Page 35 of Tequila Tuesdays

She stopped dead for a second, then kept walking.

I didn’t know how much longer I could do this with her. We’d had the same argument about Gary so many times, and it frustrated me that I hadn’t controlled my temper better.

Before my dad died, I hadn’t thought much about Ava and her behavior. She’d haphazardly run the household and helped my dad a little at his firm sometimes. But other times she’d lain in bed all day or been so out of it that I knew better than to try and have a conversation with her. I had vague memories of her taking Olivia and me to the park or the library. But those times were few and far between.

My parents never talked to us about it, but when I looked back Ava had likely been abusing opioids for years. My dad had just buffered us from the worst of it.

Chapter 13

OnSaturday,IbroughtGary to the volleyball match and arrived early so I could talk with Damien about Shanda’s case. His team was playing one of the best teams on the roster right before my team’s match.

Gary and I sat on the grass and watched. They’d been playing for a while, and everyone was nice and sweaty. I became mesmerized by Damien’s tan, muscular body. It looked like he was having a good time, but he was also laser focused.

Zeke was just as handsome, and he didn’t get under my skin the way Damien did. But Damien was the one who made my heart jump and my stomach flutter.

Damien and Zeke played well together. If their back row gave them a decent bump, they had a nice system at the net, rotating who would set and who would hit. Finally, Zeke drilled the winning point into the opposing team’s back row between two players.

“Goddamn it, you morons! How many of those have you missed today?” A player from the other team yelled at his two teammates.

One of the players froze and looked stricken. The female player scowled at the jerk and fired back. “I didn’t see you block anything from where you were standing, Ray. You seemed pretty flatfooted today.”

Ray, the one who’d called his teammates morons, let out an ugly laugh. “Corey, you and Steve are the fat, flatfooted ones.”

Corey was medium height and build, and I thought she’d been a solid player. I would have been happy to have her on my team. The woman looked like she wanted to punch Ray, and I couldn’t blame her. The rest of their team stood around awkwardly, and a couple of them walked away from the escalating confrontation.

Ray backed up a few steps, and before I knew it he was on top of Gary and me. He tripped over Gary and went down hard on his ass.

Gary yelped and tried to scoot away. I quickly let go of his leash so he could move more freely, and we both scooted back from where Ray lay sprawled on the ground.

He got up and started in on me. “Get out of my way, and keep your dog on a leash,” he sneered.

I stood up and grabbed Gary’s leash again. “You’re the one who backed into us. Do you always treat your teammates that way?”

Corey came over and stood next to me. She looked like she wanted to go WWE on Ray.

I glanced over at her. “I know you want to nut-punch him for being such an asshole, but he’s not worth an assault charge.”

“It still might be worth it,” she said flatly.

I smiled despite the tension. “It just might be. He’s a dick.”

The other player Ray had yelled at turned to Corey. “Let’s go. I don’t plan to come back next week. Or ever.”

I looked at them. “I think you guys should file a complaint with the parks and rec department and have Ray banned for the season.”

“Who the fuck are you? Mind your own business, you nosy bitch.” Ray puffed up his chest and gave me a death glare.

I gave him my best resting bitch face. “The rules are clear that while general good-natured ribbing is tolerated, mean, belittling, cruel, biased, and racist comments are not.” I didn’t know exactly what the rules said, but it sounded good.

The team captain on Ray’s team finally spoke up. “She’s right, Ray. You were a jerk to Sherrie and Georgie last year too and ran them off. I can’t find any more decent volleyball players. So we’d likeyounot to come back.”

Ray’s face got red, and he started clenching and unclenching his fists. I watched in fascination. Someone took hold of my arm and gently pulled me out of the middle of the team’s argument.

When I looked up, Damien stared down at me with laughter in his eyes. “Hey, Legs.”

“Hi, Dimples.” I looked down and noticed he was petting Gary. “What’re you doing?”

“Making sure you don’t get hurt.”

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