“You barely make your shots, but I’m scared?” He smirked and shook his head. “You’ve been huffing those fumes too much.”
“Shoot the ball, Amethyst Stone,” I said, pointing to the basketball. “And when you lose, just be prepared to hear my mouth nonstop for the next few weeks.”
“Just like last time, huh?” he asked, and I nodded. “I’ma stop letting you win, Sunshine.”
“No, you aren’t,” I denied as he shot it and missed. “You don’t want to see me cry if you do.”
Chapter nine
Amethyst
She was beautiful; that was the only way to describe Yale, and she wasn’t even trying to be. The black two-piece swimming suit wasn’t anything over-the-top or intentionally sexy, but no matter what Yale wore, the shit was sexy. Her hair was pulled into a ponytail on top of her head, and she wore millions of gold bracelets and a necklace I’d bought her years ago.
She was right, I hated to see her cry. The only time it was acceptable was when they were happy tears; any other time, I made it my mission to keep her happy.
“Checkup, first one to five wins,” I suggested as we moved closer to the shallowest part of the pool. “And I don’t want to hear shit about losing when I dunk on you.”
“Yeah, alright,” she said, then shot the ball. It went in, and immediately she smiled and pointed at me. “You are about to lose, grandpa.”
“Man, go on,” I laughed as I went to get the ball and threw it to her. “Play or shut up.”
“I’ll do both,” she replied, and I shook my head. Again, she shot it, but this time she missed. I grabbed the ball, let her set up her shitty ass defense, then shot it. When it went in, she rolled her eyes. “Lucky shot.”
“Nah, that’s skills, Sunshine,” I laughed. She passed me the ball, and all it took was for me to shoot four more times before I circled her with a smile on my face. “You lost.”
“I let you win,” she said, waving me off.
“Let me?” I walked backwards until my feet didn’t touch the ground and waded through the water.
“Yeah,” she nodded and swam to me. Like always, I turned around and let her climb onto my back. Yale wrapped her shapely body around me and held on tight. “I’ve been letting you win for years.”
“Yeah, okay,” I grunted as I swam around the pool. “If that’s the lie you want to tell yourself, then I’m going to let you go with it.”
“Thank you,” she mumbled, then laughed as she rested her head on my back. “You know I need to live in denial sometimes.”
“Don’t I know it,” I nodded.
I continued to swim around; the only noise came from my movement through the water and the cicadas in the grass.
“I don’t think I’ve seen those in years,” Yale said softly. I leaned against the edge of the pool with her still on my back.
“What?”
“The lighting bugs.” She pointed to the right of us to show me the bugs. “I can't remember the last time I saw them.”
“They came out just for you, Sunshine,” I said, nodding. “They knew you needed to see them.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know,” I said, shaking my head. “That’s your story to figure out, not mine. I’m just here to witness it.”
“It’s your story too,” she said into my ear, then kissed my cheek. “And you’ll be the first person to know why the lighting bugs came back just for me.”
“I look forward to finding out.” My phone rang from the chair next to the pool, and I grunted. I had a work phone, a personal phone, and a phone just for the fucking Kilmores—and it was their phone that was ringing. “Ay, let me get that,” I said, patting Yale’s arm. She moved from my back, and I pushed myself up out of the pool and walked to the phone.
“Yeah?” I answered the phone, watching as Yale floated on her back.
“Meet up in ten,” Luther said.
