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“Well, I’d like Remy to be happy, for once,” Lily said, like she’d read his mind. “I don’t want anyone messing him up again. So if you’re on the same page, we’re good.”

Jesus, she was blunt. His hands were sweating on the steering wheel, which was ridiculous.

“We’re good.” He said it firmly—maybe too firmly, because she raised her eyebrows and gave him a skeptical look—but it had the desired effect.

“Okay, then. Hey, I promised Remy I wouldn’t tell any embarrassing stories about him on the way home. But how’d you like some dirt on Petey?”

“Sure.” She probably didn’t have any stories about Moreau that were more embarrassing than the ones he could tell her, but if it gave him a chance to pull himself together, he’d take it. He just hoped that Lily didn’t tell Remy what a fool Jed had made of himself before he and Remy had a chance to talk.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

REMY

Remy had dozed off on the couch, staring at his phone and waiting for Jed and Lily to get home. He’d received one “All set” text from Jed to let him know he’d found Lily, and that was it. He knew it was pointless to imagine all the revealing things Lily could be filling the drive home with. Surely she knew that she should let him work through this thing with Jed on his own, or at least, without her direct intervention?

To distract himself, he’d gone down to Jed’s gym and done his usual arm day plus some core work, because he’d never been good at sitting around, and he needed to do something while he waited for the swelling in his foot to go down. His unsatisfying workout didn’t take long, though, and neither did the shower afterward.

So he still had time to wait when he settled back down on Jed’s couch in what was becoming a dent perfectly shaped to his body. And he must have been more exhausted than he realized, because the next thing he knew, he was waking up to a face full of hair as Lily leaned over him to give him a big hug and kiss on his forehead.

“Big bro! Couldn’t even stay awake until I got here?” She flopped down next to him. Remy blinked himself awake and managed a smile.

“You made it!”

“I sure did. And guess what? I made plans for us on the drive here.”

“Oh?” Remy sat up and looked around, feeling happier than he probably should have when his eyes landed on Jed whistling to himself as he put on the kettle in the kitchen.

“Yeah! So, I texted Petey to ask what I should do for fun while I was here⁠—”

“Wait, why would you do that?” Remy interrupted. “You don’t want to be taking advice from Petey. And you could have asked me!”

“Please.” Lily made a face. “You know you don’t know how to have fun, and he does.” Jed broke into a cough in the kitchen, which Remy knew was covering up a laugh. Fine. It was fine if Jed knew how uncool his sister believed him to be. He wasn’t fooling Jed about that anyway.

“So,” Lily said, poking him in the side to get his attention back. “He invited us out tomorrow night! It’s Valentine’s Day, and he says he knows a great club where we can go dancing.”

“You’re underage. No way are we doing that.”

“Yes way! Petey said it’d be fine! I’m not going to try to drink or do anything that could get you in trouble. But I think it would be a lot of fun to go out. Petey said I can even crash at his apartment that night if, and I quote, Remy hasn’t managed to achieve getting awesome yet. Does that mean what I think it means? And if so, does Petey even know you?”

“Not as well as he thinks, and please, never ask Petey what he means, okay? Also, this sounds like a terrible plan.”

“Why? This is what fun looks like for many people, Remy. I get to go out with cute guys, and you get to bond with your teammates. Aren’t you supposed to be doing that so that they love you and want to give you a new contract even more than I’m sure they already do? It’s a win-win.”

“First, thanks for the reminder about my contract.”

“Remy. You know you’ll get an offer.”

“I know nothing, Lily! And second, Petey is not cute.”

“Um, yeah, he kind of is. Are your eyes broken?”

Remy heard a snort from the kitchen. Apparently, Jed wasn’t going to pretend not to laugh at him anymore. Fine, that was fine. It was all fine.

“And anyway, I’m not talking about him,” Lily continued. “I’m talking about his roommate. Jacob McBride. He is fit. And that red hair. Mmm.”

Well, Remy couldn’t deny that Jake was built. But. There was no way in hell Lily was getting anywhere close to Jake or Petey.

“Lily, I’m serious. To be clear, you are not ever hooking up with any of my teammates, okay? Even when you’re old enough that it’s not 100 percent revolting to even contemplate.”