Page 56 of Away Game

“You know, you don’t have to work so hard now. Mom and I have been fine.” He shrugged his top shoulder. “She works long hours sometimes, but we’re not hurting. You deserve to have a break now and again.”

“I’ve had the last few months off while I was at school.” I’d also felt so damn guilty for not working, but with my classwork, practices, and games, I would have been stretched too thin. Now that our football season was over, it was time for me to find a job.

My baby brother rolled his eyes at me. “I’m just saying you don’t have to work yourself to the bone while you’re here.”

Maybe, but if I worked, I wouldn’t feel guilty and would worry less while I was gone. The job at the diner didn’t pay as well as the ski resort, but I declined to work there this winter so I could spend time with my family during the break.

“Like you or mom would tell me if you weren’t doing okay.” I knew for a fact my mom would wait until it was an urgent matter, and I hated that she felt she had to wait so long to ask for my help.

“I would if we really needed your help, but damn W, when are you going to start to live your life?” All the tiredness from earlier was gone, and Easton’s eyes looked at me with a maturity I’d never seen in them before.

“I’m living my life, and part of that life is to help out you and mom. I’ll never stop taking care of you,” I vowed. When I was young, I’d promised myself I’d never turn into my father. I wasn’t going to be a deadbeat or leave my family behind.

“Even when you’re playing in the NFL?” He smirked at his question. E loved to joke with me about being a famous football player once I was out of college.

“Even more so if I’m making millions, but let’s not count those chickens before they hatch. Anything can happen in the next few years.”

Which brought me back to Fin. I’d seen firsthand how easy it was for him to get hurt and almost end his college career. There were plenty of players who’d been set out to play in the NFL to then become injured in college and never get their dream. There were no promises I wouldn’t become one of them.

“I won’t, W. I’ll see you tomorrow night.” He yawned.

“Tomorrow. Good night.”

I was almost asleep when I heard a sound at my window. I thought nothing of it until I heard it again, and it was louder. I sat up first, checking to make sure Easton was in bed. He was sound asleep. Getting out of bed, I walked over to the window and looked out. Standing outside in a hoodie and jeans almost matching the blackness of the night was Fin.

I tried to motion that I was going to move to the front door. If my brother and I didn’t share a room, I would have talked to him through my window and probably told him to leave even if he had driven three hours to see me. I was calmer now, but I wasn’t sure how long that would last. It all depended on what Fin had to say.

“Hello,” I tersely answered as I opened the front door and stepped out into the night.

“Hey.” Fin visibly relaxed as he took me in from head to foot. “I tried to call you about a hundred times. I even talked to Oz, and when he tried to get a hold of you, he couldn’t, so I started to get worried.”

I wondered how many times he’d really tried to get ahold of me over the last few hours. Fin driving all the way here to make sure I was okay did soften me up to him, but I still couldn’t get the words he’d said out of my head.

How could we break up when we weren’t even going out? How could he be so thoughtless?

When I didn’t say anything, Fin cleared his throat. “Are you mad at me?”

“I am, but not as much as I was earlier.” One wrong word, and I’d head back inside, lock the door, and not talk to him until I was back at school.

“Why’d you hang up on me?”

“Do you really not know?” Was he really this clueless, or was he playing a game with me? Either way, it was bringing back all the negative emotions from earlier and making my blood boil. I was happy I’d been able to get lost in hanging out with my brother and not on my problems with… I didn’t even know what we were. If we were anything.

“No, all I said was Oz asked if we’d broke up, and then you were gone.”

“It didn’t exactly happen like that. You mentioned us not even going out, and while we haven’t discussed it, I thought something was happening between us.” Or maybe it had all been in my head.

Earlier I had wished for nothing more than to see Fin, but now I wasn’t happy he was standing in front of me. I moved to sit on the swing my mom sat on and watched the world pass her by when she had a few minutes to relax. Fin stood where he was and continued to look at me.

Not wanting to play any games so I could get some sleep before I had to go to work in the morning, I asked. “Why aren’t we a couple? Is it because you want someone else?” While we’d done a lot of things in the bedroom, Fin and I hadn’t had sex yet. I’d let him set the pace, but now I was starting to wonder if he was holding back because he figured out he liked girls now or maybe he was tired of me.

Finn sputtered and then shouted, “No, what are you talking about? What the hell is happening in Santa Lucia? This is why you and Oz should have come home already.”

I wanted to tell him that this was my home but didn’t want to get into that fight with him. I hated that Fin didn’t feel like Santa Lucia would ever welcome him.

“I’m wondering what’s happening in your head. You don’t talk to me, and I’ve let you steer this… whatever it is, but I’m telling you now that I want more. I want you to be my boyfriend, and before you freak out, it doesn’t mean we have to kiss in front of people or hold hands if you don’t want to or aren’t ready, but I want to know you’re mine.”

“I’ve been yours since our senior year in high school,” he growled out. His dark eyes were as intense as his words.

---