By the time I make it home, it’s dark, and the empty driveway tells me my mom’s gone. Again. Unlocking the door, I walk in and flip on the light switch. I go straight to my room, tossing my bag onto my bed before toeing off my shoes. Pulling my shirt over my head, I turn to throw it into my laundry basket, but I freeze when I see Thayer standing in my room on the other side of my bed, my shirt landing nowhere near its intended target.
“What the hell?” I screech, bringing my arms up to cover my chest. “What are you doing?” I slap a hand behind me, hitting the light switch. Thayer stands there, arms crossed, blank expression on his stupid, perfect face.
“Hand it over.” His voice is flat and to the point.
“Hand what over?” I feel my eyebrows tug together in confusion.
He rounds the bed, holding out a palm. “The key to the barn.”
My heartbeat kicks up a notch.
“I know you were there.” He moves closer, and I kick myself for taking a small step backwards.
“My mom will be here soon.”
He snorts, not hesitating for even a second. “You think I give a fuck?”
“What happened to you?” I can’t help but ask. His dark eyes narrow, a storm clouding his perfect features.
“Don’t play dumb, Shayne. It doesn’t suit you.”
I frown, looking into those sad eyes, and my heart breaks just a little. “I wish I could change what happened—”
Thayer’s in my face in an instant, his arms caging me in against the back of my bedroom door. “Don’t,” he warns, his voice full of venom. “You shouldn’t even fucking be here.”
“Where else would I be?” I whisper, my chest heaving, both thrilled and terrified to be this close to him again. He’s different now. Unpredictable. But physically, he still feels like Thayer. Still looks like him. And my body isn’t communicating with my brain because it still reacts to his nearness. His eyes slide down, hesitating on my sports bra.
“What do we have here?” He brushes the tip of his thumb across the thin material, directly over my nipple. I shudder, flinching away. “You actually did it.”
“They can’t be touched yet.”
He lifts his eyebrow at the word yet, and I’m quick to correct myself.
“You can’t touch them at all.”
“Relax,” he says before I can correct myself again. He pushes off the wall, putting space between us. “You’re the last person I want to touch.”
I force my face not to crumble at his words. The old Thayer wasn’t exactly a boy scout, but this version? This version is cold and cruel and not the boy I fell for in that barn.
“Get out,” I say, steeling my tone. “Now.”
“Give me the key and I’m gone.”
I consider giving it to him, if only to make him leave, but the thought of not having access to the one place that feels like home…
“I dropped it.”
“Bullshit.”
“It’s your fault,” I snap back. “Maybe if I wasn’t being chased, I wouldn’t have dropped it.”
He works his jaw before responding. “Stay away, Shayne. From the barn, from Holden, and from me.”
I want to ask him again why he’s doing this. Why he’s acting like I did anything other than try to be there for him, but my pride won’t let me. I won’t beg for an explanation. I won’t beg him to care about me.
“You’re the one in my house,” I remind him.
“Still got that mouth,” he mutters, eyes zeroing in my lips. “But your brother isn’t here to protect you anymore, is he?”
Grey practically raised me, with my mom working all the time. He was like a brother, a best friend, and the only father figure I’ve ever known, all rolled into one. For the most part, I consider myself to be a responsible person. I got good grades and tried to follow the rules. Except when it comes to Thayer. Something about him brings out the worst in me, and I can’t ever seem to think clearly when he’s around. Not then, and apparently not now. He made me reckless, and I loved it.
No one would ever expect the two of us would fall for each other. He was the bad boy. The loner. The black sheep. I was just…Shayne. Grey’s little sister. But he knew the real me and I thought I knew the real him.
“Or maybe you’re the one protecting him now,” Thayer muses.
What? “What does Greyson need protecting from?” I ask, not understanding what he has to do with any of this. Grey, Danny, and Thayer were closest, being the oldest, but when Danny died, it somehow turned us into the Montagues and the Capulets.
Before he can answer, I hear the front door open half a second before I hear my mom’s heels click-clacking through the house. I turn, wide-eyed, to look at Thayer. If he’s nervous, he doesn’t show it. If anything, he looks annoyed by the interruption. I, on the other hand, am wearing only spandex and a sports bra, and all I can think about is how bad this is going to look.
“Shayne?” my mom calls. “How did volley—” She pushes my bedroom door open, stopping short when she sees Thayer. Her eyes flash to me in question before landing back on the broody boy in my room.
“Thayer,” she says, surprised, bringing a hand to her chest, her slender fingers fidgeting with her necklace.
“Elena.” He doesn’t bother to hide the contempt in his voice or in his expression. My mom eyes him warily, neither one speaking. My mom wasn’t ever the Ames brothers’ favorite person, considering their father’s status and affinity for bringing home gold diggers, so there’s no love lost between them. But this feels different, and I can’t put my finger on why.
“Thayer gave me a ride home from tryouts.” The lie rolls easily off my tongue, and I see Thayer tense out of the corner of my eye. I didn’t even see his car outside, but if she realizes it, she doesn’t call me out on my lie.
“How nice.” Her tone is polite, but her lips tug down into a frown.
“You know me. Always willing to lend your daughter a helping hand.” He winks.
My face burns with a mixture of anger and embarrassment, his meaning not lost on me, and he smirks, knowing exactly what memory is playing in my mind.
“I thought you were at Amherst.” It sounds like an accusation.
“He was just leaving.” I slip between them before he can answer her. The room suddenly feels way too crowded. They follow me down the hall and through the house, not bothering to make small talk. Mom waits behind in the kitchen while I walk him out. I jerk the door open, waving him through with my other hand. His eyes flash toward the kitchen, knowing she’s still within earshot.
“See you soon.”
I’m under no illusion that it’s a simple, friendly goodbye.
It’s a threat.
The next week flies by blissfully uneventful…when it comes to the Ames brothers, anyway. Taylor still got her digs in—pun intended—at tryouts, but where Thayer and Holden are more like hungry wolves, Taylor and Alexis are gnats. Annoying, but harmless. The last day of tryouts was Friday, and the results are to be posted this afternoon in the gym.
“Why do you seem nervous?” Valen asks around a mouthful of yogurt. “You know you’re going to make it.”