Songs for Cricket by Laine, E. (best books to read in your 20s TXT) 📗

practice downstairs—” she rattled off a room number, “in the afternoons around three.”

I cursed, “I can’t.”

“Oh, I see. Too good for us.”

She rolled her eyes, the metal bar in her brow glinting from the overhead light.

“No,” I said quickly. “I have practice. Football, remember?”

“Yeah, I was kind of hoping your grammar had been a mistake when you said you play football as opposed to played.”

“Can you schedule something later?”

She shook her head. “Sorry, pretty boy. Some of us have to work. But think about it. We’ll be there if you ever change your mind.”

Then she walked off, and her pretty boy comment reminded me she’d never asked my name or given me hers.

Nor had she given me directions to my class. I eventually found it and had to laugh when the same girl stepped up to the podium in the lecture hall. Quickly, my mind raced over the possibility that she was my professor. She’d looked around my age. Then again, looks could be deceiving. I’d learned that hard lesson these past few weeks.

As she spoke, she revealed herself as the teacher’s assistant for the class. When her eyes found me in the crowd, she grinned, which bolstered my confidence more. She’d thought I was good enough. It was enough to make me believe that following my dreams was the right choice.

After two classes, I left for home, not ready for the crowds at the café. I used some of my meager funds to grab something at the coffee shop before making the fifteen-minute walk across campus to our townhouse.

My phone buzzed in my hand after I’d gotten inside. I stared, unsure what to do.

“Are you going to answer that?”

I glanced up to see Finn who’d silently rolled into the room.

“It’s my mom,” I admitted.

Since my name showed up in the news, she’d called several times. I’d replied via text not wanting to explain what happened. She didn’t deserve the attention I was getting after everything my father had put her through.

“You haven’t told her yet?” Finn asked, guessing correctly.

“She knows, just not specifics.” I closed my eyes before staring out the back window like I could escape my past simply by walking out the door. “I just—I can’t tell her. It’s better if she doesn’t know.”

Finn studied me a second. “Because of your father.”

My head snapped in his direction. “You know?”

His brow arched at my stupidity. Of course, he knew. I’m sure his family did their research before letting us move in.

“His case is on appeal,” he said.

I scoffed and then muttered, “Circumstantial evidence.”

Dad had only been tied to the one living victim, and by default he’d been convicted of the bodies found buried on the same land where she’d been found.

“He claims not to have killed anyone.”

The fact that Finn didn’t seem to judge me or my dad should have comforted me. Instead, it brought ugly memories into my head.

I could have spit fire when I spoke next. “Yeah, he said a lot of things.”

Though he’d never once admitted to anything.

“Have you ever asked him if he’d done it?” Finn asked.

“No. We haven’t spoken since the day they arrested him.”

And I had no intentions to. His crimes had ruined my life. Once Mom and I’d been forced out of our house and had to move in with my grandmother where drugs were sold and bought by the truckload, it had been open season on me. I was the rich boy that had fallen on hard times. But worst, some of my father’s victims had been high school girls, branding me the son of a child molester. And just for that, I had a target on my back. Fights and beatings had become a way of life. Some I won, more I lost. Somehow, I’d survived, but I feared I’d never be free from my father’s actions. They still cast suspicion on me like I’d been his partner in crime. I hated him.

The doorbell rang before Finn could say more. The door opened before either of us could answer it. Cooper ushered in what amounted to the girl next door.

“Hey, Finn, are you ready?” she asked.

He grinned, and I watched as the pretty physical therapist followed him back to his room. She was here most mornings and nights. It was rare to see her in the afternoons.

Cooper and I traded glances.

“I envy him,” Cooper said once they’d disappeared behind Finn’s bedroom door.

I frowned. “Why? She has a boyfriend.”

A live in one that was set up in the townhouse next door and paid by Finn’s family to be on call in case Finn needed someone with brute strength for help.

Cooper shook his head. “My money’s on Finn.”

In most circumstances I would have agreed. Finn had that something that made him likable and easy to be around. But this girl seemed to be immune to his charms, only smiling politely at his subtle but world-class flirting.

Cooper obviously saw something else. He stared at Finn’s door with something like longing that reminded me of how I’d felt before Finley became mine.

“How’s Tori?” I asked.

He seemed to come out of whatever place he’d retreated to in his mind.

“She’s okay, I guess.”

“You guess?” I asked.

After all I’d gone through to get them together, I had high hopes Cooper would make a move.

His shoulders sagged. “Auggie’s the one that always knows what to say or do. Girls confuse me.”

Okay, Cooper was a little on the shy side, but he wasn’t clueless.

“You’re the same guy that went to the prom with the home-coming queen.”

He scoffed. “Yeah, and she talked about Auggie all night.”

That was news to me. Then again, Cooper rarely spoke about anything.

“Forget I mentioned her. Have you asked Tori out?”

He blew out a breath. “We’ve had lunch a few times, but I’m pretty sure she’s into you.”

Okay, I’d caught that the first time we’d met.

I sighed. “Even if she was,” and I wouldn’t admit that, “this is your play. You have the ball, run with it.”

“Football talk,” he mocked, frowning at me.

“Whatever works. Besides,