The Other Game (The Perfect Game 4)

“I’ve missed you guys too.” It was the truth.

“What have you been doing? Are you still interning now that school started?” Cassie asked as she forked a bite of salad and brought it to her mouth.

“Pretty much just working and helping Gran in the garden,” I said, but that was only partially true. If helping Gran meant lying in a hammock in the backyard, then sure, I helped. “But, yeah, I’m going to stay on with the guys. I really like it.”

“That’s awesome, Dean. I’m so happy for you.” Cassie smiled as if she was proud of me, and it made me feel simultaneously good and awful.

“Isn’t it weird being here without him?” Melissa asked. “Knowing that he isn’t just at an away game and will be back tomorrow?” She waved a hand toward the tables filled with Jack’s old friends and teammates.

“It’s weird being anywhere without him,” Cassie said softly, and I died a little inside.

Melissa pinned her gaze on me. “What about you?”

I shrugged. “I’m getting used to him being away, I guess. It might actually feel weird when he finally comes back home.” I glanced at the other students going about their business in the student union, not wanting to make eye contact with either of the girls for too long for fear they could see right through me.

I hated keeping this secret. Wait, that wasn’t true. Keeping Cassie from pain was something I was okay with doing; I just hated knowing what I knew. Jack needed to get his ass home and fix everything so I could stop stressing out about it.

Cassie sighed. “I can’t wait for him to come home.”

I nodded. There were only a few weeks left in his season. Hopefully they would fly by.

“I actually miss the little shit,” Melissa said.

My heart sank. If they only knew what I did, they wouldn’t feel that way at all.

I had to stop thinking about what my brother had done, but every time I looked at Cassie’s face, I heard his voice in my head begging me to keep his secret. It was relentless.

Screw this.

“I gotta go buy some stuff before class. Sorry. I’ll see you guys later.” I shoved away from the table and hurried out of the student union before either of them could stop me.

Cassie sent me a text asking if I was okay before I’d even cleared the doors. I waited until my next class was over before responding that I was fine, and that I just needed to have some things before my next class and I’d forgotten.

Lucky for me, she seemed to buy my excuse.

• • •

My car purred like the sleek beast it was as I pulled it alongside the curb in front of my house after classes a few days later. My phone rang right as I shut off the engine, and I checked the screen before answering. It was Jack.

“Bro, you’re killing me,” I said, ready to chew his ass about the problems I was having avoiding Cassie and Melissa until he got home.

“Dean.” His voice had reverted to that desperate and horrible tone again.

Oh, hell no. Something wasn’t right.

“What happened?”

“She’s pregnant.”

My head spun. And spun. And continued spinning until I felt like I was going to throw up.

“Who is?” I asked warily, praying he didn’t mean who I thought he meant.

“Chrystle. The chick I slept with. She’s fucking pregnant, Dean, and she’s keeping it.”

My jaw dropped, and I clutched the phone tightly as I tried to process what he’d just said. Before I could wrap my brain around it, he went on, spitting out his news as fast as he could, as if that would make it easier to hear.

“I told her to get rid of it, and now I’m probably going to hell for even suggesting such a thing, but I’m being punished. Because I didn’t tell Cassie what I did, and so this is my punishment, right?” He groaned and gritted out, “How is this happening?”