Page 26 of Payoff Pitch
I place my hands on my hips. “I enjoy working with kids. It’s so fulfilling. Why is this a foreign concept to you?”
“Maybe because I had a shit mother and therefore I don’t have a maternal bone in my body.”
We hear a nasty, froggy female voice yell out, “Stop your whining. And stop with the silly ball playing. You two should be married by now.”
My head snaps to Kam, and I mouth, “Don’t start.”
We never FaceTime with our mother. He should know better than to call us when she’s around. And holy shit, her voice has gotten bad.
Before we can continue, I hear the front door of our apartment open. I get a glimpse of Ripley’s red hair, and I don’t want Kam and our father to get into things. I quickly mumble, “Daddy, Ripley is here to go to our game. We’ll talk to you soon.”
He blows out a breath. He knows I’m playing peacemaker. “Okay. Maybe during our next call you’ll chat with Mom for a bit,” he says hopefully.
Kam scrunches her face. “Ooh, I think I have a proctology appointment that day. That sounds more appealing.”
He shakes his head and sighs. “Love you both.”
In unison, we respond, “Love you too, Daddy.”
I end the call and look up at Kam. “Why do you start with the mom shit?”
She rolls her eyes. “Because she sucks. Thank god I’ve had you to mother me my whole life. Otherwise I’d probably be in jail.”
I notice Layton,Cheetah, Quincy, and Ezra all in the stands at our game this afternoon. Ezra waves at me and turns around, showing me that he’s wearing an Anacondas jersey with my name on the back.
I look over into the next section as something catches my eye. It’s Harper and Tanner. She’s waving like crazy at me and gets excited when she catches my attention. She turns around to show me that she’s wearing my jersey too. So cute.
Tanner smiles down at her. He’s such a loving father. He reminds me of my own in that regard.
This is the first time I’ve seen him in casual clothes. He’s inwhat appears to be golfing shorts, and an Anacondas T-shirt is spread across his broad chest. He’s just so hot.
When the game is over, I see Harper being hugged by all the Cougars. How exciting for her that she gets to be around so many superstars.
Kam, Ripley, Arizona, and I walk over to them. Arizona kisses Layton while Harper jumps into my waiting arms. I love how comfortable she is with me already.
I tug on her jersey. “I like your new shirt, sweet girl. Want me to take it to the locker room and have everyone sign it?”
She grins. “That would be awesome. Thank you.”
Cheetah nods. “That’s very charitable of you, Bails.”
Kam crosses her arms. “Are you not charitable, kitten?”
He winks at her. “I’ll have you know that I give about fifty percent of my money to Charity.” I smile at the sweetness but then he continues, “And when she’s not working, I give it to Destiny.”
The guys all chuckle. Fortunately, Harper has no idea what he just meant. Tanner and I look at each other and shake our heads.
He pulls Harper to him. “Ignore Uncle Cheetah. He’s a neanderthal.”
“Is he pompous, Daddy?”
Everyone looks shocked by her use of the word. I know her toilet paper is the reason for her enormous vocabulary, but they don’t.
Tanner smirks while he nods at her. “He most definitely is pompous.”
Layton, sensing a topic change is needed, says to Harper, “I heard a good joke. Want to hear it?”
She nods.