Page 56 of Breakaway Goal

After the way she moaned into my mouth the other night? I need to taste that moan again and again, and I need to taste the moans she makes when we’re doing more than just kissing.

All weekend long I’ve been debating with myself whether or not I should actually go through with this. But now that I’m speeding toward the moment of truth? Who am I kidding?

I can tell myself I’m doing the right thing, helping Maddie out with something that’s important to her. I can tell myself it won’t change anything between us. I can tell myself that it’ll stay between the two of us, that Lane will never find out.

The one thing there’s no way I can do is stop myself now.

I’m sittingat one of the picnic tables next to the food trucks on campus, about to bite into a juicy burger, when Lane slides into the seat across from me.

“Hey, bro,” he says, setting down his container of chicken stir-fry.

Guilt piles on my shoulders. He wouldn’t be calling me bro if he knew what I was going to be doing with his sister later today.

I shove the thought away, or at least I try to. It’s bad enough what I’m doing behind his back, I at least don’t have to be thinking about it when I’m face to face with the guy.

“Sup, Lane?”

Lane takes the lid off his container and starts mixing the chicken together with the rice. “So, how do you like playing defense with Jamie?”

I swallow my first bite. “He’s good. Rough around the edges, no doubt about it. But who wouldn’t be going from second-line offense to first-line defense?”

Lane nods. “You two make an interesting duo. You and Jamie play a lot differently, while me and you have more the same style. But maybe as Jamie grows into the role, that dynamic will prove complementary. You might even end up a better defense team than you and me were.”

Lane smirks after that last comment, but the movement of his mouth doesn’t reach his eyes. I know my best friend well enough to spot when he’s putting on a happy face but feeling anything but.

“You know you’re going right back on the first line once you’re cleared to return, right?” I tell him.

He shrugs. “We’ll see. Maybe I’ll be a step behind where I was after so much time off the ice, and maybe by the time I’m cleared, Jamie’ll be a couple steps ahead of where he is now. If it’s better for the team for me to take the backseat …” His chest sinks with a sigh. “I’ll do it. Of course.”

“Jamie’s good, and sure, he’ll only get better. But me and you?” I playfully kick his shin under the table. “We’re magic on the ice together. Always have been. It’s been twelve fucking years and no one’s found a better defensive pair. I don’t think we just stumbled on one now.”

“Maybe you’re right,” Lane says, but he doesn’t hold my gaze, and I can still hear the doubt in his voice.

I smirk at him. “No maybe about it. You and I were born to play defense together. Fate intended it. Written in the stars and shit.”

He chuckles. “Like Montaigne and La Boetie.”

I laugh at his reference, shaking my head in reminiscence. “Yeah, just not as smart. And not French.”

“Thank God,” Lane quips.

Back in high school, we were given a history assignment to research old philosophers and intellectuals. Lane was assigned Montaigne, and actually got really into the project. He read about how he had a friend named La Boetie, and how they shared such a deep bond that they believed fate intended for them to be best friends.

Since then, they’ve become a sort of inside joke between us. One of our many.

Yeah, Lane and I have a great friendship. He’s the best friend a guy could ask for. But I’m still about to sleep with his little sister behind his back. Way more than once.

Lane glances at his phone. “Shit, next class is soon. Gotta chow down.”

I take a big bite of my burger and try to taste something in the mouthful other than guilt.

But even after we say goodbye and head to the rest of our classes for the day, the guilt rolling through me doesn’t blunt the excitement of knowing what I’m about to do with Maddie.

29

MADDIE

Rhys is going to be here literally any second.

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