She narrowed her eyes at him. “Please, tell me you don’t need a bet to stay faithful. I swear to God, Jack.”
“He doesn’t need a bet to stay faithful, Cassie,” I said, trying to help my brother out of the hole he’d apparently dug himself into. Although being faithful and in a relationship was completely new to him, even I had to admit that he’d been doing a damn fine job so far.
“It sounds like it to me,” Melissa chimed in, but to me, neither of our opinions was helping.
I glanced at Melissa. “Maybe we should leave them alone.”
“I have to get to class, anyway.”
She picked up her things, and my heart sank. That wasn’t what I had in mind. Not at all. I watched as she walked away, my eyes focused on her ass again.
“You love her,” Jack said in a singsong voice, and I socked him in the shoulder.
“Shut up.” I cast Cassie a sideways glance, and she laughed.
“I think it’s cute,” she said, her mood suddenly lighter now that the focus wasn’t on her and Jack.
“I don’t know what either of you are talking about,” I lied.
Jack shook his head and let out a snort. “I see the way you two look at each other. I don’t know what you two are waiting for.”
“It’s not me. She knows I like her. She just doesn’t like me back.”
Cassie’s face twisted into a frown. “It’s not that. I don’t know what it is. She hasn’t said anything to me, but I think she’s scared.”
“Of me?”
“I don’t know, Dean. She’s weird when it comes to boys sometimes.”
“But Dean’s not just any boy. He’s a Carter. And my little brother. She should want to go out with him,” Jack said, talking me up, and I sat up a little straighter at his praise.
“I agree,” Cassie said. “But she’s stubborn. More stubborn than I am.”
Frustrated, I grabbed my bag and hiked it over my shoulder. “If we’re done discussing my lack of a love life, I’m gonna take off.”
Before they could say another word, I left.
When the Team’s Away
Jack might be leaving school in the morning, but the rest of us still had tests and homework to do while he was gone.
Me, I had a love/hate relationship with his traveling, hating it because I didn’t get to see him pitch. Kno
wing he was out there throwing and I wasn’t able to watch was a special kind of torture for me. My entire childhood was filled with memories of Jack playing baseball, pitching better than anyone else we knew, and being able to hit the ball as well.
When he excelled, I couldn’t help but feel proud. Especially after he’d gotten into so many fights, prompting some people to say he wasn’t going to amount to anything, and that he was a loser. Jack being able to pitch the way he did was like a giant middle finger to all the doubters who never believed in him. And it was as much a middle finger from me as it was from him.
On the flip side, I loved Jack’s road trips because I thought they were cool. The whole idea of getting to travel someplace new to play baseball seemed like the best of both worlds. Plus, Jack always had the best stories when he came back. If he went somewhere that was known for something famous, he made sure to always bring something home for our grandparents and me. That thrilled us all because Jack was the only one in our family who ever left town. It was sad, but true.
“I’m gonna stay at Cassie’s tonight,” Jack told me as I sat at my desk, highlighting an upcoming chapter in my history textbook.
“And you’re telling me this, because?” I asked, not even bothering to look up from my work.
“Because I’m going to have her take me to the bus tomorrow morning.”
I placed my pen on the desk and looked up to see him standing in my doorway, his duffel bag slung over his shoulder. “Are you leaving the Bronco with her?”
“That’s what I’m trying to tell you. Although she calls it the deathmobile,” he said with a laugh, and dropped his bag to the floor.