“She wants a chicken Caesar salad with a zero-sugar Vitamin Water. She prefers the passionfruit one, but any will do. I’ll pay you back when we get to the house,” I tell him.
“What? No.” Lyla tries to argue, but Jason nods and heads away.
“What the hell, Wyatt?” she hisses at me.
“Let me take care of you. I like doing it,” I tell her.
“You are going to have to tell me how you know so much about me. I don’t know nearly anything about you.” She frowns, relaxing into me.
“I’ll tell you anything you want to know. All you need to do is ask.”
She looks over at Kellan and Calvin, who are trying to pretend they can’t hear us, but I know they can. I don’t care, though. I will answer anything she asks.
“Later we will be talking.”
I nod, letting her turn to the others. They all start talking as I only add bits and pieces here and there. When Jason comes back, Lyla attempts to move to another chair, but I refuse to let her. I lost my appetite anyway. I’d much rather spend this time with her in my lap.
By the time lunch is over, she takes off toward her class. I offered to walk her, but she said she wanted to walk alone and get her thoughts together. I respect her enough to not force myself on her.
As soon as she is out of sight, I turn to Jason. “What happened?”
Calvin and Kellan come to a stop to listen in.
“I don’t know. I saw him holding her hand, so I got closer. She didn’t want him touching her, so I stepped in. I didn’t hear what he said before I showed up, but he called her his girl. I wasn’t sure if I should step in or not, but she seemed grateful?” He rubs the back of his head.
“You did good,” I tell him. “This group is a family, which means anyone we call ours is part of that. Always protect the family.”
“I offered to take care of him, but she told me he wasn’t worth it,” Jason tells me.
“He’s not. It would do more harm to our careers than his non-existent one,” I growl.
“He has a scout coming to next week’s game,” Kellan adds.
“How do you even know that?” I ask.
“You’ve got your girl to worry about, which means I get to stalk the dumbass ex. Protect the family, remember.”
“We sound like a mafia,” Calvin jokes.
“Don’t say that too loud. The Mafia is real. Last thing we need is the Catalinis or Westies out for our blood,” Kellan says sternly.
“Back to the issue at hand. Do you know which recruiter will be there?” I ask.
“Not exactly, but they are from Seattle.”
I smirk at them. “That’s good news, boys.”
“Why is that?” Calvin asks.
“I don’t talk much about myself, but I have a cousin who lives in Seattle. Actually, she works for Seattle, and guess what she does?” I look over to Kellan.
“I have no idea, man.”
“She recruits. If it’s not her that’s coming, I’m sure it is someone who works for her. I’ll give her a call. Maybe see if she wants to cancel. After all, they need good people on their team, and Kyle would be a waste.”
The guys all smile big.
“Diabolical. What would you have done if it wasn’t that team?” Jason asks.
