Page 8 of Claimed By The Orc

“Oh look, Tanner will agree with me!” Kenzie yelled. She jumped off her chair so she could stand in front of me, her little arms crossed over her chest. Kenzie was the odd one out. All the rest of us had dark brown hair, brown eyes, and tan skin. Then there was Kenzie, pale, blue eyes, and blonde. It must’ve come from her dad because the rest of us all looked like Mom. Not that we would ever know. I still remembered the day Mom had sat us down with sad eyes but a happy smile to tell us that there would be another baby coming.

She’d already been sick, and I’d freaked out. I’d almost been 17, a junior in high school and on my way to securing a full scholarship to college for football. I’d pushed her on who the father was, but she wouldn’t budge. She’d insisted that this baby was our sibling and that was all that mattered.

I guessed at the end of the day, that was true. I loved Kenzie just as much as Jake, Lucy, and Mia.

“What will I agree with?” I asked her, trying to keep the humor out of my voice. I met Jake’s eyes to let him know I wasn’t going to undermine his authority on this. He might’ve been a kid too, but they needed to listen to him.

“That it’s a celebration so that means ice cream before dinner is fine!”

I ran my fingers through her blonde locks, smiling. “It is a celebration. But we still need to fill our bellies with real food.” She started to pout. “How about we eat ice creamafterthe pizza? Even at birthday parties, you eat the cake afterward, right?”

She tilted her head up, thinking before finally sighing. “Yeah, I guess.” I kissed her head. “Good. Now why don’t you get washed up before the food gets here.” I looked at Mia and Lucy, who were 10 and 11 respectively. “You too.”

There was some mumbling, but the girls all left, and I turned to Jake. “Thanks,” he muttered. “The pizza should be here in 15.”

“Ok, great.” I sat down at the table and waited him out. I sensed he wanted to talk about something and didn’t want to rush him. Jake had always been a thinker, even when he’d been little. He was careful with his words and wouldn’t say anything until he was sure. That was a quality that had skipped me in the gene pool.

He grabbed a can of soda out of the fridge and came and sat down. I raised my eyebrows at the choice. Soda was usually a weekend drink.

He smirked at me. “It’s a celebration.”

Snorting, I sighed. “You’re right. You could have gotten me one at least.”

Jake grinned and bounced up to get me a can and then he sat back down. Once again, we both sat quietly while I waited for him to spill. “Coach told me scouts are gonna be at the playoff games. He thinks I have a good chance of catching their eye.”

I grinned, pride swelling in me. “That’s fucking awesome, man. ‘Course they’re interested in you. You’re amazing.”

Jake smiled but then got serious. “I kinda want to tell them not to bother.”

“The fuck?” It came out before I could stop it. “Why would you do that?”

My brother sighed heavily before sinking back in the old wooden kitchen chairs. I had found the whole set on the side of the road, and the two of us had spent a weekend sanding them down and repainting them in bright colors that matched nothing but made us happy. He gave me the side-eye. “C’mon, Tan. You know why. There are no good baseball programs around here. Coach said the scouts are coming from Florida, Georgia, maybe even one from Colorado. I can’t go to fucking Colorado.”

My first thought was to shut that bullshit down immediately, but I stopped the words before they blurted out, thankfully. Jake had thought about it, clearly, and I wasn’t going to dismiss him like that.

“Because of Mom?” I asked quietly.

He shrugged, finally looking like the sulky teen I’d been at his age. “She’s part of the reason. I don’t wanna be so far away if—” He cut off, but he didn’t need to finish. I got it. I’d only been an hour away and it had felt like torture. Every time I’d gone to sleep that one semester away, I’d wondered if I’d get a call in the middle of the night, and that had been before she’d taken a turn for the worse. Then that call had happened and everything had shattered. I could understand why Jake was reluctant to deal with that. He’d only been 11, but I knew he remembered.

“I understand,” I said quietly.

“It’s not only that. How can I leave? The girls are still so young and they need a lot, especially Kenzie. And Aunt Judy is fucking useless.”

I couldn’t help it; I barked out a laugh. “So fucking useless,” I agreed. Maybe it was wrong, but I was still pissed at her, and it was easier to have a viable target for our anger than throwing it around.

But then what Jake was implying finally hit and it hurt. “Jake . . . I don’t want you to feel obligated to stay here. Youdeserve a chance to go for your dreams. You’ve been talking about playing for the Nats since you were 2 years old.”

Jake smiled sadly at me. “What about you?”

I frowned. “What about me?”

“All those Aaron Rogers and Drew Bree posters that you covered our room with were just for fun?”

I snorted. “Maybe I thought they were hot.”

He wrinkled his nose. “I hope you have better taste than that. Besides, I clearly remember you whispering Channing Tatum’s name in your sleep.”

I laughed. Fuck, he was such a good kid. “Shut up. I did not.” I totally had. And not only in my sleep either. His name had been thrown around a lot in the shower too.

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