Page 53 of Get Me to the Starting Line

Eighty-five percent happy.

I’m only human, and my heart lurches. I want what they have so badly, but between my work and Levi, there hasn’t been much time for dating.

Adam notices me first, his smile shifting from lovesick puppy to genuine happiness at seeing me. He lets go of Paige’s hands and comes to hug me. I really love Adam. He’s the best brother I could’ve ever asked for.

Okay, maybe I’m back up to ninety percent.

“It’s not as bad as she’ll make it out to be,” he whispers before he pulls away, smiling at me knowingly.

I used to be the person who knew Paige best in the entire world, but now I’m not so sure. Paige and Adam get each other in a way I don’t quite understand. If it were anyone but Adam, I’d be jealous.

More than the ten percent I already am.

I nod, appreciating the warning. He turns to cup Paige’s face in his hands and places a soft kiss on her lips. She’s a little disoriented as he pulls away, watching him walk up the stairs.

But when she turns back to me, there’s fire in her brown eyes.

“Wine?” I offer. She nods and takes the glass from me. I hold in my instinct to say something snarky and pour myself another.

“Outside or inside?” she asks.

“Inside, are you crazy? It’s so cold out there.”

“I hadn’t noticed,” she says thoughtfully.

Yeah, that’s because she was all wrapped up in Adam, his heat keeping her warm.

“I spoke to Julien,” she says as soon as our butts hit the couch. I sink into the plush cushions.

“I know.” It was the wrong thing to say. Her brow pinches.

“He told you?”

“He told me you tortured him.”

For a moment, a smug smile appears on her face like she’s remembering her tactics.

“It was a shock to see him with you, Lee. What else was I supposed to do?”

There’s a beat of silence between us. I swear I physically feel the space widening as we get further apart. I hate it.

“I’m sorry, Paige. I was trying to keep this a happy surprise,” I assure her.

She studies my face.

“There’s more to it than that.”

Her accusation is a knife to my heart. I want to deny it, but there’s no way she won’t see right through me, even with the distance betweenus.

I take a deep breath. I can tell her half of it. “I knew if I told you, you would go all ‘Paige’ on my ass and take over the whole thing, giving me training plans and advice and everything you could do to help me.”

She tosses her hands up in exasperation. “And that’s a bad thing? Of course I’d want to help!”

“I didn’t want to need your help,” I say quietly.

“This again? Leah, you can ask for help.” It’s not often she sounds so annoyed with me. Usually, it’s the other way around.

I think about Julien, who I never asked to help me, but there he is every day. Knowing I needed help without me asking. Paige would’ve done the same thing, but she would’ve done it in her Paige way.

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