Page 44 of Game On

The two exchanged glances. After some sort of nonverbal communication, they turned to Carly.

“Dante Stuart, wide receiver.” Carly had to stifle a laugh. The boy sounded like he was doing his cameo intro for Monday Night Football. He’d probably been practicing in the mirror since he was six.

“Uh, I’m Evan Andrews,” the all-American said. “We aren’t really in any trouble, are we?”

“That depends.” She leaned a hip against the counter. “What exactly have you done? Why did you take Troy from his grandparents and bring him here?”

“He asked us to!” Evan answered, as if the reason were simple. “Tell her, Dante. Troy wants to be with his brother.”

She glanced out the window as Beckett ran circles around Troy and Tiny. “His life as he knew it has been upended,” she said softly. “I doubt he really knows what he wants right now.”

“He knows he wants to be with his brother and not those crazy folks,” Dante said.

“I doubt his grandparents are crazy,” Carly said. She tried to remember if she’d done any research on Shane’s stepmother. She’d been a beauty queen, but other than that, she couldn’t recall anything unusual about Lindsey Devlin’s family.

“Oh, but they are,” Evan said, his voice earnest. “I don’t mean any disrespect for religious people and all that, but Troy’s grandparents are a little nuts. They said Troy has to stay home and be tutored because they don’t want him associating with certain elements, if you get my drift,” Evan’s voice rose in pitch as he became more indignant. “They told Consuelo, Coach’s housekeeper, to go back to Mexico. She isn’t even from Mexico; she’s from Guatemala! She’s legal to be here! She works for the university. His grandma wants him to sing and pray at their church every night. I’m telling you, it’s just not right for a boy like Troy to have to live that way.”

“Surely it isn’t that bad,” she said, but a nagging feeling had begun to form deep in her stomach.

“It is that bad,” Dante hissed. “He’s got nobody else. The lawyer said we can’t keep him. We asked. He’d be better off with us than those people. And better than living here. But the lawyer says we had to bring him here.”

“Lawyer? What lawyer?” The nagging feeling was blossoming into a full-grown knot.

“Coach’s lawyer. It’s what Coach and Mrs. D wanted. For Troy to live with Shane,” Evan said.

“What?” Carly was suddenly light-headed. Surely she hadn’t heard him correctly. Rubbing her temple in an effort to stem the drumming there, she looked from one boy to another.

“Lady, you need to keep up,” Dante said. “Coach’s will said Troy had to live with his brother. It don’t matter if the grandparents want Troy or not. That’s not what his mama and daddy wanted. And Troy don’t want to live with them anyways. He wants to be here. Not sure why though. That jerk don’t want Troy,” he finished with a mumble.

In an effort to steady herself, Carly wrapped her fingers around the edge of the granite countertop. Where they telling the truth? Bruce Devlin had named Shane as Troy’s guardian? And Shane had foisted his brother off on the boy’s grandparents. It wasn’t hard to reconcile with the Shane Devlin everyone knew. But not with the Shane Devlin she’d come to know over the past few days.

Of course, that Shane Devlin may only exist in her dreams.

“I’m not sure what there is to eat, but help yourselves. I’ll be right back.” It wasn’t her job to play hostess, but she didn’t care anymore.

She barged into his office just in time to see Shane slam his cell phone down. He swore as she closed the double doors and leaned back against them, trying to get a handle on the emotions thrumming through her body. Anger was winning, but disappointment was running a close second.

“What?” he asked with a scowl.

“I’m just trying to figure out what’s going on.”

“You should have stayed upstairs.” He got up to pace menacingly around the room.

Her body wasn’t numb enough to absorb the pain of his comments, but she was a glutton for punishment, so she stumbled on anyway. “Too late.”

“It’s going to take a few days to sort this whole mess out. His grandparents want to have custody and that’s fine with me. I just have to get it all finalized.” He ran his hands through his hair as he settled against the edge of the desk.

“From what I’ve gathered, Bruce’s wishes were that Troy live with you.”

He shot off the desk like a rocket. “They only left me the kid as a joke, Carly!” he shouted. “They just put my name down as guardian to fill in a blank when they were making out their will, never thinking it would have to be executed.”

“Are you sure about that?” It was like spearing a wild animal; he roared back after each jab.

“What do you care, anyway?” He stood inches from her, effectively pinning her to the door. His eyes were dark with an emotion she couldn’t make out and his face was hard. “I’ll have this all sorted out before the season. That kid won’t affect my play in any way!”

Carly was finally, blissfully numb. “That’s all you care about, isn’t it, Shane? Your stupid football career! You don’t give a crap about that boy out there! My God! Is there not a compassionate bone in your body? Don’t you remember what it’s like to lose a parent and feel all alone in the world?” Her breath was coming fast and raspy, as if she’d just sprinted a mile. She would not cry! “Well, I do! That boy just lost both his parents. He’s scared and he’s alone and you are one of the few people who can relate to that. Instead, all you care about is a stupid game.” Her words were coming out in gulps now, as she realized she’d been drawn in by yet another selfish athlete. How could she have let it happen again?

“I thought you were different,” she whispered. “But you’re going to punish a kid for all the horrible things your father did to you. How could I have been so stupid?”

---