A Secret Kiss (Falling for Sakura 1)

Chapter 34

Brothers’ Conflict

“Shit! Sebastian, you don’t have to kill me for the ball,” Tristan shouted in the distance.

Sebastian wasn’t paying his brother any attention, though, as he raced to the other side of the court, colliding with Logan and then thrusting Conrad to one side, causing the younger brother to fall. Finally he jumped high and slammed the basketball through the hoop.

Sakura and Darcy came out into the clearing just then and found almost everyone at the basketball court near the house.

“Over here!” Conrad shouted to Richard. “I’m open!”

Sakura was fascinated as Richard threw the ball toward Conrad, but before Conrad could get his hands on it, Sebastian intercepted his brother and caught the ball first. He then dribbled it as he raced to the other side of the court again and threw forcefully. The ball went into the hoop straight on.

“No fair!” Conrad shouted.

“Bloody hell!” Tristan shouted.

“He plays like someone stole his girlfriend,” Logan said to Tristan.

“As if he has one,” Tristan chuckled.

“I heard that!” Sebastian shouted, his face a hard mask. “Quit moaning like an old woman just because you’re losing.”

Logan ignored Sebastian and shouted, “Darcy! You’re back. Join our team and beat the crap out of Sebastian!”

Sebastian turned to Sakura and Darcy at that moment. His eyes were blazing with blue fire, though no one saw it. He fisted his hands, his heart thumping loud and fast.

Richard ran to Sakura and hugged her tight. Darcy scowled darkly. So did his brothers on the other side of the court. Sebastian wanted to punch Richard in the face. Then he decided he’d do that on the court instead since they had a game to finish.

“Richard, you’re suffocating me,” Sakura said. “And you’re very sweaty.”

Richard pulled back and laughed. “We’re losing. Come on, let’s play.”

Sakura chuckled. “Me? What makes you think I want to play?”

“Because I know you want to play,” he said teasingly.

He was right. She did want to play. She hadn’t played basketball with him, Mary, and Katherine for ages. Then she saw Mary talking to Peter on the other side of the court, who had obviously played hard in the game because he was sweating quite a bit.

“Come on, then,” Richard said, pulling her along to the other side.

As she came to Mary, Peter, and the brothers, she noted that both Alaina and Tara were on the sidelines, sitting elegantly and watching the game.

Tara sneered at her. Alaina frowned.

Sakura didn’t give a care about their hateful stares. She kept moving toward Mary.

“All right. We’ve got a new team member,” Richard said to his teammates, who were Tristan, Logan, and Conrad.

“Wait a minute,” Sakura said. “I didn’t say I’d join in.”

Conrad said, “We’re never going to beat them. They have Darcy as well as Sebastian. That’s no fair!”

Tristan cocked his head to one side and said, “How about Richard, you swap with Darcy?”

“Huh?” Richard shook his head. “No.”

Tristan, however, ignored him and shouted to Darcy, “Oi, Darcy, wanna join our team?”

“Good with me!” Sebastian shouted back, his eyes dark on Darcy.

Darcy was very aware that Sebastian had something against him and was only glad they weren’t going to be in the same team. He ran over to where the other team was. The moment he got there, he said, “Hey,” to Sakura and gave her a handsome smile.

“Hi,” she replied, giving him a lovely smile in return as if she were very glad indeed to see him.

The brothers noticed and were instantly suspicious.

“Did you see that?” Logan asked Tristan quietly.

Tristan nodded. “They’re friendly,” he said in awe.

Conrad frowned at Darcy and instinctively moved closer to Sakura, as if to shield her from Darcy.

“I have to work harder,” Tristan said to himself.

Logan chuckled at Tristan’s statement. “Seems so,” he said, then turned to Richard. “That means you’re now on Sebastian’s team, Richy boy.” He slapped Richard’s shoulder and nudged him to start heading that way.

“I got it,” Richard reluctantly said and ran over to the other side.

Logan turned his attention to Sakura. “Ready?”

“I’m not playing,” Sakura said, moving back a step. “Go find someone else. What about Mary?”

Mary laughed from behind. “I’d love to, but my wedding is in five days, my dear friend, and Peter won’t tolerate any accidents.”

“You’re expecting an accident on the court?” Sakura asked.

“From the looks of things,” Mary said.

“Sebastian is ready to kill everyone,” Tristan said. “Even his team members.”

“He’d better not touch Peter,” Mary said, “or he’ll have me to answer to.”

“Oi!” Sebastian called out, frowning darkly from the other side. “Are we playing or not?”

“Yeah!” Tristan shouted back.

Sakura noted that all of the men on the other team—Nicolas, Sebastian, Hayden, Richard, and Peter—were taking off their shirts. Holy shit! She blinked and tried to breathe as normally as she could.

She noted that Tara and Alaina were giggling on the other side of the court. They were obviously enjoying the view.

“All right, let’s go,” Tristan said, taking off his shirt too.

Sakura wondered what was going on when Darcy and Logan took off their shirts as well.

Conrad said, “Show off!” And he, too, disrobed.