The Endgame (Atlanta Lightning 1)

My brother was already at her house when I arrived. When he’d said he was moving out, he’d meant ASAP. He’d already found a place, and movers had already been by to get his things. I heard him laughing with Mom when I went inside.

“Your favorite son and brother is here!” I called as I walked toward the kitchen.

Mom was mixing something in a bowl, and Elias was at the table.

“You’re my only brother, but you’re definitely not Mom’s favorite son. That award goes to me.”

“You wish, little brother.” I rubbed my knuckles over his head, messing up his hair. We playfully wrestled around, and at one point, my foot got tangled in his chair. Mom laughed in the background. When we separated, I walked over and gave her a kiss. “Hey, Mama.”

“Hey, my sweet boy. You’ve been busy lately.”

“I’m not sure if you’ve heard, but I’m a professional football player in the middle of a season where we’ve only lost one game,” I teased. The only game we’d lost was the one right after my…whatever it had been with West on the phone.

“I’m a professional football player,” Elias mocked jokingly.

I gave him the finger behind Mom’s back.

“And of course, you’re making cookies, and I can’t have any.”

“One cookie won’t hurt,” Mom replied.

“It’s impossible to stop at one.” Plus, I’d been out with Darren a few times that week and hadn’t eaten the way I should in the middle of the season.

The three of us chatted for a while. Mom talked about the work she was doing with the local homeless shelter, and Elias went on about school and how much he was liking his new place.

“I should have done this ages ago. I don’t have a brother stinking up my place anymore.”

“Ha-ha.” He was joking, but a small pang of jealousy hit me in the chest anyway. He would be shocked if he knew how much I missed him, that I hadn’t wanted him to go. It wasn’t like I’d made it obvious how needy and clingy I was, and just like with Weston, I was jealous of how much easier it was for him.

“You’re taking care of yourself?” Mom asked him. “Sometimes you don’t pay attention to energy management.”

“I’m fine, Mom. I’m careful.” One side effect of his disability was that he tired more easily. He didn’t have the same strength in his muscles, so his body had to work harder than mine or Mom’s would.

Mom switched topics and asked, “Have you seen Carly again?”

“Carly?” I asked.

Mom swatted Elias’s arm. “You didn’t tell your brother you’re seeing someone?”

“Ouch. Stop abusing me. He’s a busy guy who plays professional football, remember?”

“Do I have to kick your ass again?” I joked, and Elias snickered. I ignored the strange twisting in my gut and asked, “Seriously, though. Who’s Carly?”

“This girl I started seeing. You’ve probably heard me talk about her before. We go to school together. She’s beautiful, Anson, and so fucking smart—ouch.” Elias flinched when Mom playfully swatted him again.

“Language.”

I couldn’t remember my brother talking about a girl, but then, I hadn’t been paying enough attention. Not that Elias hadn’t had girlfriends before, but something in the way he’d said beautiful and smart, something about the gleam in his eyes, told me this was unique. “So clearly, you’ve been interested in her for a while,” I said. “Finally asked her out?”

He blushed. “No, she actually asked me. I was nervous, ya know? Because I like her a lot, and I didn’t think… I wasn’t sure…”

I frowned. “If she didn’t want to go out with you because of a damn chair, she wouldn’t be worth your time.”

“It’s a little more than a damn chair, and we both know it, but yeah. I wondered, ya know? I’m not down about it. This is my life, and I plan to make the best of it, but not everyone sees it the same way.”

One decision—the one fucking time I didn’t watch my brother because I was busy flirting with a cute guy—and his whole life was altered. When it came to him, I was always in this strange place. I didn’t feel sorry for him because my brother was fucking great. There was nothing he couldn’t do if he wanted to. He wouldn’t allow anyone to pity him, but I still wished things were different for him, wished I could go back and ignore the part of me that had wanted to ogle a guy, and instead force myself to say no, to never have let him get on that trampoline.

“Yeah, well, a lot of people fucking suck, then.”

“Oh, I see you don’t swat him for the language,” Elias teased Mom.

My leg began bouncing up and down, the weird feeling in my gut giving way to tightness. “So, Carly?”

“Oh, well, we’ve gone out a few times the past couple of weeks. We’re getting the same degree, and we have a lot in common. She, um…sees past my disability, doesn’t think she has to take care of me or that I don’t live a completely fulfilling life, and that means a lot to me.” He rubbed his nose. “Anyway, don’t get too excited, Mama. It’s new, and she might not like me as much as I like her. I don’t want you to get your hopes up.”