Page 77 of Sneak Attack

Leave it to a five-year-old to keep me humble.

“I’m good, kiddo.” I set him on his feet and ruffled his mop of dark hair, so close to mine but in dire need of a cut. “I’m great actually, but I need to rest to make sure I don’t get hurt before the real season begins.”

“Oh. Right.” He grabbed my hand. “Come on. Grandma’s already given me a cookieandshe let me have cotton candy at the game today even though she said I needed to make sure I brush my teeth really good tonight.”

“Well.”

“Huh?”

“You’ll need to brush your teeth well tonight, not good.”

His little brows puckered together, and I let it go. He didn’t always need an in-depth grammar lesson. Behind us, the door opened, and Davis stepped in with a smile, a bouquet of roses, and a bottle of white wine bundled in his arm.

I took in the gifts and groaned. “You’re such a suck-up.”

He shrugged, shameless. “Got to become the favorite son somehow.”

“You’re not her son.”

A yellow and white checkered towel slapped my bicep. “Nonsense. You’re all my kids, always will be.”

“Hi Mama B,” Davis crooned and reached down to give my mom a hug, as he did, the idiot winked at me and mouthedfavorite. When she pulled back, Davis handed her the flowers and wine. “Here you go. Thought someone as beautiful as you should have these beautiful flowers.”

My mom smiled and laughed. “I can see a suck-up coming from a mile away you know.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking ‘bout.”

“Sure you don’t. But thank you. They’re beautiful.”

“Just as beautiful as you, Ma,” I chimed in, because screw him. Ifanyonewas going to be Ma’s favorite, it would be her eldestblood-born child.

Davis made kissy noises and kicked off his shoes and shrugged out of his suit coat. We’d come straight from the game, and I followed him. “Want to borrow some shorts or anything?”

I had an entire wardrobe upstairs for this very reason. Also, because when Jasper was a baby, his spit up could shoot halfway across the room. Doctors called it acid reflux. I called it disgusting and a pain in my ass and clothing so I either kept a change of clothes in my car, or more at my parents’ house in my own childhood bedroom. It was a guest room now, and no longer held my high school trophies or pictures of friends and maybe a poster of Taylor Swift above my bed—but we didn’t speak about that.

“I’m good. Thanks.” I headed upstairs and left Davis to help himself. After throwing on a T-shirt and changing into a pair of pale blue linen shorts, I was rushing back downstairs when the front door opened again.

The creak of the hinges was all it took for a ball of anticipation to knot itself together in my stomach before Marley stepped in, followed slowly by Eden.

Her hair was down today, curled, and fell halfway down her back, pulled back at the sides in a tiny clip. Wisps hung loose in front of her ear, and she had her head bent, watching her step and keeping an eye on Marley so I had the unhindered joy of being able to take all of her beauty in. Her deeply tanned skin, probably from years of living in Florida exposed at the shoulders, arms, and chest by a flowy pink tank top with ruffles at the V-neck. Her shorts were white, ironed, and so short I bit my tongue so I didn’t groan in appreciation.

When Eden forgot to look so miserable from all the pain our teenage, irresponsible actions caused, she was devastatingly beautiful.

As she stepped inside, my mom came around the corner from the kitchen, and Marley glanced up and grinned at me.

“Nice throw in that second possession to Butler.”

“Don’t forget about that touchdown run by me!” Hall shouted from somewhere deep in the house, probably sitting and having a beer with Dad, dissecting today’s game and the upcoming ones.

Marley grinned at me, and behind her, a stunned Eden had a soft pink rising to her cheeks. “Thanks, Marley. Missed you today.”

I skipped the last couple steps and jumped to the bottom, bending down to give her a hug. “Always with you, kid. Right here.” She tapped where my heart was, and a painful squeeze hit the same area.

Someday, and soon, that’d be the only place shewas,and it wasn’t fair.

“Right.”

“Would you like to help with the salad, Marley?” Ma asked. “Eden, lovely to have you, make yourself at home. Oh, Davis brought me some wine, would you like a glass?”

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