Page 112 of Lessons in Heartbreak

“You’ve been good?”

Ruby hummed quietly. “Busy. We were able to take all the money we raised to buy the land and put it into improvements around thelibrary. We’re renovating the kids’ section and adding some new private study rooms.”

“That’s great.”

“What about you? You start training camp soon, right?”

My eyebrows popped up. “Look at you, with the correct verbiage. Someone learning a little bit about football since I left?”

“Maybe,” she answered primly. “SportsCenteris very informative. They love to talk about you.”

I snorted. “They sure do.”

“They talk a lot about Barrett too.” She paused. “About your rivalry.”

“That’s also true.”

Ruby blew out a harsh breath, and I braced myself for what was coming next. It was only a matter of time before she asked.

“What happened between you two?” she asked. “If I’m allowed to ask.”

I smiled. “I’m impressed you made it this long without forcing me to tell you.”

Ruby scoffed. “Like I could force you to do anything.”

“Oh, you’d be surprised, sweetheart.” I winced at the thick beat of silence that followed. Every time one of her nicknames slipped past my lips, it felt like I was screaming at her:I have Big Feelings for you and I don’t know what to do about it.“It’s not a pretty story. You sure you want to hear it?”

“Yes.”

She sounded so eager that I laughed. “All right,” I murmured, settling back into my chair. “I’ll jump past all the regular brotherly competition as we grew up. You saw a lot of that.”

“But you still loved each other,” she said, so completely sure that I had to smile.

“We did.” It hurt to admit that out loud. “I don’t blame my dad; he leaned into that competition to motivate us, and fucking hell, it worked. He beats himself up for it now, but it’s not his fault. We’ve both told him that. In high school, we were both starters, both gettingheavily recruited by Division I schools, and the fun in our competition just ... slowly chipped away. He was still getting straight A’s. I was skipping classes with my friends, phoning in my grades, and God, it pissed him off that I was still getting the same interest he was. It pissedmeoff that he thought I should be doing exactly what he did, that he thought he was the one who had it figured out, so I kinda ... rebelled, I guess. You think I’m a screwup? You think I can’t have fun and still be a better player than you? Fucking watch.”

My throat was a little dry, so I took a sip of my drink, staring up at the stars. “In college, though, things turned again. We ended up at Oregon; the athletic department really made a big push to have both King brothers because they thought we could transform their program on both sides of the ball.”

This was where the story got harder to say out loud, and in my pause, Ruby asked, “And did you?”

“Yeah,” I said gruffly. “Won our conference title two years in a row. Made it to the championship both times too. Lost it our junior year. Won it our senior year.” I let out a dry laugh. “Almost wasn’t at the last game, though.”

“Why not?”

“The longer we played together, the worse our rivalry got. He was ... fuck, he was revered by coaching staff. Professors. Everyone. Spent an ungodly amount of time watching film, preparing for the games, was on the dean’s list every fucking semester. I was going to parties on the weekends, and I was a legend on campus. The kind everyone thinks of when it comes to an athlete. Revered for a completely different reason, by total strangers who constantly reminded me how fun I was. How impressive, because I could do all that and still dominate on the field. I hate how much I lived for all that approval.” I swallowed hard. “But I took it too far. Did stupid shit, over and over and over, to prove exactly how different we were.”

“What happened?” she asked quietly.

“I almost got kicked out after my junior year.” I clenched my jaw, imagined her face if she were sitting next to me. “They were going to take away my scholarship, boot me from the team. I got arrested for indecent exposure for climbing up the outside of this famous building on campus—naked as the day I was born.”

Ruby exhaled a soft, shocked laugh. “Of course you did,” she murmured, and if it weren’t for the blatant affection in her voice, I might not have kept talking. “But they didn’t kick you out?”

“Because of Barrett.”

“Ah.”

I smiled a grim smile. “He went to the disciplinary board and convinced them to let me stay. Vouched for me, as his brother. Said the team needed me if we wanted to win, and he’d personally make sure I didn’t screw up any more if they gave me one more chance.”

She hummed in understanding. “And they listened to him?”

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