Page 11 of Honey Pot

Today was the day that the one reporter lucky enough to be awarded the privilege arrived to interview all of us. Dad said she’d be here for a few weeks as she got through the entire team and staff. They wanted both a print piece and a television piece. It felt like overkill, but the Shores wanted the press, and we didn’t have a choice. I wasn’t looking forward to their questions about my shoulder or the accident. It was healing from surgery, but it was sore, and Icouldn’t play for a little while. The timeline was completely up in the air, and ultimately it was Ella who decided on it.

Our sessions were going well but it was still tough to watch most of the guys on the team be able to practice like normal while I was stuck in the medical wing, rolling my arm above my head like a toddler.

Ella did her best not to remind me why I was stuck in that position but sometimes, when the whine dropped from my lips about the situation, she cocked her eyebrow at me and waited for the guilt to sink in. I had brought myself to that point and needed to work to get myself out.

They gave me the space to figure it out but Arlo leaving felt like punishment when it should have been something to celebrate. I sighed, slowing my pace to a walk as we approached the side door.

“I’m happy for you,” I said with a tight smile that I knew he’d deem as such. When he scrunched his brows together, I knew he had seen right through it. “I am,” I admitted. “You’re basically my brother, and I don’t know how to function without you around. I need a new brick wall to talk to in your absence.”

Arlo punched me in the arm. “I’m a great listener.” He rolled his eyes.

“Let’s agree to disagree on that one.”

“I’m going to go talk to Silas, you’ll be okay?” Arlo asked as I swiped my player’s card against the black box for us.

“That was always the plan.” I nodded, to be okay.

Arlo gave me a sharp, concerned look, waiting for me to force a smile on my face. I did it only for him. He stared for a moment longer before deciding he could trust me. Two fingers raised to his chest, he tapped, and I followed in unison. I’m fine.

He nodded, taking it to heart, and wandered toward the medical wing of the stadium.

Fine with the decision he made, but not fine with anything else. I needed to fix this.

Maybe there was something I could do. I ground my teeth together and turned tail to my father’s office. The little monster within me screaming forjustice, for blood. I didn’t bother knocking. I walked through, past his messy, unused secretary desk, and into his main room.

“What the hell is wrong with you, letting Arlo just leave? Offer him a long-term position, more money, something. You can’t just let him go to Dallas!”

Dad stared at me with a morose expression. He was dressed in a brand-new, button-down shirt, and his hair was washed and combed back. He looked put together for once, and it was unsettling.

“Cael.” He swallowed tightly. “It’s not a good time.”

“I don’t give a shit,” I said, stepping into the room further, only then noticing the girl sitting on the couch out of the corner of my eye. “Sorry,” I look at her properly, nodding, and then back to my Dad.

“Cael,” he said again as my head snapped back to the girl on the couch.

Short, dark brown hair brushed against her round jaw. Gorgeous, voluptuous curves covered in a tight shirt that framed her entire chest and painted-on jeans that extenuated her full thighs sank into the couch. Her lips were pressed into a thin line, but her eyes watched me with a tight, agitated expression.

“Clementine?”

MATTHEWS

2012

“Stop dragging your feet,” Daddy warned.

The cool air nipped at my skin as we walked down the path toward the Cody house. The trees were bare and the little snow that fell that morning had already melted. Typical Texas. I would give anything for the white Christmas they have in the movies. Just once.

“At this rate, Ryan will have the bird carved and eaten before we even get there,” Dad grumbled, the ends of his reddish brown hair had started to turn gray and his attitude grumbly.

Momma laughed under her breath at him and I didn’t understand why. Dad wasn’t that funny, he usually just complained about everything.

“What’s eating at you?” She slowed down to match my pace.

“Nothin’,” I mumbled, and she reached out to tug on a stray piece of my dark hair to get my attention. “I couldn’t find anything fancy for Cael.” I stared down at the small box and scowled.

“I know for a fact that boy will love whatever is in that box. He’s never hated a damn thing in his entire life, Lovebug.” She tapped the top of the box and smiled. “You could stuff it with dead bugs, and he’d still find a reason to love it.”

“That’s silly.” I laughed and brushed my thumb over the box.

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