The Foxhole Court (All for the Game Book 1)

Neil spotted the Foxhole Court long before they made it to the stadium parking lot. Built to seat sixty-five thousand fans, it’d been placed on the outskirts of campus where it could tower over the shorter utilities buildings nearby. The paint job only made it stand out more: the walls were a blinding white with obnoxiously bright orange trim. A gigantic fox paw was painted on each of the four outer walls. Neil wondered how much it cost the university to build and how desperately they regretted the investment, considering the Foxes’ miserable return.

They passed four parking lots before turning into a fifth. There were a couple cars already there, probably for maintenance staff or summer school students, but none were parked at the curb closest to the stadium. The stadium itself was surrounded by a barbed wire fence. Gates were placed equidistant down the length of the fence for handling a game night crowd, and all of them were chained shut.

Neil went up to the fence and stared through it at the outer grounds. It was deserted now, the souvenir stands and food stalls boarded up until the season started again, but he could imagine what it’d look like in a couple months. It made every hair on his body stand on end, and his heartbeat echoing in his ears sounded like an Exy ball rebounding off a court wall.

Nicky clapped a hand to Neil’s shoulder. ‘All the orange grows on you,’ he promised.

Neil twisted his fingers through the metal links and wished he could break the fence down. ‘Let me in.’

‘Come on,’ Nicky said, and led him down the fence.
They’d reached the end of the gates—they’d parked by 24, and the next was 1. Between the two gates was a narrow door sealed with an electronic keypad. The door led to a hallway that cut the outer grounds in two; whoever made it as far as gate 24 would have to go into the stadium and through the stands to reach gate 1. The others were waiting for Nicky and Neil outside that door. Aaron had brought the whiskey with him.
‘This is our entrance,’ Nicky said. ‘Code changes every couple months, but Coach always lets us know when it does. Right now it’s 0508. May and August, get it? Coach and Abby’s birth months. Told you they were boning. When’s your birthday?’
‘It was in March,’ Neil lied.
‘Oh, we missed it. But we recruited you in April, so that should count as the world’s greatest present. What’d your girlfriend get you?’
Neil looked at him. ‘What?’
‘Come on, cute face like yours has to have a girlfriend. Unless you swing my way, of course, in which case please tell me now and save me the trouble of having to figure it out.’
Neil stared at him, wondering how Nicky could care about such things when the stadium was right there. They knew the code to get inside, but they were standing around like his answer was the secret password. Neil looked from Nicky to the keypad and back again.
‘What’s it matter?’ he asked.
‘I’m curious,’ Nicky said.
‘He means nosey,’ Aaron said.
‘I don’t swing either way,’ Neil said. ‘Let’s go in.’
‘Bullshit,’ Nicky said.
‘I don’t,’ Neil said, and impatience put an edge in his voice. It wasn’t quite the truth, but it was close enough. ‘Are we going in or not?’
In response, Kevin tapped in the code and pulled the door open. ‘Go,’ he said.
Neil didn’t have to be told twice. He went down the hall, already turning his key ring over in his hands. The hall ended at another door marked FOXES. He showed the key ring to Kevin in silent question. Kevin fingered the appropriate key.
It was strange sliding it into the knob and listening to the lock clack undone. Coach Hernandez occasionally let Neil sleep in the Millport High locker room, but it never occurred to him to give Neil a key. Instead he looked the other way whenever Neil broke in. Keys meant Neil had explicit permission to be here and do what he liked. They meant he belonged.
The first room was a lounge. Three chairs and two couches took up most of the space, forming a semicircle around an entertainment center. The TV was obscenely large, and Neil couldn’t wait to watch a game on it. Posted above the TV on the wall was a list of sports and news channels.
The rest of the walls were covered in photographs. Some of them were official: team photos, snapshots of the Foxes’ goals, and pictures obviously clipped from newspapers. The majority of the pictures looked like they’d been taken by one of the Foxes themselves. These were scattered anywhere they could fit and held up by tape. Taking up one entire corner was a clump of photos featuring the Foxes’ three ladies.
Exy was a co-ed sport, but few colleges wanted women on their lines. According to Fox lore, Palmetto State refused to approve any of the women Wymack asked for his first year. After the Foxes’ trainwreck first season, they were a little more willing to listen, and Wymack signed three women. On top of that, he made Danielle Wilds the first female captain in NCAA Class I Exy.
If Exy fans weren’t kind to the Foxes, they were downright cruel to Danielle. Even her teammates were willing to shred her in public during her first year. The more outspoken misogynists blamed her for the Foxes’ failings. Despite the controversy and with only Wymack at her back, Danielle held onto her position. Three years later, it was obvious Wymack made the right choice. The Foxes were still a mess but they fell in behind Danielle and slowly started racking up wins.
Neil’s mental picture of Danielle was that of an aggressive and unrelenting woman, but the pictures he was looking at undermined that impression. Danielle was smiling in every photo, a toothy grin that was equal parts menace and mirth.
Nicky noticed his distraction and tapped the faces in the closest photograph. ‘Dan, Renee, and Allison. Dan’s good people, but she’ll work you to the bone. Allison’s a catty bitch you should avoid at all costs. Renee’s a sweetheart. Be nice to her.’
‘Or else?’ Neil asked, because he could hear it in Nicky’s tone.
Nicky only smiled and shrugged.
‘Let’s go,’ Kevin said.
Neil followed him out of the lounge. A hallway led from the lounge past two office doors labeled DAVID WYMACK and ABIGAIL WINFIELD. A door with a simple red cross on it was next. Further down two doors opposite each other were marked LADIES and GENTLEMEN. Kevin pushed open the GENTLEMEN door a bit, showing Neil a quick glimpse of bright orange lockers, benches, and tiled floor. Neil wanted to explore, but Kevin wasn’t slowing on his way down the hall.
The hall dead-ended at a large room Neil dimly remembered from news clips. It was the room that opened into the stadium and the only place where the press could meet Foxes after games for interviews and photographs. Orange benches were set here and there, and the floor was white tile with orange paw prints. Orange cones were stacked in a corner, three deep and six high. A white door was on the wall to Neil’s right, and an orange door was opposite him.
‘Welcome to the foyer,’ Nicky said. ‘That’s what we call it, anyway. By ‘we’ I mean whatever clever smartass preceded us.’
Andrew straddled one of the benches and dug a bottle of pills out of his pocket. Aaron handed Kevin the whiskey they’d snitched. Kevin brought it to Andrew, waited while Andrew shook a pill onto the bench in front of him, and traded him the whiskey for the pill bottle. The medicine disappeared into one of Kevin’s pockets, and Andrew swallowed the pill with an impressive swig of whiskey.
Kevin looked at Neil and gestured to the plain door across the room. ‘Gear closet.’
‘Can we—?’ Neil started.
Kevin didn’t let him finish. ‘Bring your keys.’
Neil met him at the orange door and let Kevin pick out the right key. The other side of the doorway was darkness. There wasn’t a ceiling, but Neil could see the walls rising up on either side. Neil followed Kevin into the shadows. Ten steps later he realized they must be in the stadium itself.
‘You get to see the Foxhole Court looking its best,’ Nicky said behind him. ‘We made enough money off Kevin’s presence we could get the floors refurbished and walls done. Cleanest this place has been since year one.’
Light from the locker room bled into the stadium, the path to the inner court was too long for it to be much help. Inner court was mostly inky shadows with vague outlines. Neil closed his eyes and tried to imagine it. This space was reserved for the referees, cheerleaders, and teams. Somewhere around here were the Foxes’ home benches. The plexiglass walls surrounding the court were invisible in the dark, as was the court itself, but knowing the court was there set Neil’s heart racing.
‘Lights,’ Aaron called from somewhere behind them.
Neil heard the hum of electricity before the lights came on, starting with emergency lights at his feet and cascading upwards. The stadium came to life before his eyes, row after row of alternating orange and white seats disappearing into sky-high rafters and the court lighting up in front of him. Neil was moving before the ceiling lights turned on, crossing the inner court to the court walls. He pressed his hands to the thick, cold plastic and looked up, where the scoreboards and replay TVs hung over the court’s ceiling, then down to the glossy wood. Orange lines marked first, half, and far court. It was perfect, utterly perfect, and Neil felt at once inspired and horrified by the sight of it. How could he possibly play here after playing on Millport’s pathetic knockoff court?
He closed his eyes and breathed in, breathed out, imagining the way bodies sounded as they crashed into each other on the court, the way the announcer’s voice would only come through in muffled, scattered bursts, the roar of sixtyfive thousand people reacting to a goal. He knew he didn’t deserve this, knew beyond a doubt he wasn’t good enough to play on this court, but he wanted and needed it so badly he ached all over.
For three and a half weeks, it would be just the five of them, but in June the Foxes would move in for summer practices and in August the season would begin. Neil opened his eyes again, looked at the court, and knew he’d made the right decision. The risks didn’t matter; the consequences would be worth it. He had to be here. He had to play on this court at least once. He had to know if the crowd screamed loud enough to blow the roof off. He had to smell the sweat and overpriced stadium food. He needed to hear the buzzer sound as a ball slammed inside the white goal lines and lit the walls up red.
‘Oh,’ Nicky said, leaning against the wall a short ways down from Neil. ‘No wonder he chose you.’
Neil looked at him, not really understanding the words, not really listening when his mind was still racing with the tick-tick-tock of a game clock counting down. Past Nicky was Kevin, who’d watched his father take a man apart and gone on to sign with the national team. Kevin was watching him, but the second their eyes met he pointed back the way they’d come.
‘Give him his gear.’
Aaron and Nicky brought Neil back to the locker room. Andrew hadn’t followed them into the stadium, but he wasn’t in the foyer either. Neil didn’t care enough to ask but followed the cousins into the changing room. The front room was lined with lockers, each one marked with the players’ numbers and names. Through the doorway at the back Neil could see sinks and he assumed the showers were around the corner out of sight. He was more interested in the locker that had his name on it.
Coaches Hernandez and Wymack had spent the last few weeks of Neil’s senior year arguing details on what sort of equipment Neil needed. Knowing that everything was going to be here for him wasn’t half as good as seeing it. There were five outfits for workouts and a set of both home and away uniforms. Mounds of padding and armor took up most of the space in his giant locker, and his helmet was on the top shelf. Underneath the helmet was something neon orange and shrinkwrapped, and Neil carefully pulled it out to examine it. It opened to reveal a windbreaker that was almost brighter than the stadium paint. ‘Foxes’ and ‘Josten’ were printed on the back in reflective material.
‘Satellites can pick these up in outer space,’ he said.
Nicky laughed at that. ‘Dan commissioned them her first year here. She said she was tired of everyone trying to look past us. People want to pretend people like us don’t exist, you know? Everyone hopes we’re someone else’s problem to solve.’ He reached out and fingered the material. ‘They don’t understand, so they don’t know where to start. They feel overwhelmed and give up before they’ve taken the first step.’
Nicky gave himself a small shake and smiled, melancholy instantly replaced by cheer. ‘You know we donate a portion of ticket sales to charity? Our tickets cost a little more than anyone else’s because of it. Renee’s idea. Told you she’s pure gold. Now come on, let’s get you looking foxy.’
He turned away to find his own gear, so Neil pulled out what he needed and brought it to the bathroom. Changing out in a stall was awkward and uncomfortable, but he’d done it so many times he had it down to an art form. He traded out a t-shirt for shoulder and chest padding. He did a couple twists to make sure the straps were snug enough without being too tight, then tugged his jersey on overtop. He could put on shorts around the others, so he returned to the main room to finish dressing.
He traded jeans for shorts first, then sat on one of the benches to hook his shin guards into place. He covered those with long socks and put on scuff-free court shoes. He pulled thin cotton gloves on, snapping them closed just above his elbows, and strapped arm guards onto his forearms. He left his outer gloves by his helmet where he could carry them down to the court and pulled his bangs up under an orange bandanna. The last thing to put on was his neck guard, a thin band with a tricky clasp. It was a pain to deal with and occasionally made him feel like he was choking, but it was worth putting up with if it’d protect his throat from a stray ball.
They went back to the foyer, and Nicky had Neil unlock the gear door Kevin indicated earlier. Aaron got a bucket of balls while Nicky rolled out the stick rack. The racquets were arranged by numbers, a pair for each player with Neil’s at the end. Neil unhooked one and gave it a slow spin, testing the weight and feel of it in his hand. It was dark orange with a single white stripe at the base of the head and white rope netting. It smelled brand new and felt like a dream, and it was all he could do to keep from smashing the taut net against his face. At Millport he’d used one of the older team racquets. This one had been ordered specifically for him, and the thought alone was enough to set his heart racing.
Kevin was right where they’d left him, waiting for them in the inner ring. He watched silently as they tugged on their helmets and gloves, and said nothing when Aaron led the way to the home court entrance. Neil used his last key to unlock the door and then stuffed the keys into his glove for safekeeping.
After the door closed behind them, Neil looked at Nicky and asked, ‘Is Kevin not going to play today?’
Nicky looked surprised that he’d ask. ‘Kevin only tolerates our court under two conditions: alone, or with Andrew on it. He’ll have to get over it this fall when Renee’s in goal at games, but for now he can get away with being a snob.’
‘Where’s Andrew?’
‘He just dosed up, so he’s out cold somewhere. He’s going to crash and reboot into crazy mode.’
‘You don’t think he’s crazy now?’
‘Crazy, nah,’ Nicky said. ‘Soulless, perhaps.’
Neil looked at Aaron, waiting for him to defend his twin, but Aaron only led the way to half-court. Neil kept pace with Nicky, idly poking his fingers through the netting on his racquet. He looked at Kevin, who was still watching them through the court wall, and asked, ‘Kevin can’t really play, can he? They said it’d be a miracle if he ever picked up a racquet again.’
‘His left hand’s pretty much out,’ Nicky said. ‘He’s playing as a rightie from now on.’
Neil stared. ‘What?’
Nicky grinned, obviously pleased to have dropped that bombshell. ‘They don’t call him an obsessive genius for nothing, you know.’
‘It’s not genius,’ Aaron said. ‘It’s spite.’
‘That too,’ Nicky said. ‘I wish I could see the look on Riko’s face when he sees our first game. Rat bastard.’
Kevin pounded on the wall in a demand for them to get moving.
Nicky waved a hand at him in dismissal. ‘We’re doing this in our free time, you know!’ he yelled, not that Kevin could hear him through the court walls.
‘Thank you,’ Neil said belatedly.
‘Huh? Oh, no. Don’t worry about it. You can make it up to me some other time when the others aren’t around.’
‘Can you try and get ass when I’m not standing right here?’ Aaron asked.
‘You could leave and let me and Neil get to know each other better.’
‘I’ll tell Erik on you.’
‘Bald-faced lie. When’s the last time you said a civil word to him?’
Neil didn’t know any Foxes past or present with that name. ‘Who is Erik?’
‘Oh, he’s my husband,’ Nicky said happily. ‘Or will be, eventually. He was my home-stay brother for a year in Berlin and we moved in together after graduation.’
Neil’s heart skipped a beat. ‘You lived in Germany?’
He tried to do the math in his head, guessing Nicky’s age against how long ago he’d been in high school. Chances were Neil had already moved on to Switzerland by the time Nicky made it to German soil, but it was such a close call Neil couldn’t breathe.
‘Ja,’ Nicky said. ‘You heard us earlier with the mumbo-jumbo, right? That was German. The little punks studied it at high school because they knew I could help them pass. If you take German as your elective here, just let me know and I’ll tutor you. I’m good with my tongue.’
‘Enough. Let’s play,’ Aaron said, putting the bucket of balls down.
Nicky gave an exaggerated sigh. ‘Anyway, remind me to show you his picture later. Our babies are going to be gorgeous.’
Neil frowned, confused. ‘He doesn’t live here?’
‘Oh, no. He’s in Stuttgart. Got a job he loves with great career potential, so he couldn’t leave to follow me here. I was only supposed to stay long enough to get these kids through high school, but when Coach offered me a scholarship Erik said I should go for it. It sucks being apart for so long, but he came here last Christmas and I’ll go there this year. If things ever die down around here I’ll even get to spend next summer in Germany.’ Nicky sent a meaningful look toward the wall where Kevin was watching them.
They spent the next hour and a half teaching Neil drills. A lot of them Neil had done before, but there were a few he didn’t recognize, and it gave him a thrill to learn something new. They ended with a short scrimmage, one striker against two backliners and an open goal. Aaron and Nicky weren’t the best defense players in the NCAA by far, but they were far better than any of the high schoolers Neil was used to playing.
Aaron called them to a stop at last and Neil caught the ball on a rebound. When he dropped it into the bucket the others started unstrapping their helmets. Neil squished a flare of disappointment that they were done so soon, but he wouldn’t push them to play any longer; Nicky had already said that they were giving up their summer break to play with him.
Nicky smeared his cheek against his shoulder, trying to wipe sweat off onto his jersey. He smiled at Neil. ‘How’s that?’
‘It was fun,’ Neil said. ‘You two are really, really good.’
Nicky beamed, but Aaron snorted. ‘Kevin would kill himself if he heard that.’
‘Kevin thinks we’re a waste of oxygen,’ Nicky said with a shrug.
‘At least you’re not going to completely drag us down,’ Aaron said. ‘It’ll take most the season to get you where we need you to be, but I can see why Kevin picked you.’
‘Speaking of…’ Nicky tipped his head toward the wall. ‘Someone’s ready to get his hands on you.’
Neil followed the gesture and looked through the wall toward the Foxes’ benches. Andrew had reappeared and was lying flat on his back on the home bench, playing catch with a spare ball. Kevin had gotten his racquet at some point and was spinning it as he watched them. With half the court and a half-inch-thick wall between them, Neil could still feel Kevin’s stare like a physical weight.
‘Fear for your life,’ Nicky said. ‘He’s not a forgiving tutor, and he doesn’t know how to be nice. Kevin can piss anyone off on an Exy court, up to and including a drugged Andrew. Well, anyone except Renee, but she’s not human so she doesn’t count.’
Neil looked at Andrew again. ‘I thought his medicine made that impossible.’
‘Spring was a learning experience.’ Nicky propped his racquet against his shoulder and started for the door. ‘Wish you’d seen it. Andrew would’ve taken Kevin’s head off if Kevin hadn’t already thrown Andrew’s racquet halfway across the court. I can’t wait to see how you handle it.’
‘Fantastic,’ Neil said, grabbing the balls bucket and following them off the court.
Andrew sat up as the court door banged closed behind them and tossed his ball to Nicky. He’d brought the whiskey with him and left it on the ground by his feet. Now he scooped it up and twisted the lid off.
‘About time,’ he said. ‘Nicky, it’s so boring waiting on you.’
‘We’re done now,’ Nicky said, hooking his helmet over the end of his racquet so he could reach for the whiskey. ‘About time you stop that, don’t you think? Abby’s going to beat me senseless if she realizes you’ve been drinking.’
‘Doesn’t sound like my problem,’ Andrew said with a brilliant smile.
Nicky looked to Aaron for help, but Aaron went ahead of them to the locker room. Nicky mimed blowing his own brains out and went with him. Neil meant to go after them, but he’d made the mistake of looking at Kevin. Once he met Kevin’s eyes, it was hard to look away again.
Kevin’s expression was indecipherable. Whatever it was, it didn’t look particularly happy. ‘This is going to be a very long season.’
‘I told you I wasn’t ready.’
‘You also said you wouldn’t play with me, but here you are.’
Neil didn’t answer that accusation. Kevin got right in his face and tangled his fingers through the netting on Neil’s racquet. When he started to pull it away, Neil held on tighter, silently refusing to let go. Kevin probably could have wrenched it away if he tried a little harder, but he seemed content just to hold on.
‘If you won’t play with me, you’ll play for me,’ Kevin said. ‘You’re never going to get there on your own, so give your game to me.’
‘Where is ‘there’?’ Neil asked.
‘If you can’t figure that out there’s no helping you,’ Kevin said.
Neil gazed back at him in silence, pretty sure ‘there’ didn’t apply to someone like him. Kevin must have seen that in the unimpressed look on his face because he reached up and covered Neil’s eyes with his free hand.
‘Forget the stadium,’ Kevin said. ‘Forget the Foxes and your useless high school team and your family. See it the only way it really matters, where Exy is the only road to take. What do you see?’
Imagining life in such simplistic terms was so ridiculous Neil almost laughed. He kept the vicious twist of his mouth off his face through sheer willpower alone. Something still must have shown, because Kevin gave his racquet a hard tug.
‘Focus.’
Neil tried to picture the world as if Neil Josten was really all there ever had been and would be. It was almost enough to make him despise the persona when he could see it in such easy terms, but he swallowed that distaste and turned his mental gaze toward Exy.
Had the game ever been his, or had it been pulling him to this point? Exy was the only bright point of his shattered childhood. He remembered his mother bringing him to little league Exy games, traveling an hour outside of Baltimore to where no one knew his father and the coaches would actually let him play. He remembered her cheering for him as if their every move and word wasn’t scrutinized by gun-toting bodyguards. The memories were fragmented and dreamlike, distorted by the bloody reality of his father’s work, but he clung to them. They were the only times he’d ever seen his mother smile.
Neil didn’t know how long he played with his little league team, but his hands remembered the weight of a racquet as well as they did that of a gun.
That thought was sobering, as it put him right back to square one and the fact that Neil Josten was a fleeting existence. It was cruel to even dream he could stay like this, but Kevin had escaped, hadn’t he? Somehow he’d left that bloody room behind at Edgar Allen and become this, and Neil wanted the same so bad he could taste it.
‘You,’ Neil said at last. Kevin pulled at his racquet again, and this time Neil let go.
‘Tell me I can have your game.’
It wouldn’t do them any good, but Neil wasn’t going to get into that. ‘Take it.’
‘Neil understands,’ Kevin said, dropping his hand and sending Andrew a pointed look.
‘Congratulations are in order, I suppose! Since I have none to give, I will tell the others to respond appropriately.’ Andrew pushed himself to his feet and swallowed more whiskey on the way up. ‘Neil! Hello. We meet again.’
‘We met earlier,’ Neil said. ‘If this is another trick, just let it go.’
Andrew grinned at him around the mouth of his bottle. ‘Don’t be so suspicious. You saw me take my medicine. If I hadn’t, I’d be keeled over somewhere by now puking from the withdrawal. As it is, I might puke from all the fanaticism going around.’
‘He’s high,’ Kevin told Neil. ‘He tells me when he’s sober, so I always know. How did you figure it out?’
‘They’re twins, but they’re not the same.’ Neil lifted one shoulder in a shrug. ‘One of them hates your obsession with Exy while the other couldn’t care less.’
Kevin looked to Andrew, but Andrew only had eyes for Neil. Andrew took a second to process those words before he started laughing. ‘He’s a comedian, too? An athlete and a comic and a student. How multitalented. What a grand addition to the Fox line. I can’t wait to find out what else he can do. Perhaps we should throw a talent show and find out? But later. Kevin, we’re going. I need food.’
Kevin handed Neil his racquet back and the three went to the locker room. Aaron and Nicky were already in the showers when they arrived. Neil heard water running and sat on a bench in the changing room to wait.
‘We’re not taking you by Abby’s like that,’ Kevin said. ‘Wash up.’
‘I won’t shower with the team,’ Neil said. ‘I’ll wait, and if you don’t want to wait on me, just go on ahead. I’ll find my way there from here.’
‘Nicky going to be a problem for you?’ Andrew asked.
Neil didn’t like the look of his manic smile, but he liked Andrew’s veiled warning less. ‘It’s not about Nicky. It’s about my privacy.’
Kevin snapped his fingers at Neil. ‘Get over it. You can’t be shy if you’re going to be a star.’
Andrew leaned toward Kevin and put a hand to his mouth, but he didn’t bother to lower his voice. ‘He has to hide his ouches, Kevin. I broke into Coach’s cabinet and read his files. Bruises, you think, or scars? I think scars, too. Can’t be bruises if his parents aren’t around to beat him, right?’
Neil felt cold all over. ‘What did you just say?’
‘I don’t care,’ Kevin said to Andrew, ignoring Neil.
Andrew, in turn, ignored Kevin and gestured at Neil. ‘Showers aren’t communal here. Coach put in stalls when he built the stadium. The board wouldn’t pay for it—they didn’t see the point—so it came out of Coach’s own pocket. See for yourself if you don’t believe me. You don’t believe me, do you? I know you don’t. That’s probably for the best.’
Neil barely heard him. ‘You had no right to read my file!’
He regretted not flipping open the folder when Wymack put it down by him at the stadium. He couldn’t believe Hernandez had said such things in his letters to Wymack. He knew Hernandez had to explain his situation, or at least as much as Hernandez understood it to be, to prove Neil was a fit for the Foxes’ halfway-house team. Neil still felt betrayed, and on its heels was anger that Andrew had dug up those papers about him.
Andrew laughed, sounding delighted to have crossed such a personal line. ‘Relax, relax, relax. I made that up. We were locked in Coach Arizona’s office to watch your game on the local TV station, and he said our secret meet-and-greet would be easy since you always shower alone last. Told Coach he still couldn’t find your parents. Coach asked if they’d be a problem, and Arizona said he didn’t know because he hadn’t met them a single time. Said they spent a lot of time commuting to their jobs in Phoenix and no time at all checking in on you. But I’m right, aren’t I?’
Neil opened his mouth, then closed it before he gave Andrew a piece of his mind. Andrew wanted him to react, so Neil had to reel it in. He sucked in a slow breath through gritted teeth and counted to ten. He only made it to five before Andrew’s smile was too much.
Neil didn’t believe Andrew about the showers, but it was better to investigate than stay here and take a swing at Andrew. He got off the bench and went to the bathroom. The sinks with their ceiling-high mirrors were the connecting section between the toilets and the showers, and the showers were around the corner out of sight. He edged around for a quick look. Andrew was telling the truth for once. The walls were lined with stalls, tall enough to afford complete privacy and outfitted with locking doors.
‘Weird, right?’ Andrew said at Neil’s ear. Neil hadn’t heard his approach over the sound of the cousins’ showers. Lashing out was instinctive, but Andrew caught the elbow Neil would have slammed into his ribs. Andrew laughed and retreated a couple steps. ‘Coach never explained it. Maybe he thought we’d need to grieve our disastrous losses in private. Only the best for his rising stars, right?’
‘I didn’t think Wymack recruited rising stars,’ Neil said, pushing past Andrew for his locker.
‘No,’ Andrew agreed. ‘The Foxes will never amount to anything. Try telling Dan that, though, and she’ll box your ears.’ He scooped up his whiskey and started for the door. ‘Kevin, car.’
Neil watched the door close behind them before gathering his clothes and heading to the showers. He washed as quickly as he could and grimaced as he got dressed again. Vents kept the air moving, pulling moisture out to cut back on mildew, but the room still felt heavy and wet. Neil felt sticky as he tugged his clothes on. He raked his fingers through his hair as he met up with the cousins in the main room. They showed him where to put his armor so it could air dry and his uniform to be washed. Aaron got the lights on their way out, Neil locked the doors, and they found the other two waiting by the car.
Nicky took the keys from Andrew and shook them at Neil. ‘It’s your first day, so you get shotgun again. Enjoy it while you can. Kevin hates sitting in back.’
‘I don’t have to sit up front,’ Neil said, but Kevin and the twins were already piling into the backseat with Kevin in the middle. The way they sat put Andrew behind Neil’s seat, so Neil hoped the ride was short.
Abigail Winfield lived in a onestory house about five minutes from campus. Nicky parked at the curb since there were already two cars in the driveway when they arrived. The front door was unlocked, so they let themselves in without knocking, and they were greeted by the thick smells of garlic and warm tomato sauce.
Coach Wymack and Abigail were in the kitchen already. Wymack was grumbling as he dug through the silverware drawer and Abigail ignored him in favor of stirring something at the stove. Coach spotted the Foxes first and stabbed a finger at Nicky.
‘Hemmick, get over here and be useful for once in your mangy life. Table needs setting.’
‘Aww, Coach,’ Nicky complained as Abigail turned. ‘Why do you always have to pick on me? You already started it. Can’t you finish?’
‘Shut your face and get to work.’
‘Can’t you two behave when we’ve got a guest?’ Abigail asked, setting aside her spoon and coming to greet them.
Wymack raked the group with a look. ‘I don’t see any guests. Neil’s a Fox. He’s not going to get any special treatment just because it’s his first day. Don’t want him thinking this team is anything but dysfunctional or June will be a rude wake-up call.’
‘David? Shut up and make sure the vegetables aren’t boiling over. Kevin, check the bread. It’s in the oven. Nicky, table. Aaron, help him. Andrew Joseph Minyard, that had better not be what I think it is.’ She made a grab at the whiskey, but Andrew laughed and ducked out of the doorway. Abigail looked like she wanted to go after him down the hall, but Neil was in her way. He stepped neatly to one side to let her through, but she settled for flicking Nicky a murderous look.
‘What was I supposed to do?’ Nicky asked, avoiding her eyes as the three split up to their various chores. ‘Take it from him? No way in hell.’
Abigail ignored him in favor of facing Neil. ‘You’d be Neil, then. I’m Abby. I’m nurse for the team and temporary landlord to this lot. They’re not harassing you too much, are they?’
‘No worries,’ Andrew called from out of sight. ‘He’ll actually take work to break, I think. Give me until August, maybe.’
‘If you dare give us a repeat of last year—’
‘Then Bee will be here to pick the pieces up,’ Andrew interrupted, reappearing in the doorway at Neil’s side. He’d lost the whiskey along the way and he splayed his empty hands at her in a calming gesture. ‘She did so well with Matt, didn’t she? Neil won’t even be a blink on her radar. You did invite her over, didn’t you?’
‘I invited her, but she declined. She thought it would make things awkward.’
‘Things aren’t anything but awkward when Andrew and Nicky are around,’ Coach said.
Andrew didn’t even try to defend his honor but looked at Neil. ‘Bee’s a shrink. Used to work in the juvie system, but now she’s here. She deals with the really serious cases on campus: suicide watch, budding psychopaths, that sort of thing. That makes her our designated handler. You’ll meet her in August.’
‘Do I have to?’ Neil asked.
‘It’s mandatory once a semester for athletes,’ Abby confirmed. ‘The first time is a casual meet-andgreet so you get to know her and find out where her office is. The second session is in spring. Of course, you’re free to visit her any time you like, and she’ll talk to you more about scheduling while you’re there. Counseling services are included in your tuition, so you might as well make use of it.’
‘Betsy’s amazing,’ Nicky said. ‘You’ll love her.’
Neil doubted it, but he let it slide for now.
‘Let’s eat, shall we?’ Abby asked, motioning for Andrew and Neil to enter the room.
Neil had just about lost his appetite, but he sat at the table as far as he could get from Kevin and Andrew’s seats. Conversation died as everyone got settled and served up what they wanted, but it started up again as they dug into chunks of steaming lasagna. Neil tried as best as he could to stay out of it, more interested in seeing the way they interacted.
From time to time the table split as Kevin and Wymack got caught up talking about spring training and recruits at other schools and Nicky regaled the other half of the table with gossip about movies and celebrities Neil didn’t know. Andrew watched Kevin and Wymack, but he had nothing to contribute to the conversation. Instead he hummed to himself and pushed his food around his plate.
It was after ten when Wymack decided it was time to go, and Neil left with him. Getting in the car alone with him was the hardest thing Neil had done all day. Andrew was crazy, but Neil had an ingrained distrust of men old enough to be his father. He spent the entire ride frozen and silent in the passenger seat. Maybe Wymack noticed the rigid set to his shoulders, because he said nothing to Neil until they were back at his apartment.
When Wymack closed and locked the front door behind them, he asked, ‘Are they going to be a problem?’
Neil shook his head and discreetly put more space between them. ‘I’ll figure it out.’
‘They don’t understand boundaries,’ Wymack said. ‘If they cross a line and you can’t get them to back off, you come to me. Understand? I don’t have perfect control over Andrew, but Kevin owes us his life and I can get to Andrew through him.’
Neil nodded and went down the hall to get his bag from Wymack’s desk. It’d been locked up all day, but he unloaded it onto the couch anyway to check his things. The second his hands closed over the binder at the bottom of his bag, his heart kicked into overdrive. He wanted to go through it and make sure everything was there, but Wymack was watching him from the doorway.
‘You plan on wearing the same six outfits over and over again this year?’ Wymack asked.
‘Eight,’ Neil said, ‘and yes.’
Wymack arched an eyebrow at him but didn’t push it. ‘Laundry room is in the basement. Detergent’s in the bathroom cabinet under the sink. Use what you need, and take what you want from the kitchen. It’ll piss me off more if you act like a skittish stray cat than it will if you eat the last bowl of cereal.’
‘Yes, Coach.’
‘I’ve got paperwork to go over. You good?’
‘I might go running,’ Neil said.
Wymack nodded and left. Neil set his running pants to one side and stuffed his sleeping pants and tee under the couch for later. He changed in the bathroom and went around Wymack to lock his bag up again. Wymack didn’t even look up from the papers he was perusing, though he grunted what might have been a goodbye as Neil left again. Neil locked the door behind him, stuffed the keys to the bottom of his pocket, and took the stairs down to ground level.
He didn’t know where he was or where he was going, but that was all right. If he gave his feet a direction, they’d take him running past all of his thoughts, and he’d be happy to let them.