Chapter 20
Kayla stepped over Lisa and Gracey on her way to the kitchen where Aunt Beth was making coffee.
“Lisa loves it over here. I don’t think she’s ever going to want to come home,” Kayla said to the pretty woman who was one of the Midnight Delta women.
“Your sister is hiding it pretty well, but she’s been worried. Hearing that Bree is home from her grandmother’s made her feel a lot better.”
Kayla gave Beth a hard look. “Do you think she suspected something?” Kayla whispered.
“Kayla, every kid in this house has a Navy SEAL for a father. All of them pick up on things, even my Joey who is only six.”
Kayla bit her lip.
“Did you get a chance to talk to your friend?”
“She texted me this morning. Well, she texted all of us on the group chat. She and Mandy won’t be at this morning’s game.”
Beth frowned. “What game?”
“My lacrosse game.”
“Oh yeah. Sorry about that, Kayla. My kids aren’t into lacrosse. I forgot. What do we need to do for this?”
“Can you give me a ride?”
“Gracey has swim lessons this morning, but Kathleen can. In the meantime, why don’t you sit down and I’ll make you some waffles. I hear Joey coming down the stairs. I’m betting pretty soon the whole crew will be up.”
Kayla grinned. “Waffles sound great, Aunt Beth.”
“I’m really sorry I’m not coming to your game,” Lisa said again.
“No worries, Li-Li. The pool sounds way more fun than sitting on the sidelines. Plus, it’s supposed to rain this morning.”
Lisa hugged her, right before she followed Kathleen Preston out the door of what Kayla privately considered the Preston ranch mansion.
It was on the far edge of Chula Vista, and actually had stables with horses, fencing, and a gate with a speaker that you had to talk into before you could come onto the property.
She got into Kathleen’s white Corolla.
“Thanks, Kath.”
“It’s not a problem. I called my boyfriend. He’s going to be able to make it to the last half of the game. It’ll be fun. You need to stop by your house before the game, right?”
“Yeah, I need to suit up and get my gear.” Kayla nodded as they started down the driveway.
“Okay. This shouldn’t take too long. We left in plenty of time to get you there early. Because…”
“Early is on time,” they both said in unison and started laughing.
“God, our dads are so the same,” Kayla said.
“You got that right.”
“How often do you get to the ranch in Texas?”
“At least three times a year. Our grandparents are the bomb. My number one school pick was UT Austin, but Trevor was accepted to NYU. Now I’m on the fence.”
“Were you accepted to NYU?”
“I applied to Columbia University at the last minute, and got in. Dad’s going to freak if he thinks all I’m doing is following a guitar player to New York.”
Kayla sighed. She could totally see that. They pulled up to her house.
“Want me to come in?” Kathleen asked.
“No, I’ll just be a minute.”
Kayla let herself inside, and was surprised to see her mom wasn’t up. She ran upstairs and checked her bedroom, and didn’t see her. She pulled out her phone, then saw that her mother had texted last night and said she was spending the night at Aunt Lydia’s.
Kayla strode to her bedroom, suited up, pulled on some rain gear, and grabbed her equipment bag, then headed outside, making sure to lock up behind herself.
“What’d your mom say, is she coming later?”
“She’s at your aunt’s. I mean your real aunt’s. My honorary aunt’s.” Kayla grinned over at her.
“All of Midnight Delta are real aunts and uncles,” Kathleen said as she backed out of the driveway.
Kayla smiled at that thought. She was lucky. And so was Bree.
Cat found her in the warmup and fell into step beside her immediately.
“Okay,” Cat said, without preamble. “I need you to know I'm fine and I'm not nervous and everything is completely under control. Just because Bree and Mandy aren’t here so I can hide behind them, doesn’t mean anything.”
“Great,” Kayla said.
“I mean, I’m great at lacrosse.”
“You are.”
“I mean, I should always be a starter.”
“You should.”
“I think I’m going to throw up.”
Kayla looked sideways at her friend and shook her head. “You are an idiot. You cannot ruin the grass by throwing up, that’s just gross. You’re right, you’ve always been starter material. Today you’re going to show Coach exactly what you’re made of.”
“You’re so full of shit.”
“Language.”
Cat laughed.
“You’re going to score a goal today.”
“Yeah, sure.”
“I’m serious.”
“You don't know that.”
“Cat.” Kayla looked at her. “I'm going to put it right where you need it. All you have to do is finish. Okay?”
Cat held the ball for a moment. She looked at the goal at the far end of the field. She exhaled. “Okay.”
“Okay.” Kayla held out her stick. Cat tapped it with hers. “Let's go.”
The first half was grinding. The other team was good. Actually, they were better than good. And their defense was kicking their ass, which meant Kayla spent most of the half working the outside and looking for seams that weren't quite there.
They were down by one at the half.
Coach Delgado kept it brief, the way he always did when he knew his team already understood the problem. “They're sagging to the middle. Go wide. Make them choose.” He looked at Kayla and Cat. “You two. Set up and do the plays we’ve practiced.”
Cat looked at Kayla.
They both nodded.
It happened eight minutes into the second half.
Cat got the draw, which surprised everyone including Cat, and she had half a step on her defender before the girl could recover.
She came down the right side fast, faster than Kayla had seen her move all game, and Kayla was already cutting across the middle reading it, reading Cat, reading the two defenders who were both running flat-out toward Cat because she had the ball and that was the obvious threat.
Then Cat did exactly what the coach had told her to do.
A clean diagonal pass that dropped right into Kayla's pocket mid-stride without breaking her momentum.
Kayla caught it and turned and the goal was right there and the goalie was two steps out of position and she put it low and left and it went in before the goalie finished moving.
The sideline went sideways.
Lisa would have gone crazy. Her mother would have loved it.
She kept her head in the game, and started walking back to position for the next draw.
Cat caught up with her and grabbed her arm, not caring that the draw was in thirty seconds. “I set that up,” Cat said, slightly breathless.
“You absolutely set that up.”
“I just want that on the record.”
“It's on the record.” Kayla looked at her. “Now get ready.”
It was the fourth quarter. Three minutes left on the clock. Kayla had the ball. She had a shot that was possible. Not probable, but possible. She saw Cat out of the corner of her eye, and passed.
Cat caught the ball with ease. No fumbling.
She shot it. It was perfect.
Kayla was happier than when she had scored her own goal.
After the final whistle and their victory, they walked down the line clicking sticks, then started gathering their things.
Cat fell into step beside her, talking about the goal, talking about the pass, talking about the spring dance which apparently Connor Walsh had been seen discussing with his friends, which was either meaningful or meaningless and Cat had opinions.
Kayla pulled out her phone, and saw a text from Kathleen to meet her at her car. She grinned. Apparently Kathleen had had more important things to do than watch her game.
“Can you introduce me to Trevor?” Cat asked.
“Sure.”
As they took the first step into the parking lot, Kayla noticed it.
White. Panel sides. Parked slightly wrong—angled out, too close to the pedestrian path, the engine running. She could see the exhaust.
She noticed it the way her dad had taught her to notice things. Without staring.
She had just enough time to say “Cat—” before the side door slid open.
Two men came out fast. Not running. Moving with a kind of horrible efficiency, like they had done this before and knew exactly how much time they needed and weren't going to waste any of it.
Kayla swung her stick.
She caught the first one across the forearm.
It was a solid hit, the kind that should have done something, but he barely flinched.
He grabbed the stick with his other hand and wrenched it sideways.
Kayla felt it leave her grip before she could tighten it, and then his hand was on her arm and she was being pulled.
She dug her cleats into the asphalt and screamed.
Then she was lifted.
Cat swung her stick too. She caught the second man across the back and he turned and grabbed it the same way, one-handed, like it was nothing, and shoved her hard enough that she stumbled. But Cat didn't go down.
Cat grabbed Kayla.
Both hands. One on her arm, one on the back of her jersey, and she planted her feet and pulled and the man pulling Kayla in the other direction had a hundred pounds on Cat and it didn't matter because Cat was not letting go.
She was screaming Kayla's name and she was not letting go, and for one second, one real second, the momentum stopped.
The man holding Kayla kept pulling her away from Cat, shoving her into the van.
Then the driver gunned the engine.
The van lurched forward, just a foot, just enough, and the man had Kayla's arm and the van's movement added to his pull.
Cat's grip broke at the jersey first and then she grabbed for Kayla's hand and got it and held it and the van was moving and Cat was being dragged, her cleats scraping and shrieking against the asphalt.
“Cat, let go—” Kayla screamed it. “Cat, let GO—”
Cat didn't let go.
The man hit Cat's arm from the outside, hard. Cat made a sound Kayla had never heard from another human being before, and her hand came away.
The last thing Kayla saw was Cat hitting the cement.
Not falling. Hitting. Her shoulder first, then her cheek, and she skidded and lay still and the parking lot was getting smaller and people were running toward Cat from everywhere.
Kayla was hauled the rest of the way into the van, screaming Cat’s name.
Then something hit the side of Kayla’s head and the parking lot tilted and went gray, and then went away entirely.