“What?” Ethan held his shirt in his hand, adjusting the white tee he wore before setting his pull over across the back of the chair he’d just vacated.
“They pay me to tackle, man,” I offered, sipping on my beer. “Can’t jeopardize that.”
My gaze landed on Aly’s face when I saw that blush. That contract stipulation had been one of the few things that had made Aly happy when I first signed with the Dolphins.
Ethan looked at Aly, as though just remembering to get permission to leave her long enough for a pick-up game. “Go ahead, just don’t get all stinky. The other passengers on the plane will kick you out without a parachute.”
Ethan jogged toward the basketball courts my parents had installed when Koa began summer programs on CPU’s campus, looking back only once before he was on that court and the game started.
“Ransom, what was that diner we used to go to in Jackson?” Mom asked, leaning back against the chair she sat in with Cass and the girl he’d brought lounging in the seat across from her. Johnny sat on her left fussing about some message he read while Mark called to him from inside. I moved away from the bar and stood next to Mom, glancing at her face before I spotted the small congregation out on the docks, including my father and Brian. “You know,” she continued, pulling on my sleeve, “the place that served chicken and waffles? The one with all the grease on the floor.”
“Hickman’s,” I offered, shifting my gaze to Cass as he nodded, fawning over my mother like a fucking groupie. It didn’t sit well with me, or my father, it seemed, that this guy wanted my mother’s attention, all of it, by the way he inched closer toward her, elbows on his knees and a complete disregard for his date.
On the dock, my father had his back to the water and Brian at his side, speaking animatedly with his hands moving and several of the assistant coaches around him. Kona, though, only nodded once or twice, giving the indication that he was paying attention. He wasn’t. That was plain to see with how he kept watching my mother and, with an even closer stare, Cass. Dad met my eyes, face set tight and then he sighed, reaching in his pocket to take hold of his cell.
“What’s going on?” I heard behind me, looking down when Aly stood at my side.
I led her away from my mother and her little groupie, watching my father as he walked away from his friends and took his call. We came to the fire pit and stood across it so that my mother and my father were at either of my sides and no one else could hear us.
“I have no idea.” Rubbing my neck, I set my Abita on the ground and looked at her, hoping maybe she could give me some details about what I’d missed living in Miami. “You got a clue what’s all this shit is? He’s grumpy and snapping at Koa, she’s acting like she hasn’t slept in a month and in the middle of all this drama is that asshole.” I nodded to my left knowing Aly would know I meant Cass. “You hear anything at all?”
“No,” she said, turning to glance at Mom and then moving her gaze over to the basketball court. If Ethan was worried about her talking to me, he didn’t show it. He was guarding Tristian, tried like hell to get the ball from my cousin and did a piss poor job of it. When Aly turned back, she crossed her arms, shivering a little. “Keira has been a little tight-lipped lately.” She glanced at me, like she wasn’t sure if she wanted to say whatever was on her mind just then. “And you know Kona can’t stand me, barely acknowledges me, in fact, so he hasn’t said anything either.”
“That’s not true, makamae.” My face pinched, felt tight at her little confession. Dad had been a little resentful toward Aly for leaving me, but that was a long time ago. “He doesn’t…” I started, shocked that she actually believed that. “Everyone loves you.”
Aly held her breath, fighting the smile that made her lips twitch before she managed to say anything else. And then, just like that, with one cough, she got back on topic. “Mack hasn’t said anything…”
“She wouldn’t know.”
“She sees way more than you think.” Aly shivered again and I couldn’t stand it. I pulled my hoodie over my head and offered it to her, draping it over her shoulders when she didn’t take it.
“Thanks,” she said, drawing the sleeves tight around her. I didn’t miss the way she watched me, how her eyes moved up and down, then that gaze lingered over my chest. My shirt was thin, a vintage Star Wars tee with a frayed hem. But the cotton was soft and it fit me well. I knew Aly recognized it. She’d slept in it about a hundred times.
She smirked a little when I winked at her and once again looked over her shoulder.
“If you want to go watch him play…”
“I don’t,” she said turning back toward me.