Bet in the Dark (39 page)

             
“What?” I gasped.

             
“He laid it all out there for us, Els,” Grayson nodded in agreement. “He all but demanded we accept him.”

             
“Oh my gosh,” I groaned. This night was getting weirder and weirder. “We’re not dating, he’s
not
my boyfriend.”

             
“But he will be?” Lennox asked firmly.

             
“Maybe,” I allowed. If I got over the debt. If that was what he really wanted. If that was what I really wanted…. “Not like today or tomorrow or anything. But possibly in the future.”

             
My brothers stared me down, both of them, Lennox with his steely, dark blue eyes and Grayson with his brown. They were so intimidating, each in their own way. And I realized at that moment that I only wanted to please them, to do anything but disappoint them. Still, I wouldn’t let them take Fin away from me. It took me until now, or maybe it happened this very sEcond, but he was too important to me to let my family stand in the way.

             
And suddenly I didn’t need to run from my family anymore. I just needed to take a stand when something was finally important enough to stand up for.

             
“I like him, Gray, Lennox. I really like him. Don’t get in the way of this,” I beseeched in a polite but deadly voice.

             
Lennox cracked a smile first and said, “We weren’t going to.”

             
“Come on, Els, we’re not that bad,” Gray sounded offended.

             
Ugh. Brothers.

             
“We kind of like him,” Lennox continued. “We won’t ever let him know that though.”
              Gray added, “We’ll definitely have to make his life a living hell, but you have our approval.”

             
“Thanks guys,” I smiled at them adoringly as if their opinion actually mattered. And maybe it did, but just a little bit.

             
“We need two things from you though,” Lennox interrupted my moment of familial bliss.

             
“Hmm?” I was suspicious once more.

             
“Don’t tell Beckett,” Lennox said.

             
Grayson echoed, “Yeah, don’t tell Beckett. He won’t be as accepting as we are.”

             
“Plus, it sounds like he has his own problems right now,” Lennox grimaced.

             
“Done.” They didn’t really need to convince me of that. “What’s the sEcond thing?”

             
“Let dad help you with tuition,” Grayson’s voice dropped down to his serious octave. “It’s killing them that you don’t want their help.”

             
“You can still live on your own, work on your own, do whatever you need to do, but just let them help, Els. Alright?” Lennox asked in a kinder tone.

             
I sighed but thought it over. I got what they were saying. And I didn’t want to cause my parents pain but I did want to be independent. Did accepting their help make me less independent? I didn’t know. But I did know that they didn’t run my life and they hadn’t for a long time. Accepting help wouldn’t be like handing over the reins to my future, it would be exactly what it sounded like, accepting help.

             
But I couldn’t let my brothers see what a pushover I was. Or they would think they got their way with everything. I finally agreed, “I’ll think about it.” They gave me nods of approval and then I remembered a question that had been bothering me for a while. “Hey, Gray? Fin said he owed you a debt, that you did something for him that he needed to repay you for. What is it?”

             
Grayson thought that over for a while and then gave me a sharp look. “You should probably hear this from him, but I don’t think it’s that big of a deal.” He shrugged for effect and then took a breath, “His freshman year he was struggling, really struggling. His grades were behind, his track career was headed down the drain and he seemed stressed all the time. I knew him from the gym, our workouts coincided and so we saw each other often. He needed money; that was his biggest issue. I guess he has some family problems or something. We would talk every time we saw each other, nothing deep or personal but we knew what was going on in each other’s lives. One day he was different, he said he didn’t need to worry about his family anymore, he had a way to make money. All he needed were a few backers. I backed him.” Another shrug.

             
“You backed him?” I asked in disbelief.

             
“I
invested
. I helped him out initially. He looks at it like this big favor, but I’m making money now so it’s all but forgotten to me.”
              “You’re making more money now,” Lennox cut in with a sly smile.

             
They didn’t seem to want to elaborate that, and I was too dumbfounded to ask any more questions. “You’re good men.” I finally said and I meant it.

             
They both gave me adoring smiles and then their food was delivered along with their beers. I left them to their food so I could get some work done, but I never avoided their table. And when I had some down time I stopped by to talk and laugh with them. They talked to me like a grownup, not like the little girl I still felt like around them sometimes and it was nice.

             
For once in my life I was actually glad they stopped by to see me.

Chapter
Eighteen

              Still dumbfounded by Grayson’s revelation and Ty’s pep talk I knew I needed to stop by Fin’s house before I left for my parents. It was finally spring break and I was spending four whole days at home. My mom and dad were begging me to stay the entire week, but I felt like four days was being generous enough.

             
I hauled my suitcase down to my car and then ran back up to get my phone charger and say goodbye to Britte who was leaving later in the week to spend time at her mom’s in northern Minnesota.               “Britte, I’m leaving!” I called once I found my phone charger.

             
She walked out of her room, hair askew in a high side ponytail that had seen better days. Her eyeliner was smudged under her eyes and her two day old pajamas were stretched out and baggy.

             
“Yikes!” I couldn’t even hide my terror. “What happened to you?”

             
“Moving kicked my ass,” she groaned on her way to the kitchen.

             
Moving Britte in had been one of my better life decisions. Not only did she pay her share of the rent on time and in full, she also bought groceries. That she was willing to share! Right now she was opening a can of red bull and pouring herself an industrial size bowl of Captain Crunch.

             
“So you can’t shower?” I asked, amused by this dulled but none the less gorgeous side of Britte.

             
She grunted something unintelligible and then said, “Your brother is emotionally exhausting me.” She finally confessed around a huge bite of cereal. “After he moved the couch yesterday he actually stayed around to talk to my dad.”

             
“What?” I gasped.

             
“Apparently because of the whole baseball thing, they have a lot in common,” she winced. “Beckett told my dad he was going to look him up on Facebook.”

             
“Oh no,” I shook my head in disbelief. “Your dad has Facebook?’

             
“It gets worse.” She set her cereal bowl down and dropped her head into her hands.

             
“How can it possibly get worse than that?” I whispered.

             
“After my dad left, Beckett wanted to stay and talk to
me
!” She was shaking her head now, her face still covered by her hands.

             
“What did you talk about?” I asked carefully. I wasn’t really sure if I wanted to know. In my entire life I had never known Beckett to want to
talk
to a girl. Especially a girl he didn’t have to talk to in order to hook up with her in the first place.

             
“Nothing!” she dropped her hands in defeat. “I told him we had nothing to talk about. And that he was reading way too much into a drunk make out!” She looked at me wide-eyed and then dove back into her cereal.

             
“And what did he say?”

             
“He said I would come around and then got up to leave. This made me panic just maybe a little bit because I shot back with, ‘Why would I come around when I don’t even remember making out with you in the first place?’” She winced again at the memory and I echoed her.

             
“Oh, no. Did you piss him off?”

             
“Uh, yeah,” she admitted dryly. “He didn’t even say anything; he just looked at me like I disappointed him and left.”

             
“Well, at least you didn’t have to talk to him. You did save yourself from that inevitable train wreck.” I sympathized.

             
“That’s true,” she nodded thoughtfully. “I feel bad though.”

             
“Because you do remember kissing him?” I asked carefully.

             
“Um, yes. It has all come back to me, in hung-over bits and pieces of reckless drunkenness. I know you don’t want to hear this Els, but you’re brother has a right to be so cocky. Good lord,” she sighed and then took another huge bite of cereal.

             
“So what’s the problem?”

             
“It’s Beckett! This box of cereal is more emotional availability than him. Plus, I get the feeling he just wants to soothe his wounded pride. It pissed him off that I didn’t remember him right away and then that I didn’t fall right into his arms as soon as he put minimal effort into getting my attention. I’m majoring in Bio-Chem, I don’t have time to play games and I really don’t have time for Beckett. He’s used to being the center of everything, I hardly believe he’ll understand when I say no to watching him work out in the gym with all his other fan club girls because I have to study six hours just to pass my
homework
instead. Never mind what it’s like around midterms and finals. We are too different. That’s all there is to it. Plus, he’s
your brother
. How weird would that be?”

             
“Super weird,” I agreed. All of her points hit their target and I had to wonder what Beckett was thinking. Britte was probably right, his pride was wounded and he was desperate to rebuild his ego. “Do you think he’ll leave you alone now?”

             
“Oh, yes,” she nodded emphatically.

             
“What about your dad? Do you think he’s really planning on friending him?”

             
Her face paled at that thought and she groaned before answering, “I don’t know, they really seemed to hit it off.”

             
I laughed at that, and then tried to stop laughing but that only made me laugh harder. “My brother is so weird.”

             
Britte laughed too this time, “Agreed. So what about you and Mr. Hunter? A sleepover? That’s not very strictly business.”

             
“Oh gosh,” I sighed. “It was, not, um, exactly planned. On my part at least. Fin might have been planning it from the beginning. He’s sneaky like that.”

             
“Sounds like he’s smitten,” She smiled dreamily at me.

             
I blushed. “I don’t know what is going on. I’m so confused. I talked to Ty about it last night and he basically told me I was crazy to be making such a big deal out of this whole seven thousand dollar thing. And then Lennox and Gray stopped by to see me so they could also tell me I have their approval.”

             
“What?” Britte shrieked out. “Start from the beginning. How does Ty know Fin? And how do Lennox and Grayson know anything about this?”

             
I sighed and then started from the beginning like she asked. I confessed everything about Fin’s family and how Ty and him knew each other. And then I went into the crazy story about how Grayson and Fin knew each other and how Fin stopped by and actually stood up to not only Grayson but Lennox too.

             
When I finished she just looked at me, mouth hanging open. This moment was very similar to when I told her the story about Tara and stealing all of my furniture and sending me into monumental debt.

             
“Say something, B,” I pleaded, hoping she would have sage advice for me.

             
“I don’t know what to say,” she finally admitted. “I have all kinds of new respect for Fin and even Ty and Gray. But I get your side of the story too. You feel like you would be literally selling out. And now it’s more about helping Declan than even paying Fin back. Maybe you should talk to Fin about it?”