right?â
âYes.â
He heard a heavy sigh. âIâm afraid I still havenât made a decision about the boxes.â
Dammit.
âOkay. I was calling to invite you to dinner with my friends.â
âYou were?â
âYes. No pressure,â he said.
âUm...which friends?â
âConner and his parents,â Hunter said.
âWhen?â
âTonight. Just casual. I think itâs taco night,â Hunter said.
âTaco night?â
âGabi does themed dinner nights,â Hunter said.
âThat sounds so cute. Okay, I will go with you. What time?â Ferrin asked.
Hunter looked at the iMessage heâd just sent to Kingsley asking for the time and saw heâd responded.
âSeven. I could pick you up at six thirty,â Hunter said.
âSounds good. What can I bring?â
âJust bring yourself. Hang on while I text Kingsley.â
He typed a quick message back to Kingsley confirming theyâd both be at his place for dinner.
Kingsley texted back with a smiley face emoji.
âWhat have you been doing?â Ferrin asked when they resumed the conversation. âMore of your charity work?â
Hunter leaned back in his office chair, crossing his feet at the ankles.
âYes. Just finalizing the equipment for the peewee league here in Carmel. Kingsley donated the money for a new community recreation center and now my charity is providing the stuff they need to get playing.â
He heard her moving around and wondered what she was doing. Had he interrupted something important?
âWhat have you been up to?â
âTrying to make Coach eat all his meals and convince him to sit outside part of every day.â
Sheâd brought up Coach...maybe heâd just mention the tapes. That was what he was truly interested in. The information that Daria Miller, a reporter whoâd gone to school with Hunter, King and Gabi, had uncovered involved women being drugged and raped, possibly by other players on the team that year. But was it only rumor? So far no one would come forward and talk to him or Kingsley. Was he chasing after another false lead?
âI bet thatâs not easy.â He wasnât going to pressure her, no matter how much that went against his instincts. He knew that the only way he was ever going to see what was in the files was if Ferrin or Coach decided to let him.
âHeâs very stubborn. Maybe you have some tips you can give me,â she said.
âWhy would I?â he asked.
She made a noise that he couldnât interpret over the phone.
âHe always related better to the guys on his team than to me. I wondered if there was some wisdom you might have that Iâm missing,â Ferrin said.
That broken relationship with her father again. Hunter wanted to fix it for her, but he wasnât exactly Dr. Phil. He was more Steve Wilkos: full-on confrontation.
âTell him that every day, every small improvement is going to show up on game day. Remind him that for him every day is game day. He needs to keep working until he reaches the end zone and can get out of bed and back to his old life.â
âFootball analogies?â
âItâs what he loves.â
âIs it what you love?â she countered.
âIt used to be,â he said.
âWhen did it stop being?â
âWhen I put the game in front of a person I cared for and I lost her,â Hunter admitted. Part of the reason he had to resolve what had happened to Stacia was the guilt that no amount of time could dull. He still carried it with him.
âIâm sorry.â
âThanks. But it was my own fault. I think Coach needs a wake-up call. Heâs a good man,â Hunter said. Coach had always defended him and Kingsley, and Hunter would never forget that. Even his brothers and his parents had a few questions before they were convinced he was innocent. Only Coach had always known it.
âIâll try.
Frankie Blue
john thompson
Alaina Stanford
Alexandra Ivy, Laura Wright
C.W. Gortner
Helena Newbury
Jessica Jarman
Shanna Clayton
Barbara Elsborg
James Howard Kunstler