Page 22 of Fearlessly Us

I don’t know how Maddy knows this is exactly what I need, but I just nod, gratitude for her rushing through me. I nod, taking Maddy’s hand, and join my best friend’s family for dinner.

“Ugh, do I have to?” Cam’s fourteen-year-old daughter Riley says with a huff. “What’s the point of geometry anyway? I’m going to be an actress, and geometry has no correlation to acting.”

Cam stands, lips tipping up in a smile. “Maybe not, but it does have a correlation to graduating high school, so get studying, Ry.”

Riley gives her dad the most dramatic eyeroll I’ve ever seen. “Fine, but let it be known I’m doing this under protest.”

“Your protest is noted,” Cam says with amusement. “Now go.”

With a groan, Riley turns and stomps up the stairs, and ten seconds later, the sound of a bedroom door slamming reverberates through the house.

Cam blows out a breath and Maddy just snickers. “I love teenagers. The drama delights me.”

Cam chuckles, crouching down and tipping Maddy’s chin up, kissing her softly. “Good thing you’re here, Wildcat, because Ry and I probably would have killed each other a thousand times by now without you.”

Maddy grins. “Here is the only place I want to be. Now you better go check on the almost-teenager. I’m pretty sure I just heard a puck hit the net in the basement, and he definitely hasn’t been down there long enough to finish that English essay.”

“I fucking hate homework,” Cam mutters, standing and glancing down at me. “You good to hang?” he asks. “It should only take, like, half an hour to convince Ethan that English is more important than perfecting his wrist shot.”

I grin, stretching my legs out in front of me and leaning back on my hands, relaxed after an hour with Cam, Maddy, and their kids. “Better you than me. I’m cool to stay.”

With a nod, Cam heads down to the basement, and I’m just about to say something to Maddy when my phone buzzes. Thinking it might be Avery, I pull it out, but the second I look at the screen, I know I shouldn’t have. My good mood vanishes the instant I read the message.

Dad

Drew, I wish you would talk to me, son. I have a lot of things to say to you.

Snorting, I toss my phone away where it lands face down on a pile of pillows because things to say? Fucking forget it.

“Everything okay?” Maddy asks, and when I turn to her, she’s studying me with that all-seeing expression again.

I sigh, and I don’t know whether it’s the warmth of this house, or the time spent with a real family or the kiss I still can’t get out of my head, but words push up from my chest and are tumbling out of my mouth before I can stop them.

“I kissed Caitlin.”

I freeze, a little stunned, because those are not the words I thought I was going to say, and from the surprised look on Maddy’s face, she wasn’t expecting them either.

“Shit, sorry,” I mutter. “That’s a really weird fucking thing to tell you. First of all because you’re her best friend and I probably should have let her tell you. Unless she already told you and you were pretending you didn’t know. But none of that really matters, I guess, because it was no big deal.”

Liar.

I don’t know what I’m expecting, but it’s not the huge grin that splits Maddy’s face. “I knew I wasn’t imagining it!”

Grabbing a throw pillow from the floor of the blanket fort, I hug it to my chest, almost like I need a shield for whatever this conversation is about to become. “Imagining what?”

Maddy grins even wider. “There was a total vibe between you guys at the lake, and Cam told me the night of Caitlin and Jack’s party at Fireside last winter she was pissed you were there and you told Cam you fucked up with her. Cait barely ever tells us anything unless we pry it out of her and sometimes not even then. She keeps herself locked up tight. So do you, but I think your reasons are different.”

“Do you?” I ask, not sure if I should be amused by her or worried that the person in charge of deciding whether I’m mentally fit to play football every week sees me so clearly. Or, at least, more clearly than anyone else.

Maddy gives a decisive nod. “Now, tell me all about the kiss.”

“What?” I ask, whiplashed at the abrupt change of subject. “You don’t want to tell me why I keep myself locked up tight? Maybe diagnose me with PTSD from my traumatic childhood or attachment issues from growing up mostly without a mom and with a dad who hated me? Fuck,” I mutter, realizing what I just said, but Maddy looks delighted.

“You’ll tell me about all that when you’re ready. And maybe you’ll tell me all about how you feel about football too because I know you have some thoughts about that. But this isn’t my office and I’m not on the clock. Taco night is for gossip, so give me the gossip, Drew.”

I stare at Maddy for a second, digesting her words, realizing that while I’m definitely not ready to talk about any of it right now, I think one day, when I am ready, I would really like to talk to her. “Well, shit,” I say, and I can’t help but smile. “You’re really good at your job.”

She grins again, like she knows exactly what I’m thinking. “I know. Now, gossip with me, Drew. Tell me everything.”