Page 106 of Honey Pot

“I want Mary.” He pointed at me.

“Idiot,” Arlo groaned under his breath as I unlinked from Julien’s grasp and made my way through the crowd to stand beside Cael.

“You could have at least picked me after a fewactualplayers,” I whispered without looking over at him as Jensen chose Arlo.

“What happened to choosing him last?” Ella scoffed with her hands in the air.

“Thanksgiving rules, Blondie.” Arlo shrugged. “You’re just mad I got picked first.”

“You’re damn right.” She rolled her eyes.

“Dean,” Cael called out. “You know more about baseball than most of these idiots, you were a good pick.”

“I was a selfish pick,” I said under my breath.

“Prove me wrong.” Cael shrugged as Dean settled in on the other side of me.

I missed whoever Jensen picked next because I was too nervous that they’d pick Julien last and start a fight. Cael had been good all morning, as good as he could be without outright insulting him, but he was riding a line. Julien had made a remark about Cael being rude when we went to get changed into warmer clothes.

“He’s just protective,” I said.

“Possessive,”Julien corrected.

Cael scanned over the crowd. “Silas,” he picked, which was received with a chorus of groans. “You can’t have ArloandDoc, Jensen, shut up.” He shook his head.

Jensen narrowed his eyes on Cael. “Fine, I want Ella.”

“Fine.” Cael shrugged with a cocky smile on his face.

“Why the hell are you happy about that? She'll pitch and we’ll be screwed,” Dean growled, but it had been purely strategy and it became clear as Arlo started whispering to Ella in their group, her face twisted into a scowl and she shook her head at them.

“She got picked sixth, she’s already pissed off,” Silas laughed.

“That’ll only make her play harder,” Dean said.

“Ella and Arlo play their best when they’re in competition with each other, putting them on the same team creates discontentwithinthe team.” Silas nodded like he was proud of Cael. “Smart. They’ll spend the whole time fighting each other instead of playing.”

“Not just a pretty face,” Cael declared with a clapand chose Van.

“I see what you’re doing,” Silas mumbled to Cael, catching on to his game play before anyone else. I watched them pick people one by one, creating a team that might actually stand a chance to win.

“Lucas,” Cael chose next.

“Sawyer,” Jensen scooped up the next King sibling.

It was strange how much they all looked alike, with dark hair, tawny skin, almond eyes, and that signature scowl. Sawyer clapped Arlo on the back, his brown eyes flickering toward our group with a smirk, and Arlo gave him a quiet, tight laugh before turning to Ella. Cael had miss-stepped somewhere and they had picked up on it faster than us, but what was it?

“What are they whispering about?” I asked Dean who was watching them as well.

“Luc hurt his pitching arm in his final season, he hasn’t played baseball since. It was an odd pick to take him over Sawyer,” Dean explained.

“Sawyer plays shortstop.” Cael shook his head. “But not better than I do, I wasn’t going to lobby for a position on my own team.”

I couldn’t stop the laugh that bubbled from me. They took the game much more seriously than I had expected them to. “Isn’t this supposed to be fun?” I asked.

“That went out the window when your ex showed up.” Dean nodded to Julien.

“Cael’s not going to do something stupid is he?” I turned to look at Dean who just smiled down at me.

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