“Where does she live?”
“In Malibu, in a place three times as big as this one. She has the maid come clean it but other than that, I don’t think anyone ever goes there.”
“You and Trystan never go?”
“We do, but not very often. We hate it there. She gets confused and calls us Brock, or Kevin, the dead kid’s name. Sometimes she’ll suddenly start screaming for no reason. Or she’ll throw stuff. She’s not our mom anymore. That’s why I say it feels like she’s dead.”
That explains why Trystan reacted the way he did when Brock told him he could live with his mom.
“Braden!” someone yells from the house. “You out here?”
Trystan appears, dressed in dark jeans and a white shirt, reeking of cologne.
Braden sits up. “What do you want?”
“Get your ass ready and let’s go.”
“I’m not going anywhere. I have practice at seven tomorrow and have to be at the gym at five.”
“You have to be at the gym that early?” I ask.
“Don’t have to. I want to.”
“He’s a gym rat,” Trystan says to me. “Works out more than anyone else on the team.”
“Which is why I’m the best,” Braden says. “So where you going?”
“We’re crashing a Warrior party.” Trystan smiles. “It’s gonna be awesome.”
“What the fuck’s wrong with you? You know those parties are off limits.”
“Not if we don’t do anything. We’ll drink their beer, make out with some girls, and leave.”
“Yeah, right,” Braden says. “Better not be anyone on the team going.”
Trystan shrugs. “There might be a few.”
“You’re joking, right?”
“Kade and Barron talked about going.”
“Fuck!” Braden jumps out of the hot tub and grabs his towel.
“Relax,” Trystan says. “They probably won’t even show up.”
“They won’t if they want to be on the team.” He picks up his phone and storms to the house.
“What was that about?” I ask Trystan.
“The football team’s not supposed to show up at Warrior parties.”
“What’s a Warrior party?”
“The Legion Warriors,” he says like I should know. “The public school.”
“Is this a football party?”
“Almost all their parties are football parties, or at least the only ones worth going to.”
