Ryker
Don’t listen to anything they say, ballerina.
Kaleigh
Welcome to Book Club!
“You don’t get paid to check your phone when you’re on the clock, old-timer,” Jonah taunts as he throws the basketball at my head instead of the net.
Lucky for me the kid’s got no game and doesn’t even come close.
“Like I seriously wasn’t going to catch that,” I laugh and throw it back at him. “Try again. And I don’t get paid to hang with you.”
“Whatever. My presence is your payment.” He dribbles it between his legs, watching me with the kind of carefree smile you only have as a kid. Even one who’s already seen too much. “Is your girl talking with you? That why you’re ignoring me?”
“What do you know about girls, kid?” I think back to what Mav and I knew at twelve, less than half of which was right, and cringe. “Wait. Don’t answer that.”
He tries to get fancy and dribbles around me, and I let him, stepping back and smiling when he sinks his basket. “And the crowd goes wild.”
I chant and play along.
“Come on, Murphy. You were talking to Kyrie’s mom, right?” He looks me up and down exaggeratedly and finds me lacking, based on the look. “I mean, if she can’t have me, she might as well have you. I’ve met the kid. When do I get to meet the hot ballerina?”
I smack the ball out of his hands and do the few trick moves I know before slam-dunking the net. Overall—not impressive, but it’s not like it’s a football. “The ballerina has a name. And you’re not allowed to hang around Ryker anymore.”
“Whatever.” Jonah crosses his scrawny arms over his chest and tilts his head, waiting for an answer. “Okay, fine. When you gonna introduce me to... Ashton?”
I check my watch. “If we leave now, we can pick her up first and drop you off on the way to our appointment.”
“You got an appointment, Murph?” I swear some days he sounds like he’s twenty.
“Yup. Put the ball back, and let’s go.”
Jonah spins the ball in his hands a few times before dropping it on the metal rack and turning around, concern etched on his young face. “You got something on your mind, kid?”
His right foot moves in a little circle, and he suddenly looks like the kid he still is, instead of the teenager he’s desperate to be. One shoulder lifts and dips as he feigns nonchalance. “Just wondering if Kyrie is your kid now?”
“What?” I grip his shoulder gently. “What are you talking about?”
He shrugs again, his lips pressing into a firm line. “I don’t know. I just thought... I mean... You’ve got Kyrie now. You probably don’t have time for me anymore. And that’s okay. It’s cool. I get it. Not like it’s the first time someone walked away.”
“Come here, kid.” I tuck him against my side. “I don’t care who walked away before. But it wasn’t me. And it’s not going to be me.”
“Sure, it won’t,” he grumbles, refusing to look at me. “The season starts as soon as school’s out, and you’re going to be busy with Kyrie... and Ashton. You won’t have time for me.”
I bend my knees and get on Jonah’s level. “I guess it’s a good thing I come from a family of overachievers then. You see, I’m not too bad with scheduling. And you know, Kyrie could probably use a big-brother figure. I mean, we’ll still get our time together, and maybe you’d be willing to hang out with Kyrie too sometimes. Totally up to you though.”
He shrugs again, but this time he’s smiling. “I’d be a better big brother than you.”
“Oh yeah? How’s that?”
Jonah crooks his finger at me, and I move closer. “I hate to tell you this, but I’m way more fun than you.”
An hour later, Ashton and Jonah have met. My honorary little brother has hit on my woman, made her smile, made her laugh, and smiled at me over her shoulder when she hugged him close. I swear to God, I thought the kid might pinch her ass while he was at it. Lucky for him, he thought better of it. I mean, the thought would have crossed my mind too, but he’s sure as shit not allowed to.
He also declared himself Kyrie’s protector, and judging by the way he sat on one side of her while Gus sat on the other, I’d say the two of them are working together and maybe against me. But we’ve got time to figure that out. Oh yeah, and when Dillan showed up at the house to stay with Kyrie for us, Jonah went and hit on her too. The kid has mighty big balls.
“He’s adorable.” Ashton waves as we drop the little Casanova off at his house on the way to the hospital for her appointment. “Maybe I could...”
