Page 106 of My Brother's Enemy
I gave him a little wave.
“You came back,” he mouthed.
I wanted to cry again, but I only drew in a sharp breath and gave him a jerky nod.
He continued looking at me until some of the other players tugged him toward the locker room. Once he was out of sight, trailed by Bruge, who had a hand on his shoulder, Mal sidled up next to me.
“That exchange is going to be all over social media in five minutes.”
I drew in more air. “I have no idea how to respond to that.”
“I have a feeling your time being in the background is over.”
There was a knock on the suite’s door. “I should warn you that my phone’s been blowing up since our first appearance onthe Jumbotron,” Mal said. “There are a few people here who’d like to see you.”
“Who?”
“I believe one goes by the name of Eric…”
I was already smiling.
He motioned to the door, and one of the staff opened it.
Eric came through first, rushing to throw his arms around me, lifting me up in a hug. Paul was next, holding up a hand in a much more calm wave.
Skylar and Zoey followed, holding hands, and both seemed to be fighting back tears.
Bertle was the last. He only glanced our way, his hands in his pockets, as he veered over to the counter to order a drink.
“Girl!” Eric set me back on my feet. “Do not ever do that again.”
“Do what?”
“Disappear.” He scowled at me, his hands still on my hips. “You got it? And you need to respond to my texts. You’re not the only one with abandonment issues.”
“I’ll respond. I promise. It’s been…” I felt light-headed. “It’s been a lot.”
“You okay?” The scowl vanished, and his eyes filled with concern.
I began to nod, then paused and asked myself the same question. Then I continued nodding. “Yeah. I will be.”
“Good.” He sniffled and pulled me in for another hug. “There are others who want to hug you, but I need to show you our signs from the game. And we’re going to Friday’s game too. We all already asked for the night off, because no way in hell are we going to make you see your asshole brother by yourself. Daniel Connors is going to learn he’s not welcome in the Grays’s arena. He’s going to be shocked by what we have in store for him.”
I tensed, but Eric didn’t seem to notice. He moved aside and then Skylar hugged me. “I’m sorry about how I treated you the other night. Tyler tried to tell me it wasn’t what I thought, but I didn’t listen. Then that article came out, and after reading everything, I realized I should’ve stopped to think about how Daniel would’ve treated his sister. I know how he was with me, and why would he be any different to anyone else? I pity his two little girls, that’s for sure.”
My eyes widened. “He has two little girls?”
Her face fell. “Oh. You didn’t know…” She nodded. “I’m so sorry. Yes. He has two girls from two different marriages.”
“Wh-what are their ages? Do you know?”
“I think eight and four?”
Dane had three girls. Daniel had two. I had five nieces.
I began laughing.
Skylar chuckled too, but she didn’t seem sure if she should be laughing. She moved back to Zoey’s side, holding her hand again.
