* * *
The next morning,I’m up with the roosters—or more to the point, the rowers. I find Ace Waterman gliding over the lake as quick as a snake just as the sun crests the horizon, so I finally take him up on his offer and join him. Suffice it to say, there’s a reason Ace is a major part of the Yates Rowing Team and I’m not. The guy is Olympic level good. After an hour of trying to keep up with the lightning bolt he’s morphed into, I paddle to where I began and roll my ass onto the sand, lying there like a corpse that’s washed up on shore.
“Did you survive?” a deep voice rumbles just before he delivers a swift kick to my thigh. I roll onto my back, only to find my brother kindly blocking the sun from my eyes. He’s head-to-toe in an Italian suit, shoes, and most likely that expensive cologne emanating from him, too.
“Just barely.” I hike up on my elbows, and he takes a seat next to me, sand be damned. That’s typical Caleb. There are rules and general good ideas, and he tosses them both to the wind to make sure he gets what he needs out of life, and right now that’s a good sit-down with his brother. “Got a hot date in court?”
“And after, I’m meeting Kennedy down the hill for dinner.”
Ace pulls up and hops out of his scull with the ease of a ballerina. He tosses his ride into the nearest patch of bull grass and plants himself right next to me. “Good show, man.” He slaps me.
“I think we both know who put on the good show, and it wasn’t me.”
Caleb chuckles at the thought. “Are you kidding? You made half the lake laugh before breakfast. You’re undervaluing your worth in entertainment.”
“That, I’ll agree with.”
“Speaking of entertainment.” My brother nods to the two of us. “I’ve got tickets to Colony Hall to see the Bitter Hearts next Saturday. Kennedy would love to have Reese join us.” He taunted Ace with the offer. “You in?”
The Bitter Hearts are an old ’80s band that you can’t go a week without hearing on the radio. They were huge back in the day and well after that, too.
“We’re in.” Ace reaches over and offers Caleb a knuckle bump.
“And you?” Caleb digs that gaze of his into my own. He’s speaking, silently telling me something with those familiar eyes. Ever since we were kids, I’ve always had that strange sensation that my mirrored self had gotten loose and was running around. Then Solomon morphed into his own being, a thug mostly, but Caleb and I kept up the mirrored twin routine. “Brylee would love to have you.”
“I’m in.” I mock sock my brother on the arm. “But I’m not taking Brylee. I’ll take Zoey.”
Ace and my brother exchange a quick glance.
“It’s fine,” I’m quick to assure them as the breeze picks up and licks the water right off my chest. “We’re just friends. I plan on taking her out, showing her what it means to have someone treat you right. She’s nursing an open wound. She needs to see that it doesn’t always have to be that way.”
Caleb shakes his head ever so slightly. “What doesn’t have to be that way, Abel?”
My muscles tense when he says my name. It’s the same line of thought when your mother invokes your middle name, a change of affect, a strict tone that lets you know they are not pleased.
“Dealing with people.” There. I almost want to pat myself on the back for not invoking the wordrelationshipor God forbidlovein front of my brother. And now I’m not sure why. “Relationships, love.” I shrug off my own mini rebellion and bleed a dark grin at the poppy-colored sun.
“Back up.” Ace lets out a hard sigh. “You’re biting off more than you can chew, man. She’s a handful. I should know. I’ve had front row seats to the show for years. Gavin has done his best, and his best has landed Zoey from wild to worst. I wouldn’t go setting yourself up for failure.”
Something in my chest cinches just listening to him paint a bleak picture. I’m sure all of Zoey’s life people have relegated her to the wild, out of control, hopeless as hell rack, and now I’m more determined than ever to pull her right off it.
“What he said.” Caleb shakes his head as if he’s not allowing this to happen, and I almost want to laugh. A part of me wishes to God he didn’t allow Elizabeth and me to happen. Now that would have been helpful. But nobody in their right mind would protest that union because Elizabeth and I made sense to the world. What we didn’t make was a whole lot of good decisions in reality.
“I’m bringing Zoey.” It comes out quieter this time, with a lot less fight.
Ace gets up and dusts the sand off his legs. “I’ll do you a favor and won’t mention anything you just said to Gavin. I’d tell you to go easy on Zoey, but I’m hoping she’ll go easy on you. Let’s do it again in the morning, dude. School’s out. Reese and I are up for the summer.” He tosses us the peace sign before taking off.
I stare out at the dark lake as the sky blossoms a heavy hue of cobalt above it. The trees fan out in the distance a rich hunter green, and the air smells sweet of honeysuckle.
“God, I missed Loveless, and I didn’t even realize how much,” I take in a lungful of sweet morning air. “What’s better than letting loose with nature? Why did we ever think law was a good idea?”
“That’s because we have to do everything together.” Caleb chuckles at the thought.
I fall back on my elbows, my gaze still locked up on the smooth, glassy water. “You never did like me, did you?”
“Was that a requirement?”
I’ve always felt a slight resentment from my little brother and was never sure why.
