inspired her to tuck in that shirt this morning.

A split second later, though, I’m reminding myself that I shouldn’t be salivating over my best friend’s little sister’s ass. No matter how fucking good it looks. Which is really,reallygood, by the way.

We walk around the grocery store, chatting about our day as we gather our ingredients.

It feels good. Just wandering around a grocery store, picking out items from the shelf, while talking with Maddie about nothing in particular.

The rest of the guys are out for a run right now after classes. I put in a lot of time on the treadmill at the gym yesterday, so I’m not in a cardio mood. I’m sure the smell of tomato sauce simmering on the stove and ground beef and sausage browning in a pan will be a welcome scent for them to come home to.

“Let me carry at least one!” Maddie pouts as I grab the handles of all four plastic bags after we check out.

“No chance,” I say with a cocky grin, pumping my arms up and down, curling the weight.

“Such a show-off,” she groans as we step through the automatic doors.

No, I haven’t grown out of wanting to show off my strength and my muscles around Maddie any chance I get.

I start curling my right arm, the one closest to her, very conspicuously. “Didn’t get quite enough pumps on this side at the gym yesterday,” I say, wiggling my eyebrows.

She punches me in the arm. “Cut it out, I’m already impressed,” she says jokingly.

Jokingly, but those words sure do flood my chest with a bright, warm feeling.

We walk a block in silence, just enjoying the beautiful late afternoon day in Cedar Shade where the sky is a bright, smooth blue, the trees are full of green leaves, the streets are lively, and a gentle, refreshing breeze is blowing. The whole town is still riding on that beginning of the school year high when everything feels fresh and new and loaded with promise, though some of the leaves are starting to take on a darker fringe at their edges, and a bite of chill is creeping into the night air, reminding us that autumn is around the corner.

“Hey, can I ask you something?” Maddie says with a sudden tone of seriousness.

“Of course. What’s up?”

“It’s, well, like …” she haltingly begins before taking a deep breath and asking, “How can I tell if a guy’s into me or not?”

Immediately, my teeth grind together. My jaw muscles pop. My fists tighten, and the muscles in my neck and shoulders go rigid.

“A guy?” The words come to my lips unbidden, in a rough growl, and they fill my mouth with a bad taste.

I turn to her, my eyes landing on the red of her lips. Is that why she’s wearing that lipstick today? To get another guy’s attention? The thought is enough to tighten my jaw even more and send jealousy swirling through me.

She pushes out a self-conscious laugh. “I know, it’s such a middle school question to ask, right? But there’s this guy I’ve been talking to in one of my art classes.”

“Talking?” Protectiveness pricks all over me, causing the hairs on the back of my neck to stand up.

“Yeah. And sometimes I get, I don’t know, flirty vibes from him. But I’m not sure. It’s not like I’m the only girl I see him talking to and joking around with. Would a guy make it obvious if he was into a girl?”

The idea of some fuckboy stringing Maddie along and playing hot and cold with her comes into my head, and anger ignites inside me.

“He should,” I answer. “A guy worth giving a shit about wouldn’t be playing games with you. He wouldn’t make you have to wonder. You don’t need to be wasting your time with a guy who’s holding back and can’t make up his mind. If this guy was interested in you and actually worth a damn, you wouldn’t be able to confuse the way he acts around other girls with the way he acts around you.”

The idea of Maddie with any other guy eats me up, but I’m no fool. She’s beautiful, smart, interesting, funny. I know she’s focused on her studies and her art, but it’s obvious that eventually a guy is going to fall for her so hard that he makes sure she notices him, too.

I don’t think I’m going to like any guy Maddie ends up with, but I know one thing, he damn sure better be all in on her. He damn sure better make her the center of his life and treat her in a way that makes her know beyond a shadow of a doubt how much she means to him.

Just like I would.

Just like I would, if she weren’t Lane’s little sister. If we hadn’t grown up together. If she weren’t too good for me. If we didn’t have years of memories as good friends that would be ruined if I tried to cross a line that I shouldn’t even be glancing at.

“Hmm,” Maddie hums, musing over my answer.

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