On The Rebound (Steinbeck U #1) - L.A. Cotton Page 0,35

even if had taken him a little while to accept it.

‘He’s a late starter,’ they’d said, like it made it all better somehow. “We always knew he’d follow in his brother’s footsteps.”

But maybe even more surprising, was the fact he was good.

According to the whispers around school, and there were many, Zach was a natural on the court. I didn’t know because if my hatred for the game had been strong before his betrayal, it became a violent storm afterward.

All that time we’d spent complaining to one another about how basketball had ruined our lives. All the times we’d laid up in the treehouse, wishing we had different brothers, different fathers... it had seemed too good to be true when Zach had found me that summer on the beach, crying into my hands. I’d thought it was me, that the resentment and rejection I felt at the hands of my father was unnatural. That the jealousy that burned in my veins toward Callum was unhealthy.

Zach made me feel normal.

He made me feel loved and cherished... and worthy.

And then in a single second, he stripped it all away.

“Don’t you want the truth?” Josie’s question yanked me back into the room.

The truth.

God, I’d agonized over the truth. Spent miserable days watching as Zach became Mr. Popular. He partied with the popular kids... dated the popular girls. And he never once tried to explain.

I’d asked him. Of course, I’d asked him. In the beginning, I’d cried and begged him for an explanation. But the answer was always the same. We were a mistake and I needed to get over it.

A mistake.

“He called our love a mistake,” I blurted out the words.

Sympathy shone in Josie’s eyes. “What an asshole.”

I thought so too.

I’d thought it for years.

But now I was lost in the memories, reliving the moment my heart was permanently fractured, there was something else.

Something I hadn’t wanted to see at the time.

“He was angry.”

“Huh?”

“Zach… after he started playing for the team, he was like this different person.”

Our paths had rarely crossed, I’d made sure of that. But I’d heard the rumors. The fighting, on and off the court, the detentions.

“More evidence for the hypothesis that some outside force was involved.”

“I didn’t push.”

I don’t know why but the words made me shudder.

“Calli?”

“I didn’t push.” The words bled from my lips as realization dawned on me. “I just accepted it. I was crushed... I thought it was me, something I did.”

After my father and Callum had left, I’d had therapy. Hours of therapy trying to help me deal with the deep sense of worthlessness I felt over never being good enough for my father. When Zach betrayed me, all those feelings rushed back to the surface and I struggled with my self-esteem.

It had been the worst year of my life.

If it wasn’t for Madison and my mom, I don’t think I would have gotten through it.

“Oh, Calli.” I hadn’t even realized I was crying until Josie came over to me and wrapped her arm around my shoulder. “I’m sorry I pushed you to tell me.”

“You didn’t make me...” I gave her a weak smile, sniffling back another wave of tears. “And besides, I think I probably needed to get all that off my chest.”

“I’m glad you told me.”

“You’re a good friend, Josie.”

“And you are worthy, Calliope James. Don’t ever let a guy make you feel like you’re not.”

“Thank you.” The tears came thick and fast. “That means a lot.”

“Do you know what you need?”

“A new family?” I managed a weak smile.

Her expression sobered. “Some good old girly fun.”

“I don’t know. I’d kinda planned on staying in and studying.”

Josie rolled her eyes. “Exactly. You’re hiding.”

“I am n—” I stopped myself because she was right.

I was hiding.

Even now, even after everything I’d survived, my default setting was still to retreat when things got too hard.

“Come on, you.” She pulled me up. “We’re going out.”

“This is a bad idea,” I protested.

“All the good ones are.” She winked at me.

“Promise me there’ll be no brothers, ex-boyfriends, or basketball players?” I couldn’t believe I was saying the words, but I also knew I didn’t want to be that girl anymore. The girl afraid to step out of the shadows.

What was it Madison had said? It wasn’t about waiting for the storm to pass, it was about learning to dance in the rain.

I might not have been ready to dance in the rain, but I could at least try to walk through it.

Josie clapped with excitement, her eyes alight with mischief