The Fight In Us: A Brother's Best Friend College Romance (The Four Book 4) by Becca Steele (read me a book txt) 📗

I’d lost track of her and had ended up playing darts with Z when Lena had appeared in the room, her hair all messed up and her makeup smeared around her face. Seeing her there had made something inside me twist uncomfortably. When she said she needed a lift home, I’d found myself offering as soon as she’d said she couldn’t get an Uber, and then Zayde had jumped in and offered his services. We’d argued a bit, and then Lena had stepped in and told me that she was choosing Z. The irrational anger and hurt I’d felt at the time rose up in me now as I watched her hold his gaze, both of their expressions unreadable.

Fuck this. I needed to get out of here.

“Getting a drink,” I muttered, climbing to my feet and stalking out of the room before anyone else could comment. Once in the kitchen, I bypassed the fridge, heading outside instead. I stepped off the deck and onto the cool grass, walking across the back garden until the house was distant behind me. We’d recently had a small football pitch installed—nothing much, just a rectangle of Astroturf with a goal at either end and white lines painted on the ground. Tall lights at the sides illuminated the pitch so we could play outside during the winter when it got dark early.

There was a football lying against one of the goal nets, and I grabbed it, then began kicking it around. I stopped after a couple of minutes, because football for one didn’t work. Sinking down onto the Astroturf, I rested my back against the goal, rolling the ball idly up and down my legs.

“Want to play some one-on-one?”

I looked up to see Cassius standing over me.

“Yeah, okay.”

We played in silence for a while, and then Cassius spoke again. “Is everything alright?”

Guess I hadn’t done a good job of hiding things. “Yeah…no. I dunno, mate. Everything’s still all fucked in my head, y’know?” I sighed. “I’ll be okay.”

He nodded. “I know. It’s a lot to deal with. I’m worried about Lena, too. After everything she’s been through, I don’t want her hurt anymore.” Swiping the ball from the ground, he began twirling it on his finger, his gaze troubled. “I don’t want her getting into trouble, either. You know how reckless she can be. We need to keep an eye on her.”

“Yeah.”

There was silence for a moment while he studied me with an odd expression on his face. “There’s nothing going on between you and her, is there?”

I licked my lips. “Uh…”

“She doesn’t need any more complications in her life right now.”

For the first time, I looked my best friend dead in the eye and lied to his face.

“There’s nothing going on between us.”

TWENTY-THREE

Something had happened with Weston. He’d withdrawn from me, and I didn’t know why. He’d said he wanted to take things slowly, but ever since we’d all gathered to discuss Martin Smith, it felt like he was avoiding me. He’d make excuses anytime we were in a situation we’d potentially be alone together, and when we were around everyone else, he treated me…not with indifference, exactly, but as he treated Kinslee—friendly, but keeping himself at a distance.

It was driving me insane.

All this had led to me making a snap decision one afternoon. I worked better alone, and that was how it was going to be if Weston wanted to keep his distance from me. It took me a couple of days to put my plan into place, and then I was ready.

First things first, I headed to my friend Raine’s house. In her bedroom, I placed my phone and keys on her bedside table, next to a framed photo of her and her boyfriend, Carter, then reclined back on her bed. She grinned at me, her eyes sparkling as she held up a pair of tight black leggings.

“Ta da!” Stepping closer, she passed them to me. “So you see here, you’ve got these two pockets, plus the inbuilt belt. I don’t know why you wanted me to line it with this wire mesh stuff, but here it is. It’s removable.”

I smiled at her enthusiasm. Raine designed clothes on and off, and when I’d come to her with my idea, she’d thrown herself into it head first.

“These look perfect.” I stroked my fingers across the soft leather.

A shy smile spread across her face. “Thanks.”

“Honestly, Raine, this is so good.” I examined the tightly knit wire mesh that lined the interior of the inbuilt belt. It would block any electromagnetic signals, allowing my phone to remain undetected, if I needed it to. And more importantly, it would hide the tiny device I was planning on bringing with me that may just be the answer to our problems. If we were lucky.

“It was fun to make something different for a change. You don’t even want to know how many dresses I’ve designed lately.” She pulled a face, but I knew that she loved everything she designed.

“I’ll be coming back to you for more if this works out,” I told her with a grin.

We chatted for a while longer, before she had to leave to meet her boyfriend.

Then it was time for me to get to work.

Back at home, I changed into my new leggings, adding the few supplies that I needed to bring with me. Less was more when it came to this kind of thing. After strapping on my boots, I headed down to the garage and put the back seats down in my car, then loaded my bike.

I had the address memorised, so I didn’t need to use the satnav to work out where I was going. When I drew close to the destination, I parked my car on the road on the darkest part of the street, outside a large, gothic-looking house. Retrieving my bike from the boot, I took a moment to think through the directions I’d memorised, then