Page 64 of My Brother's Teammates

“Kitten, you’ve got to stop.” Ryder eased her back into Hudson’s arms. “That’s the second time you’ve put yourself in front of an angry man while trying to protect us. It’s sweet, but you can’t get hurt.”

“Did you hear me, bossy?” Jenny narrowed her eyes at him. “When I said I love you?”

Ryder grinned and nodded before looking back at Mike. “I heard you, Kitten. I love you, too.”

Mike crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head. “She gets that from her mother. Stubborn as the day is long.”

The three of us guys grunted in agreement.

“If my daughter is done lecturing me, I’ll finish what I was saying.” He cast a hard look at Jenny before rolling his eyes. “I was going to say that I did know your father for a small period of time. I can tell from our interaction today that you’re nothing like him. Hell of a better ball player, too, son. My father was a lot like yours. I didn’t know how to love Mary when I fell in love with her, either. You figure it out pretty quickly. You’ve got your friends to help, too.”

Jenny lunged at her dad and wrapped him in a tight hug. “I love you, Dad. Thank you.”

“What are you thanking me for? I’m not done with these poor fucks yet. Now that I’ve got them here, I’m going to put them to work and force them to answer whatever questions I have. If they’re going to be dating my babygirl, they’re going to need to spend some time here, letting me get to know them.” He patted the top of her head. “And I need to give them some advice. Clearly you’re just like your stubborn mother. You never put yourself in the middle of two men going at each other. Thankfully you’ve got guys with good heads on their shoulders.”

Mary Ramsey grunted. “Mike Ramsey, you’re lucky that I don’t march my stubborn self all over your ass right now. You tried to tackle people in our front yard again. You know Sarah Mallory is already on the phone tree, talking about us.”

Hudson rubbed his hands together and looked around. “Which house belongs to Sarah? I’m just asking for a friend.”

Mary tucked her elbow through Hudson’s and walked with him towards the edge of the yard. “I like your vibe, young man.”

Jenny noticed Jason sitting on the porch and walked over to sit next to him. She rested her head on his shoulder and smiled when she saw me looking at her. I left them to their conversation and realized Mike and Ryder were both staring at me.

“What?” I took a step back. “What I’d do?”

Mike grinned. “You know I was a defensive lineman?”

I nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“And you’re a wide receiver.”

I looked at Ryder and back at Mike. “Yes…”

The older man grinned even wider. “Some things never change. You wide receivers always look like prey to me. Want to play a game?”

I snorted. “No offense, sir, but fuck no. I know when I’m bested and I’d rather not get my head knocked off in front of your daughter.”

He laughed. “You sure? She’s got a real big sympathetic streak.”

I considered it. “Fine. Just try not to kill me.”

Ryder nodded. “Yeah, this is good. Tackle me, too. I also need some sympathy.”

Twenty minutes later, I’d taken three tackles while Ryder had taken two and we were both sitting alone with Mike on the front steps, pouting. Instead of giving up sympathy, Jenny was inside helping Hudson and her mom make a glitter bomb. Jason was sitting next to us, seemingly in a slightly better mood.

I rolled my shoulders and cut a look at Mike. “That last one was about your daughter, wasn’t it?”

He laughed and leaned over to put his arm around Jason. “Maybe. You did good today, son.”

Jason frowned. “You sure you were here today?”

Mike nodded. “You protected your friends when you realized you’d fucked up. You didn’t let me take them out.”

I leaned over and slapped Jason’s knee. “I really appreciate that. Now that I’ve felt a play tackle from this man, I think I would’ve died earlier.”

“I fucked up. It was the least I could do.” Jason sighed. “I’m sorry, guys. I don’t know if I said that earlier.”

Mike hugged him close. “Good man.”

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