Page 7 of Between Brothers

“Yeah, King Crowe will be there, but only if Kennedy Kohl is, too.” I raised my voice, until even Nala back at the bar paused to see Kennedy’s reaction.

“What the hell are you lot on about?” Forty piped up, drifting toward the table.

“The Kid’s Center wanted some former hometown athletes to get the kids excited about High School sports and all that jazz. I told them King would be there, and I think King has a great idea. Kennedy was really something when she pitched. The girls would be excited to hang out with her, especially the ones that are already in their youth softball and all of that.”

Kennedy paused, looking back at us. The girl slowly sucked in a breath, like someone had asked her to hike Mt. Everest or something. I thought for sure she was going to roll her eyes and give Kate a dose of her pretty temper, but her gaze locked on Rigs and swung to Roy.

“What the fuck else are you going to do, the Suck for a Buck shit?” I snorted, waving a hand at Kate.

Kennedy hefted up one side of her mouth in a sickly-sweet smile.

“Sure. Tell Dad when he needs to schedule me off.” She shrugged and nodded a little longer than necessary.

Maybe she was as shocked by her answer as the rest of us.

Chapter Four

Watched

Kennedy

“So, why are we wasting calories in this empty mall?” Bootsie pressed as we marched across the vacant plaza. Each abandoned storefront seemed darker than the last.

It was a shame really, when I was small, the place was always popping. My mother used to shop for hours with us kids.

Now there were maybe five stores spread out over two floors. The escalator didn’t run anymore, but I couldn’t blame them for not bothering with it. Was it worth the cost of constant running when the place was such a ghost town?

“Because the only thing that never closes is the Hot Locker.”

“Hot Locker,” Bootsie pinched her face up and side eyed me. “What the hell do we want at Hot Locker?”

“A jersey.”

Bootsie gave a slow, exaggerated nod.

“You know, a shirt that doesn’t have a bar or MC logo plastered across the chest of it. Something appropriate to wear around school-aged children.”

“You’re going to spend money on a shirt that you’re fixing to wear one damn time for some snot-nosed kids?” Bootsie squinted one eye and fought a grin. “You sure you aren’t wearing it for King Crowe?”

I nudged her ribs and dipped into the athletic store. Hot Locker was mostly shoes, but they had a decent selection of hats and a few jerseys to choose from.

Bootsie fumbled with the sock display while I flipped through the various jerseys. They had a ton of St. Louis Cardinals ones, and a few from Kansas City. I plucked one without really caring whose name was on the back.

“I thought you didn’t care for football,” Bootsie mused.

I wasn’t any more of a football fan, than I was a King Crowe fan, but here we were…

“Not really feeling the red and white today,” I shrugged with one shoulder and tapped the scarlet collared Cardinals shirt.

She gave a grunt and raised her brows, unable to argue the point. When you lived close to the metro-east, it was all about the Cards. I didn’t want a jersey that half the rest of the town owned.

“Are you going to try it on?” Bootsie laughed.

“Hell no. It’s a jersey, it is meant to be loose. Besides, I need to find a bathroom.”

“You pee more than anyone I know.” Bootsie laughed.

“I drink more water than anyone you know,” I pointed out.