A small smile tugs at the corner of his mouth. “You’re going to drag this out, aren’t you?”
“Deservedly so, yes.”
“Rivera guilt trip,” he murmurs, and I agree with a nod. All of us five Rivera children needing to be the best isn’t a coincidence. We’ve been guilted and conditioned into thinking there was no other option. If our parents could overcome so much, there was no excuse for us. It was the best or nothing at all.
We all speak guilt fluently.
My brother pulls me into a hug, and the tension I’ve been carrying slowly drains from my shoulders and back. “I’m sorry,” he says. “You’re right. I was being an ass.”
“You were being protective. I get it. But Camden and I don’t need protection from each other. We need your support.”
Erik nods against my hair. “I’ll talk to him. Fix this before the next game.”
“Good. Because I’m not losing my boyfriend or my brother over this stupidity.”
He rubs at his jaw. “Boyfriend, huh?”
I show him the ring and bracelet Camden gave me for Christmas, and he makes a curious sound.
“It’s serious, then? You really love him?”
“I really love him, and he really loves me too.”
Erik exhales noisily, doing his yoga breathing. “Okay. If you’re sure about it, then I’m behind you both. Now, can we go inside? I’m freezing.”
“All part of the punishment,” I say, eyeing the goose bumps on his arms, bare from his T-shirt, before heading inside, where I drop my coat on one of the kitchen chairs and help myself to their pantry, where I know his stash of peanut M&Ms is hidden. My eating them is also part of his punishment.
He takes Kai, pointedly not mentioning my eating his snack, and gives Molly and me some time alone. These last two weeks have been weird between us.
“I tried talking to him,” she tells me once he’s out of the room. “I’m so sorry about how everything went down.”
“I know. It’s okay.”
“It’s not.” She frowns. Molly is conflict-averse. She’s so afraid to hurt anyone’s feelings that she avoids confrontation at any and all costs. “It wasn’t right, and I brought it up, but he’s so stubborn, and I…”
She starts to tear up, and I reach for her hand. My sweet friend doesn’t have to explain. I already know. She wants to support her husband, especially during these high-stakes games, and I am positive she did try to talk to my brother, defend Camden and me. I hug her. “I love you.”
She sniffles. “I love you too, and when I grow up, I want to be just like you.”
“Full of anxiety and self-doubt?”
She coughs a laugh. “No. You lead with your heart.”
“Even when my heart tells me to call your husband a jackass?”
She smiles, leaning into my side. “Especially then.”
I dip my head magnanimously. “Saving the world, one jackass at a time.”
CHAPTER 34
CAMDEN
I’m walkingout of the weight room when Erik stops me in the hall. “Can we talk?”
I hold out my fist for some of the other players as they pass, all of us on the offensive team finished our morning workout. When the last one has moved on, I finally turn my attention to him. “Yeah. I was going to grab lunch.”
He nods and follows me as we head to the cafeteria. “Nadine came to see me last night.”
