“How do we decide who gets the kiss?”
I stare at Liam, shocked, but he shrugs, dropping his eyes to my lips before turning back to Kai. Holy shit, when did he get so determined? Kai clunks forward in his seat, leaning sideways as he reaches inside his pocket and pulls out a quarter.
“You flip for it.”
Grey
FUCKING TAILS.
I push off the ground, jumping up and down in place and shake out my hands. The chill from the night air is making it impossible to warm my body, but maybe it’s more that I’m heating up with anger instead of adrenaline. I have to get my head in this race. Losing isn’t an option. For that matter, neither is winning.
My head rocks side to side as I roll my shoulders, trying to relax, but I’m the furthest from calm. So very fucking far from calm. Goddammit. I can’t believe this shit. I’m stuck in the worst lose-lose position of all time. Heads, she kisses me, tails, she kisses Liam. Fucking tails. I have to give it to him; I never gave him this kind of credit. He might be more formidable than I anticipated. But I never thought it would be him who started us in this direction as competitors—that’s a me move. It was calculated. I respect it. Doesn’t mean I’ll ever let him win though.
My eyes find her instantly as I look out among the pockets of light shining on the growing crowd that’s mostly drowned out by the nightfall. She’s wearing a Hillcrest sweatshirt and jeans, but somehow, she’s elevated above everyone around her wearing the same. It’s like what Caroline was joking about earlier, except what takes Caroline a ball gown to achieve is effortless for Donovan.
Thinking of Caroline reminds me of exactly why Donovan put this catastrophe in motion. It’s because I pissed her off with my ultimatum, a challenge for her answer. This is payback. She knows I’d hate everything about this, so she fucking agreed to needle me, downgrade my arrogance. And it’s fucking working. She was so cunning trying to choose Kai and Paul because Liam’s had her lips, and she knows that kissing someone outside of us would make me crazy.
If I thought she’d call this shit off, I’d happily apologize, admit what a prick I was being. Explain how much I hate my father, how I’d rather gargle glass than say a kind fucking word about the bastard. I’d let her wag her finger at me until I arrested it between my teeth and I sucked, then I would—
“Hey, man. You ready?”
Liam’s voice pulls me from my thoughts so quickly that it feels jarring, and I don’t answer, wondering how long he’s been talking without me listening.
“Grey.”
“What,” I bark, my head snapping in his direction.
“The fuck, man? What is going on with you?”
Her. She’s what’s fucking going on, and I’m losing my damn mind thinking that one of you two jokers is going to kiss the lips I’ve been fantasizing over since I laid eyes on them. Lips that belong to me because neither of them know what to truly do with them.
“Nothing,” I answer dismissively, grabbing my sweatshirt from the wooden bench attached to our dock. I slip it over my head, feeling a chill from the wind sweeping up over the river. “I’m just pissed that Red Oak chose Kai. The winds aren’t in our favor, and I know we expected this, but the burden will fall on us. The two of us literally have to beat their seven.”
Liam stretches an arm across his chest as he speaks.
“We can. And we will. Everyone is here for this, man. We’re all on the same page. Ethan’s been rallying the troops. We got this.”
I take a deep breath and nod. He’s right. Red Oak isn’t us on their best day, and they won’t beat us on our worst. But his excitement to kick ass isn’t just to taste victory. It’s for Cherry.
“It’s time,” Liam says, looking out at the river, calling my gaze to follow.
As if on cue, lantern after lantern begin to glow. One by one, flickering honey gold and oranges into the darkness on both sides of the riverbank, they give us a map in the pitch black. We don’t say any more, walking in silence the twelve or so feet to the boat where Kai is standing. He’s giving handshakes to each member as they put themselves into position, showing his support as they load up.
The three of us stand together, taking in the moment. This year will be full of a lot of lasts for us, and this is one of them. We’ve gone from boys to men together, and we’ll go from the classroom to boardrooms too, but rowing will be how we started—the thing that brought us together, the last thing we do as a team, invested in a common interest. The day we leave Hillcrest will be the day that our interests become centered around our last names.
The “me” before the “we.”
“Kick their ass. Nobody beats us.” Kai nods before stepping away to hold up a white flag, signifying we’re preparing to shove from the dock.
Ethan walks up and slaps my shoulder as he passes to get into his position at the bow, and Liam turns to follow, but I grip his arm, stopping him.
“What’s up?”
“No tongue.”
Liam straightens up, staring at me eye to eye. Neither of us moves or even fucking blinks. He crosses his arms over his chest, and I know he isn’t planning on backing down. He takes a deep breath in, before stating what we’ve been dancing around. “After this, it’s fair game. Every man for himself. She chooses, and we deal with it. Like men.”
“Deal.”
He nods, relaxing more. “Okay, no tongue, but I can’t promise the same from Paul.”
Motherfuckering Paul.
“I’ll beat his fucking face in before he puts his mouth on her.”
“I’ll help.”
A grin takes hold of my face. The irony is thick—two scoundrels making a gentleman’s agreement. The only thing I’m sure of is that when it comes to Donovan, he can’t trust me, and I won’t trust him.
“Come on. Let’s get this win over with.”
I’m in my own world, zoned in, so much so that I hear nothing until the roar of the finish-line air horn. It infiltrates my senses and snatches me from my headspace. The volume feels like it’s slowly turned up. The frenzy of cheers from the crowd lining the riverbank’s edges fills my ears, and begins vibrating inside my chest.
All of the present comes into focus as my breath expands so hard through my chest, it feels as if I can’t catch it. I collapse back, looking up at the night sky littered with stars, heaving in mouthfuls of air, unable to move my spent arms.
Say we won. Someone say we won. I’m too exhausted to open my mouth and ask aloud when Liam’s face comes into view as he sits up and points behind us, not looking. I lift my head, leaning onto the side of the wooden tank to get a better vantage point. My free hand plops down into the water, dragging along, creating a tiny wake behind it.
What I see is better than any wish I could’ve had. Red Oak is crossing the negotiated finish line. Minutes after us. We didn’t just win. We fucking decimated them.
“Fuck, Grey. I almost couldn’t keep up with your pace. Actually, I’m not sure I did. You were a monster. Whatever you were concentrating on worked.”
I nod weakly, knowing precisely what I was thinking of the whole time—the lesser of two evils. My body stays flat and wrung out as I lie back again, letting the others row us back in. As we approach, more cheers erupt, and the dock bangs indelicately against the wood as we pull to a stop at the dock and tie ourselves off.