Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 117363 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 587(@200wpm)___ 469(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117363 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 587(@200wpm)___ 469(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
“I like shooters,” Cat piped up. “The games, I mean. Absolutely love them. I like being the better player and faster on the draw. But it’s so toxic all the time, especially if you’re a girl who’s reckless enough to unmute her mic. It starts eating away at you, starts making you toxic as well. Act up to fit in, right? Didn’t even notice how far I was sliding until my kid sis asked me why I was so angry all the time. This is much better. Also, it drives our opponents absolutely batty when they can’t get a rise out of us. Case in point,” she said, with a sly grin at Jean.
“We have a signal for when we have to get pulled,” Jeremy said, “and I showed you the locker room earlier. That punching bag in the weights room is for working off stress and irritation until we can find our calm again. The rule isn’t ‘don’t let them get to you’, remember? It’s to maintain an even keel on the court and in front of the press. You can say whatever you like to the rest of us. We’ve heard it all before.”
Cat glanced at Laila to see if she had anything to add. Whatever she saw made her sigh, and she waggled a hand at Jean. “Tell you what, we’ll start fresh with the cooking lessons tomorrow. For now go help Jeremy pick out a movie. Something fun, preferably. I think we could all use a pick-me-up right now.”
Jeremy wasn’t surprised that Cat cranked the volume up a bit as soon as he and Jean left. Subtlety was not exactly her strong suit, but if Jean noticed he gave no sign he cared. Jeremy dug through the movies and rattled off suggestions, trying very hard not to notice how many times Cat gave away her growing agitation by hitting her knife a little too hard against her cutting board. Laila was likely conveying all of Jeremy’s insights, while Cat rehashed her side of the conversation from the kitchen.
“She means well,” Jeremy felt obligated to say as he held out a few movies to Jean in offering. The man turned them over in his hands with barely a glance. “But since we’ve started this conversation a day or two ahead of when I meant to have it, I might as well confess: we’ve been hearing a lot of unpleasant rumors since we signed you. We’re trying to figure you out so we know where to go from here. I’m not sure if she was pushing for answers or pushing to see if you pushed back, but I promise she wants this to work.”
“I know what they’re saying about me out there,” Jean said. “I do not care.”
His tone said maybe he did care, but Jeremy wasn’t going to call him out on it. “For the record, I don’t believe them. I won’t unless you give me a reason otherwise. I refuse to think Kevin would have come to me for help if you were the problem they make you out to be.”
“I am going to be a problem,” Jean said, but he said it like a tired fact and not a threat. “It is unavoidable.”
Jeremy took the movies back but stared through them. “Can you at least tell me why you think you deserved to get beaten within an inch of your life?”
“I cannot tell you in a way you’ll understand,” Jean said again. “Leave it.”
“For now,” Jeremy said.
Since Jean didn’t seem to have an opinion on the matter, Jeremy settled on a movie he thought they might all enjoy. By the time he had it set up, Cat was ready for them to come collect their sandwiches. She was also ready to talk Jean through his meal, spouting off numbers and facts at the speed of light. Jeremy wasn’t sure if Jean was following any of it or if it just sounded legitimate enough not to push it. When he looked like he was going to peel part of his roll off, though, Jeremy chimed in with,
“Did you even eat lunch today? You can afford the carbs.”
Cat looked to the ceiling and rattled off something in exasperated Spanish. A prayer for patience, most likely. “If you don’t eat every last bite, I won’t teach you how to cook. You can live off canned chicken for the rest of your life.” She batted at his hand when that wasn’t a convincing enough threat and dropped a small pile of sautéed vegetables onto his plate. “Right! Everyone out. Cleaning comes later.”
Cat and Laila accepted Jeremy’s choice of movie without argument. Jeremy wasn’t surprised that Jean left as soon as his plate was empty or that he didn’t come back. What none of them expected was to carry their plates into the kitchen an hour and a half later and see he’d gone behind them to put the leftovers away. He’d even used the stickers Cat showed him to date the containers before putting them in the fridge. Cat touched the marker in its wire basket with a curious look on her face.