Page 14 of Mine

“He was my friend who got diagnosed with cancer when we were in middle school,” I said, looking around trying not to get annoyed.

“Oh, I don’t remember him.” He shrugged and it bothered me because Danny spent so much time at our house before he got sick. I don’t know why I was surprised; Tomás was selfish and if it wasn’t about him, he didn’t care.

“Alright guys!” A woman I didn’t recognize stood on a chair, dressed as Princess Daisy. “We will split you up into groups that should have a mix of football, baseball and hockey. Your group will go around to all the rooms on the floor that have an open door. You will have about five-ish minutes to give candy and chat, but don’t stay too long because there are a lot of rooms and kids who’d like to see you guys.”

“Once you have made it back to the original room you started at and you still have candy, please give the rest out if you can,”Valencia said, but since she wasn’t on a chair, it was kind of hard to see her.

“Damn, Romeo sucking up to the SM managers,” Tomás said, looking up and down my costume.

Another woman dressed as Rosalina started to speak.

“It was the only costume I had, not my fault the managers have good taste in video games,” I said.

“Damn, Princess Peach is fine,” one of Tomás’ teammates said, as jealousy roared through me.

“Hey, Romeo, is she single?” my brother asked me.

“No clue.” I shrugged, seeing Riggs walk towards the group.

He walked to Valencia, giving her a small smile that I noticed he only gave to her. Her face lit up when she saw him, and they spoke while one of the other girls started calling out names.

“Damn, it seems she is taken,” Tomás said, as another guy said they had to be fucking.

I scowled because of course, fucking Hunter Riggs had to like the same girl I did. Not that I would pursue anything because it was frowned upon to screw with anyone that worked for the hockey team, but I liked having her look at me just like that.

“Hermano, are you hooking up with her?” Tomás said a little too loudly.

“No soy un pendejo,” I growled.

I’m not stupid.

“That's not what your expression said,” he said, jabbing his elbow in my side.

I looked over at him with a bored expression. “I’m not dumb enough to shit where I eat.”

“Damn, for her, I might just say fuck it and have a taste,” one of the football guys said.

Fuck, my brother’s teammates were annoying. Just as I was about to say something, Princess Daisy called my brother’s name and a few others. Thankfully, I didn’t have to hear any more shit,but my fucking luck had me paired with Riggs, a baseball player and a football player that was thankfully not as annoying as the guys I had been standing by.

The girls started to pass around the buckets we were supposed to use, along with merch we could give to the kids. Valencia walked up to us and handed us the candy and merch.

“Here, Gomez,” she said, handing me back my bag. “Since you brought this, it might be best if it came from you. I also saw the hockey trading cards you put in there. I love that.”

I felt Hunter’s glare and I couldn’t help but smile.

“Damn, bro, way to show us up,” the baseball guy said, rolling his eyes.

I shrugged. “I’m just trying to help out, these kids are probably so familiar with being here that anything I can do to make it more bearable is not enough.”

“Thanks, we appreciate it,” Valencia said with a big smile.

“Anytime,” I said, as we followed her to the room we would start at.

“Fucking kiss ass,” Riggs muttered, as I turned around to give him a piece of my mind when Valencia opened the door, letting us through.

Seeing the kids was heartbreaking, but with each room we went to, I loved that we were able to bring them a little bit of happiness. One of the girls came to us as we came out of the last room, letting us know we could leave.

The other guys left quickly and when I turned around to see Riggs already speaking to her, I glared at him. I heard words like family and home game, which made me hope he was doing something nice for the family. When I decided to wait, I didn’t expect him to hog her attention, but then the faintest smirk appeared on his face. This asshole was keeping all her attention for himself, and thoughts that would land me in jail crossed my mind.

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