Page 95 of Scoring the Player
“You’re such a big man now, huh? Can disrespect me?—”
“Carter, stop.” Anaïs moves to stand. With effort, she manages to straighten her back. But her eyes…
Whoa!
I dart across the room and catch her just as her knees buckle.
“Anaïs?” Liz races over. “What’s wrong, honey?”
“I’m fine.” Her hands anchor to my arm as she stands upright.
“Let’s get you food.” Blue transfers her to his arms and walks her toward her bedroom.
“I’m fine, really. I just need to lie down.”
Carter, face stricken, moves in to help but freezes when Blue glares at him.
“Isn’t there some tax write-off gala you’re both missing?” he directs to his mother. “Can you just take your husband and go?”
“Now, that’s enough,” Carter snaps.
“No, Carter. Stop,” Liz says, wrapping her arms around herself. “It’s the least we deserve.” She crosses the room and picks up her bag.
“We love you.” Her voice is thick with emotion. “We only want to fix what we’ve broken. I don’t know how to do that if you two won’t let us in.”
Anaïs’s eyes well, but Blue’s face is neutral, like Liz hadn’t spoken.
“We’ll leave.” She raises her hands and backs off. “Please make sure she eats. We brought food. It’s in the kitchen.”
Carter stands there, between his wife and where his children huddle together. He opens his mouth, but the words are caught.
“Just go, man,” Blue says.
Carter’s face tightens like he’s going to hold his ground, but his chest caves and he walks out.
“Come on,” Blue says, helping Anaïs to her room.
A few minuteslater he finds me in the kitchen, making Anaïs a plate.
“Are you okay?” I ask.
“I should probably hang with her until I gotta catch my bus.”
I nod, then repeat, “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” He rubs his neck.
My stomach feels heavy from ingesting what felt like a lifetime of pain in a span of minutes, so it’s hard for me to buy the indifference in his voice.
I step toward him and wrap him up in a tight hug.
His arms hang limp, waves of coldness wafting from him, until his body softens in my arms, and his chest trembles against mine.
It’s gone in an instant as he pulls away.
“I should get back to her,” he says, staring at my chest.
I nod and hand him the plate.
