Game (Gentry Boys, #3)(64)

Saylor seemed to accept my glib answer but Cord knew better. He looked at us closely in turn, then shrugged and bit into a hamburger.

I headed out to the back patio because I wasn’t in the mood to talk. I looked up at the sky. Tonight had been a blood moon, a real one triggered by a lunar eclipse. Earlier, before we headed to Club Devil, I’d brought Stephanie to the lake to show it to her.

“Look at the moon, Steph,” I’d scolded her when she didn’t seem to be paying attention.

She shook her head and kissed me. “I’d rather look at you.”

“You can do that any day.”

“I will.” She snuggled against me. “I’ll be doing it every day.”

I couldn’t lose her. The idea was intolerable.

After a while Saylor poked her head outside to say goodnight. I thought Cord would go with her but he opened the screen door and joined me in the darkness. Inside the apartment Creed tuned his guitar and likely thought dark, silent Creed thoughts.

“How’s house hunting?” I asked Cord.

“There’s one we’re pretty sure about. Two miles from here. Nice neighborhood, rent’s decent. Even has a small backyard.”

“That’s uh, shit, that’s great,” I said, hoping I sounded enthusiastic.

Cord said nothing. We listened to Creedence idly plucking away at his guitar in the living room.

“Do you guys ever fight?” I asked. “You and Saylor?”

He leaned over the edge of the patio wall and stared down at the dark concrete. “Sure we do,” he said. “Just today we fought over who was responsible for squeezing the last drop of toothpaste from the tube.”

“Quit being obtuse, man. I’m serious.”

“What are you fighting about with Stephanie?”

“Something heavier than toothpaste consumption.”

Cord grabbed my shoulder and squeezed. “You can let it out, you know,” he said gently.

So I did. I told Cord all of it because I knew he would listen and refrain from judging me, or judging her. Well, at least he would be sensitive enough not to tell me about it if he was.

When I was finished I swallowed thickly and gripped the stucco edges of the patio wall. “She looked at me like she didn’t know me. Like she didn’t want to. Christ, I’m kicking myself. Any seeming betrayal would be a pretty big f*cking deal to her. I knew that.”

Cord shifted and sighed. “How much of a problem is it, Chase? The gambling?”

“It’s a problem. It’s something I kept from the girl I love because I knew it would remind her of a life she wanted to leave behind. It’s a problem because I liked the money a little too much. I liked having the means to take Stephanie places where super sizing isn’t an option.”

He chuckled. “Don’t take this as an insult to your girl, but Steph doesn’t look like she cares much about the finer things in life.”

I didn’t have it in me to joke anymore tonight. I had to admit something that was even more worrisome than keeping the truth from Stephanie. “It was a rush, Cord. Winning. It’s awful seductive.”

“Maybe it’s time to go back to meetings,” he said carefully.

I nodded. “Maybe it is.” My chest was tight. “Cordero, I can’t even bear to think about losing that girl.”

“You haven’t lost her. I’ve seen you two together. She ain’t walking away on a whim.”

He was confident because he was thinking in terms of Saylor, who thought he was perfect and would never waver in her choice. Saylor was, and always would be, completely sure about him. Stephanie, on the other hand, struggled through things she couldn’t even acknowledge to herself. I didn’t know if she was sure about anything.

Creed suddenly pushed open the screen door and joined us out on the patio.

“Lonely night,” he muttered, laying down on the weight bench in a full-blown sulk.

“Not for me,” Cord bragged and headed indoors to go sleep with Saylor.

“Insufferable,” I grumbled. “Boy knows he’s got it made.”

“Yeah,” Creed agreed and started lifting. “Spot me, would you?”

“Don’t be an idiot. I can’t even f*cking see out here.”

“Turn on the light.”

“Bulb burned out.”

“Get another bulb.”

“Fuck you.”

Creed grunted in the darkness, lifting up and down while I tried to figure out where I needed to grab if he lost his grip on the bar.

“You and Truly aren’t far behind that, are you?”

He hissed and set the bar down. “We’re not in any hurry to be changing diapers, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“It wasn’t.”

My brother sighed and sat upright. “Look, I need to say one more thing and then I’ll shut the f*ck up. Maybe Stephanie isn’t exactly the wicked witch. But Chasyn, can’t you see that trouble is going to follow that girl everywhere she goes?”

I breathed deeply. The November air was pleasantly cool and still. “You know what, Creedence? A few people might say the same thing about me.”





CHAPTER TWENTY THREE


Stephanie