Page 59 of Friends with Benefits
“Tell me about your parents. How long have they been gone?”
Then everything sort of seemed to spill forth—their negligence when I was growing up, how I’d supported the twins and my parents, and how they’d abandoned the girls.
“And have you spoken with your mother or father since they left?” she asked.
“I spoke to my mother the day she left. And she came back a few weeks ago and took the girls without warning. They were found abandoned at the mall the next day. The police took a report.”
Ms. Shultz took down the information and promised to get a copy of the police report. She explained that in order to receive custody, we’d have to prove both parents were unfit for custody in some way or have them waive their rights. It wouldn’t be hard to convince my father. He didn’t give a shit either way. It was my mother I was worried about. She was spiteful and vindictive and would fight ‘till the end simply because she could. The thought made my stomach ache.
After the visit to the lawyer, Tripp drove to pick up the girls, and we went home and watched cartoons until they passed out. The next morning was Tripp’s last game of the season—the one that would determine if they went to the championships or not.
He left before we woke up to head over to the field for warmups. I’d planned on getting the girls awake and dressed so we could go cheer him on, but all that changed in an instant.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Tripp
Sweat dripped down my brow,and I wiped it away with the back of my wrist. This was the last game of my senior year. My last chance to impress—shit, I didn’t even know who anymore. My last chance to wipe away the memory of my injury. We were playing a killer game and were in the lead 10-0, but I knew better than anyone that it could change in an instant. So I played hard, like my heart and life were on the line.
And maybe they were.
“Good fucking game, man,” Alex said, clapping me on the back as we entered the dugout.
“It’s not over yet.” I squirted water from my bottle over my head, but it didn’t do much to cool me down. The Florida heat was relentless. I could already feel a sunburn turning the skin at my neck tight and splotchy.
“The hell it isn’t. You haven’t given them a break all day. Your arm is on fire. I’ve never seen you pitch better.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard you give so many compliments in a row.”
“Call me sentimental,” he answered, his eyes on our shortstop, who was at bat. “It’s our last game together. When I get signed next year, we could be playing on opposite sides of the country. We could even be playing against each other.”
“Scared? It’s okay. I’ll make sure I kick your ass quickly so it doesn’t sting so much to lose.”
He punched me in the arm, tossed his dark hair back, and slid his baseball cap over it. It always made the chicks who came to the games go crazy. “You wish. Don’t think I’ll take it easy on you if that day ever comes.”
“It will. Believe it. You’re almost as good as I am.”
“Asshole,” he said without heat. “Where’s your girl? I thought she was coming?”
Thinking the same thing, I scanned the crowd again for her face in the family seats. She and the girls weren’t in their normal spot next to my parents, and neither were Liam and Dash. I figured something must have come up with the girls, but a niggle of doubt and worry wormed itself into my stomach.
“I’m not sure. She was supposed to be here, but she may have had to take care of her sisters or something.”
We cheered as our shortstop hit a double, batting in the player on third and scoring us another point. “What’s going on with that?”
I lifted a shoulder. “It’s complicated.”
“You sound like a chick.”
“At least I’m getting laid,” I said, making him scowl.
“Douchebag.”
One of the assistant coaches came out of the hallway that led to the locker rooms. He made a beeline for Coach Taylor, who listened with an impassive expression as he observed the next player up at bat. His body went still as the assistant coach kept talking, gesturing wildly. Then Taylor’s gaze moved to me, and I stiffened.
Coach Taylor murmured to the assistant, his eyes still on me. The assistant coach nodded, and Coach Taylor started to cross the dugout to me. Whatever it was, it couldn’t be good. Coach Taylor was always focused on the game. Especially a game as important as the one that would lead us to the championships in Omaha.
“Wilder. A word?” I nodded and followed him to the hallway where the assistant had come from. “Listen, I’ll get straight to the point. Are you involved with a young woman named Ember Stevens?”