Even the thought of it made me want to sidle closer to Caleb, like I could stand so close to his shadow that no one would see me at all.
I wasn’t ready for that.
“Xavi,” the next one said, and then there were more, and I had already forgotten the names of everyone I didn’t know, and this was impossible.
“Hey,” the last of the guys said, another footballer. For sure. He was tall and well-built by the look of him, even if he wasn’t as big as my brother. No one was as big as my brother. But he did seem to be trying. “I’m Aiden. You’re smaller than I expected.”
“Aiden!” Aubrey exclaimed from the other side of Caleb.
I chuckled. “I hear that a lot,” I said. “It’s okay.” He was kind of cute. Especially the way that he was blushing now that Aubrey had called him out.
But he was also very, very straight. Caleb had told me there was only one openly gay guy on his football team, and that was clearly Olly. All the other footballers were straight. So, no matter what, I was absolutely not going to develop a crush on the straight guy.
No chance in hell was I putting myself through that.
“I was just going to hand out the keys,” Keaton said, stepping forward. I could tell he was taking on the position of de facto leader and organizer of the group. I was pretty glad. Being the little brother meant I often got pushed into doing the jobs no one else wanted, and what I had discovered when I hung out with Caleb’s high school teams was that jocks hated admin.
There was a rush and surge of people going over and grabbing keys from Keaton, and I stepped back to let them finish. I hated the way football players got all physical, the way they didn’t mind bumping into each other or just starting practice tackles in the middle of nowhere. When everyone else had taken their key I finally stepped forward, taking the one that was left.
Keaton held out a thin envelope along with it. “I printed off some helpful stuff, too,” he said. I could tell he was kind of awkward about it, but it also brought him joy. He knew the others would probably rib him for being so organized, but he didn’t even mind.
“Thanks,” I said and smiled, hoping that would make him feel better about doing the necessary job.
Keaton rewarded me with a beam that made my heart leap in my chest, then turned to his boyfriend and started chattering about unloading their car. My heart sank again. I was so stupid. I’d been starved of love for so long thanks to Brody, I was looking for any little bit of attention that came my way.
And also hating every time anyone looked in my direction.
I took a deep breath and trudged over to my car. I just needed to unpack and get settled in. I could spend most of the time alone inside the chalet – Caleb had said that would be okay. I was only here to make up the numbers, really. They needed one more person to go in with them, and I needed to get away.
I didn’t think they were supposed to know that Caleb had paid for my stay, too, just to get me out of myself. I wasn’t sure it was going to work.
I grabbed my stuff from the trunk of my car, sighing when I realized how much I had to carry. I’d brought too much stuff. I didn’t need this many books. And I shouldn’t have brought so many comfort things from home – a notebook and nice pens and sweats and my favorite pillow. We were only here for four days. I wasn’t going to need this much stuff.
Somehow, I just hadn’t been able to bear the thought of going anywhere without it.
I shut the trunk, balancing everything precariously on one side, and caught a glimpse of my reflection in the glass of the rear window. I tried to flatten my red hair over one ear, wishing it wasn’t quite such a bright color. Why couldn’t I have been born with dark hair, like Caleb?
He got all the good genes. Tall, strong, dark, and handsome. No wonder people were surprised to learn we were brothers.
I hefted my stuff again and headed for the cabins, looking down at the key in my hand. Cabin number six.
Time to go find out who had been lumbered with me for the weekend.
Aiden
I threw my bag onto one of the beds and glanced around, wondering. The other side wasn’t occupied yet. Who did I have? Ace, who kind of scared me a little bit? Xavi, who had clearly decided to hate me already?
Or Caleb’s quiet little kid brother, who had such a sad expression on his face when no one was looking at him that I wanted to run over and noogie his head or something just to make him cheer up?
The door opened and I glanced up, ready to run for the hills if it was either of the first two.
And I relaxed when I saw it was Cade, struggling under the weight of like a thousand bags.
…That were starting to tumble toward the floor.
I rushed forward just in time to catch the first one he dropped, then threw out my arm to grab the second before it had a chance to slip off.
“Oh,” Cade said, his face going dark red – a good match for his hair. “Thanks.”
