Page 73 of I Knew You Were Trouble

Her breathing evened out and deepened long before mine did. I listened to her sleep and berated my dumbass for holding back all the thoughts running through my head. Somehow, at some point in the last month, I fell for her. I didn’t even know it until she asked me why I kissed her, and the answer was there on the tip of my tongue and I bit it away.

“You could have told me,” Tanner says from his spot at the Wheel Zone, jolting me out of my self-loathing. We’re supervising the half-pipes together tonight, and Mad’s the only one here. The shiny new decals I got her cover her decrepit board, reflecting the overhead lights.

“Told you what?” I grumble.

“That you’re into Candace.” He jams his hands into his back pockets, his eyes on my sister as she does a drop-in.

“I didn’t know I was.” It’s honest, but he throws me a look like I’m full of it.

“You knew I was, though.” His eyes swivel to my sister again, and she does an invert, landing up on the edge of the half pipe.

“Sorry.” It’s a pathetic excuse for an apology. We aren’t best buds by any definition, but I did know about his feelings for her. “It blindsided me too, man.”

He nods, his lips pursed. Tanner isn’t normally so stoic, and I wonder just how much I pissed him off. I let out a sigh and just about tell him nothing’s gonna happen between Candace and me. But I can’t seem to form the words. I don’t want to hear them.

Maddie presses her foot to her board and soars down a ramp that leads directly to us. I back up, giving her room to dismount. She plucks off her helmet and holds her hand out for her water bottle.

“Does Troublemakers rent for private parties?” she says through her heavy breath. Sweat matts her hair to her forehead, and she tips her head back for a long slug of water. “I’m really liking the idea of the course all to myself.”

“Soon you’ll be practicing in a legit boarding park,” Tanner says. “That sponsorship is around the corner, Brink.”

They fist bump, and when Mad’s eyes drift to me, her smile starts to fade. “What’s with you, glum bum?”

Okay, yeah… I’m grumpy as hell, and my poker face isn’t all that great when it comes to my sister. Worry creases her eyes, and her shoulders droop.

“It’s not Dad, is it?”

It’s sad that she comes to that conclusion first. “No,” I say, easing her mind. Between the extra hours and the side job I have with Candace, Dad’s mortgage, Christmas, and our rent were all paid in full. I’m scraping the bottom of the barrel in terms of food right now, but I’m used to that.

Mad twists her board with her palm, studying me long and hard. I tilt my head.

“Stop. I’m fine.”

“It’s Candace, isn’t it?”

“No.” Yes.

Tanner shuffles his weight and fixes his hat. “I think yes,” he says with a forced smirk. “We were just talking about her.”

Maddie pouts her bottom lip and pats my shoulder. “Aww, Pete. Did she not reciprocate those feelings you’ve kept bottled up?”

“Not exactly.” Hard to reciprocate feelings she doesn’t know about. I royally botched it last night, but I didn’t know what was happening. I was so knocked sideways, I barely registered just how much I shared with her and how much I kept inside.

I should’ve just said it all instead of tiptoeing around.

Maddie shakes her head and kicks her board into her hands. “Peter Jay Owens, you tell that girl how you feel.” My sister is a mind-reader.

“Mad…” I glance at Tanner, who’s being real silent on the subject. He’s staring at his shoes, pretending that his laces are the most interesting thing in the place.

“What? You don’t like her?”

“I do.” Wow, first time I’ve said it out loud, and it feels pretty good.

“She likes you, too.” She hooks her arms on her board resting at the back of her neck.

“She told you that?”

“Didn’t have to.” She kicks Tanner in the foot. “You saw it, right? At the party.”

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