CHAPTER 5
“Watch out!” KJ yelled, snapping Kade back into his present mission of fighting off killer zombies.
He returned his attention to the screen just in time to watch Player 2 get his head blown off.
“Wow. You suck at this game,” KJ accurately assessed as he picked his soda can up off the coffee table and downed its contents.
“So how’s your aunt been doing?”
Kade still hadn’t been able to talk to her. She was avoiding him. They’d returned home from the gym an hour ago. Ali had been quiet on the ride back to the house and as soon as they hit the door, she’d mumbled something about work and headed upstairs. Ricky had gone up to his room as well to finish homework and KJ had asked Kade to play video games. Kade had been so preoccupied he’d died at least a dozen times.
“She’s cool.” KJ burped as he tossed the empty container across the room and sank it into the recycling.
“So, what’s the deal with you not wanting her to go to your classes?” Kade was fairly certain the reason had something to do with the way Keaton Mill’s face had lit up like Times Square when Ali walked in. And he’d caught Mills staring at her at least a dozen times during the ninety minutes they were there.
KJ’s only response was an indistinguishable sound as he shrugged his shoulders.
“Your coach seems like a good guy.” Other than his obvious crush on Ali, the man did seem like a great guy.
After a short conversation it was clear to Kade that Mills knew what he was doing. He’d studied under the Gracie family and was accomplished in his own right. The kids all seemed to respect him, which wasn’t an easy accomplishment when talking about pre-teens and teens these days. Not one of them pulled out their phones the entire hour and a half which was a testament to how he ran his gym.
“He’s cool,” KJ stated flatly.
Kade realized he wasn’t getting anywhere with this line of questioning so he figured he’d drop it for now.
“I really am sorry I missed your guys’ birthday.”
“It’s cool.”
Ali was cool. The coach was cool. Kade missing his birthday was cool. He had a feeling this was the teen equivalent of a woman saying, I’m fine.
“What did you guys do?” Kade followed both boys on Instagram and Snapchat, but their social media had been suspiciously quiet the weekend they became teenagers.
“Nothing.” KJ shrugged again. “Aunt Ali wanted to have a barbeque or go take out our dirt bikes, but I didn’t want to.”
From the time the boys were old enough to balance on a dirt bike, Patrick had taken them off-roading every chance he got. Since he ran the shop, his weekends were usually spent working, but he would sometimes let the boys skip school to take them out for the day.
“Why not?” It didn’t take a genius to guess the answer, but Kade wanted to give KJ the chance to talk about it.
“What’s the point? It’s a stupid birthday. It doesn’t matter. Nothing does.” KJ stared at the television and destroyed at least a dozen zombies that were trying to infiltrate the abandoned building that they were holed up in.
“KJ!” Ali’s voice rang out from the top of the stairs. “It’s almost eleven. Turn it off.”
“Ten more minutes!” KJ countered.
“No.” Ali held her ground but Kade could hear how worn down she sounded. “You still have to take a shower.”
“I’ll take one in the morning.”
“No. You won’t. You always say that and then you never get up. Turn it off. Now. Shower. Bed.” The door shut and he could hear Ali’s footsteps walking across the kitchen above them.
Kade wasn’t sure when bedtime had become a conversation. In his house, if his dad had to repeat himself, there was hell to pay. Granted, George McKnight’s parenting was nothing to emulate but Kade couldn’t remember the boys ever talking back to Patrick like it seemed KJ did to Ali every chance he got.
From the moment the boys were born, Kade had been in awe of his best friend. Patrick was only twenty-one at the time, an age when most guys were partying and living it up. But not Patrick. He was running the business that had been passed down from their grandfather, raising his little sister, and then becoming an amazing dad of twin boys.
Kade would never fill his shoes, he knew that. But he was sure as hell going to do his best to do right by the boys and Ali.
Starting now. Getting up, Kade clicked the power button on the console and the screen went black.