Page 32 of Play Maker

I catch Kolby’s eyes as he looks back at the bar, and then I catch … the moms all gathered in the corner, pulling money out of their purses and onto the table.

“What the hell are they doing?” I laugh.

“I don’t know, nor do I want to.” Riley yawns, which of course causes me to.

“What? Riley Brooks doesn’t want toknowsomething?”

“I …” She shakes her head. “They’re a lot.”

“No kidding.”

“No, Lo, you have no idea and will not until you have a baby growing in your belly and they drag you into a group chat that goes on for twenty-four hours a day. Well, except when they’re all together like now.”

“Twenty-four hours is a slight exaggeration, isn’t it?”

“No, apparently, once you have a baby, you will never sleep again, even when they’re in college, because all you’ll do is worry and be up all night watching the evening news.” She yawns again, and again, I do, too. “And that’s nothing compared to when you go through menopause, and have hot flashes, and …” She shakes her head again as she pulls a face and whispers, “Do you know some women shit while they give birth?”

“I must have missed that in health class.”

“They thank it’s helpful … It’s not. It’s …” She stops and grabs my arm when the lights flicker and the TVs go dead.

“Oh shit,” we both say when they all look back at us like we’ve personally made the TV go out with less than two minutes left. But that only lasts a second before every phone in the room chimes off, and their faces are glued to their screens.

I look around. It’s not just theirs; it’s Dad, my uncles—hell, even my moms and aunts.

“Hudson, what’s going on?” Riley asks.

He blows out a slow breath and turns the screen so we can see.

The group chat’s blown up, but not with memes or a schedule change.

711:Team-wide alert.

“All right,” Matthew’s voice booms through the now silent space, drawing my attention from the screen, “you’re all getting this at the same time. And you’re all under one roof. No one leaves while we sort this out.”

“Not everyone,” Jaleen Nicks sneers. He’s one of the few married men on the team, a wide receiver. “Boone’s not here.”

CJ nods once, assessing him in a way that is obvious to someone who knows him. “You’re right, he’s not,” he says sympathetically. “He’s right across from a firehouse full of trained security who are sleeping until they get tagged in so those of us here can rest our eyes at some point.”

“Must be nice,” comes from the crowd.

CJ schools his irritation. “Sixteen of the fifty-three men on the roster have wives, and twenty-three of you have kids. Every single one of you who moved to Blue Valley or the surrounding area has home security, and that was a choice you made even before we started taking precautions after the Vegas game.”

“And Boone got fucking shot,” Hart grits out. “He was there with us today when he should have been resting and healing, so back off, Nicks.”

Matthew steps in, “None of the moves the Legacy group has made is because we have a known threat. As we expressed earlier, we’re playing offense, so we don’t have to play D. This thing at The Stables—a transformer blowing—it’s very possible it has to do with the perimeter gate and new security going in. We don’t know yet, but we will.”

“You signed with The Knights, all of you agreed to the contractual terms,” Ava states. “You’re bought and paid for.”

“Jesus L, Ava,” Logan mutters.

“No, fuck that, Loggie,” she huffs. “We took a chance on every one of these guys in the place, and they have played their hearts out, but a big percent of them have contract negotiations after the playoffs, and I’m not looking to resign a bunch disloyal, overpaid bitch babies who wanna throw a tantrum whenDaddygives them some fucking boundaries.”

Luke steps in front of her, voice low, but in a silent room, his words don’t go unheard. “Princess, you gonna explain the bruises to our kids in the morning when I inevitably throw down with the first person who argues with you?”

“Love you, mean it, but I am a lawyer—they will not win,” she sneers.

Uncle Lucas starts chuckling and thenoof.

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