Page 31
“No, I wasn’t there, but I saw the footage last night.” I have no idea if the competition was recorded, but what isn’t nowadays?
“You did?” Kota questions.
“Uh, yeah. And I didn’t think your herkie was sloppy at all.”
All three Rhodeses stare at me.
Shit. Did I say that right?
“Could’ve been the angle you were watching it from,” Sera says almost to herself.
“Couldn’t have been,” I correct her. “I saw it from a couple different angles and she looked great from every one.”
I don’t know why I’m defending Kota’s athletic ability when I was just questioning it myself. I did that in my head though. Sera’s filling her daughter’s with insults disguised as critiques. In the few minutes I’ve been around them, I’m convinced Sera doesn’t even like Kota. She hasn’t been nice to her once, only talking shit on her to two men she barely knows. If Sera were a man, I’d have knocked him out by now just for being a dickhead.
I’m a dickhead, too, but I can still read a room.
Who needs enemies when you have a mom like Sera? Jesus Christ. If this is what family is, I don’t want it.
“After seeing her perform, would you want her representing you?”
“Absolutely,” I say without hesitation.
Both women study me with similar expressions, like they’re trying to dissect me.
Sera’s the one who speaks, telling me, “Then it’s a good thing you’re not an athlete.”
Beside me, my dad returns his attention to his plate.
I ignore him to meet Kota’s eyes…until hers jump over my shoulder.
“Guy.”
“Hey, babe. Sorry I’m late.” After kissing Kota, he goes over and hugs Sera.
She introduces Guy to her new husband. Where my dad’s shirt has a tiny swordfish on it, Guy’s has an alligator. I don’t know what that’s about. Do all expensive shirts have animals on them?
“And I assume you know Khaos by now.”
“Khaos and I are buddies.”
I don’t return his head nod. We’re not buddies and he can fuck off.
Instead, I mutter, “We met.”
“Where have you been?” Kota asks him quietly as he takes the seat next to her—the one directly across from me, which means I just lost my appetite.
“G4 needed me to drop off some contracts.”
Who the fuck is G4 and why are they called that?
“Isn’t everything done electronically?”
“Usually, but this client is old school and he prefers physical papers. I don’t want to even think about how many trees we just killed.”
He chuckles, and so do the parents.
“The dude doesn’t own a printer?” I ask.
