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I give him a tight smile. “I don’t date.”
He nods, his cheeks flaming red. “Right, of course not.” His voice pitches higher and he coughs again. “Of course you wouldn’t date,” he mutters more to himself than to me. I wait for him to say something relevant but when he doesn’t, I give him a small tilt of my head and start to walk back to my seat.
“Fuck,” I hear him cursing behind me, murmuring more shit I don’t catch. What a weird fucking kid. Hopefully, he doesn’t start being even weirder in our sessions.
The rest of the game flies by, the opposing team coming in hard in an attempt to gain the lead. They close the gap but still lose by three points. By the end my throat is sore and my nose is almost frozen off.
We wait for some of the crowd to clear and I look around to notice Jason isn’t anywhere around us. I haven’t seen him since we ran into each other. Maybe he left the game early after all. I grab my grandma’s arm and guide her down the bleacher steps. We walk slowly, the long night taking a toll on her now. It’s not like we’re in a rush anyways, having to wait for Kanyon to finish with the team and change to meet us outside the locker room.
Kanyon’s whole face lights up when he sees me and Isla waiting for him with my grandma. That smile was worth the extra wait and the shifts I had to trade for to make sure I could be here for his moment. I’d love to say I pull my little brother into my arms and kiss the top of his head, but unfortunately I can’t reach it anymore. Instead, he pulls me into him and I lightly smack his cheeks with my hands. “I’m so proud of you, buddy.”
His nose scrunches but his eyes so similar to my own shine brighter. Pleased by my praise and affection, even if he’s too cool for that now. “Did I surprise you?”
Isla and I both snort. “She called you a little shit,” Rayne reports happily, making all of us laugh.
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me,” I scold, smacking his shoulder.
He shrugs, looking over his shoulder. “I wasn’t allowed to have my family on the field anyway since I had to leave after the intros. Thought a surprise would be more fun.”
Isla shakes her head, stealing her own hug from him. “It wouldn't have been a surprise if we had realized whata star quarterback you are. You been eating your veggies or something?”
He smirks at her. “I told you one day I’d be bigger than you. You and Ryn are lucky I’m forgiving and don’t feel the need for revenge,” he taunts.
“Baby brother, I don’t care how tall you get. I will always be able to kick your ass.”
My grandma settles us down before we can get too rowdy and ushers us into our goodbyes. I take an extra moment to study her. She looks more exhausted than usual. Trading looks with Kanyon, he shrugs but gives a slight nod agreeing to text me later. Isla and I give the three of them another round of hugs and when I reach Kanyon, I pull him in extra tight. “I really am so fucking proud of you, kid. Watching you play and smile and thrive tonight just became the best damn night of my life.”
His eyes water as he pulls away from me. “I love you, Ryn,” he whispers. Life is never easy, but ours has taken a lot of devastating turns. Rayne has been saved from so much of the heart ache, but Kanyon remembers enough for those scars to still ache with pain.
“I love you too, kid.” I reach up to pat the top of his head, before turning to Rayne and running my fingers through her auburn hair. “And you too, my ray of sunshine.”
Isla and I head back to where we parked Baylor’s truck. The forty-five minute drive passes quickly but I’m yawning by the time we pull up to the Wild West and Isla is already half asleep.
“I’m not carrying you up those steps,” I joke, shaking her leg to wake her up.
“Wasn’t sleeping,” she slurs sleepily.
I hum and grab both our bags from the back. We’re quiet as we walk into the building, but none of our neighbors are. There’s always something going on in this building. I swear.
She leans against my shoulder and I curse her. My whole body is already being dragged down in exhaustion. The elevator doors ding as they slide open and I pull out my keys to open the door. My mouth drops as I realize the door is sitting slightly askew in the doorway, our knob completely busted.
Adrenaline crashes through my system, energy zapping through my limbs as I push Isla behind me.
“Call Wells.”
nineteen
OR SO HELP ME
Wells curses as I take the lead when he’s distracted by his phone ringing.
“It’s Isla,” James tells him, picking it up off the coffee table.
“Answer it,” he says, attempting to cut a corner in the game but I’m able to box him out, smirking when he curses again.
Instead of answering like a normal person and telling Isla that Wells is getting his ass kicked, he swipes to answer and puts the phone to Wells’ ear.
“Ahh,” Wells groans. “Baylor, you prick. Uh, hey baby. Can I call you back?”
