Meet Me in the Penalty Box (Orchid City, #1)(26)

We agreed that this was as far as this would ever go. Especially when so much was at stake for Harper. My feelings would only complicate things more and I needed to bury them down, deep.

It was in moments like this I wish I had my mom.

When I walked back into my room, I saw three unread messages. Two were from Wes and one was from Harper. I opened hers first.

Harper



I’m home safe and taking a much-needed nap before I run my errands. Thanks again for last night ;)





I smiled to myself.

Nico



Anytime, love. Text me later.





I closed out of our messages and ignored Wes’s as I went through my contacts. I found my sister’s name and tapped on it to FaceTime her. When our mom died, there were moments that it felt like it was just the two of us. Our father was still present, but he wasn’t really there. A part of him died that day too. And Giana and I realized we really had to stick together.

“Hey, Nic,” she signed to me as she answered the call. Her bright blue eyes that matched mine shined back at me and she flashed her white teeth with her grin. We both favored our mother.

“What are you doing?” I signed back to her as I dropped down onto my bed.

G gave me a look of suspicion. “What are you doing? You never call me this early. What’s wrong?”

“I just wanted to talk to you. Feeling a little alone and shit.”

Giana frowned, but gave me a knowing look. “Missing Mom?”

I nodded. “And you, obviously.”

“Well, duh,” she signed as she let out the softest laugh. “I would miss me too.”

Giana lost her hearing when she was a child. She got really sick and ended up spending a chunk of time in the hospital with heart issues. The medications they had her on caused permanent hearing loss and even though she could still physically talk, she mainly only signed now.

“What’s up, though, Nico?” Her expression was filled with concern. “Did you get into some kind of trouble?”

I shook my head. “No, I’m not in trouble. I don’t know. My head is all over the place and I’m not thinking straight.”

Giana’s eyebrows pulled together. “Stop being cryptic and spit it out.”

“I met this girl,” I signed to her. I had talked to my sister about girls before but that was back in high school. It wasn’t a normal thing for me to bring someone up like this to her.

Her face lit up. “Tell me more.”

“She works for the team as a photographer. She’s off-limits, but I can’t get her out of my fucking head, G.”

My sister’s eyes widened. “Don’t tell me… you’ve already gotten involved with her, haven’t you?”

“It’s complicated,” I signed back to her as a sigh escaped me. “It’s honestly nothing. We’re both just having fun.”

“At what expense?” She gave me with a look of disapproval. “You’ve worked too hard to get this far to just simply throw it away in such a careless manner.”

I narrowed my eyes at my sister. “My career is safe. Sure, it wouldn’t look good, but it would be fine.”

Giana rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Of course. The star athlete always comes out of a scandal unscathed.”

“Whoa,” I signed back at her as her words felt like a knife twisting in my gut. “You’re supposed to be on my side, remember?”

“I am on your side, but I don’t want you to get into any trouble and I don’t want you to ruin some girl’s life because you can’t seem to keep your dick in your pants.”

“That’s the thing,” I told her as my eyes bounced back and forth between hers. “I don’t want to ruin her life, but I can’t leave her alone, G. She’s different.”

Giana pursed her lips. “Is there any way that you can continue to see her and not ruin her life?”

I shrugged. “I’m trying to figure that out.” I paused for a moment and frowned. “I didn’t call you to be lectured. I called you because I was missing Mom and you’re the closest thing I have to her. All she ever wanted was the two of us to be happy in life.”

My sister’s face fell and sadness washed through her expression. “I want you to be happy too, Nic. I just want you to be rational and careful.”

“I always am.”

Giana didn’t look convinced but she didn’t push any further. “This girl—she must be special if she has your attention. I can’t remember the last time you talked to me about being interested in someone.”

“That’s what freaks me out the most,” I explained to her as my heart picked up the pace in my chest. “I should be able to just let it go, but I can’t. I don’t want to stop seeing her. I want to be around her any chance I get.”

G’s chest rose and fell as she let out a sigh. “If you like her that much, try not to fuck it up. Mom wouldn’t want you fucking up someone else's life because of your stupidity.”

My sister had a point, yet I couldn’t seem to see past Harper and wanting her. It was as if I had blinders on. I knew that there were risks to seeing her, yet I didn’t care. Harper had her reservations and I was respectful of that. She was beginning to seem like she wasn’t too concerned with the consequences either.