Page 2 of Tight Spot

“Am I going to have to pay off another scorned wife?”

When it came to Crystal, she had no morals, no values, no concept of respecting anyone’s marriage, and hadn’t worked a job outside pretending she was a social media influencer since she failed out of college.

She’d become the spitting image of our mother, and I detested her very presence as much as I still hoped she would change.

“Probably not.” She shrugged and poured her first glass. She’d have two bottles gone before I had to get to the practice field. “You didn’t bring my stuff in.”

“I’ll get it.”

Because I’d give her anything. Even if it killed me.

An hour later, I’d brought all of Crystal’s luggage in and moved it to the main floor guest bedroom. I was dressed to get to the practice field where I played for the Nashville Steel. We had an away game tomorrow in Raleigh, and today’s practice would be light before I would need to come back, grab something to eat and change for the flight out.

Shame.

I could have used a heavy workout day to unload the stress Crystal’s unannounced presence brought.

After a quick search, I found her outside, tanning in the sun despite the fact it was January in Tennessee, and it was only sixty degrees outside. It wasn’t normal weather, and it certainly wasn’t hot, but there she was, sipping her wine, bottle in a chiller next to her, wearing a string bikini, and holding her phone away from her face and snapping selfies.

My sister was gorgeous. Grabbed attention from every male as soon as she walked into a room or bar or club. Since she was only two years older than me, all my friends had wanted her.

In both high school and college.

It was too bad her beauty didn’t go beyond skin deep. Any good things on the inside shriveled and died as soon as our mom had an affair, ditched not only our dad and the house we’d grown up in our entire lives, but her children as well.

But long before that happened, I’d made a promise to my dad to always take care of her, and I wasn’t a man who went back on his word, painful as it was to keep it.

He’d been a pilot, gone a lot more than he was home, but he wasn’t absent. We grew up with daily phone calls and nightly games of finding where he was on maps he’d set up all over his home office. We’d put push pins in them every time he flew somewhere new and we’d play countdown games until he came back home. When he was home, we had him. All of his attention, whether it was my football or hockey games, Crystal’s dance or cheer competitions. Laughter over dinners. Board game nights. He’d mow the lawn and sit one of us on his lap on the riding mower and always, always, freely and openly gave our mom affection.

Until that fateful day he caught his wife sleeping with the neighbor. After that, all fond memories of time with my dad were just that. Memories. He might as well have left us that day as well for as little as we saw him after.

After Crystal drained three credit cards he opened for her, totaling sixty thousand dollars in debt, and then ghosted him for a year, he was done with her, but I still couldn’t let the promise I gave him when I was a little boy go.

I opened the sliding door and peeked my head outside. “Hey.”

She smiled into her phone and took a picture. “Yes?” She stared at her screen, treating me more like the help than the one person in our life who hadn’t abandoned her.

I was used to it.

“I have an away game this weekend.”

“Have fun.”

“Want to come?” There was a time she never missed one. Sure, I covered the flights and the tickets and the hotel rooms, but she’d always been there.

“I’m good here.” She laid her head back on the lounger and from here, I could see her skin covered in goose bumps from the cold. She’d do anything to get a follow, even freeze. “I’ve just been so stressed lately. I need the rest.”

Sure she did. Ruining marriages was a full-time job for her.

Lucrative considering she usually walked away with some hush money.

“Fine. I’ll be back after practice.”

She was back to staring at her phone. I gave her time to respond.

Wasn’t surprised when I didn’t get one.

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