My Best Friends Brother

Chapter 10

Zoe hasn’t left my side since we got here, I know she’s desperate to be alone with me but I kind of just want to chill for a bit after practise. The music’s pumping louder than it probably should and we’re shoved in here like sardines but I don’t care, I’m just glad to be somewhere that isn’t my house or the court for a change.

Luke sits across from us, his glare stuck to his phone but still sending waves of hate in my direction. I know this guy has a problem but he’s too much of a chicken shit to actually say something to me about it.

His dad was captain of the team back in the fucking 70's or something and all his older brothers were captain their senior year, he’s the only one not to make the cut. I know he blames me for being held back a year and snatching his glory but he never would’ve made captain anyway, he doesn’t have what it takes. I know the team would’ve wanted Leanna or Eli, he never would’ve had a look in even if I wasn’t here.

Zoe’s hold on me gets firmer every time he looks in this direction, like she’s trying to reassure me of something I don’t really understand. Her thick thighs across my lap, her ass grinding softly against me to the music, yet all I want is a bit of space to breathe. Not that I’d shove her off, she’s been so good to me and I’m not that kind of guy.

“Baby, can we move? Go over the other side or downstairs?” Her words are always purred instead of spoken, everything about Zoe is feline in nature. Sharp claws, smooth lyrical steps as she walks. She’s beautiful, a Latina princess ready to step up and become queen. There are times I look at her and feel grateful she picked me, other times I see how much more invested in this relationship she is than I feel. I’m getting there, there’s just something holding me back. I wish I knew what because it’s not her, she’s perfect.

“Five minutes, I’m so fucking tired. Josh didn’t give us any rest today, just let me finish this beer and I’m yours, okay?”

She nods, getting ready to settle back into me when one of the girls across the room calls her over to dance.

Her hips sway with every step she takes until she finds herself in the middle of the group and lost from my vision, turning back I see Luke’s eyes are still firmly placed in her direction. I know she’s fucking beautiful but you can’t check out your mates woman like that right in front of him.

I kick his chair, letting his head turn back to face me. I wait for the apology but it never comes, instead he just stares down at his phone fucking smirking. Fuck this.

“What the fuck is your problem?”

He shrugs, not even giving me the decency to look up from the screen. Does this prick not realise he’s half my fucking size? He’s always been fucking obsessed with having my left overs, he practically fucking stalked his way onto the team in the first place. I felt sorry for him at the time, after what happened with the shooter at the school I never wanted anyone to feel they couldn’t be a part of us but this guy is far from innocent, he’s just a dick.

“I’m fucking talking to you.”

Again, nothing. Except for that stupid fucking grin spreading wider across his gaunt cheeks.

Jumping to my feet, I get ready to tear him a new asshole when Eli pushes in front of me and shoves his hand into my chest to force me back.

“Don’t Milo, it’s what he wants. He knows you’re on thin fucking ice after the driving ban, just chill.” His eyes hold sympathy, a feeling I know will never leave him but I wish it would. It was my decision that got me into that courtroom, I never should’ve let that car start, especially with him in it. The scar running up his arm, a cubed up Porsche and the mark against my name is all that remains of that bloody night now. I know he’ll never understand why I was willing to do what I did.

“Fuck him. Get that prick away from me, and Zoe.”

Just as I go to sit back down, the dickhead stands. If he knew what was good for him he’d walk the fuck away but of course he’s not clever enough for that. Instead he just continues to smirk at me.

“Afraid I’m gonna take your girl there Thompson?”

Like fuck I am. “She wouldn’t come fucking near you if you were the last guy on this fucking continent. What’s the matter Lukey-boy? So desperate to pretend you’re me that you have to act like you’d ever have a chance with a girl that doesn’t even know your fucking name?”

He’s seething, the music drops and I catch Zoe looking at me from the crowd. Usually she gets fucking turned on when I’m protective over her but right now she looks scared. What the fuck is going on?

“Oh, she definitely knows my name,  she’ll never forget it. Don’t think I could have her anytime I want?” Why is he so fucking confident? He knows she wouldn’t come near him. Zoe was a fucking virgin when I met her, in all that time I know it’s only ever been me she’s wanted. Even when we’ve argued, we always make up the next day. I know he’s never had a chance with her.

She starts to walk towards me, the room so quiet now I can hear her heels tapping on the floor as the crowd parts for her. Luke sees her, quickly returning to his phone and searching for something frantically.

Zoe steps in front of me, her small hands holding my jaw to face her firmly but I can feel them shaking.

“Zo?”

A small chuckle from behind her leads my attention back to the guy who looks far too fucking happy for my liking.

“Yeah Zo, got something you want to tell your lover boy?”

I’m going to take this prick’s head off now.

Zoe snaps to face him, her jaw clenched so tight I know what’s about to happen but do nothing to stop it. Her hand launching out and the palm smacking straight across his cocky thick-headed face. There’s a collection of laughs and gasps from around the room but any one who knows Zoe knows that would’ve been her response, she’s got that Latina heat temper and when she gets going no-one is going to stand in her way.

“No, I have nothing to tell him. I don’t know what you’re talking about but I’d keep your fucking mouth closed unless you want me to make sure it ends up wired shut.”

She may be tiny, but she’s fire through and through. It’s what attracted me to her in the first place.

Everyone is staring at us now, I wrap my arm around her waist so she knows I believe her, she’s never given me any reason to feel otherwise.

Luke clutches his cheek, the red in his skin is only outweighed by the hurt in his eyes. He keeps looking from me to her, then the way my hand sits at her hip. For a second I think he’s just going to make a run for it, until I grasps his phone, hitting some buttons before I feel mine go off in my pocket.

“I had a feeling you’d say that you slut, you made me do this.”

Zoe looks completely confused, leaning back into me as I pull out my phone. The message from Luke sits at the top, holding a single picture that a part of me doesn’t even want to open. The second I bite the bullet and let it fill my screen, my heart sinks. It’s a girl, laying naked on a bed with Luke’s head between her legs. I can’t see her face clearly at the awkward angle the photo is taken, she clearly didn’t know he was taking it, but all hopes I had of it not being the person I think it is disappears the second I see that heart shaped beauty spot at the top of her thigh.

I look from the picture to Zoe, her eyes so firm with honesty that I don’t hate myself for believing her, anyone would’ve.

“Never let him touch you huh?”

Dropping the phone onto her hands, she stares at the screen. All the confidence from her face slipping away as she realises there’s no denying it now.

“Milo...”

I don’t want to hear it. Ripping the phone from her hands, I storm out of the door, making sure to slam it before any of the guys can come after me and making a beeline for the staircase. I take them three at a time, practically leaping from one floor to the next as my chest tightens.

It’s not the fact she did it, it’s not even that it was fucking Luke, it’s that she lied. She stood there right in front of me and fucking lied to my face... and I believed her.

There’s no stopping me when I get out into the fresh air, just before I let the door close I hear someone chasing down the steps after me so take off in a sprint. Racing through the camp, I bypass my own dorm block and head straight for the back of the sports hall.  It’s so dark I can hardly see where I’m stepping but as the pain in my chest becomes almost too much to bear I find myself in the middle of the outdoor court, falling to my knees and then landing on my back.

There’s a hurt I’ve never felt before weaving it’s way through into my soul, a pain I have yet to experience making itself known. There’s something else there too... guilt.

I know I haven’t been innocent, I know some of the thoughts I’ve had over the last week have been far from fucking appropriate but it’s not like I would’ve acted on them. I wouldn’t have done that to her. Besides, Josh isn’t my type in reality... right?

The sky is the deepest darkest blue, some would mistake it for black but spending my years staring at Jayce and Heather’s art work has taught me the difference. It’s moving, flowing with a gentle scattering of grey clouds that mask the glowing stars.

I can see them, it’s never been hard for me to spot the patterns. As a kid I would stare endlessly out my bedroom window at the night sky, after my birth father finally left I couldn’t find another way to stop the nightmares. First off I would just climb into Jayce’s bed and wait to fall asleep again but as time went on I realised I couldn’t keep doing that.

So instead when I woke up I’d stare at the sky and see what constellations I could find. I’d sit for fucking hours just matching the links to the pages of my books, I learnt everything there was to know about the world so far beyond our own. When my eyes would finally close I’d just imagine being there, floating amongst their light and escaping the fear that hunted me.

I’m not sure when I stopped. I can’t even remember the last time I stared up at them like this.

Hurried footsteps rush towards me and the heavy body of my best friend drops to the space beside me.

“Thank fuck, I thought you’d done a fucking runner again. Dude, I’m so fucking sorry. Zo, she’s in pieces. She wanted to find you but the girls told her to leave you for a bit, she’s saying it was one time, the night we took off in the car. The night you...”

I wish he’d stop feeling bad about it, it’s done now.

“Elijah, it’s fine man. If she wants to try and excuse it then she’s clearly not the girl I thought she was. That was months ago, she could’ve told me at anytime since then. She could’ve told me tonight before I saw that. She didn’t, she fucking lied to me. We’re done now.”

“Mate-”

“We’re done Eli, done. Just leave it.”

Eli’s exasperated breath falls through his lips, escaping as white smoke when it meets the crisp night-time air. He lays down against the ground, his body parallel with mine as he looks up at the stars with me.

“Are you going to talk to her?” He asks gently.

Releasing a breath of my own, I stretch to rest my hands behind my head and surrender to the cold as it dances it’s way across my exposed stomach.

“Yeah, just not tonight. I don’t want to talk to her angry, Jayce says it always makes things worse if you do. I’ll deal with it tomorrow.”

Eli nods, I think, with his dark skin he’d be practically invisible to me right now if it wasn’t for that obnoxiously loud neon yellow t-shirt of his.

“Okay man, is there anything I can do?”

Actually yeah, there is something he can do.

“Go get me a drink. A strong one.”

Please remember to vote and comment beauts 😍❤📖