Page 125 of Play For Me

“We’re FaceTiming this?” I yelp.

Silas smirks from the screen. “You think I was going to let the two of them play big brother and not participate?” Then his face softens. “How you doing, Ceece?”

A sob rises up in my throat and I wipe desperately at my eyes. “You know, there’s a reason I never gave any guy more than a couple nights’ worth of my time. This sucks.”

Will chuckles sadly. “First heartbreak is the worst,” he agrees. “You want to tell us what happened?”

I don’t know how much to tell them. The last thing I want to do is disrespect Sol’s privacy.

“His dad is an asshole. They had some kind of argument yesterday and Solomon just…he shut down on me.” I shake my head. “No, he didn’t just shut down. I could deal with that.” I think about the night in the hotel and my chest hurts so bad it’s hard to breathe. “Hebroke upwith me. Told me we were a mistake and he didn’t want me around when he felt bad.”

“Want me to kick his ass?” Will asks, completely serious.

I laugh through my tears. “No, you idiot. If anyone is going to kick his ass, it will be me.”

“God knows that’s true,” Wyatt says, tugging on the end of my braid.

Then I’m crying again, even harder. “But I don’t want to kick his ass! I know he only said those things because he was sad. And I hate that he’s sad. I hate it so much!”

“Oh, man,” Silas says, sounding pained, while Wyatt and Will both put their arms around me.

“And I hate crying,” I continue, sobbing. “I hate feeling like this. It’s theworst.”

“It is,” Will agrees, reaching for a tissue to hand me.

It helps, a little, having the three of them here with me, even though I’m crying like a baby and will probably be embarrassed later. It makes me wonder if maybe I should have been more open to this kind of thing earlier—not the unending, snot-nosed sobbing, but the whole leaning-on-people-who-care-about-me thing.

And maybe the crying, too. A little bit.

“How much is dad freaking out?” Silas asks, once I’ve calmed down a little.

I manage a watery laugh. “He’s a mess. Has no idea what to do with me. He asked me if I wanted him to play guitar for me.” The boys crack up. “Like, how is Cash Ransome’s electric guitar supposed to help me?”

“Maybe he would have busted out the acoustic,” Will says, chuckling. “Considering the circumstances.”

I lean into Wyatt’s shoulder as I look over at Will.

“I’m still mad at you,” I tell him, without heat. “You were very rude to Sol at the concert.”

“I know, and I’m sorry. I was just worried about you.” He squeezes my arm. “You’ve never really given us a chance to do the whole protective big brother thing, you know. You alwayshave everything under control. I think part of me just wanted to defend you a little.”

I glare at him. “But why would you think I needed defending fromhim?”

“It was a little weird, Ceece,” Wyatt says gently. “I mean, the two of you went over and hid in a corner with Ash right after you got there.”

“Yeah, because the family—including the two of you—” I give my oldest brother a glare, too, “were acting crazy.”

“And usually,” he argues. “You’d be right there in the middle acting crazy with us. Seeing you hide out was…concerning.”

“He’s the first guy you’ve ever introduced to your family,” Will says before I can argue. “It was obviously serious between the two of you. But looking at you, it just didn’t make sense to me. You seemed so different from each other.” My brother smiles. “I look at you and you’re full of life, Ceece. Always the bright spot in everyone’s day, always the center of attention, whether you want to be or not. Then here comes this broody, silent guy who looked like he didn’t want to be there. I couldn’t figure out what you were doing with him.”

I open my mouth to defend Sol but Will raises a hand. “Let me finish, okay? When I saw him after you got hurt at your game, I realized what an idiot I had been. There you were, trying to convince everyone you were fine, and then he walked in and you completely fell apart.”

“Thanks for the reminder,” I mutter.

“That’s not a bad thing, Ceece.” He rubs my arm. “It showed how comfortable you are with him. Being able to be vulnerable with someone is a big deal. It must mean that you trust him very much.”

And now I’m crying again. Because Iwasvulnerable and trusting with Sol, damn it. And it sucks that he wasn’t able to be the same with me.