Page 100 of Player Problems

“Savage,” Beau says with a nod of approval.

I make eye contact with both him and James. “Remember that before you walk into that house. Stop trying to piss me off.”

Beau nudges me with his arm. “Come on, Tor. We weren’t trying to piss you off.” When I arch a brow he huffs. “Just annoy you a little.”

“Same thing.”

James mutters his apology and a promise to be on his best behavior. Wells and Isla are too busy bickering about his shirt now, and Baylor finally takes a deep breath and turns off the truck. “Okay, I’m ready. Let’s do this.”

Contrary to how they’ve been behaving all morning, all four guys are on their best behavior when I introduce them to my grandma, mostly. Baylor only stumbles over his words a little bit when he hands her the flowers and thanks her for having them.

My grandma is smitten with him from the first second her eyes land on him. Though she does have a little judgment in her gaze when her eyes land on Wells, making even Baylor laugh. Beau opens his arms wide as he catches sight of her, greeting her with a grin. “Grandma!”

That idiot. Of course my grandma loves it, and she might even feel him up a little bit while she hugs him back. James follows with his own hug, blushing the whole time as he apologizes for how loud the house will be over the next few hours. “I brought a bottle of wine though. Torryn said you prefer reds and this is one of my mom’s favorites.”

I don’t think my grandma knows what to do with the overflowing attention and noise. Even with three kids growing up in this house, we were a relatively quiet crew. The age gapbetween each of us was large enough that we didn’t have very many sibling squabbles.

I hand her the pies Isla and I made and steer her into the kitchen to have a moment alone while Isla leads the guys to the living room to get comfortable. “Where are the kids?” I ask to distract her from the conversation currently happening where Wells is trying to decide if he should take his shirt off or not. Must be miffed he didn’t get a hug.

Before she can answer Beau is calling my name. “Oh my gosh, is this you as a baby?” I catch sight of him holding up a picture frame and examining it closely.

“No, you idiot. That’s my sister. Now put it down.”

“Yeah, you idiot,” Baylor echoes. “Torryn’s eyes are more blue than that.”

My grandma raises her brow in question but I’m not touching that topic with a ten-foot pole. She’s already asked me if I was dating any of the guys when I asked if they could join us. Of course she remembered our conversation from the football game and asked about Baylor again. I told her no then. It’s still a no now. I have a feeling I’m not the only one she asked though, and apparently Isla can no longer be trusted. “Where are the kids?” I ask again, attempting to drown out the sound of Beau making fun of Wells and Baylor. “I’m dying for some mature company.”

She snorts and points upstairs. “I’m surprised they aren’t down here yet, they were waiting for you to get here to take them to drop off the cookies to the neighbors.”

“They didn’t have to wait for me.” They haven’t waited for me since I left the house. They’re both old enough to walk around the cul de sac alone. It’s not like we haven’t all done it together every year since we moved in with my grandparents. Even before that actually. For as long as I can remember, everyThanksgiving we helped drop off cookies my grandma made for all the neighbors.

She gets a cagey look in her eyes as she drops them from mine, studying the pies we brought instead. “They’ve missed doing it with you.”

Guilt makes my stomach turn for even asking. “I’ll go find them,” I say instead, not wanting her to know how badly those words hurt. I’ve done my best to still always be there for my family, but with all the extra shifts I’ve been picking up, there hasn’t been as much time to make it out this way as I normally do. I haven’t even seen them since the homecoming game and phone calls just aren’t the same.

Before I even make it out of the kitchen, I hear a commotion on the stairs and sure enough it’s Rayne and Kanyon pushing each other to try and get to the bottom first. “Don’t run on the stairs,” I scold both of them.

Their eyes light up when they hear my voice, completely ignoring what I told them as they continue to rush down. “Ryn!” Rayne yells, jumping down the last few and launching herself at me as soon as I’m within distance. I catch her, just barely, and am almost knocked backwards when Baylor catches me by the hips and steadies me.

“Rayne Gray!” I chastise. “You damn near killed me.”

She giggles, pushing her dark hair out of her face and squeezing me tighter, her little arms wrapped around my neck while her legs wrap around my waist. I kiss the top of her head, unable to stay mad at her. “You’re getting too big for this.”

“No, I’m not,” she denies.

You’d think she was still five and not almost eleven years old the way she’s clinging to me. I love that she still feels like a little girl, but the growth spurt she had over the summer does not agree. “Alright, get down before I drop you.” I give her an extra squeeze to lessen the comment and she finally stands on her owntwo feet. I chuckle as I look her over. Her hair is nearly to the middle of the back now and hangs in loose waves. I can tell my grandma tried to style it this morning, but whatever ties or bows she put in it are long gone. She’s in a new burgundy dress and a black sweater but at least she also has tights on since she would have just flashed a room full of people she’s still ignoring.

Kanyon, on the other hand, froze in his tracks when he saw all the guys in the living room watching them. He’s wearing black jeans and a plain black tee and I just know this was his compromise for whatever sweater my grandma tried to get him in. He looks older, taller, not nearly scrawny enough. When did he actually start gaining muscle?

I trade looks with Isla and she has the same frown on her face. We agree. We don’t like it.

Kanyon makes it to the bottom of the stairs and gives me a one-armed hug and I have to stifle a laugh at how awkward he’s being with the guys here. “Good to see you, Ryn,” he says so formally.

It takes a lot of willpower not to tease him, but I hold it in. Isla does not. She shoves his shoulder when he tries to give her the same, weird, half hug. “That is not how you say hi to us, Kan!”

He groans, wiping his hands over his face. “I’m sorry. You’re right.” He drops his voice to a whisper, meant just of the three of us. “It was just weird seeing a bunch of men I don’t know in my living room.”

I run my hand over his dark hair, messing up the perfect swoosh he had it styled in. He bats my hand away in annoyance. “You’re never embarrassed of us in front of your friends.” The guys all stand back, watching the interaction unfold as if it’s the most riveting thing they’ve ever witnessed.

---