Challenge (Harris Brothers, #1)

by Amy Daws

I begin slowly rocking her to the music, alternating between holding her, squeezing her, and running my fingers through her hair the entire time. Her shoulders shake every once in a while and I know she’s crying. All I want to do is take away the pain. I don’t want anything more in this world than to take away this pain she has in her. My desperation to do this for her trumps football. It trumps my family. It trumps my desire to kiss her. What I want for her to feel in this second supersedes any sexual desire I’ve ever had for her. I need her to feel this. “Let me take you home,” I whisper into her hair, loud enough she can hear me. Her eyes shoot up to mine and the pain in them guts me. “No,” she exclaims. “I couldn’t stand it.” My face falls. “Why, Indie?” She shakes her head side-to-side like the answer should be clear as day. “Because I’m not right for this. I’m not right for you.” I cup her face in my hands, my jawbone ticking with ferocious need to make her see. “Indie, please. Let me take you home.” She jerks her head out of my hands. “No, Cam. This was a mistake. I don’t want you.” Her words feel final as her watery eyes dry up, piercing through me once again. “Just go find one of your hundreds of girls at your beck and call. Or that girl you punched Tanner over. If she’s worth fighting your brother for, she’s who you should be with.” “She was you,” I growl, stepping back into her space. Her face crumples in pain, and she walks backwards away from me. “If she was m...