Page 84 of Well Aware

“I’ll bet it has something to do with their relationship or Cain.”

Everyone was all brushed up on Cain and Magnolia’s issues with him. Court had implemented some heightened security on his own to prevent any unwanted visitors, but obviously we’d have to figure out alternate solutions for game days.

Not that we would be playing at the home stadium the rest of the games. It would be on neutral ground, where we couldn’t control security at all.

“You have to be shitting me!”

“I’ve had enough,” I said upon hearing Magnolia’s yell. “Can you stay with Iris?”

“Will do,” he said as I marched over.

“What’s going on?” I asked, pulling Magnolia toward me by the belt loop of her jeans.

She was shivering without her coat, and I was angry all over again for Eloy stopping us when she wasn’t adequately dressed for the cold.

“Eloy just shared with me that he got pissed as hell at me when I wouldn’t come back to him, and that, in his drunken stupor, he called Cain and told him I had a secret that I was keeping.”

Eloy winced. “I won’t tell him. Now that I’m sober, I am thinking clearly. I was in a bad place, and I’m sorry, I would’ve never chosen to hurt you. I haven’t stopped loving you.”

“Well, good way to show it,” Magnolia seethed. “He bailed you out, didn’t he?”

“Yes,” he answered. “And I’m paying him back. Already paid him back. When he asked what my secret was, I lied and said that you knew your sister was going to kill herself and didn’t tell him. I’m sorry, it was all that I could come up with on the fly. He doesn’t suspect the kid is…”

I stopped him. “Don’t ever, not ever, repeat that.”

“I won’t.” He looked horrified. “I may not want kids, but I’d never cause one harm. And I know that Cain is a terrible person. That’s why I’m so angry with myself for how I acted.”

I took my jacket off and wrapped it around Magnolia.

She buried her face into the jacket and glared.

“If you have anything else you can share, now would be the time.”

“That’s all,” he admitted. “Cain dropped me off at the hotel where my shit was. Didn’t say anything more to me. But he was pissed. I’m sorry again.”

Eloy walked off then, heading to his car that was in the corner of the lot.

That was when I saw him wave at the guard shack guy.

“You need to tell Court that he needs a new security guy if he’s going to let anyone in.”

“I’m sure Court’s already making the connections,” I said as I watched Court glare at the security guy. “Come on. Let’s go eat.”

Eddie, Nettie, Magnolia, and several of the other old ladies were at one table, leaving the rest of us guys at the other. Iris was sitting next to me, her headphones on and her eyes tracking every single second of the documentary on Japan’s cherry blossoms.

I was watching next to her while also holding a conversation about the next step of the playoffs for the Cowgirls.

“What are their chances of winning?” Koen asked Court and me.

I looked over at Court, who seemed to have a lot more grasp on the playoff situation in a week than I had over eight months.

“They play the team that started all this shit with their foul playing first,” Court explained. “Then…”

His voice trailed off when he noticed something over my shoulder.

I glanced back and felt my stomach sink.

My sister was here, along with…