Page 12 of Furious
Ares shakes his head as if he was trying to make sense of Lev’s words. “You just called her your girlfriend. So what are yousaying? You’re happy to let me and Chance go out with her? Kiss her? Fuck her?”
I would be lying if I said that I’m not jealous of Lev’s confidence. “That’s exactly what I’m saying. I know Zara and I are perfect for each other. If she has feelings for the two of you, I’d rather her explore them and get it out of her system. Like this, she won’t have to wonder if she made the right choice in the end.”
“What if she didn’t choose you in the end?” my brother challenges him.
Lev’s confidence in life is just as unshakable as it is on the ice. “She’s going to choose me.”
Ares is one stubborn motherfucker. I guess it runs in our family.
“That’s fucking insane. So what are you going to do if she told you she had feelings for another one of your teammates? Or for someone she meets in class? Are you gonna give her a hall pass to explore things with every guy she finds attractive?”
That finally gets a rise out of my best friend. “Fuck, no. Look, we all felt something from the moment we met Zara two years ago. Am I wrong?”
“No. You’re right.” Ares confirms.
“The attraction we all felt for her wasn’t one-sided. So I understand we all need to figure out our feelings. I mean, I know what I want. Call me crazy, but when I saw Zara again, the attraction of two years ago was even stronger. It isn’t hard to see that we’re all in the same boat. We might not be related by blood, but you and Chance are my brothers. So I’m ok with sharing Zara’s time and attention with the two of you until she knows what she wants. But if someone else touches her, or even so much as looks at her? They’re fucking dead. The only thing that could change the way I feel is if Zara fell for someone elseand broke things off with me. But I would still feel protective of her. Even if we were no longer together.”
If Lev is crazy, maybe I am too. Because what he just said makes total sense to me. “Yeah.” I nod.
“Fuck.” Ares runs a hand over his face. “Maybe we should ask the mayor to make sure there isn’t something in the fucking water.”
“Ha.” Lev chuckles. “You agree, don’t you?”
Ares rolls his eyes. “I want Zara to myself, but I guess I could let her figure out what’s up with you two. If I’m not the one she wants, I guess it’s better to know now rather than later.”
It’s crystal clear that he doesn’t find that last option appealing by the displeased twist of his lips.
“And I guess there’s one silver lining in this fucked up sharing plan.” Ares adds. “As long as Fox is around, we can work together to keep Zara safe. “
We all agree with that.
“And if we talk to Dad about the history between Fox and Zara, that could at least give us a reason to hang out with her without too much parental scrutiny.” Ares muses.
Lev and I look at each other. We don’t need to voice our concerns out loud to know that we need to keep Dad and Ares as far away from Fox as humanly possible. At least until the race.
“I would wait before getting Dad involved.” I say. “You said it yourself that Fox blames him for destroying his career. The summer is over and there aren’t that many jobs in town in the low season. Not with all the college students looking for part-time jobs and most of the tourist attractions shutting down. Maybe Fox won’t find anything and leave. Let’s just warn Zara, and let the situation play out. Besides, what if Dad didn’t trust us to watch out for Zara? He could hire a bodyguard like he did with Kelly when they got those threats during the election campaign. Then we would really have to stay away from her.”
Ares doesn’t look totally convinced. “I guess you’re right. We don’t want to blow this out of proportion. Maybe Fox being here is just an unlucky coincidence. You’re right, work opportunities aren’t that easy to come by in the low season. If you see Fox around, let me know.” He says with a yawn. “Fuck, I’m on early morning patrol right now and these four am alarms are killing me. I prefer coming home at four am than getting up when it’s still dark. I wish the sheriff let us choose which shifts we want, but he makes us rotate every two weeks to keep things fair.”
That’s good. If Ares is on these early shifts until next week, he’ll be in bed by the time we have to race. So even if he kept an eye on Fox, we should be in the clear.
“These days I go to bed early, but I might have to stay up on Saturday night. I don’t want to miss your team’s first home game of the season.” Ares says.
I love the way Ares supports mine and Lev’s dream of playing professional hockey. He’s never missed a home game since he quit racing.
This Saturday, though, I would feel better if he gave it a miss. The farther he is from campus on race night, the better. Even though the race won’t start until well after midnight.
“Don’t sweat it, dude.” I slap him on the back. “We’re freshmen and the team has some really good players. I would be surprised if we got to see any ice time after warming up.”
Ares smiles. “But I want to be there, just in case. Especially since Dad isn’t going to be back until after the game. I need to represent the family at the arena.”
Ok, then. Hopefully Fox doesn’t feel as supportive of his own brother and shows up too. We might have to warn Dave that our older brother is a cop and to make sure Fox stays away from the game. The least attention we draw, the better.
“Right. Talking about stupid shifts, I better get going. I’ll see you two later.”
When Ares leaves, Lev and I agree that we need to be careful.
“I can’t wait to defeat Fox.” I say. “Maybe once he gets his ass kicked and loses a bunch of money, he’s gonna leave.”
