Teaching Tucker (Face-Off Legacy/Campus Kings 3)

“Ask your dad, then,” Preston snaps.

Jamie shakes his head. “No way. I’m not getting him involved. I can do it. Just give me some time.”

“That’s what you said last month,” Preston says. “Just make the call. If you don’t, then I will.”

Jamie’s dad is a computer genius, a programmer who made his millions in video games and software. His universe is so big now that toy manufacturers have created action figures of his characters, board games of his worlds, and everything in between. Like the rest of us, Jamie wants to prove to his dad he can make it on his own.

I constantly feel the need to show my dad I can be a better hockey player than him, or at least up to his level, where Jamie feels it on both ends. His grandfather is a legend, the hockey player our fathers wanted to be when they were kids. I can’t even imagine what it must be like for Jamie.

Jamie glares at Preston, his arms crossed over his chest. All of us are in a bad mood. We lost our last game. I still haven’t found a tutor. Trent hates my guts. Preston has been PMSing like a motherfucker. He’s up all of our asses. And Drake, well, he’s Drake. Nothing ever bothers him. He’s like the ocean, just goes with the flow.

This girl is winning.

I was already fighting with Trent, and now the rest of us are pissed at each other. Jamie and Preston always bicker like brothers, but this is different. You can cut the tension in the room with a knife.

“All of you, knock it off,” Trent interrupts, standing up from the couch. He tucks his phone into his pocket and sighs. “There’s no point in fighting with each other over something we can’t control. I got enough shit to deal with.” His eyes find mine, and then he walks out of the living room sighing loudly.

Drake shuffles out of the room after him, followed by Jamie, whose face is so red he looks like he might explode. He hates having his intelligence questioned. In Jamie’s mind, Preston crossed the line.

“What are you gonna do about Trent?” Drake asks me.

I cock an eyebrow at him. “Nothing. He’s being an asshole.”

“He’s your brother. You share a room with him, play on the same line as him. The bad energy in the house is affecting our team.”

“The team is affecting the team,” I shoot back. “It’s all her fault.”

He nods, understanding I mean the coward who hides behind a screen and calls herself a queen.

“She’s not the real problem,” he says. “You and Trent are fighting over a girl when there’s no point. Find another girl and move on.”

I shake my head. “You don’t get it, do you?”

“What’s to get? You both fucked her, and now you’re catching feelings like a little bitch. Both of you.”

I snort. “No one’s catching feelings. Maybe Trent is… but I’m not.”

“Then let him have her.”

“She doesn’t want either of us.”

“That’s because you’re both up her ass. If you don’t want her, and you’re only going after her to piss Trent off, it’s not helping the rest of us.” He lifts the remote from the coffee table and flips through the channels. “You’ve both been miserable assholes to live and play with.”

“He’s the one who’s acting like an asshole.”

“You could end it first.”

I smirk. “Thanks, Daddy.”

He laughs. “Fuck you, Tuck.”

At least one of my relationships is normal. Drake has been my closest friend since we were kids. Coming from him, the advice doesn’t feel aggressive or forced like it does with Preston. And with Trent, it’s like having my dad scold me for being a bad boy. I don’t like being parented by my brother or friends.

“How’s the tutor search going?”

I shrug against the plush cushion behind me. “It’s not. I decided to do something crazy for once and study.”

Drake narrows his eyes at me. “I don’t think I heard you right.”

“You heard me, dick.”

“Get the fuck out of here. So, you were really going to the library.” I nod, and he continues, “And here I thought that was code for hooking up with Trent’s girl.”

“She’s not Trent’s girl.”

“Maybe, maybe not. She’s not yours either.”

“He’s acting like he’s in love with her,” I admit.

Drake nods. “Just let him have her.”

I hate fighting with my brother. We have a bond that’s so different from what I have with my older sister or brother. Ava has always been like another mother to me. And Tye is like an extension of my dad.

But Trent is my twin. We share everything, always have. And I miss what we had before Jemma came along.

“I will,” I say to Drake. “As soon as Trent stops acting like a pussy and talks to me.”

Drake gives me something resembling a smile before refocusing his gaze on the television.