Kai shrugged. “Sometimes people need time to process stuff. He doesn’t owe you a response right away, if at all. But you’re going to see each other tonight, so it’s either you never speak to him again or you just rip the bandaid off and say hi.”
Sammie’s hands tangled together in her lap. She began to absentmindedly pick at her thumbnail.
Kai was right. Sammie had seen his relationship with her brother first hand, and she knew that they’d had to work to find a communication style that suited both of them. In the beginning, it had been a struggle for Atticus, figuring out how to give Kai the time he needed to process things. The time to find his voice, his words.
Maybe Kieran was the same. Sammie couldn’t fault him for it, if that was the case. Didn’t make her situation any easier, though.
Sammie flopped back on the bed once again, letting out a pathetic groan.
“Fine,” she said. “I’ll talk to him tonight.”
CHAPTER FIVE
KIERAN WASN’T SURE which was making him more nervous—the game his team needed to win, or the fact that someone in the audience knew about his other job.
“C’mon, captain!” Bowen slapped him on the back, pushing past where Kieran had been peeking out of their locker room door to make sure the coast was clear.
Not that Sammie would be hiding in the dim hallway outside of the men’s locker room. Still. Just in case.
“Move, bro!” Another voice, one Kieran had been waiting for. He hadn’t wanted to confront Atticus in front of the rest of their team, but now it was just the two of them left. Kieran knew he didn’t have long, they both needed to be on the court in the next two minutes. He turned to face his setter.
“Nope,” Atticus said, trying in vain to push his way out of the locker room. Kieran made his best attempt at turning into a wall. Atticus rolled his eyes, sighing.
“She’ll kill me if I sayanythingto you.”
Kieran swallowed, his mouth dry, his words almost sticking in his throat. “So she told you?”
Atticus winced. “In her defense, we don’t really do secrets.”
A small laugh bubbled out of Kieran. “Oh, I’m aware. Is she okay?”
Atticus cocked his head to the side, a tiny smile beginning to spread across his lips. “My sister drops a bomb on you, and you’re asking ifshe’sokay?”
“Well.” Kieran shrugged. “Yeah.”
“Huh,” Atticus mused. “She’s great. You should definitely find her after the game.”
The thought made Kieran’s stomach twist into something unfamiliar, even though he knew Atticus was right. He’d ignored Sammie’s messages, and was a little afraid she might punch him for it. His intention, from the moment she’d asked him, had always been to take her up on her offer to meet after the game. However, every time he’d tried to type out a response, nerves had won out.
As much as he liked the modern ability to hide behind a screen, bigger conversations were always easier for him in person. He could read others better that way, watch their expressions and mannerisms, look for tells that might reveal feelings and intentions he could never seem to parse out through text.
“You’re right,” he mumbled, nodding more for himself than for Atticus’ sake. “I’ll talk to her after the game.”
“Good!” Atticus slapped him on the shoulder, shoving him through the door and down the hallway, toward an evening that might change things in more ways than one.
“Fuck, fuck,fuck.”
Sammie’s nails dug into her palms, her eyes glued on the court. The current volley was going long, both teams desperate for the point. Eric, the Cats’ libero, had hit the ground hard, but had managed tojustget a fist under the ball, sending it careening wildly toward the opposite sideline.
“Come on!” Ivy was nearly screeching from the bench, gripping her clipboard hard enough that Sammie feared it mightshatter. Sammie’s attention had been flitting toward her friend all evening, looking for any sign that Kai’s hunch was correct. So far, Sammie hadn’t come up with much evidence.
Ivy’s gazedidstray toward her, though, more often than Sammie would have realized if she hadn’t been watching for it. A smile thrown her way after the Cats scored. A commiserating look of fear when the opponent landed two service aces in a row. Lingering looks that Sammie couldn’t help but notice again and again.
Atticus sprinted toward the sideline, turning, twisting his body in the air as he lunged, managing to get his hand on the ball by some miracle. Sammie held her breath. It wasn’t going to work. There was no way he could control where the ball went after such a hasty play.
Sound fell away as Sammie watched her brother. She saw it, the moment that everything clicked into place. Atticus was focused, and before the ball even made contact with his hands, Sammie could tell that he knewexactlywhere to send it.
His trust wasn’t misplaced. Kieran was there, center net, legs shoving off the ground, arm swinging in a calculated movement. The opposing blockers caught on, but they were a heartbeat too late. Even up against a triple block, Atticus and Kieran were unstoppable.
