Page 35 of On Her Team
Brock’s stomach growls. “What?” He snaps when everyone stares at him. “I’m hungry.”
“Good. You can come with us toWok the Plank.Rumor has it you know the owners.”
I sigh. It’s as if Tanner wants to get his ass kicked by Brock. He’s the leanest of our group and yet he can’t stop himself from antagonizing the biggest guy.
“I’ll grab Jace and meet you there.” Brock grins. “I can keep an eye on you.”
Tanner gulps. He’s not scared. He’s pretending because he hasn’t learned not to mess with Brock. And he probably never will.
They start to bicker and I sneak away to message Addy.
We’re going to Mermaid Karaoke tonight. Will I see you there?
I stare at the phone but no dots appear to indicate she’s responding. I really screwed up.
I don’t know how to apologize. I tried buying her concert tickets. She lost her mind. I gave her the number of a producer. She lost her mind.
Is there anything I can buy that she won’t lose her mind?
“Gage!” Nolan waves at me from the end of the hallway. “Time to go.”
“Coming.” I stuff my phone in my pocket and jog down the hallway.
If Addy isn’t singing at Mermaid Karaoke, I’ll figure out another way to see her. Maybe at one of Otis’s football games. Parker won’t hesitate to tell me when and where they are.
Good plan. If I don’t bump into Addy tonight, I’ll visit Parker atPirate’s Pastries.
One way or another, I’m going to fix this fight with my songbird. Because I can’t let her go. She fascinates me.
Chapter 11
Note to self: never debut a breakup song near a football player.
Addy
Ihurry intoBootleggerand make my way to the bar. I wave to Alaia. “I’m on time!”
“It’s a miracle.” She pours us shots. “You’d be on time more often if your brother Otis helped out more.”
I scowl. “He’s just a kid.”
She lifts an eyebrow. “When you were his age, you had a job and did all the housework for your mom.”
“Exactly. I want him to enjoy his childhood.”
“Except he’s not a child. He’s seventeen. He’ll be eighteen soon.”
“You don’t get it.”
She doesn’t understand how it feels to have a mom who’s checked out. The anxiety worrying about having enough food on the table. Or paying the mortgage when Mom’s paycheck isn’t enough because she took too many sick days.
Mom’s better now but I won’t let my siblings feel the way I did as a teenager.
She sighs. “Addy, you can’t continue this way. You’re going to burn yourself out before you hit thirty.”
I wave away her concern. “I’m twenty-nine. Thirty is just around the corner. And I’m perfectly fine.”
Thirty. In a few short months, I’ll be thirty and none of my dreams will have come true. I’ll still be here on the island working myself to death to care for my siblings. Showcasing my songs at Mermaid Karaoke.
