Page 10 of Home Town Advantage (Fourth Quarter Fever #1)

My best friend’s face turns uncharacteristically serious.

“It’s cool, man. I’ve never seen you this worked up over a woman.

I know what Finn meant to you. I know the sacrifices you’ve made to be a good friend.

I’m just now realizing how much more than that she means to you. I want to help. Tell me what I can do.”

I look toward Sulley, who’s now practically dirty dancing with Kennedy. At least twenty guys are staring at them. I nod toward the girls. “Can you get me a minute alone with her?”

He lets out a little growl. He’s a bit of a Neanderthal at times. “Fuck. Only for you would I voluntarily spend time alone with Kennedy. You’re definitely applying aloe vera to my balls later tonight.”

I elbow him before we walk over toward them and see them both hysterically laughing. Daylen asks, “What’s so funny?”

Sulley lets out an adorable giggle. “A guy just came up to Kennedy and asked her if she had a man.”

Kennedy smirks. “I told him I am one, and he practically sprinted in the other direction.” She rubs her hands together. “Works every damn time I need to get a guy away from me.”

Daylen grabs Kennedy’s hand. “Dance with me, wench.”

She pulls her hand away. “Fuck off, caveman. I don’t like being told what to do unless I’m naked.”

Daylen scrunches his face. “Eww. Thinking of you naked is gross. I want to hear more about your red flags. I aspire to incorporate every one of them into my daily routine.”

Kennedy rolls her eyes. “I feel like you’re the reason there are directions on shampoo bottles.”

He mouths to me, “You owe me,” before grabbing a screeching Kennedy by the waist and carrying her to the other side of the dance floor, leaving Sulley and me alone for the first time in half a decade.

She starts to walk away, but I grab her wrist. “Don’t go.”

SULLEY

“Don’t go.”

My eyes fill with tears as I look down at his hand wrapped around my arm. His giant hands. The ones that were?—

“Give me one dance, Sulley. For old times’ sake. I want to talk to you.”

I look back up at him, snapping out of my daydream. Why are his eyes pained? Does he regret what he did?

I exhale a long breath and reluctantly nod, mostly curious as to what he could possibly have to say to me at this point.

As if on cue, the faster song ends, and a slow one begins playing.

Dear life, when I asked if this day could get any worse, it was a rhetorical question not a challenge.

He holds out his arms in invitation. I reluctantly move toward them, though I maintain a safe distance.

Not safe enough to avoid his scent. He smells the same as he always has.

I hate that it’s comforting and feels like home.

That I want to blanket myself in it so all the bad things in the world go away.

His thumb rubs across a tear I didn’t realize had dropped from my eye, and he whispers, “Please don’t cry, Gully Sulley. I hate it.”

I lift my chin and steel my voice. “Don’t call me that. Nicknames are for friends. We’re not friends.”

He pinches his lips together before nodding and tentatively placing his hands on my hips. I lightly place my fingertips on his shoulders, wanting to touch the least amount of him as possible.

His green eyes meet mine. “I know you hate me, and I understand why. Despite that, I want to try to be friends.” He cracks a small, lopsided smile.

“We used to be friends, Sulley. Can we get back there? Please. I think we’re going to be in each other’s lives.

It would be easier for all our friends if we could do so peacefully. ”

Pain slices through my body as I can barely manage to whisper, “I don’t know that I can ever get there. We can’t undo what you’ve done to my family.”

His hopeful face falls. “Just know I care about you. I always have and I always will.”

Care about me? What a joke. My jaw tightens at his hollow words. Instead of being sad, I start to get mad. “Fuck you, Vance. You don’t care about anyone but yourself.”

He shakes his head. “That’s not true.”

“It is true. It’s all about your precious image.

You don’t have any regard for the people in your life.

You do whatever you want with no consideration for the carnage you leave behind.

” I push him away. Feeling the tears building, I start to walk away but turn my head back to him and grit out, “When was the last time you saw your daughter?”

I wake in the morning feeling like my head might explode. I’m not hungover. I cried for hours after my interaction with Vance. My mother told me not to let him get to me, and the first time I saw him, I ended up a mess.

Kennedy and Palmer immediately took me home and let me cry in their arms. They must think I’m crazy.

I peel my eyes open. And I mean peel because I didn’t remove my makeup and cried until there were no fluids left in my body. My eyelids feel like they were glued together.

I see Kennedy on one side of me and Palmer on the other, all squeezed together in my bed. I only just met these women, and yet they took such good care of me. I’m suddenly feeling very fortunate for my new friends.

Female friendships have long been a struggle for me.

I grew up a tomboy, refusing to do anything considered “girlie.” That didn’t lend itself to many girlfriends.

Then, when I was about twelve, I started getting a ton of attention for my basketball play.

The girls at school hated me for that. I was on a bit of an island throughout high school.

In college, my teammates didn’t like the fact that all the focus and media attention were on me.

Despite my always shifting our success to the team, the media only wanted to interview me.

I was the one getting NIL deals left and right.

I was the one who was credited with our team’s success.

I never asked for the attention, but it was there, and my teammates resented it.

Put simply, it’s been lonely. Girl hate is something I’ve gotten used to. It’s become what I expect, but that’s not what I got last night. Just the opposite.

I feel Kennedy place her hand on my arm. I turn my head and see nothing but concern written on her face. She rubs my arm as she whispers, “Are you okay?

In a hoarse voice, I manage to croak out, “I’m sorry about last night. I’m so embarrassed.”

I feel Palmer’s hand on my other arm. “Don’t be. We all have our moments.”

Kennedy asks, “Do you want to tell us what has gone on between you and Vance McCaffrey to trigger you like that?” Her voice is laced with compassion. “I want to be supportive, but it’s hard when we don’t know the facts.”

I let out a long breath. I owe them this for taking care of me last night. I’ve never talked about it with anyone but my family. It might feel good to finally let it all out. I hope I can trust these women. My gut tells me I can.

I nod. “Can we do this over coffee? I need some caffeine before we dive into my past.”

Twenty minutes later, I’ve scrubbed my face clean and we’re sitting around our kitchen table with mugs of coffee. I’ve popped a handful of Advil and am ready to confide in them.

I look at both of my new friends. Their eyes convey nothing but genuine concern .

I begin, “I’ve known Vance since I was born.

He and my brother, Finn, were best friends.

More than best friends. Brothers. They did everything together.

Our parents are the best of friends too.

I honestly have very few childhood memories that don’t include the McCaffrey family.

Vance and Finn were eight years older than me.

I worshiped them and followed them everywhere, but they always indulged me, letting me tag along.

I idolized my brother and had a massive crush on Vance.

As I’m sure you can imagine, Vance was the town hero.

The golden boy. Untouchable. Loved by all. ”

They both nod in understanding.

I continue. “When they were eighteen, my brother enlisted in the Marines in hopes of saving money to go to college for architecture.” I smile at the memory.

“He was designing things for as long as I can remember. Vance left to play football in college. My brother’s forever girlfriend, Maddie, stayed in town to help on her parents’ small ranch.

I come from a town where most don’t go to college.

My brother wanted to get engaged before he left, but Maddie refused.

I thought it was weird, but I sort of respected that she wanted to wait until his four years were done.

When he reenlisted for another four years, she was livid, and they broke up.

But eventually, they got back together when he was home visiting.

As you know, Vance became a big star in that time period. ”

I take a long gulp of my coffee. “A month before his final deployment was supposed to end, Finn was granted a leave of absence to come home for a brief visit for my basketball senior night. It was then that he told us he agreed to a six-month extension. We were upset about it, but he said the military was throwing too much money his way to turn it down. That he would then be in a financial position to buy Maddie a nice engagement ring, start college, and still afford a place for them to live.”

Tears fill my eyes. “Three months later, he was killed in the line of duty. He should have been home already. If he didn’t agree to that extension, he’d still be alive.

It was a dark time for my family, but our shining light was Maddie walking into his funeral visibly pregnant.

We were so damn happy that we’d have a piece of my brother.

I think it kept my parents going on the days shortly after he died, when they struggled to put one foot in front of the other.

At the end of that summer, I left for college.

I don’t know if you remember, but I started college in California. ”

Palmer nods. “I remember. At the time, you were a year ahead of me.”

I offer a small smile. “Right. I was only a month or so in when my mother called that Maddie was in labor. It was ten weeks too early. We were freaking out that the baby couldn’t survive.

I immediately got on a plane. By the time I landed, the baby was born.

She was ten pounds.” I hang my head. “Full term.”

Palmer and Kennedy look confused. Kennedy asks, “What does that mean?”

I swallow. “It means the baby wasn’t conceived when my brother visited. Prior to that, he hadn’t been home in nearly two years. The baby very obviously wasn’t his. She cheated on him.”

Palmer gasps as she places her hand over her mouth. “Oh, how horrible for you and your family.” She places her other hand over mine. “I’m so sorry for what you went through.”

Kennedy has a stoic look on her face. “This story gets worse, doesn’t it?”

I nod. “It does. Those few weeks were a blur. It was like we lost my brother all over again. It eventually came out that Vance fathered the little girl. My brother’s best friend slept with his fiancée.

Apparently, it was a drunken mistake, but that doesn’t really matter.

It was a shock to all. Maddie was barely remorseful.

Vance bought a huge house for her and their daughter, but he never sees them.

You’ve never heard of Vance having a daughter, right? ”

Kennedy shakes her head. “No. Never. ”

“Right. The asshole doesn’t even acknowledge his own daughter.

I’m sure it’s because he doesn’t want the PR hit from sleeping with his best friend’s girlfriend.

He’s kind of ostracized from our hometown now.

He rarely visits his own parents. An occasional pop-in for a holiday, but that’s it.

He basically paid for it to go away and not tarnish his perfect all-American image. ”

Kennedy mumbles, “What an asshole.”

I wipe my tears. I can’t believe I have any left after last night.

Palmer pinches her eyebrows. “What happened to you? You never went back to California.”

“I was a mess for many months. I dropped out of school and moped around the house, occasionally helping my father in his business.” I shake my head.

“I was a lost soul. The will to play ball had left my body. My parents were too fucked up at the time to push me to do anything. It was like three zombies coexisting.”

“What changed?” Palmer asks.

“A few months later, maybe in January or February, a Marine buddy of my brother’s showed up at our front door.

They had already sent us his personal belongings, but apparently a letter had been entrusted to his friend, and he was instructed by my brother to deliver it in person if he passed, which is why it wasn’t with his original stuff.

It was a letter addressed to me.” The tears start up again.

“My brother knew if something happened to him, I’d lose my way.

It was his final wish for me to keep playing.

To achieve my dream of playing professional basketball.

It was the kick in the ass I needed, but I didn’t want to go back to California.

It suddenly felt so far from home. I called the coach at the University of Montana.

She was more than happy to have me. She had been trying to recruit me since I was ten.

I enrolled the following fall and got back on track.

All thanks to my brother’s words from the grave.

I carry that letter with me everywhere. It’s in my wallet. It helps me through the tough times.”

They both have tears in their eyes. Kennedy sniffles. “I suddenly feel the need to call my little brother. We’re not very close. I’m a shitty sister.”

“Don’t take him for granted,” I plead. “You never know what could happen.”

She nods. “I won’t. Thanks for sharing this with us. Now I understand how you felt last night.” Her face turns cold. “And now we’re going to have a lot of fun fucking with golden boy Vance McCaffrey.”