Free Rush by Nyrae Dawn Page B

do.

Chapter Eight
Brandon
    Sitting in a chair on the porch of our cabin, I put my feet up on the wood railing. Nate and Charlie are inside and I really don’t want to interrupt them. I feel like shit for busting in on their summer together. I’m sure they didn’t want to share their cabin with Nate’s screwed-up big brother but everything else had already been booked.
    The air is still warm, sticking to me, even though it’s late. Everyone left hours ago, and Alec before the rest. I couldn’t read the look on his face when everything went down with this dad. I used to know that shit. Would know what’s going on but it’s obvious he doesn’t want him to find out he’s not working. I’m pretty sure it’s because he doesn’t want to spend the summer with him.
    The flash of a light toward the driveway entrance catches my eye. Without seeing him clearly, I know it belongs to Alec.
    It would be embarrassing as hell if anyone knew it but my heart rate kicks up the closer he gets to me. Alec doesn’t stop when he gets to the porch, though. He just mumbles, “Come on,” and nods his head toward the woods behind the cabin where we snuck off to so many times when we were younger.
    Without hesitation, I stand and grab the flashlight on the railing of the porch. Taking the three porch stairs quickly I follow behind Alec as he weaves through the trees and to the spot we used to meet each other. When we get to the small clearing, he stops with his back to me. There’s this ache in my gut, fears twisting up my insides, scared of what he might say.
    Alec turns to face me. “Do you remember the third summer . . .?”
    “When we got caught out here by Charlie?”
    He smiles and some of the ache eases out of me.
    “No, the beginning. How you weren’t going to come but then I called you and you . . . showed up.”
    I take a step toward him. “Don’t make a hero out of me because of that. I wanted to see you. I missed you.”
    “But you wouldn’t have come. If I didn’t call, you wouldn’t have come.”
    Shaking my head, I say, “That’s not a good thing. We both know I wanted to be here. The fact that I wouldn’t have come makes me a pussy.”
    “The fact that I didn’t have the balls to call you up and tell you I wanted you here, makes me the same thing.”
    When I don’t reply, he continues. “I also remember you texted me that night. Nate was out with Charlie and we could have gotten caught sneaking out together but you still asked me to meet you. We took the football out and played in the dark. We kept tripping over shit and laughing. Remember when you fell and ran into that tree? That was funny as hell.”
    I shake my head. “That wasn’t an accident.”
    “I know.”
    Quiet, he looks away from me. I shrug, even though he can’t see me. “I could tell you were upset. Wanted to make you laugh.”
    We’re silent for what seems like a year before he looks at me. “You don’t laugh anymore.”
    No, no I don’t. Not honestly, at least. “I feel like I’m being eaten alive, from the inside out and there’s nothing I can do about it. Hell, it’s my own fault. I pretend it’s this stupid fucking heart injury that broke me but it wasn’t. It was
me
.” I’ve always been broken.
    This time it’s Alec who takes a step closer to me. Then another one and my breath catches.
    “I want you to smile again too. It’s in there, Brand. I saw it tonight. When you had the ball and then when we were talking to my dad.”
    I don’t know if it’s the right thing to do but it’s the only thing I
can
do. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t stop myself. I step toward Alec and slide my free hand around the back of his neck. It only takes a gentle tug to bring him even closer, his hand moving to the same place on me that mine rests on him.
    Alec closes his eyes and drops his forehead to mine. Neither of us talks, and I wonder if he’s just feeling the way I am. It’s that same rush that sweeps through me every