She turns her head away and gives me the silent treatment. Spoiled brat.
I sigh. “Fine, I’ll make extra bacon too.”
Bark. Bark.
I rub my nose against her wet one. “I knew you’d understand. Let’s see what Chef Benny has for us in the refrigerator.”
Chef Benny is my house manager, for lack of a better term. It’s not as pretentious as it sounds. Benny was drafted out of college by the Camels a few years ago. In his very first game, he suffered a career-ending knee injury. It was heartbreaking and only made worse by the fact that his fiancée was pregnant at the time. Rookie contracts aren’t very big. While the team took care of him for another two years, he was struggling to make ends meet. It coincided with my getting BJ and buying a big house in the suburbs. He happens to be an amazing cook, a gifted handyman, and a hard-working guy. I offered him a job where he helps around the house, does my grocery shopping, meal preps for me at times, and stays with BJ when we’re on road trips. I overcompensate him, and I’m completely okay with that. I know how fortunate I am to make the kind of money I do. With one unlucky twist of fate, I could easily have been in Benny’s shoes.
BJ and I take in the contents of my always-full refrigerator. With my bestie next to me, I cook her favorite breakfast. She prefers French toast and bacon in the morning, just like her daddy.
While I’m at the stove, I pull up my sister’s contact information on my phone. Jagger is technically my half-sister, given that we have different mothers, but there’s nothing half about our relationship. Even though we only lived together for herfirst two years of life, we’re very close. She lives with my dad and his wife in Maryland. They’re about two hours away from me, and I do my best to see them as much as possible. I can’t believe Jagger will leave for college in a little over two years.
She answers right away. “Hey, D.”
“Hey, Jag. Any juicy gossip for me? What’s the latest on Wysteria Lane?”
She giggles at myDesperateHousewivesreference. “Same old shit. My mom wore a thong to the neighborhood pool party barbecue yesterday. Half the men nearly stroked out.”
I chuckle at Ashleigh Humblecut’s antics. My mother passed away when I was a little boy. Years later, my father met and married Ashleigh, twenty-five years his junior, putting her at only eight years older than me. Besides a little Botox, lip fillers, and a breast augmentation, Ashleigh’s body gives Pilates a good name. And shelovesto show it offallthe time. She’s a bit ditzy, but, fortunately, Jagger got my father’s brains. She’s super smart.
Unfortunately, Jagger received every ounce of good looks from my dad and Ashleigh, getting the best of both of them. She’s grown up a ton in the past year and, much to my chagrin, is garnering a lot of attention from the inferior sex.
“Sis, your mom is one of a kind.”
“Yep,bro. Sometimes I think half the guys who ask me out only do so to see her prance around in her tight clothing.”
I scoff. “Are you nuts? You’re gorgeous. I don’t want you coming to my games anymore. I know the guys on my team are going to bust my balls about you.”
She lets out a laugh. “Ha! I wouldn’t mind an intro to your new guy, Reece Sanders.”
I curl my lips in disgust. “Ugh. He’s a douchebag.” He’s a rookie on our team. He acts weird around our gay teammate, Champ Williamson, and none of us care for that kind of behavior. Champ is a star running back who was traded to the Camels this off-season. He’s an awesome guy and has fit rightin with our group. Reece, on the other hand, is universally disliked for his disgusting bigotry and unappealing immaturity.
“What about Beau Fudd?” she coos. “His muscles are so hot. There are countless TikToks about his big thighs.”
I growl. “While I love Beau like a brother, he’swaytoo old for you.”
She lets out a loud laugh. “Ha! I’m just fucking with you. They’re all too old. There’s one guy at school I like, and he seems to like me too. His name is Will.”
“What’s his address?” I practically yell. “I need to do a background check and pay him a visit.”
She giggles again, which is always music to my ears. “Oh stop it.” I wasn’t joking. “Are you coming home soon? I miss you, bro.”
And this right here is why I couldn’t accept the huge contract that was offered to me from the team out of Arizona. My contract with the Camels ended recently, and Arizona offered me big-time, life-changing money. More than I could ever spend. But I didn’t want to be a flight away from my family. A car drive where I can go home for dinner on any given night was my priority. I won’t miss big events in Jagger’s life. She’s going to have proms, graduations, and other things that I want to be at. Initially, the Camels wouldn’t match Arizona’s offer, but my agent and friend, Tanner Montgomery, negotiated like a boss and eventually got them to. I will play the rest of my career here in Philly.
“We have a bunch of off-season training coming up,” I answer, “but I’ll shoot home for dinner one night soon.”
“Cool. Oh, you’ll love this one. I told my mom that WTF means,wow that’s fantastic.” She starts laughing. “Now she uses WTF inappropriately all the time.”
“Oh my god, that’s classic. I can’t wait to hear her use it.”
“My friends think she’s nuts.”
“Sheisa little nuts.”
“Facts. Hey, I gotta go to school. Love you, D.”
“Love you too, Jag.”
