Page 40 of Penalty Kill

I was about to dump the box on the ground in defeat when I saw a red mask. “Ah ha!” I pulled them out and held the shorts up for Finn to see.

“You found them!”

I tossed them over and began putting things away while he changed.

“Ready?” Milo bounced on his toes near the door.

“Yeah!” Finn shouted as they took off running.

I dropped the pile of clothes and hurried after them.

“We need sunscreen before we go out,” I called as they reached the bottom of the stairs.

Sunscreen, water, towels, floaties. I repeated it over and over until I completed each step. We just made it to the pool and the boys jumped in when I heard voices. I spun to see Emma walking up with Jackson on her hip and a woman with a blond bob next to her with a baby sitting happily on her shoulders. I vaguely recognized her from the game, but I couldn’t remember her name.

“Sydney!” Emma waved and the boys hurried out of the pool to greet the guests.

“Hi Emma! Hi Addi.” Their attention quickly moved on to the babies, reaching up and talking to them.

“Hi guys.” I helped take Emma’s oversized beach bag and sat it next to the row of lounge chairs.

“This is Addison, I think you guys met at the game, but there was a lot going on.”

Addison smiled at me while lowering her baby to her lap. “I hope you don’t mind. Today’s my day off so Emma invited me along.”

“Not at all. The more the merrier.” I smiled at her little boy who ducked his face into her neck.

“This is Eli. He’ll warm up to you in a few minutes.” She spread out her towel and sat him on it before grabbing a bottle of sunscreen from the bag.

“Thanks so much for coming. The boys made rock candy at school and I needed a way to burn off as much energy as possible.”

“Oh! That’s just mean,” Emma said with a laugh.

Milo and Finn ran past us to the slide, and I shook my head. “Slow down, guys. I don’t want you to slip.”

They actually listened and walked the rest of the way. Huh. I hadn’t expected that to work so easily.

“I’m impressed,” Addison said with a nod.

Once their babies were lathered in sunscreen, we climbed into the shallow end and watched the twins play. It was nice having some company, and it was a good distraction from the worries on my mind.

I almost forgot we were under house arrest.

13

Brandon

We won against the Phoenix team, but we were playing San Diego tonight and they were right behind us in the division rankings. They were going to make us work for each point, but I knew the guys wanted it. We’d been working too hard, putting in too much time to let any team get in our heads. It was at the point in the season where each win was important. We only had a three-point lead over them in our division, and getting the two points from a win would make that gap much more comfortable as we cemented ourselves for the playoffs.

I had a few minutes before I had to head down to meet with the press, so I called Sydney hoping I could talk with the boys.

She answered, and we switched it over to a video call. I took in her bright eyes and smile and felt more relaxed. She had a calming effect on me. Well, except my heart; that always started to race when I saw her. “Hey, you look fancy.”

I looked down at my maroon suit and gave her my best model look. “Why, thank you.”

She giggled and shook her head. It was the best sound in the world. I couldn’t remember the last time someone made me feel this happy and light. It had been a long, long time.

“Congrats on the win last night. I’d say it was a good game, but it didn’t seem like it was all that hard for you guys. Milo said the team didn’t even show up. I’m assuming that’s something he picked up from you?”