Free The Color of Jade (Jade Series Book 1) by Mae Redding Page A

had the slightest idea what went through my mind and I saw a smirk appear on Trey’s face.
    “What! I am not!”
    “What boy?” Trey asked, with a full grin on his face, suddenly caught up.
    “Emery! I am not thinking of a boy!” I tried not to smile. My face burned with embarrassment, thanks to Emery and she knew it.
    She folded her arms across her chest and tilted her hip with just enough attitude, as the tone of her voice accentuated with each syllable. “You always get that look on your face when you zone out, I think it’s about a boy…”
    With that, my feet launched underneath me and I chased her through the back yard. Emery squealed as she tried to get away. She turned the corner of the shed and hid behind Kane as I ran after her with Trey not far behind me. I stopped short when I saw Kane and Trey nearly knocked me over, running into the back of me.
    “What’s going on?”
    She screamed wildly and clung onto Kane as if her life depended on it, which it did.  I stood there for a second, I couldn’t possibly tell him. I really didn’t want to get into this right now with my brothers.
    “They were racing to see who was fastest, it looks like Em won,” Trey laughed, nudging me in the back. He saved me from having to answer Kane and he knew it. What was worse? To lose to Emery in a race or tell Kane why I chased her? It shouldn’t have been a tough decision.
    Kane glared at me. “Nothing! Nothing is going on!” I yelled. I stomped up the back stairs to the house. “And you better be quiet!” I pointed to Emery. “I know where you sleep at night!”
    Her big round eyes just about popped out of her head and she hugged Kane even tighter.
    I ran up the stairs into my room and slammed the door. What just happened? I don’t know what the big deal was, or how Emery even knew. I never said a word to her and now she thought she knew what went through my mind. The crazy thing about it, she was right. I popped down on my bed. My cheeks burned with embarrassment as I pressed my face into my pillow. I knew eventually I would have to come out of my room and I hoped Kane just left it alone.
    An hour later, I heard a knock at my bedroom door.
    “Go away!”
    “Come on Jade, it’s just me,” Trey said, from behind the door. I didn’t answer but he walked in anyway. “What ya doing?”
    “Nothing.”
    He sat in my window seat and looked out the window into the late afternoon sky, veiled with a few thin scattered clouds. Trey turned and looked at me and then to my dusty soccer ball on the floor. “Hey, do you want to go outside and kick the ball around?”
    I waited for the questions to start but they didn’t. Under his blank expression sat a veiled smirk. I knew he was trying hard not to give me a hard time.
    “Come on, it’s nice outside. You don’t really want to sit in your room do you? Just one friendly game of soccer… You and me… Like we used to.”
    It did sound fun. “You know there is no such thing as a friendly game of soccer,” I said. I sat up at the side of my bed. He stood, waiting for me to move.
    “Yeah, I know, but I had to get you outside somehow.”
    I rummaged through my closet and found my shin guards as Trey grabbed my soccer ball. He said a ‘ friendly game of soccer’ but I knew Trey's competitive side and I wanted to be prepared.
    The back lawn, the perfect length for a game. We kicked the ball around and before long Kane and Emery joined in. Us against them. We laughed and goofed off and before long, I forgot about my anger with Emery. They were no match for Trey and I. We had played as a team for so long and always played well together.  Kane played well of course and Emery tried hard but she ran off after a while to find the kittens and left Kane to fend for himself.
    “Jade! You’re not scoring again!” Kane grabbed me from behind in fun to deter my move. I kicked the ball to Trey at the last second and squealed as Kane spun me around and tackled me to the