I stare at her surprising playfulness.
“Nice win last night.” Tracker rests his elbows on the far end of the island. “Those boys weren’t doing a whole lot to help you out.”
If he only knew.
“Yes, sir. We’ve got serious work to do to keep it up, but our defense isn’t really interested in the serious part.”
I would have never said that out loud before. I’m finding I care less about defending a group of guys who likely don’t intend to do the same for me.
“Well, you keep playing like that, and it won’t matter.”
His words jar something deep inside me. They sound similar to what my dad would have said.
“Ry, how was your first NFL game?” Vanessa asks.
Her brown hair is slicked back in a tight ponytail, and she sits stiffly at the end of the island.
“I sat between two drunk guys covered in body paint who reeked of BO.”
“You didn’t tell me that,” I say, wondering why she didn’t say something.
She shrugs. “There wasn’t much you could do about it while you were out there stomping your foot and tossing a ball around.” She shoves another cracker in her mouth.
We’ve been watching games while we eat dinner, and she knows damn well there’s a hell of a lot more happening than throwing the ball. She’s giving me shit. It means she’s comfortable here, and I like it. A lot.
“You didn’t kick their ass,” TJ grumbles, but his gaze remains on me.
She waves a hand. “Nah. They were harmless. I might have had to if they got near Cole, though. They would’ve smothered him.”
“When do I get to go to a game?” Jos asks. “It’s not fair. Ry doesn’t even like football.”
I lean back, almost correcting that statement because I’d like to think that’s not true anymore.
“When you’re old enough to handle sweaty men whose only vocabulary consists of four-letter words.” Ryder dips a slice of pepper in hummus.
“Isn’t that exactly what she does every day?” Jamie chimes in as she stands to help Hope pull food out of the oven.
Everyone laughs. The inside jokes and the close connections make me miss my family.
“Maybe I’ll take you next time.” Ryder glances at me. “You can help me not look like a loser who has no friends.”
“She won’t help with that,” TJ adds.
Ryder points at him. “Watch yourself before you and I head out to the yard. I need to talk to you.”
“No one is taking anyone out to the yard,” Tracker states. “Yet.”
“Ryder can’t show up to every game looking sad and alone,” Jos counters. “That will begin to look suspicious.”
“You all can slow down.” Tracker stops the planning. “Let’s see if anything comes out of this game first.”
“Fine.” Jos puts a small gift bag on the counter in front of Hope.
“What’s this?” Hope smiles, reaching for it.
“We all went in on it.” Jamie moves closer to watch her open it. “We wanted to get you guys something special for your anniversary.”
Tracker slides behind his wife as she reaches into the tissue paper and pulls out an envelope. She opens it and shows Tracker.
