Against the Rules (Even The Score #4)

26. willow

CHAPTER 26

WILLOW

KING HAS A SECRET

I had one question to ask King. Did the ‘three year celibate’ thing get him easier pussy?

Three years without some. Who was I kidding? King was hot . No doubt, he was like the rest of the football players. The fine, upstanding gentlemen of Marrs University who fucked all over campus, labeling the girls as bleacher bunnies.

"Whatever," I muttered, turning up the volume on my playlist. "Doesn’t matter."

Music pounded from my headphones as I took the private hallways and corners in the training center I purposely sought out. I didn’t want to apologize to fifty people today. I just wanted to meet with my mom for our scheduled lunch.

My footsteps slowed as I caught sight of Kassie and Piper, crisscross on the floor, with a little girl in pigtails, glowering. She was so adorable. It was hard to take the anger seriously.

Her little arms were crossed tight over her chest, as she ignored them trying to talk to her.

Do I want to stop for this?

Ugh, I actually did. My little brothers were pretty easygoing kids, but they were always so upset when we had to wait for my dad’s office hours to finish. The little girl looked like she was getting put through the same treatment.

Pulling away my headphones, I stopped in front of them. "What’s going on?"

The little girl barely looked my way before her gaze shot to the linoleum floor, scowling. "I want June ."

King’s ex-girlfriend.

Was this her little sister?

June didn’t do anything wrong, but I really didn’t want to meet the homecoming queen who had King for almost three years. After everything, I didn’t think I could take it.

"Hey, Willow." Kassie thumbed towards the door across the hall. "We volunteered for babysitting duty while they have meetings."

June must’ve been around for a hockey thing.

"But we’re having fun, right?" Piper beamed.

"No," the little girl replied, irritable. "I want June ."

She looked so miserable; it tugged at my heartstrings. My big sister instincts kicked in and I joined them, sliding down to the floor.

"I’m Willow."

"You’re not June ."

"Yep. Not June. You’re waiting for her?"

" Yes ."

"If you’re looking for something to do tonight, June’s trying to convince us to go to a hockey practice thing," Kassie said. "They’re on their hands and knees begging people to come."

I quickly thought of the mics I had planned. "I have a thing tonight. And…honestly every night."

"You and King both."

I frowned. "What’s he up to?"

"Who knows. He’s been so moody lately. It’s driving the guys up the wall." Kassie shrugged. "You didn’t know King before, but I swear he wasn’t like this."

"I want June, " the little girl muttered, refusing to look at us.

"What about another coloring page, huh?" Piper pulled out a booklet from a small backpack. "I have one we haven’t gotten to yet! And look… ooo …a jaguar!"

"Do I get to know your name?" I asked.

The little girl threw me a dirty look. "Jasmine."

"What do you and June do together?"

"She lets me play games on her phone. She knows all of my favorite games and she has a special place on her phone for all of my games and she doesn’t put a timer for my screen time."

Oh my god .

Unsupervised, brain-melting crap, of course she wanted to hang out with June. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and pulled out my laptop. "I don’t know your favorite games, but do you like music?"

Confused, she nodded.

I opened a program, the one where I could jot down pieces and work with instruments, recording the tunes that bounced around in my head before I used my real instruments at home. I held my extra pair of headphones over Jasmine’s head.

"Can I…?"

She nodded and I adjusted them until they fit snug.

I pointed out the different instruments on the screen and let her play around. It didn’t take long for Jasmine to tap the keys, strumming a harp a million times a second.

I threw her a thumbs-up sign.

"Can you hear that?!" she shouted, as the girls laughed in the background. I nodded.

Jasmine liked the string instruments the best until I showed her everything I could do with my phone too. She hurried to pull down the headphones and tapped away happily on the screen, crafting her own dying animal sounds.

Kassie nudged my sneaker and threw me a smirk.

I shrugged, grinning.

"I know how to play the piano." Jasmine looked at me, excited.

It wasn’t the actual piano on my app, just the keyboard, but I didn’t correct her. My heart squeezed. It’d been a long time since I even opened that one.

Jasmine beamed. "Can you play piano?"

With a deep breath, I nodded.

"Do you make piano songs?"

"I used to."

"Can you show me? Please?"

I hesitated, hovering over the keys. But Jasmine wanted to hear this.

"Do you know Frozen? "

"I love Frozen! "

"I only know Let It Go, but I could probably guess the others." I pressed the first key. The clear, brilliant sound of a held note came through. Without even meaning to, my fingers flew across the screen, whipping them out with the metronome that ticked away in my brain.

Jasmine froze.

With the next line, I sang a few notes, and her mouth actually fell open.

I tried to play something else, but Jasmine kept staring at me in that weird bulging chameleon way kids do before they realize you’re not supposed to.

"Are you the angel?" she blurted out.

I stopped playing. "What?"

"I got a secret. Can you keep a secret?" Her attention pivoted to all three of us. "King has a secret. "

King?

My stomach clenched uncomfortably. She couldn't be talking about me, right?

Willow, how many times are you putting your hopes on him?

"We know who you’re talking about." Piper sighed.

"You do?" Jasmine demanded. "You didn’t tell me!"

"King has it bad for some girl with a b-o-y-f-r-i-e-n-d," Kassie explained, spelling it out. "We’re all trying to talk him out of it. That’s not something you do here in Houston. Unless you want to get s-h-o-t."

"I know you spelled something." Jasmine pouted.

"Oh, yeah? What’d I spell?" Kassie laughed.

"Spell it again."

My focus left Kassie teasing Jasmine, and I sank against the wall. King had another girl behind the scenes? Someone with a boyfriend?

I literally knew nothing about him.

Footsteps came down the hallway, accompanied by a parade of voices. Jasmine pushed up, abandoning the headphones to race down the hallway, shouting hellos.

"Mr. Dan!"

I froze when Lawson, and the crowd of people who always followed him, appeared. A huge grin split across his face and he stopped, the rest of his entourage stumbling to a halt.

"Good morning, Ms. Jasmine," he boomed, reaching down to shake her little hand. "Keeping the boys in check, are we?"

"Mm-hmm. Do you know Willow?"

His eyes flickered to mine, and there was a poignant pause. Slowly, he nodded. "I tell you what, I do know Willow, her mother is my wife."

"You’re Willow’s dad? "

He quickly shook his head. "Nope, that’s Dr. Pruitt. I’m sure you’ll meet him at the end of the summer."

I let out a silent breath, and it was so dumb, but I really did appreciate he didn’t try to brush away an explanation to Jasmine.

She kept talking to him about the drive here, and he listened with rapt attention. Just like he used to do with me when I was little.

"Willow and I played?—"

"I found some programs online," I interjected. "I figured it’d keep her attention."

I didn’t need Lawson telling my mom I was experimenting with music again. I started sliding everything in my backpack as the door pushed open across the hall.

Those weren't the Gladiators.

Those were the Romans.

In a hoodie and shorts, his dark hair disheveled, listening and nodding along while a couple of his teammates talked to him about something, King left the room with them.

My pulse quickened.

"King, King, King! " Jasmine hurried up to him. "Do you know Willow?"

Spell broken, I finished shoving everything into my backpack.

"Willow? Do you want to eat?" Jasmine bent down, trying to help me. "King said we’re going to Gianna’s, and getting pizza, and if you want pineapple, we can get pineapple on your pizza. I don’t like pineapple but if you want pineapple, we can get pineapple."

All the grumpiness, gone. She was so sweet, trying to convince me to come, but I couldn’t meet her eyes.

Because I could feel him looking at me too.

"You’re King’s little sister, aren’t you?" I whispered, trying not to let my voice crack.

"Uh-huh."

"Um—I’m getting lunch with my mom, but I appreciate the offer, Jasmine." I smiled and she matched it, all dimples. My heart melted a little too much. This was King’s little sister. I had to remember that. The more time I spent with her, the more King was there, silent, at the edge of my vision. "I’m sure I’ll see you another time."

"Do you want to come to my birthday party? You can sing there." She shifted back to look at King. "Did you hear her sing?"

"I have to go but it was so good meeting you." I squeezed her shoulder and took my escape, right beside Lawson. With a quick goodbye to the girls, I walked past King, like my heart wasn’t pounding in my chest.

"Do you—um—see Jasmine a lot?" I asked Lawson, fumbling with something to talk about, like I meant to take this direction.

"Not often enough. She’s a spitfire."

This was something we could talk about. No stepping on eggshells or glass. Jasmine had nothing to do with family drama. I needed to bridge that gap with Lawson and maybe this was the way to do that.

"You’re good with kids."

He chuckled. "No, I’m not. But I’m trying."

"Did you…ever want them?"

"Never thought they’d be in the cards for me. When your mom first told me she had some young ones, I’d never gone out with—" His words stuttered to a stop. "Not—not that I’m not thrilled for the boys to come. I—uh?—"

Holy shit .

I stared ahead, struggling to keep my face clear.

When my mom told him…

So Dan wasn’t ever just a work or family friend. They’d been together for years before the divorce. A sick feeling swirled inside and the two of us fell silent.

I could clearly remember my dad’s depression after the paperwork went through. Did he have any idea Mom and Dan had been together for years before that? Did he even suspect?

The implication hurt but if he didn’t know, this would crush my dad. I could call him and tell him, but I dismissed the thought as soon as it popped up. What would either of us get out of it? How would that benefit him? It wouldn’t bring anything but heartbreak.

Lawson cleared his throat like he wanted to say something but he offered a short, embarrassed nod instead. "I’ll see you around, kid."

"See you around," I replied, a dull ringing in my ears.