Todos los capítulos de 12 Days of Christmas with My Brother’s Rival: Capítulo 31 - Capítulo 40

NOELI was already at the door to my room before my phone pinged with a notification from one of my teammates in the group chat. ‘Another Stanford Family Scandal?’ Who Stanford? Perhaps more celebrity gists that I hated to involve myself with.I let myself in and clicked on the video just in time to see two girls verbal sparring. It was none of my business at first until Anahera’s face came into view. The camera panned to the girl she was arguing with…Eleanor.Stanford. Jax. “Isn’t this Jax’s little sister?” Just as I said that aloud, a loud slap rang out. Jax had just hit his sister. In public. In front of a crowd.Shaking my head, I let myself out again, hurrying into the elevator that’d take me down to the party. “Stupid fucking asshole,” I muttered, pacing restlessly in the elevator ride that was taking an eternity.If Coach caught wind of this, Jax could be possibly benched for the entire season or worse. Arrested. In no time, I was pushing forward through the tight crowd

ANAHERAThe last time I felt like this was ages ago. The last time I felt…carefree, happy, buzzing with energy. All of a sudden, I was twelve again and on the ice rink, defying my brother by sneaking out to play with the other kids on the frozen pond a few distance away. Except this time, it was with Noel and we were playing hockey. Hard.I sent the puck sliding into the goal again. “That’s…that is foul play. You had me distracted, Hera,” Noel panted, grabbing another puck. “I can’t believe you’re this good.” I shrugged with a smile so wide my face started to hurt.“Just take your L and move on, Noel. Admit that I’m a better player than you are.” Actually, it was the second time I scored. Noel was several points ahead of me but was doing a terrific job at being humble about it.The motive alone had my heart racing for a reason which had nothing to do with the game. A while later, I collapsed on a chair in the bleachers. “That was a good game, huh?” Noel asked as he made his way

ANAHERA Fingers threaded through my hair, tingling my scalp, a voice humming in the distance, my heart beating peacefully as though all was finally right in the world. There was another sound right under where my ear was; a beating heart that matched mine. It felt entirely blissful…Until a loud sound shattered the silence. I jerked awake expecting to meet a disaster, instead I found Noel staring out the window and sunlight streaming into the room. It was as though I imagined his fingers in my hair and the sound of…what was that even?The space next to me, where I thought he was laying on, was cold to the touch. He headed over to me with a frown marring his features. Something was wrong and it wasn’t my imagination.“What was that sound?” I sat up, wrapping the duvet tight around my naked body. “What sound? That was nothing, princess. You should go back to sleep.”I pulled away when he tried to reach for me. “What happened? You don’t look your usual smug, annoying self.” He si

ANAHERA On the train ride home, it was pure torture between fighting hard to swallow the guilt and rage in my throat and blinking back the tears in my eyes.Throughout my friendship with Bella, the only argument was about petty things and barely lasted minutes. I hated that Bella was right. Eleanor never said the pregnancy was my brother’s or tried to pin it on him. Reaching up, I wiped away a stray tear angrily, biting my lips to keep myself from bawling out in a place full of strangers. “Is this seat taken?” Someone asked. Quickly, I blinked away tears, shaking my head. “Just me.”They took the space beside me and thankfully, paid me no mind. My phone buzzed in my purse. For a wishful second, my mood lifted at the thought that it could be my best friend trying to apologize.Taking it out, it indeed was a message from Bella. However, she wasn’t saying the words I hoped to hear. Bella — I don’t want you to take this the wrong way but you need to do as your brother says and stay

ANAHERA I stared at him for what seemed like a full minute before he nudged the door wider and slipped in past me. My protest hung in my throat when I turned around to see he had plopped down on my couch, making himself comfortable. ON MY COUCH! “You’re not joking?” “Did I say something funny?” His eyes roamed for a bit then landed on me. “If you need me to leave, I’ll just…” “Never mind.” I shut the door. “You’re in already.” From my peripheral view, I caught the smirk on his smug face. “This place hasn’t changed since the last time I was here. Except for maybe that bag.” He shrugged. “I was probably too tipsy to even notice. Do you remember?” “Of course, I do.” I rolled my eyes. “You wouldn’t keep your mouth shut and almost woke up the neighborhood with your horrible rendition of Firework.” He let out a dramatic gasp. “Now you take that back. That is my top five of the songs I lined up to perform for an event back in freshman year.” I opened my fridge. “Spea