Chapter 25
TWENTY-FIVE
I hope you fall down with your hands in your pockets.
—Beau to Seraphina
BEAU
Our fears were confirmed Monday morning when both Cain and Seraphina were released on a laughably sized bond.
Hell, the assholes that lived down the street from Huxley got a bigger bond than Seraphina and Cain did when they got thrown in jail for drunk and disorderly.
Needless to say, when the semi-final game arrived, no one was in the mood to be there.
Oh, and to make matters worse, Seraphina tried to not only get on the plane with the team—violating the terms of the agreement she made with the court promising she wouldn’t leave the state—but also showed up hours later after chartering a private plane that she also charged to the company card.
Or tried to.
Court had the cards revoked shortly after he’d taken on the role of majority owner. Now, to get a company card, you had to be approved by the entire board in a unanimous vote of approval. And Seraphina hadn’t received that approval yet.
Court had watched as the charge was denied through the bank, the denial of charge notification coming across his phone screen an hour after we’d taken off to Texas.
However, Seraphina wouldn’t be denied.
She’d likely gotten my father to pay for the trip here.
Court and I were seething when we watched her walk into the team box with the rest of us.
Iris was there, as well as Merrill, Court, Charleigh, Boone, Margie, and myself.
The other family members of the rest of the team had decided they would rather be in the stands to cheer on their players.
Meanwhile, we’d gone with the box because none of us were fit for company.
We were all grieving. Even Merrill, who had no connection to Koen or Ida Bell. She was, however, best friends with Magnolia who was heartbroken that she’d lost a new friend in Koen.
Ida Bell remained in a coma, and Boone was torn on whether to remain at home or with his family at Ida Bell’s side.
In the end, it was the matriarch of the family that ordered Boone to be with his wife, and Boone as well as Nettie had agreed with her. Even though there’d been a moment in time that Nettie had contemplated not going to the game as well.
Ida Bell wouldn’t have wanted us to miss anything to sit by her bedside.
So Nettie, as well as Magnolia, were only half here. Half of everyone’s heart was still in Sawtooth with Ida Bell.
Needless to say, my jaw worked viciously as I tried to hold on to my anger at the sight of Seraphina walking into the owner’s box as if she belonged there.
If looks could kill, she’d be set ablaze by the looks on both Court and my faces.
“Before you ask,” Seraphina said as she set her things down. “I have special permission to be here, since it’s, you know, my job.”
What a joke.
Charleigh snorted, looking at Seraphina like a bug she wanted to squish beneath her boot. “Let’s be honest here, Sera. You haven’t done a real job since you were paid to take us home from school. But you fucked that up, didn’t you?”
Seraphina bared her teeth at my friend. “Careful, I could have you kicked out.”
Charleigh snorted. “How? I’m just as much of an owner as you are now, dummy. Or did you forget mathematics? Did being an alcoholic burn off those brain cells that know basic math?”
My jaw protested my poor treatment of it.
I turned my back on her, knowing that it would be near impossible to ignore her.
Luckily, she saw someone she knew and left the suite almost as fast as she’d arrived.
She had, however, left all her things there.
I swept them all into the trash can with the remnants of our meal that no one could stomach eating.
Which had me worried all over again for Magnolia and Nettie.
They hadn’t eaten much in the past seventy-two hours, and they were about to play one hell of a tough game.
Charleigh snorted as she watched my sister’s phone land in a pile of chicken salad.
“We should take the trash out while we’re at it,” she said as she pulled the nearly full trash bag free. “I’ll handle that.”
She had the bag out, and the attendant outside immediately removed it from her hands. “I got it!”
Charleigh came back into the room and leaned against the wall, angry and hurt just like the rest of us.
The game went about as to be expected.
Thankfully, we were able to pull off a win by the skin of our teeth, our rookie pulling off an impossible shot that won us the game one to zero.
“That was rough,” Court murmured quietly, watching as the Cowgirls walked to their sideline, solemn despite the win.
The team knew that Nettie had nearly lost her sister-in-law—might still lose—and they were quiet out of respect.
Nettie was bawling by the time that she made it to the bench.
Boone handed me Margie and said, “Gonna head down.”
I took the sleeping girl into my arms, then dropped down to Iris who was surprisingly quiet, very aware of the temperature of the room and her life the past few days.
She may not know exactly what was going on, but she was intelligent enough to know that something wasn’t right, and her family was sad.
“Ready, Freddy?”
She frowned. “Who’s Freddy?”
I grinned. “It’s just a saying. I think it’s from a movie.”
“Oh.” She nodded. “I’m ready.”
She hadn’t brought her tablet with her today, choosing to watch the entire game without distraction.
I lifted her into my arms and snuggled her close. “How’s my girl?”
She turned her face into my neck and wrapped one arm around me, and one around Margie. “Good.”
My heart melted as we walked out of the room, Court leading the way.
When we got down to Magnolia, my arms were on fire from carrying both girls.
Magnolia saw my dilemma and grinned. “Want me to take her?”
I shook my head. “I’m good.”
And I was.
Dropping my mouth to hers, she stood up on tiptoes and gave me the softest of kisses. “You look good with a baby.”
I winked, though it was half-hearted at best. “I look good regardless.”
She pinched me on the belly with a small smile on her face.
Nettie walked up and stared at me. “I want my baby.”
I jokingly moved so that my shoulder was toward her.
“You’ll have to fight me,” I teased.
She rolled her eyes and took her girl from me, who didn’t protest the transfer.
I repositioned Iris, hugging her small body to me.
She wasn’t asleep, but happy and content to remain exactly where she was.
I pressed a kiss to her hair, inhaling deep, and sighed.
When I looked up, it was to find Magnolia looking at me with a small smile on her face. “You complete me.”
My heart jerked in my chest at her words. “You love me, Noli?”
She batted her eyes. “Almost as much as you love me.”