RAMSAY.

CANNONBALL!!!!!!”

The next day, I went home from school excited to spend the afternoon with my mom, only to find her packing our cooler because we were not going to be spending the day alone. Instead, we were spending the day on the river with my cousins, my aunt, and my uncle since it was a hot day. So here we were, or here I was, lying out on the front of the boat when Clint jumped over me. His knees were tucked to his chest as he crashed into the water. It splashed up and over me. The guys had been cool after the fight. At school, Cohen asked if I’d been okay and that made me feel guilty. He knew the guys took me home right after the fight for a reason.

The only person who hadn’t seemed to care was Scout, and well, he knew the real reason. Then Gem found out I’d gone to one of Scout’s fights without her and that took precedent over everything else. Even my cousins started avoiding us if they saw I was with her because, by the end of the day, I was offering a blood promise to invite her the next time I went to one of Scout’s fights with my cousins. Especially with my cousins. That was a big part of it for her. And so here we were, and Clint wasn’t alone in cannonballing me. Alex followed Clint’s cannonball with one of his own. Trenton came next.

I glared at the fourth guy in line to jump, but Cohen only laughed, held his hands up in mock surrender, and jumped over me anyway. He just didn’t cannonball.

When he’d shown up, I’d been nervous that Scout was coming too. Turned out, I had nothing to worry about. He’d given me a chin raise and a “What’s up?” before he followed Alex to the back of the boat. My uncle and aunt’s pontoon was huge with a whole sitting area in the back. The middle had a table, a couple chairs, and a couch, and then the front had another seating area. There was a gate in front of me that blocked a small standing area. But the guys didn’t launch themselves from there. They stepped on my bench and sailed over me.

“Douches,” I yelled after Cohen jumped in.

Clint laughed as he swam back. “Don’t be dumb. Jump in. You like swimming.”

“Not today.”

He shook his head.

Trenton hit the water with his hand and a good wave jumped up to splash me once again.

“Trent!”

“Come on! You’ve never been lame before. Don’t start today.”

No way. No effin’ way. I knew my cousins, and they were going to gang up on me—pulling me under or jumping on me, and I’d barely have time to take a breath before someone else yanked me by the ankle back down. They were wound up, but I didn’t know why. Maybe from Scout’s fight last night?

Alex and Cohen swam over to the front end of the boat and climbed up. They grabbed towels from a pile and began drying off. Stepping over the gate, Alex sat across from me, tossing his towel back on the floor. Cohen plopped down at the end of my bench, both guys eyeing the adults.

My uncle had dropped the anchor twenty minutes ago so the guys could swim and was sitting at the table with Aunt Ailes and my mom. All had coffee thermoses, which I knew didn’t have coffee in any of them. They were laughing and didn’t look like they were paying us much attention.

Cohen said to Alex, leaning forward, “Think we could sneak some booze?”

Alex shot me a grin, also leaning forward. “Thinking there’s a good chance. Your mom’s drinking? I didn’t think she normally did.”

I shrugged. “She doesn’t. Maybe she wanted to blow off some steam.”

Cohen laughed, sitting back and kicking his leg out. “I don’t blame her. It’s been a week, huh?”

He watched me as the boat dipped and Clint and Trenton climbed back up. They walked through the gate holding towels.

I got all cautious, not sure what Cohen was referencing or if he was testing me, seeing if I’d say anything or not. He’d been fine at Scout’s fight. I chose to play dumb. “I guess. It’s my first week here. It’s a lot in general.”

Cohen kept watching me, solidifying my suspicion that he was testing me. Something flickered in his eyes, and he eased back.

Clint dropped to the floor on the other side of where I was sitting. Trenton took a seat next to Alex. He hit the side of Alex’s knee, watching the adults. “Go grab the cooler.”

“Like that’s not obvious.” Alex frowned.

Clint shrugged. “I put water in there. If he says something or if he’s watching, just grab the water first. It’s not like you don’t know how to sneak, dude.”

Alex shrugged and stood, going to grab the cooler.

“Grabbing water, Pops,” he explained over his shoulder

My uncle kept watching for another second as Alex lifted a water bottle. What he didn’t see was that Alex shifted, his front half blocking his dad’s view as Trenton grabbed the rum. As soon as that was hidden on the other side of Trent, Clint leaned forward and nabbed a soda. With that, my uncle returned to the conversation.

“Rams?” Alex held out a soda for me.

But Clint snagged it, opened it, and drank a third of it. He handed it to Trent, who filled it back up with rum before holding it out to me. “You’re welcome.” I glared at him but took it.

A part of me was digging this. I felt like a normal teenager, sneaking booze. And I was with my family, so it was safe. That was like a double bonus. Trent went back to filling the rest of the sodas.

We kept sneaking drinks over the next hour, and I finally joined them swimming. Another hour after that, my aunt and mom brought out the food. While we were eating, I noticed Cohen checking his phone. He nudged Alex. “Where are we? We far from Eagle Peak?” “Oh, yeah! What time is it?”

“He’s finishing up now. It’s eight.” My chest sank because I hadn’t realized that much time had gone by and I also knew who he was. Before I could think of something to say, Alex scrambled up. “Dad! Can we swing by Eagle Peak and pick up Scout? He’s done at the gym.”

“I’m surprised he trained today. Didn’t he have a fight last night?”

“He helps out his uncle sometimes,” Cohen responded.

My uncle checked our location and his clock and nodded. “We’re not too far. Tell him ten minutes.” “Has he eaten yet?” my aunt asked. Alex gave her a look. “Mom, when would a fighter ever turn down food even if he had eaten?”

“When he’s trying to make weight.”

He shrugged, going back to his seat. “He’s not doing that today, so we’re all good. Bring out the food!” Clint had gone back to pull up the anchor. Cohen returned to his seat beside me. “You okay with this?” he asked, his voice low. I gave him a surprised look. He ducked his head, a little flush on his cheeks—but that might’ve been from the sun or rum. “He told me. He tells me everything, just so you know. And you left the fight last night so fast.”

I said quickly, “I just needed to get back.” But I looked over at Alex because, if he’d told Cohen what he’d said to me, had he . . .

“He didn’t tell him. It’s different with me and Scout. I knew him before he came out here. I’m part of the reason he came here, but he doesn’t need to know I told you that, right?” I studied him. “Right.”

He gave a nod and relaxed, his leg touching mine. I didn’t think he registered that. “He told me what he said to you, about what he’d do.” He shook his head. “He’d never do that, you know. I want you to know that. Never. He felt bad about what he said.”

“He told you that?”

“Not in so many words, but he’s like my brother. That’s why he’s so protective of my sister too—thinks of her as his little sister. I’m sure you can relate, the way you are with your cousins and all.” I grunted. “Uh-huh.” Cohen chuckled. “Your cousins are right. You’re not like normal girls. You’re like a dude.” “What?”

“Nothing.” He leaned forward, patting my knee. “Glad we had this talk.” I wasn’t sure talk was a good descriptor for it, but okay.

We moved quickly over the water, the waves splashing. A cool wind had kicked up too, and as we sped forward, I felt Clint watching me. Looking over, I tried to give him a smile. His eyes were dark, suspicious, and he glanced between Cohen and me.

My chest got tight. I did not need to be the cause of any situation between my cousins and Cohen, so I shook my head and mouthed, It’s fine. His eyebrows only drew closer, and he got a stubborn look on his face.

I sighed internally because I recognized that look. Clint would be cornering me later to find out what Cohen had said to me, so I needed to figure out what I wanted to tell him. I knew a couple things. One, I wasn’t going to lie to my cousins for Cohen or Scout, and two, this was going to suck.

Cohen was ride or die for Scout. I was ride or die for my cousins and them for me.

Drama was coming.