Page 7 of His Stubborn Girl

Torrin

He’s been distant all day. In the room with us, but only present by body. His mind is elsewhere. I should probably be thankful he’s been quiet and hasn’t held me under his attention, but I’m worried about him. It seems like something’s wrong. He gave me the obligatory hug after my graduation ceremony, posed for some photos with a blanket smile, and then barely said a word to me at dinner. And now he’s up in his room.

He also never gave me my gift, which is probably for the best. I don’t need something else to make me want him more.

“I think I’m going to bed,” I tell my mom. “It’s been a long day.” A long few days.

I give her a hug then turn to Walter and give him one too. “Thank you both so much for the present and for everything. High school would’ve been really hard without two amazing parents supporting me through it all.”

“It was our pleasure.” My mom smiles warmly, and I can see the tears welling in her eyes. I’m really going to miss her next year. She’s always been my rock. Strong even during her darkest days. My best friend.

“Thank you for making it easy on us, Torrin.” Walter smiles. I wasn’t always the easiest of teenage girls, but I tried to keep my defiance to a minimum. Plus, I had a big brother to keep me in check.

I blow them a kiss, saying, “Good night,” then head upstairs before I’m a blubbering mess. When I think about the fact that I’ll be moving out in two months, I start to get homesick. I know I’ll have my brother at school with me in case I run into trouble, but it’s not like he’s going to want to spend any time with me. He’s been locked inside his room all night, forgoing the cake and photo montage that his dad put together. I’ll admit, I could’ve passed on the trip down memory lane. It made the cake in my stomach turn to toxic sludge. Guilt pounded down my nerves.

Luke’s door is closed for once, giving me an easy escape, but my feet slow, coming to a stop in front of it. I’m worried about him. He is my brother, after all, and something was definitely off with him today.

I knock twice, wishing I weren’t so nervous to talk to him.

“Yeah, what’s up?”

I open it slowly. “I just wanted to… You’re packing?”

He’s filling up his duffel bag, and his drawers are all open and empty.

“Yeah. Coach texted earlier and said he wants me to help him figure out some new plays with him for the upcoming season. So, I’m gonna need to get back. I’ll be leaving first thing in the morning. Probably before you even wake up so I can beat the traffic.”

On a Sunday? There isn’t any traffic. And what happened to him spending the summer with us? To us going to Six Flags together? To him spending time with his family, which he hasn’t done in years?

The pain burns right through the left side of my chest, which is stupid considering I’ve been mentally begging for him to leave since the moment he showed up, but now… It just feels like we’re insignificant to him. Football has always been more important than us. It’s always been his first love. But I don’t think I grasped that as truth until this very moment. He could’ve told his coach he was going to spend a week with his family. That would still give him three weeks before the season starts, but he didn’t. He chose what matters most to him, and it’s not us.

“Well, thanks for coming. Have a safe trip back.”

I turn and leave, rushing down to my room before the tears start to fall. I was looking for a reason to be mad at him, and unfortunately, he just gave me one. But the anger feels akin to a broken heart. And my warped little mind is having a hard time with the rejection.

There’s a knock on my door, and I quickly work to dry my eyes. “What is it? I’m changing.”

“Torre, I just wanted to give you your graduation present.”

“Oh, okay. Just give me a sec or you can just leave it outside my door.” I don’t even want the thing anymore. It’s only going to stir up unwanted feelings every time I look at it. Remind me that I’m no longer important to him.

“Yeah, okay. I’ll leave it. Hope you like it. Bye, Torre.”

What? He isn’t going to demand a hug goodbye? The other day he was excited to be here and to see me, but now, he’s just itching to get out of here, isn’t he? Well, in honor of just how much he cares about me, I decide to leave the box right where he left it. That way when he passes my door in the morning, he can see how much I care about him and his gift.

6

Lukas

“Dude, I thought you were spending some time with your family and wouldn’t be coming back for a few weeks.” Travis comes walking into the kitchen with a baseball bat in his hand. “Shit. I thought you were an intruder.”

“Change of plans.” I smirk as he sets down the bat. “Everyone was busy. And my sister has already made plans with her friends for the next few weeks, so there was no point in staying.” I couldn’t be in the same house as her. Or look her in the eye. She came out of her room yesterday in her cute little dress and my dick sprung right up, checking out her legs and wondering what color panties she had on. Wondering if the little button between her legs was poking through. It was fucking sick.

“Figured I’d get back and train for the upcoming season. You want to hit the gym with me?” I need to work the edge out of my nerves. The entire drive back, I kept replaying the damn dream. Not the one I had the other night, but the one that woke me in a sweat with my dick in a chokehold last night. This dream didn’t end with the guys glaring me down in disgust. This one had them barricading us in, urging me to fuck her harder, wanting me to breed my little sister’s pussy. I couldn’t get back to sleep after that, so I got my ass dressed and decided to get on the road at three o’clock in the morning.

“Yeah, I’m down for a workout.” He nods. “Just need to finish up getting Professor Maxwell his syllabus. You good with giving me an hour?”

“Sure. Take as long as you need. I’ll go grab a quick shower.”

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