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She wasn’t sad. She wasn’t falling apart. She was regretful. She was thinking of me.
“You okay?”
“Yeah.” She sighed. There was noise on her end, but she moved somewhere. I heard a click, then the sound faded away. “One of his lawyers leaked everything. Feds are also here. They showed up an hour ago.”
“What?”
“I’m sorry for what happened to you. We saw the interview. Roger got all pissed on your behalf, said it wasn’t an interview, it was a press drive-by. He’d had two glasses of wine. To let you in on a family secret that’s not a secret at all, Roger will use any excuse to have wine. You may now get to experience what we’ve lovingly nicknamed Wine Roger.”
My lips twitched. Jesus. She was joking. She was thinking of me, feeling bad for me, and watching me on television. Her world was breaking wide open, and she was focused on me.
“I really want to say some things to you right now, but considering I got a decent portion of the team listening in, I better not. I wouldn’t want to make their ears burn from embarrassment.”
Doubard snorted before moving away. “The dude’s joking. He’s making a crack.”
Olvander’s big hand came down on my shoulder. “Tell your girl we’re thinking of her. She’s got our support.” He left too after that.
Reeves stayed. He lingered until Billie and I ended our call. She was fine. She was going to be fine, but I needed to get to her because that was my job too.
No matter how she sounded, what she said, how she seemed, I needed to be at her side.
Reeves moved in as soon as I put my phone away and started filling my bag. “Bring her Tuesday.”
I stopped. “Are you fucking serious? That is the last thing we’re thinking about.”
He held up a hand, a stubborn look on his face. “Bring her. She needs friends.”
“She’s got family. She’s got a sister.”
“She’s going to need friends among the football wives and girlfriends. You know the deal. They have a group.”
“Not the fucking time, Reeves. Christ.” I shoved aside my impatience with extreme effort as I let go of my bag. “I’m not saying this to be a dick, but fuck off right now. The last shit she needs is dealing with what that group scoops out on a daily basis.”
“Not that group. Dusty. Kayla. Emma.” Emma and Kayla were Jake and Olvander’s women. He held up his hands in surrender and took a step back. “I’m talking about them. They’ll rally around her. She can bring her sister, and if she’s got a husband, bring him too.”
My chest burned. The need to get to Billie’s side was the only thing I could feel in that moment. “I can’t make any promises. This is a different scenario than anyone in here has dealt with.”
“I get that. I do. We can be here for you and her, if you want us.”
I stopped, studying him. I studied him hard, pushing aside getting to Billie, because this was important. Drinks with Olvander was the most I’d done with the team since joining. It’d been the same deal with my other team. I had acquaintances outside of the team too, but it was mostly buddies I could call on for a favor if I needed something. Vice versa as well. Getting friendly with the team just wasn’t something I did, but Reeves had been trying and he’d been trying for a while. There was a different look in Stone’s gaze today.
I slung my bag over my shoulder. “Maybe.”
It was the best I could give him, and Reeves saw that. He jerked his chin before leaving.
My phone buzzed the whole time as I went to my truck. For the entire drive to Vicky and Howard’s farm, my phone didn’t stop making sounds. I was used to getting greetings, messages of support after a loss, and that kind of thing, but this was different.
This was insane.
This was just a glimpse of what Billie dealt with since she was twelve.
The thought of that almost brought me to my knees.
35
BILLIE
For all the chaos in the world, there was also magic.
