One Look: A grumpy, single dad small town romance(70)

When I walked into the room, the hushed whispers stopped, and they all stared at me.

“What the hell is going on?”

Lark stepped forward when Kevin spoke up. “I got into a fight and was arrested.”

The roar of blood rushing to my head was deafening.

“Me too.” Michael lifted the bag of frozen vegetables from his side to inspect a fresh bruise blooming across his ribs.

“Arrested?” My voice rose, and I looked over my shoulder toward Penny’s room. My eyes sliced back to them and landed on Lark, who stood behind Michael with her hand protectively on his shoulder. “Did you know about this?”

“I was at book club when I found out. I took care of it. The charges were dropped.”

“Charges? Took care of it? What do you—” I started stomping back and forth across the kitchen as thoughts of the university board finding out about this hounded me. The boys could get kicked off the team, and there wouldn’t be anything I could do about it. Their scholarships. Their futures. Key players in my starting lineup. Not to mention how bad it would look that they had been arrested when it was my job to keep them out of trouble.

“Look, Coach, they were talking shit and—”

“I don’t want to hear it. You don’t understand how bad this is! For all of us!” My voice boomed in the small kitchen, and Lark took another step in my direction.

“You don’t have to raise your voice!” Hers was pitching higher as she came to their defense.

I sighed in defeat.

Lark put her hands out. “I’m sorry. We’re all on the same team here.”

“Team? I’m just finding out about this now.”

“It happened really fast, and when Joey called me, I took care of it. I’m sorry I didn’t call you, but they were in trouble, and I fixed it.”

I was unsure of exactly how she’d managed to fix this shit show, but the way she wasn’t revealing exactly how she’d managed to fix it made me uneasy. In my gut, I knew there was something more to it.

My eyes moved over my players. “This is unacceptable.” They nodded in solemn understanding. “There need to be consequences, but for now . . . I don’t know. Just go to bed.”

Looking more like twelve than twenty, the three boys quietly left the kitchen and headed to their room in the loft. As he passed Lark, Kevin reached out and hugged her. My heart felt tight in my chest, and a thousand emotions rolled through me.

Alone in the kitchen, I looked at her. “What the hell, Lark?”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

I shook my head. Deep down I knew it wasn’t her fault and that I’d let my temper get the best of me. I had so many questions, and the anger was still just below the surface. “Tell me what happened. Everything.”





30





LARK





I told Wyatt everything. Almost.

Sitting across the table from me, he was fuming, desperately trying to rein in his temper, but it was there, simmering under the surface. He was pissed. Disappointed. Worried.

“A fucking fight. After everything I’ve talked to them about. How much I’ve stressed that eyes are always on you when you’re rising to the top. There’s always someone there waiting to cut you down, and they just handed it right to them!”

I kept my voice calm. “I really don’t think anyone outside of town is going to find out about it.”

“You think the most gossipy town in the Midwest is going to stay quiet about this? What if Kevin is drafted? You don’t think someone’s going to remember this and offer the story up to the highest bidder? Reporters would salivate over exclusive dirt on a rookie with as much talent as him.”

My brows pinched together. “I don’t think you’re giving your hometown enough credit. From what I’ve seen, they take care of their own here.”

“Exactly. They take care of their own. Townies. Kings and Sullivans but not hungry college kids whose dreams of a professional career are just as impacted by reputation as they are by actual skill. You don’t understand how this works, Lark.”

My frustration with his stubborn attitude bubbled over. My hands slapped on the table. “Why can’t you trust me on this? Come on, Wyatt. This doesn’t have to be a big deal. Royal gave me his word—”

Ah, fuck.

“Royal? Royal King?” Wyatt stood from the chair. “What does he have to do with this?”

I sighed. “It was Lucian King who Kevin and Michael got into it with. Apparently they made a crack about the day the boys were helping me with an audition tape on the beach. Teasing them and making fun of me. They came to my defense, but when Lucian made a crack about you, Michael lost it. He threw the first punch.”

“Wait a minute. Slow down. Audition tape?”

Sweat started to prickle in my hair. “I got a callback, and they are accepting a taped audition. Surprise!” My weak attempt at a joke landed flat.

A hard line formed between his eyebrows. “When are you leaving?”

My heart pounded. He wasn’t asking if I was leaving, but when. “I haven’t sent out the tape yet.”

He pinned me in place with his stare, the one that said, “Cut the shit.” I used to love that stare and get a kick out of pestering him a little bit, but I couldn’t bring myself to joke. I stalled by shifting in my seat and picking at a piece of invisible lint on my shoulder.