Carson tears off his helmet and flips me off as soon as Coach turns away. “Fuck you, Chavez. I thought we were cool?”
I take my helmet off and brush past him, making sure to shoulder check him along the way. “Not sure what gave you that idea.”
He curses. “I didn’t even talk to her, man.”
I don’t bother turning around. He doesn’t deserve my anger, but it fucking sucks for him because he’s going to get it. “Line up!” Dominique shouts and everyone hustles back into line.
“I’ll be in on the next play,” I tell him and nod toward one of the juniors on the bench. “You’re up.”
He startles to attention and then runs for the field, Dominique already shouting for him to hurry his ass up. I stalk toward the locker room and drop my helmet on the bench. I need to get my head on straight, but I can’t get the image of her sitting with him out of my head, my kid in the back seat. They looked like the perfect fucking family. Is that why she said no to marrying me? Fuck. To dating me. Because she’s already got her eyes set on someone else?
I drag my hand over my face and kick the locker. I need answers. Spinning in the combination to my lock I tear my locker open and dig through my bag for my cell phone, but before I even have a chance to unlock the screen, a call comes in.
Antonio’s name flashes across the screen and my stomach drops to my feet. Shit. My fingers fumble as I rush to answer, bringing the phone to my ear, my heart lodged in my throat. Is our little sister okay? Did Raul do something?
“What’s up?” I ask as sooner as the call goes through.
“Where are you?” His voice is tight, and my panic increases tenfold.
“School. Football practice,” I tell him.
“Can you get away? Somewhere quiet where you can be alone?”
My brows furrow. He doesn’t sound upset, just… tense.
“Already am. I’m in the locker room. I needed a breather. What’s going on?”
“Sit down.”
“Bro— ” I cover my apprehension with a laugh. “Get to the point. Who died?” I joke, because if anything had happened to Sofia, he would have told me by now.
“Raul.”
What? I stumble back onto the bench and clench the phone to my hear, hunching over as I stare at the ground. There’s a ringing in my ears. Antonio is still talking but I can’t make out his words. I catch pieces of what he’s saying but none of it is making any sense. “Missing. Found at … drunk. Choked on his own…”
I shake my head to clear it. “He’s dead. You’re not fucking with me right now?”
There’s a beat of silence. “Dad is dead.”
I haven’t heard him call Raul “Dad” since Mom left, and for some godforsaken reason, hearing it makes my insides twist into knots. It hurts. A physical pain I can’t describe, and all because a fucker who needed to die finally did.
“Don’t call him that. We haven’t had a dad in years. If Raul died, as far as I’m concerned, good riddance.”
“Fine. We’ll skip over the tears and heartfelt trip down memory lane. But we have a problem?”
I snort. “No. We just got a solution to our problem. A big fucking one at that.” There’s movement on the other line already, like he’s stepping into another room.
“We have Sofia,” he reminds me.
“What about her? She’s safe now. We don’t need to worry about that fucker hurting her anymore.” I rub at my chest, trying to alleviate some of the ache. Maybe I took a hit on the field and didn’t realize the pain at the time. I can’t think of another reason for feeling this way all of a sudden.
“No. Now we have to worry about social services taking her.”
Hold on a minute. “You can’t be serious.” She’s our sister. Our blood. We’re family. You don’t take family away. Social services didn’t give a shit about us when Raul was leaving bruises behind. Why the hell would they get involved now?
“I’ve already gotten a phone call. When the police were called after a maid at the hotel found his body, they ran his records. They know he has kids, and they know Sofia is a minor.”
“She has us. It’s not like she’s alone. You and I are both over eighteen. We’ve got this.”
