Page 20 of Keep Me Never
My lips pull up on one side, and I can’t look away.
“It means I am the perfect person to help you.”
I want to tell her it’s impossible, but I don’t have the heart. “And how are you planning to do that?”
“Meet me on the practice field at seven tomorrow if you want to find out.” She turns and starts to walk away.
“Wait, seven a.m. or seven p.m.?”
Paige whirls, beaming up at me as she shuffles backward across the grass, but she doesn’t answer. She just winks, and it shouldn’t be so damn adorable. She spins again, shouting out, “See you later, Trouble!”
Trouble, huh?
I push off the wall, my mouth opening, but I force it closed. I watch her go, a bit overcome with the unexpected urge to follow.
CHAPTER SIX
Chase
Where the hell is my phone?
I toss the things in my locker around, then dig through my gym bag for the second time.
“What’d you lose?” Brady asks, pulling a shirt over his head.
“My phone. I just had it.” I freeze, looking down the row of lockers, trying to remember where I saw it.
“You mean this phone?” I spin, just as I feel Mason sliding something from my back pocket. My shoulders fall and I scoff, yanking it from his hand and ignoring his grin.
“You good, bro?” he teases, sitting down to pull on his shoes.
I shove it back in my pocket, swiftly tossing my gym bag in my locker. I’ll take it home after practice this afternoon.
“What’s the rush?” Brady watches me closely, and I don’t miss how both of them have started to move faster, likely to keep up with me.
“Just got something to do, is all.”
“You seem to have a lot of things to do lately, but oddly, those things only pop up when you’d normally be with us.”
I swallow, shrugging it off. “You know I’ve got a busy schedule this semester. Getting close to…graduation and all.” The words hit my throat like acid, burning on the way out.
“We just miss you, man.” Mason’s words have my head yanking up, and I hate to see the concern in his eyes. He’s got too much on his plate to worry about me and my absence.
“Guys, I see you every day for training and again at practice.”
Brady crosses his arms. “It’s not the same. You’re never home, never around for lunch with the girls.”
My skin grows warm, so I pretend to look through my bag when I’ve got nothing in there I can grab as an excuse. “I’m just hitting the books pretty hard. Sorry. I didn’t realize it seemed like I was?—”
“Withdrawing from your friends again like you did freshman year?”
My muscles coil, and I spin around. “Mase.”
He waves me off. “We’re just worried, man. Freshman year, you had a reason, so we left you alone for as long as we could because we understood how heavy everything was after Ari. Hell, I needed that time, too, but we got past that. You’re my brother, Chase. Whatever’s going on”—I open my mouth to lie some more, but he doesn’t allow it—“and we know something is. If you aren’t ready to talk about it, that’s fine, but don’t shut us out. You saw how well that went for Payton when she closed herself off.”
All I can do is nod, but my eyes bounce to the clock above, and I jolt. “Shit, I gotta go.”
Mason’s shoulders fall, but I keep moving, tearing toward the exit with a hint of dare I say excitement in my gut as I make my way to the practice field.
