Page 67 of Asher

“I’ll see you after.” Haley popped up on her toes and pressed a kiss to my cheek before calling to Nix. She held her hand out to my daughter and my chest constricted at the sight of them walking away from me hand in hand.

“You look good in love,” Mason said pulling my attention away from my whole world.

I rubbed the back of my neck, shrugging one shoulder. We didn’t usually do the mushy shit. “What are you doing down here? I figured you’d be posted up with Ry and Knox.” I glimpsed at my watch.

Thirty minutes until kickoff.

Mason grimaced. “Eh. I wanted to give you a head up.” My jaw tensed, as I crossed my arms, waiting for him to continued. He sighed, shaking his head. “I probably shouldn’t be telling you this, but Rylie said Haley was bent out of shape again because of Stella.”

“Fuck.” I scrubbed a hand over my mouth. I knew she wouldn’t be okay with what happened, but it still sucked hearing it.

“What happened?” He tucked his thumbs into his vest and widened his stance.

I gazed over to where I knew she was sitting. We were too far down the field to see her that well, but it was like I could still feel her eyes on me. “Did she say what happened?”

“No idea. I just know Rylie was ready to hunt the girl down.”

I rubbed my temple. “That’s normally Haley’s attitude.”

“Well, apparently Rylie is just as protective of Hales as Hales is of her. All I could get out Ry was that they had a bad feeling that Stella is trying to insert herself into your life and drive a wedge between the two of you.”

“I don’t think that’s what’s happening.” My shoulders tightened.

“What happened?” he asked again.

I tore my eyes away from the stands and focused on Mason. “Stella started a job subbing this week and Sheila asked me to show her around. I couldn’t exactly tell her no. She was in my office, sitting on my desk, when Haley surprised me with lunch. When I introduced them, Stella blatantly refused to acknowledge Hales and basically dismissed her.”

“You let that happen?” Mason asked surprised.

“I apologized to Haley, and then she left saying after telling Stella that she hoped she liked Orange Chicken.”

“You let Stella eat the lunch Haley brought for you?”

“No. She brought me Mongolian Beef.”

Mason’s jaw popped open. “You let Stella eat Haley’s lunch.” He spoke slow like he was attempting to wrap his head around the whole thing. “That she was going to eat with you.”

I squeezed my eyes shut, my chin dropping to my chest. “Fuck. That sounds bad, huh?”

“You’re a deadman.” He chuckled at my obvious pain.

“She seemed fine just now.” I pointed out.

Mason rolled his eyes. “Look. I know you haven’t dated in a while, but women tend to hide things and over analyze. You might want to get on top of that before it eats away at her.”

“Yeah.”

We walked down the field towards Coach Coleman, Mason’s father-in-law. “And I’m just saying, I never thought Faith was as crazy as she turned out to be.”

I scoffed. “You were the only one. We saw that crazy coming for years.”

“Maybe Haley and Rylie see Stella’s crazy when you don’t.” He shrugged and slapped me on the back. “Have a good game, Coach.”

My phone vibrated in my pocket again.

Haley

Have I ever told you I like your serious face? It’s hot.