I open my locker door. “My dad and Coach Chandler have been conspiring. He said if I want to keep my motorcycle, I have to play a team sport.”
He snorts. “Do you think you’ll pass the drug test?”
I bite my tongue, because no, I probably wouldn’t.
And neither would his perfect little girlfriend.
She’s my biggest buyer.
“Speaking of drugs,” I say, eyeing his upper body, “you juicing? Because—”
“Shut up,” he says, glancing around to make sure no one heard me. “No.”
I laugh, because I believe him. Finn Holloway is Thistle Cove’s very own Captain America. His moral compass, and apparently now his muscles, run deep.
“What’s your secret, then? How’d you get so fucking cut?"
His entire body tenses, starting at his jaw and traveling down his defined back. “Self-control and working out every day will do it.”
I’d seen him on the Fourth of July—my dad invited his family, the Wallers, and Chandlers out on the boat. The whole situation was awkward. Finn and I aren’t really friends anymore, my business relationship with Rose is completely on the down-low, and Juliette alternates looking like she wants to hump my leg or slash my throat. So, while I pretended not to ogle the hell out of two hot girls greased up on Dad’s boat, I couldn’t help but notice Finn had toned up. He’d looked fit then, but in the last six weeks he’s shown major improvement. He must be living at the gym.
“Holloway,” Coach Chandler stands in the doorway of his office, shouting over the voices of the other players changing for practice. “I need to see you.”
“Yes, sir.” He yanks the purple jersey over his head, then slams his locker door. He’s in the office by the time I notice that he’d shut the door so hard that it bounced back open. His black, battered phone sits next to his cleats. The screen lights up with a message.
Counselors, social workers, the principal, and my parents all want to know the same thing.
Why can’t you stay out of trouble?
The answer is simple.
Zero impulse control.
With a quick glance over my shoulder to make sure the other guys aren’t paying attention, I grab the phone and swipe over the screen, by-passing the remind notice on the phone and heading for Finn’s texts. At the top are the ones he’s sent to Rose.
Come to the bonfire.
I just
want to talk to you.
I know this is hard but skipping school? That’s not like you.
I told you the other night. I’m sorry.
Each one is unanswered.
Each one more desperate than the last. God, he’s pussy whipped.
Chandler’s office door opens, and I slip the phone back in the locker, closing it with a click.
I pull my practice jersey over my head and glance at Holloway. “What was that all about?”
“Just captain stuff.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Captain. Congratulations.”
He frowns and grabs his cleats. “You and I both know it should have been you.”