Page 51 of Well Aware

“You are?” the official asked.

“Courtland Navarro,” he answered.

The official shook his head. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t aware.”

“It was a recent event,” he said. “Can you tell me what happened? What was decided?”

“The official was let go, as you probably saw,” he answered. “Now we’re discussing the future. I was assuring Mr. Vanderbilt and Ms. Vanderbilt that I planned on personally vetting the next set of officials so that this wouldn’t happen again. These games are very high profile, and I want the league to have the utmost confidence in my people.”

Good luck with that, I thought.

“Did the official tell you why he made that call?” Court asked.

“He did,” he answered. “His daughter is dying of cancer, and he has a ton of medical bills. I’m not saying it’s right, but he was desperate. He needed money, and when the bribe to throw the game was given, he took it. He wouldn’t share who initiated the bribe, however.”

Of course he didn’t.

But you need not look any farther than the woman standing right in front of you.

The one that was fucking fuming.

She was very pissed off that Court had taken control of the meeting and wasn’t hiding it very well.

“From now on, I expect full transparency on this issue. This is the second game,” Court said. “I know, just as well as you do, that the last game that this happened at was very, very important to our playoff bid. If we’d have won that, then this one, we’d be in the semi-finals right now. And you can’t tell me that you don’t agree with us on how horrific that call was last game. I’m not trying to be a problem owner here, but I know the game better than anyone in this room right now. I’ve coached. I’ve reffed. And I’ve played. Soccer has literally been my life for as long as…”

“You mean, when you weren’t in prison for killing people, right?” Seraphina snorted.

Court turned to her and leveled her with a look that would’ve unnerved me had I not known him as well as I did.

“Are you lecturing me on killing people?” Court asked bluntly. “You, who killed your own baby sister, then saw no prison time for it? You, who broke up her parents’ marriage? You, who has yet to show regret for your actions? I literally watched you walk out of a bar and get picked up by your driver yesterday. Good on you getting in the car. But correct me if I’m wrong. Didn’t the bartender have to take your keys away? You were going to try to drive home.”

My sister’s lips pinched.

I turned to her, angry as hell.

Then Iris placed her hand on my cheek, and I remembered where I was and who I was with.

Dad started signing again, but I ignored him in favor of tuning everything out.

By the time Court was done with his discussion, I was fuming mad and ready to lose my shit.

Good thing I had Iris here.

If she hadn’t been, I might very well be seeing the inside of a jail cell.

And that wasn’t something I could allow if I wanted to go back to my teaching career.

TWELVE

The female version of ‘tea bag’ is called ‘clam slam.’

—Nettie to Magnolia

MAGNOLIA

I grinned as I saw them pull up in their fancy Uber.

Court got out first and waited for a long moment before reaching in and grabbing Iris’s booster seat.