Page 95 of Twisted Needs

CHAPTER 26

WE’RE OKAY

ANDERS

Fucking Aviva.

“Since when do you hate coming to games?” She mutters, giving me a weary look.

Her auburn curls are blown out, sitting voluminously on the top of her head. She’s wearing a full face of makeup and a personalized leather jacket all of the other WAGs are wearing tonight.

“You look stupid,” I tell her.

She rolls her eyes and pinches my cheek. “You need food.”

When we go to get our tickets scanned, there’s usually no problem getting through. This time, though, they stop us.

“Is this your plus one?” The ticket attendant asks, making eyes at Aviva.

She rolls her shoulders back and gives the poor minimum-wage worker a smug look. “He’s my plus one, actually.”

“But your name is Anderson de Sousa, correct?”

“Yes. She’s Aviva Mazarkarakis.”

He flags another ticket attendant, who comes up and offers us a strangely polite smile.

“Right this way,” she ushers us. “You two have proper identification, correct?”

“Is there something wrong?” Aviva asks. “Because my boyfriend is on the team and he can clear things up.”

The attendant brings us over to a smaller room and points us in the direction of a help desk.

“What the⁠—”

“You guys can pick up your credentials here,” she smiles before walking off.

“Aviva, what’s going on?”

Her eyes widen and she shrugs. “No clue. But credentials,” her mouth pulls into a grin. “Look at us, babe. We’re legit.”

We walk up to the player’s relations desk and get our IDs scanned. I vaguely recognize the desk attendant, but she’s obviously been expecting me. “Mr. de Sousa! How’s it going?” Her tone is too cheerful for the way I’m feeling right now.

“Good,” I smile back. On the inside, I’m questioning every single conversation I’ve ever had with the people who work here. Maybe she was one of the people who would sit and color with me during Luca’s morning skates…but that was ages ago.

Shelby hands Aviva and I our badges. “You remember where the family room is, right?”

“Yeah,” I say slowly, confused. But I know almost immediately this isn’t because of Malloy. This has Parker Morozov written all over it. He thinks that giving Aviva and I credentials is really going to win me over.

I mean…credentials aren’t special. Not for me. I’ve had credentials since Luca adopted me. I’ve sat my ass on the cold bleachers a million times, being handed off to one of the arena staff or team managers.

“This is amazing,” Aviva squeals. “It’s literally perfect. I’m full beat and everything,” she tells me. “Let’s go take pics for Instagram.”

Oh my God. Every bit of confusion fades when I realize what game he’s playing. This isn’t even about fucking credentials. Now he’s using my friends to get to me…

He’s crazy. This is crazy. I’m losing my mind.

Aviva practically drags me down the hall until we reach the tunnel. Even after we’ve taken our fair share of pictures, I can’t stop thinking about it.