Page 44 of Power Play

God, she would have loved Harper.

Dad is firing up the pizza oven he had built on the patio a few years back just as the front door opens.

“Hellooo,” I hear my sister’s sing-song voice as she walks through the foyer. “I come bearing gifts,” she says, setting down a tray of salad, “and hockey players.”

Her eyes widen as she smiles at me, Levi approaching behind her.

“Ex-hockey player,” he says, sliding a huge tray of desserts onto the island. “Your dad wouldn’t tell me what to bring, so I figured I couldn’t go wrong with desserts.”

“Brownie points,” my sister says, pointing finger guns at him. He laughs and points them back at her.

“I see what you did there,” he says.

“And I see what you did. Trying to sweeten things up around here. Win some approval,” she says, snagging a cookie from under the lid and leaning back against the counter. She watches us both squirm for a minute, giving us a smug smile as she chews. “It’s good to see you, Buck.”

He smiles as she reaches out for a hug. He takes her in, but before she lets him go, she puts her lips to his ear.

“If you fuck with her, you know we will all come for you, right?” she asks.

I slap a hand to my face.

“Jesus, Demi,” I groan. But Levi just laughs and nods his head.

“I’d expect nothing less,” he says. Then he looks around. “Just so I’m clear, how many of ‘us’ know?”

“Just the kids. We wouldn’t take the fun out of you telling Dad,” she says, leaning back against the counter and popping the last bit of cookie into her mouth before that sly smile returns. Like clockwork, the front door opens again, and I hear Harper’s little heels clacking against the hardwood as she shouts my brothers’ names.

“Harpie girl!” I hear Tate call as he walks through the house. She squeals, and I can tell by her laugh that he’s picked her up.

“Okay, enough. My turn,” I hear Tyson say, and then I hear more squeals.

Out of all the things my siblings have done for me, the best thing they’ve ever done is love my child.

And spoiled her rotten. I pretend to be annoyed by it, but in truth, I’m so grateful. The three of them walk into the kitchen, and Tate hands Harper off to Tyson so he can wrap Levi in a big bro hug.

“Well, goddamn,” he says with a smile, “it is good to see you, brother.”

“You too, Coach,” Levi says with a slap on Tate’s back. “How’s the team looking this year?”

Tate shrugs and leans back against the counter.

“We’ll see in the fall. We graduate a lot of our starters this year, so it’s gonna be a tough one,” he says.

“Ah, you’ll make ‘em into starters,” Levi says with a casual wave of his hand.

My brother nods, then looks at me, tucking me under his arm.

“Enough about that, though. I hear you all have some fun news,” he says with an eyebrow raise.

I slap my face again.

“Jesus Christ,” I mumble. I feel the heat rush to my cheeks as I stare down at the floor. I should have known there was no escaping this. I should have known to play sick and stay upstairs. He’s going to run for the hills. Any normal person would. After being back in town for half a second, and being able to bag half of America’s single women between the ages of eighteen and fucking sixty, he’d be nuts to put up with this. We haven’t even gone on a real date. This is madness.

But the sound of Levi laughing makes me loosen up a little bit.

“Yeah, I guess we do,” he says. “But from what I understand, Mr. C. is still in the dark, and if it’s cool, I’ll be the one to tell him. Sound good?”

“Such a gentleman,” Tyson taunts him as he smiles and backs away toward the back door.

---