Page 16 of Second Down Darling

Sorry, ’buela.She’s been gone for a few years now, but when I lose my temper, I try to remind myself of her.Abuelitanever got mad at me and my brothers, even when we were little dicks, which wasoften.

Staring at the ground, I take a few deep breaths until Charlotte’s beat-up Reeboks enter my peripheral vision. She got those for her birthday in high school. Dakota would never wear anything but the latest and greatest clothes that companies sent her to model on her social media. It annoyed me that she couldn’t just wear generic shit. That she always had to be so puttogether.

I don’t know why the hell I’m thinking about Dakota right now. If I could bleach her from my brain forever, Iwould.

“Asher, hi. It’s your aunt Charlie.Remember?”

I close my eyes when I hear her voice. Conflict wars within me. I can’t explain why it feels so good to be nearher.

And so fuckingmaddening.

Suddenly shy, my son burrows his face in my neck, and I lift myhead.

Charlotte’s light blonde hair is tied up, which makes her blue eyes huge. She’s wearing a t-shirt and jean shorts with those old tennis shoes and her face is free of makeup. She’s gorgeous in a natural way I’ve always loved. She’s always been slender, petite, but now she’s rocking a few morecurves.

My dick sits up and takesnotice.

What the fuck am I doing? This is my ex’s sister,asshole.

I tilt my head back to stare at the sky. Seeing Charlie again after all this time is like taking an unexpected tackle and getting the wind knocked out of me. It pisses me off that I have any reaction at all. She disappeared without a word. It devastated me in a way I hadn’texpected.

I finally turn to her. “No. He doesn’t remember you. Because youleft.”

Her eyes tear up, and I feel like an ass. I sigh and look around. Everyone who’s here for the photoshoot is staring at us. Dakota always made a production wherever we went, and it makes my skin crawl. Ironic given how much I loved being the center of attention in high school. After games, I felt like a god, strutting around campus like I owned the place. Now I keep my head down and try to get shit done without screwing up. It’s a tallorder.

I stalk off about fifteen feet until my teammates can’t overhear. Charlie is frozen in place, but when she realizes I’m waiting for her, she runsover.

“Is my sister here?” she asks, her voice wavering as she glances aroundnervously.

“Why the fuck would she be here? We broke up two years ago.” I could handle breaking up. What I couldn’t deal with was the way Dakota took off to Los Angeles without skipping a beat, never once bothering to see Asher. Her mom Waverly stopped by to see him sometimes, but even that tailedoff.

The shock on Charlie’s face seems genuine, but I’m not inclined to trust one of the Darling sisters. Fool me once and allthat.

“What happened?” Her soft voice, so full of compassion, really would’ve had me collapsing like a deck of cards a few yearsago.

“Don’t pretend youcare.”

“Of course I care,Jake.”

I laugh. It hits me out of nowhere, and I can’t stop laughing. It’s an ugly sound, and I kinda hate myself for being so cold, but I’ve been through hell thanks to Charlotte’s family. I’m not ready to play nice. “Really? So disappearing off the face of the planet without a word is how you show people you care? Good toknow.”

“Without a word?” Her eyebrows pull tight. “I left you anote.”

“Was something wrong with your phone? You couldn’t text like one of the other seven hundred times you messaged me?” My eyes narrow. “I didn’t get a damn note. You left campus and changed your number.” I know because, like an asshole, I called and called until I broke down and asked her mom what happened. Waverly flicked her manicured fingers over some invisible lint on her tailored dress and said Charlotte was being a brat and changed hernumber.

I’ve never known Charlie to be a brat, but then she’d never ghosted mebefore.

“I swear I left you a note. I waited until you went to the gym and Dakota had left for the day, and I used the spare key y’all gave me to get into your apartment. I left you bothnotes.”

It pains me to hear that she deliberately avoided me. “Where? Where did you leavethem?”

Her brows furrow again. “I put hers by the coffeepot with the spare key and yours under the playbook on your nightstand. I swear, Jake. I would never leave without sayingsomething.”

“Well, I never got it.” Dakota swore up and down she hadn’t heard from her sister. Although I do remember coming home one day and finding several trash bags by the front door. Dakota had been in a cleaning frenzy, which was unusual because she was not a tidy person. “What did you say in this allegednote?”

Charlotte’s cheeks fire up like she’s sitting under a heating lamp. “I, uh,well…”

“Spit it out, Charlotte,” I say as Asher wiggles, tired of sittingstill.

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