Page 105 of Honey Pot

“She’s got a point.” He nodded. “He’s got something wrong with his face.”

“Yeah…” I scoffed, wandering past in a fit of laughter. “Hisentireface.”

Silas hovered in the family dugout with Luc, both watching Julien closely as he chatted with Nicholas in the outfield.

“What do you guys think?” I asked as I approached.

“If he likes Nicholas, there might be something wrong with him.” Luc was the first to answer. “You should keep an eye on him.”

“See.” I stared at Silas, who had his arms crossed over his chest and a hat pulled over his brows. “If Luc doesn’t like him, then I’m doing the right thing.”

“I didn’t say I didn’t like him, Cody,” he grumbled, low and stern like Arlo always does. “But there’s something about him that’s off-putting.”

I rolled my eyes and moved on. “You guys ready?”

Mrs. Shore, Mr. Tucker, Robert, and Sawyer all nodded along with the other family members and double-checked their equipment. Ella appeared from behind us and wrapped an arm around my middle as I laid mine across her shoulders. She was tucked into Arlo’s sweater, and her hair was pulled back into the cutest little blonde braids.

“How do we separate the teams for Thanksgiving?” She asked.

“The hat.” Arlo said it like it was obvious as he walked through the dugout, pulling his hat down and calling out to Zoey. “Baby, it’salwaysthe hat.”

“Do you guys like to pre-plan that when no one is looking or…?” Ella laughed, clearly suffering from déjà vu. Her gaze flickered back and forth between her best friend and fiancé. “I just imagine Zoey scribbling names in the closet while you handle the safety scissors…is that how that goes, or what?”

Arlo chuckled, kissing her cheek in passing, and held the hat out to Zoey. “Wouldn’t you like to know what we talk about when you aren’t around?”

“I mean, yeah?” Ella followed him back to the group of players at center field.

“Before we get started, does everyone know the rules of recreation baseball?” Arlo asked loudly as Zoey dumped a bunch of pieces of paper into the hat. No one said anything. Most people had played in this game for years. My eyes wandered to Julien, who wasn’t even paying attention.

“Johnny boy, did you hear him?” I asked loudly and crossed my arms.

”Yeah, I heard him. I know the rules.” Julien turned his dopey-looking face toward me and rolled his eyes. I had to stifle the laughter that bubbled from me when he answered to the wrong name.

I could feel Dean’s chest brush against my back as I pinned my shoulders back and tried to control the urge to beat the hell out of him as an early Christmas present to myself.

“Embarrass him on the field.” Dean pushed forward against me and clapped his hand over my shoulder.

“You can guarantee it.” I smiled brightly but my eyes had moved to where Clementine watched me cautiously, waiting for the storm.

MATTHEWS

“God I missed you,” Julien cooed and the sound of his voice was like an ice pick to my spinal cord.

His hands wrapped around me and I hadn’t realized that, at one point, six or maybe seven months ago, Julien had touched me and it was the last time I had ever enjoyed it.

Now, every time he touched me, I forced down the urge to shudder.

“I’m still surprised you came down here,” I said. More surprised his mother had let him. She was not a kind woman and, after meeting her, it became apparent where Julien had gotten his passive-aggressive behavior from.

I hated everything about the situation, but causing a scene wouldn’t do any of us any good and, if I forced Julien to leave, he’d make it everyone's problem. It would be best to talk to him at home where he could flip out on me in private.

“When Ryan called I was surprised, but it’s incredibly generous of them to invite me and I’d do anything for my Clemmy.” His lips pressed to my neck and I forced myself to lean into it.

The teams were called quickly, and I knew instantly that Cael was going to cause trouble.

“Cael and Jensen are captains this year.”

I felt every important set of eyes turn on me.

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