Page 57 of Girl Going Nowhere

My eyes go to the little girl in question, feeling the ice coating my chest melt a little. Thinking about a future full of happiness is all I can focus on.

Emily and I chat for the rest of the ride until I hang up to carry the sleepy girl from the bus stop to our apartment with the rest of our stuff. When I walk in, I smell the food that makes my stomach rumble before I see it waiting for me at the table. There’s a glass of water at one spot, a cupcake beside it from my favorite bakery, and a smiling celebrity lookalike in the seat across from it.

“You didn’t have to do all this,” I tell Brodie.

He lifts one of those broad shoulders. “I know. But you need something good in your life.”

I can feel the tears build behind my eyes, so I have to fight them off as hard as I can. Walking over, I peck Brodie’s cheek before gesturing toward Maia’s heavy body. “I’m going to put her down for the night.”

“Want help?”

Always.“No,” I answer instead. “I’ve got it.”

But because he knows me well, he follows me anyway.

And when the first tear falls, he simply swipes it away with his thumb, goes to Maia’s dresser, and asks, “The pink cat pajamas or the colorful llamas?”

Sniffling, I murmur, “I hate you sometimes.”

He chooses the cat pj’s, passing them to me with a knowing grin. “No, you don’t.”

No. No, I don’t.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Dante

The sports complexis ritzier than I expect it to be, but I guess that’s what happens when the team it’s home to is worth billions. It makes knowing somebody who plays for them that much more impressive, even if there’s a nagging suspicion that’s nestled its way under my skin since my conversation with Brodie last week.

I walk up to the reception desk, where a middle-aged woman sits. “I’m here to see my—”

“Hey,” I hear called out from a familiar voice. I turn to see Rafael jogging over to me with a duffel thrown over his shoulder. “He’s with me, Meredith.”

The woman, Meredith, smiles at him with a beaming face. “Good practice today?”

My brother shoots her a wink, making her blush. “I’m not limping out of here this time, so it’s definitely a good day. Can you get my brother a visitor’s pass so he can come to games? I saw Trav get one for his uncle yesterday.”

“Oh, how nice! I didn’t know you had a brother. I can see the resemblance.” She turns to me, skimming me from head to toe. “You have the physique of a player. Are you in the industry?”

It’s Rafael who laughs like that’s the funniest thing he’s heard. “Love the guy to death, but he’s not the athlete in the family.”

My jaw tics at the snide comment. How would he know? Out of all the conversations we’ve had, he’s never asked if I’ve played sports. It’s always been his territory, so he doesn’t like broaching it if it means he could be outdone. Which is why he doesn’t know that I was the top scorer in basketball most of my high school career or won my school three different trophies for the one-hundred-meter dash on the track team.

Do I correct him? No. I let him have his moment since he obviously holds on to it so tightly. After all, I’m not the one playing for a major league baseball team.

Meredith smiles at me, but it’s not the same way she looks at my brother. “I’ll need you to fill out some information so we can get you on the family and friend’s all-access list.”

I look to Rafael. “You don’t need to do that. It’s hard for me to get out here with my schedule. It’d be better put to use elsewhere.”

Rafael scoffs. “Who else would use it?”

He’s got family on his mother’s side that I know he keeps in contact with. They live closer to Philly than I do. “Your mom, for one.”

His lips twitch briefly before perking up when he turns toward Meredith. “I’ll get that stuff filled out for him later.” He jabs me with his elbow and gestures toward the front doors. “Come on.”

The fact he hasn’t asked why I chose to come here is alarming, considering I’ve never brought up coming before. He knows damn well it’s not to get free shit. I rarely ask for anything, much less handouts.

When he walks us to a red Corvette in the nearest lot, I stop and stare as he unlocks it with the key fob he pulls out of his pocket. “Where is your Buick? You loved that thing.”

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