In the family room, Kappy was already on the ground playingmini-sticks with Lucy and a couple other tiny tykes.
Lucy ran up to Colt and practically jumped into his arms. “Good goal, Dad. And you smashed that guy in the corner.”
He chuckled. “Glad you liked it, how’d Mom take it?”
Lucy winced. “You made her nervous. She was scratching her neck and stuff.”
“Oh boy,” Colt said, plopping her down on her feet. His eyes went directly to Mer, who was talking to Piper and Ali in the corner.
“Play with us!” Lucy said, tugging on my hand.
“Yeah! Play with us,” other little kids called out.
While I didn’t want to be a jerk to the kids, I was desperate to talk to Ali. I watched as Piper’s hand went to Ali’s stomach, and I was instantly punched with jealousy. I wanted to—
Something smacked me hard in the cheek, cutting off my thoughts. “Ow, f—” I stopped myself from swearing and looked around.
“That wasyourfault!” A little boy with ice cream stains all over his face and shirt pointed his mini-stick at me. By the look of his pale blonde hair, I figured he was probably one of Andersson’s five kids. “You weren’t looking! Yousuck, McQuaid!”
Kappy and Colt both laughed loudly.
“Yeah, you suck, McQuaid,” Kappy teased while picking his mini-stick to resume playing with the kids.
Scowling and rubbing my cheek, I turned on my heel to walk over to our girls.
From across the room, all three women gave me very different reactions. As soon as Mer spotted me, her eyes immediately darted around in search for Colt. When Ali met my gaze, she gave a small, awkward wave. Beside her, Piper’s eyes narrowed to slits, reminding me of why we used to call her ‘Piper the Viper.’ I actually turned to see if maybe Piper was upset with someone behind me, but nope. She was full-on glaring at me.
With about ten feet left until finally making it to Ali, Piper marched forward. I tried to step around her, but she was determined to block my path.
“Yes?” I questioned, craning my neck to see Ali.
“You better not hurt her,” Piper said, jabbing her long finger into my chest. “I want her to stay here in Chicago with us.”
“What?” My eyes darted from her finger practically piercing my chest, back to her cold eyes. “Why would I hurt her? I want thattoo.”
In a swift move, she lifted her heel and jammed it onto my toes, making pain blind my vision.
“That”—Piper wagged her finger in my face—“is for what you did back in July, you little fuck boy.”
I blanched at her in pain. “I amnota fuck boy.” I looked to Ali for help, but Piper blocked her from my view.
“Let’s think about this,” Piper drawled. “You sought her out, convinced her to be with you, acted like you wanted her for real, but as soon as you slept with her and got what you wanted, your little story completely changed, and then you dipped. What’s that sound like?”
My mouth went dry. “What? No, no, I apologized, but it’s way more complicated than that, Piper.”
“Not to me.” She put her fingers up to her eyes, then speared them toward mine. “I’m watching you, buddy boy.” Piper gave me one last glare before making her way over to Kappy.
I held my breath for a full five seconds, willing the pain in my foot to go away, but it wasn’t working. Blowing out a frustrated breath, I slowly limped toward Ali, who was now giggling at my expense. Looking a little caught, she tried but failed to stop laughing.
“Good game,” she offered with a sweet smile.
“Thanks.”
As soon as I was close enough, she leaned slightly into my side and patted my chest, making all the tension drain from my body. It was such a simple, light touch, but it had me craving more. I instantly missed the cruise ship when we had no barriers between us.
A little ball flew into the corner of my vision, and I instantly snatched it before it smacked Ali right in the face.
“Good catch,” the little blond boy with the ice cream stains said as he grabbed his ball back. “Thattime, ya bender,” he snickered while running away.
