Page 91 of The Home Game

Instead, he tucked his earbud case into his pocket along with his phone, then walked slowly toward the stairs. As he passed the guest bedroom, he paused, confused by the muffled thump coming from inside.

And then another. And another.

Hmm. The door was usually shut but it was open a crack now.

With a frown, Antoni pushed the door wide open. The room was dim, the only light coming from the egress windows at ground level. He heard a muffled sniffling noise, then another thump, and blinked when he spotted someone huddled in the corner of the room.

He flicked on the light switch and a lamp across the room turned on. The person jerked and hastily wiped their eyes.

“Alexis? Are you okay?” Antoni asked, concerned. Was she down here crying?

“Hey, what’s going on?” He immediately stepped forward, noticing the pillow on the floor and the quiet thumps finally made sense. She’d probably been throwing it at the wall over and over.

“I can’t believe Grandma and Grandpa Swanson are going to get custody of us!” she said furiously as she got to her feet. “How could you let that happen?”

“What?” Antoni said, taken aback. “Were you listening—” He took a deep breath. “Okay, no. Let’s start at the beginning here. Come over here and talk to me, please.”

He took a seat on the bed and patted the spot beside him but although Alexis stood and came over, she didn’t take a seat. She remained standing, her expression wary and defiant as she crossed her arms.

It wasn’t worth arguing about, so Antoni looked her in the eye. “First of all, I’m not upset at you. I just want to know what you were doing down here and how much you overheard.”

“I came down to practice my shooting!” she said, her tone defensive. “I wasn’t trying to listen in!”

“Hey, I get that,” he said gently. “I’m not suggesting you did anything wrong.”

It was his fault. He should be more careful about where he had conversations like that.

“But I heard you telling Matty that Grandma and Grandpa are going to use you moving in with him to try to get custody and … you can’t let them take us!” She clenched her fists.

“I promise, I’m going to do everything I can to stop it,” he assured her.

“They’ll hurt Eli!”

“I won’t let that happen,” he promised. “They’re just trying to intimidate me so I’ll cave at the settlement hearing. But nothing would ever make me do that. I will fight for all four of you. It’s what your parents wanted and it’s what I want.”

A little of her anger seemed to leech out and her shoulders slumped. “So why do they think you’re dating Matty?” she asked.

“Well, moving in together for one,” he admitted. “And there were some fan photos of us taken the other day after we got back from the park. They were published on a gossip site and—”

“Wow! Did you and Matty make JockGossip? That’s actually kinda cool.”

Antoni sighed. “You really shouldn’t read that site.”

She rolled her eyes. “I’ve read worse.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” he said drily. “Look, the point is, that’s what the public thinks. April—our lawyer—she’s just covering her bases and keeping me informed of what’s going on. Absolutely nothing has been decided yet.”

“But this means the social worker will come visit again, right?” She crossed her arms again. “I thought we were done with all that. I don’t like the way she pokes around and asks weird questions.”

“Mrs. Chapman probably will drop by,” Antoni agreed. “But she only has the best interests of you and your siblings at heart. She’ll see how well you’re all doing and that living here with Matty is a good thing. Your grandparents won’t have a leg to stand on in their custody case. There’s nothing to worry about.”

“So you’re not worried?” she shot back.

“It’s my job to worry about everything to do with the four of you,” he explained calmly. “It’s your job to go to school and grow up to be a decent person. Let me do the worrying for this family, okay?”

Alexis’ nod was grudging but when he stood and placed a hand on her shoulder, she didn’t flinch away.

“Now, why don’t you wash your face and come have dinner? Matty made vegetarian burritos just for you.”

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