Heaven and Hell (Heaven and Hell #1)(170)

I loved this idea. Loved it enough that I gave three million dollars to help endow it. Sam put in the rest. Then he recruited buddies in the game as well as buddies from the military who not only helped process the applications to select which boys would get to go but also to run the camp.

And, last July, using Kingston High as their base, Sam and a bunch of NFL and Army badasses inaugurated the Sampson and Kia Cooper Football Camp. I was against my name being added but Sam did it anyway.

There it was. Sam made a decision, acted on it and, really, there wasn’t anything to complain about. So I didn’t.

This also caused an outpouring of love for Sam and the men who gave their time. Sam ignored it. The NFL players involved didn’t and their agents got them a lot of play in the media for it. This was good seeing as donations started coming in. So Sam and I started a fund, got not-for-profit status and we got so much money, next year, we were going to be able to take twice as many boys. Not to mention, younger NFL players heard about it, dug the idea and approached Sam about being involved.

It was cool.

This also, since I managed the administrative part of it, took my time.

I finished with the tray, picked it up and took it out to the deck. There were tables set up against the screened porch, all groaning with food. I’d learned last year that high school football players really didn’t care if the potato salad, macaroni salad and brownies were homemade. They’d eat anything, lots of it and think it was the bomb.

So, except for forming a gazillion hamburger patties, slicing veggies and laying stuff out, the work was done. In other words, it wasn’t as much work as last year.

I didn’t tell Sam this. If he knew, I might not be able to call in reinforcements next year and I liked our beach house filled with family.

I put the tray down and turned my eyes to Sam who was standing with Hap and a couple of his boys at the grill. My gaze moved to one of the boys because he had Memphis in his arms, a Memphis was wriggling and licking. Memphis, not that it was a surprise, totally loved Sam’s team. She also liked to go to the games with me. This meant she could run around the field after the games were over, chasing the boys while they played with her.

Memphis’s version of heaven.

The boy holding my dog, Wes, was a senior, he was an excellent running back, he had a steady girl and he clearly didn’t care that liking a King Charles spaniel might mean a hit to his street cred. Then again, none of the boys did. This was likely because Sam didn’t and his kids, every one, thought he walked on water.

He couldn’t walk on water. But he could do everything else.

I grinned at Wes then my eyes moved to Sam to see his on me.

So I grinned at him.

I watched his face get soft and his eyes get warm and intense.

Then he grinned back.

Beautiful.

Never, not ever, would I get used to his beauty. I knew this and this made me happy.

Then I felt fingers clamp on my arm and my head turned to see Luci had hold of me. She looked serious, she looked kind of pissed and she looked like she was on a mission.

Oh man.

I suspected this was going to happen.

And I suspected this because, three weeks ago, something happened.

What, I did not know.

What I did know was that Hap was down for the weekend, he stayed with Luci at her new place which was only ten houses away from Sam and my place. We’d all gone to Skip’s (incidentally, after what went down with Luci then with Sam and me, Skip had lifted the ban on Hap having his ass at a picnic table at the Shack which was a relief since we spent a lot of time at the Shack), we’d all had a sandwich and accompanied this by having a few drinks. We’d then moved the party to Luci’s, Sam and I left and then well… something happened.

I just didn’t know what.

But I suspected.

Luci didn’t share. Hap didn’t share. But before whatever it was went down, Hap came most weekends. After what went down, he stopped. He also mostly stopped communicating. As did Luci. They were avoiding Sam and me.

Then Luci came by our house the weekend after. Hap was supposed to be there but he’d called Sam to say he wasn’t coming. For some reason, when Luci heard this, she got pissed.

But she still didn’t share.

The next weekend, the same. Hap didn’t make plans to come, Luci called me, found out there was no Hap and I heard her voice get tight over the phone.

Now, with the barbeque, Hap couldn’t avoid coming. He also couldn’t avoid Luci. Though he was doing a bang up job trying even though she was right there.

When she arrived, it wasn’t lost on me she’d made an effort on her appearance. And for Luci this meant her sexy, sultry, exotic beauty was off the charts. Heck, I’d seen some of Sam’s boys running into each other, the deck railing and furniture because they were mesmerized by her beauty.

Hap was immune.

And obviously Luci didn’t like this.

As for me, I had a bad feeling about it.

“I need to speak with you,” she hissed then didn’t give me the chance to tear free and run screaming to the beach. She pulled me to the side walkway and down to the drive. Then she stopped us and wasted not a second before ordering, “Okay, I need you to go back up there and find some way to bring Hap down to me.”

Uh-oh.

“What?” I asked. “Why?”

“Something happened,” she announced.