Page 43 of Made for Mayhem

Jace groaned, but bounced the ball twice. “Why did we say you could call the shots? That’s not possible.”

Junie grinned wide, then leaned down and whispered in Beckett’s ear. My best friend held a hand above his head, and she slapped her little palm into it, the two of them already scheming.

“I swear, you’re evil,” Jace said to Molly, then attempted her instructions. He spun, bounced, and threw the ball, aiming right for the garage siding. Unfortunately for him, it bounced off in the wrong direction, not making the hoop.

“That was embarrassing for all of us,” Molly called through the megaphone. “I award you no points.”

Jace shook his head, then passed the ball to Beckett.

“Think we can do it?” Beckett said, looking up at Junie above him. He was six-foot-four, so she sat high in the sky, her little face as serious as I’d ever seen it. She gave him a brief nod, and Beckett grinned.

He bent at the knees, then bounced the ball twice, focusing on the hoop. Without waiting, he wrapped one hand around Junie’s leg draped over his shoulder, then spun. She squealed in delight, hanging onto his shaggy hair as he bounced the ball between his legs, then passed the ball up to her. Junie held it just right, as if they’d been practicing this, and tossed the ball over his head. It sailed through the air, bounced once off the garage siding, once on the rim, and miraculously dropped in.

“HORSE!” Pickles whooped. “They’ve got two points on you. You’re outta here!”

Delgado threw his hands in the air. “You can’t use the kid as an extension of your own height. That’s cheating!”

“Maybe if you’d grown in the last six years, you could be a little HOR too,” Miles shot back.

That earned him a glare, and about two seconds’ warning before Delgado launched himself at him. The two of them went down into the grass, wrestling with shouts about “goalie interference” and “unsportsmanlike conduct.”

Molly didn’t even flinch, lifting the megaphone again. “Two minutes for excessive whining.”

The second I stepped out of the truck, the noise from the driveway shifted fast.

“Holy crap,” Delgado said, pointing at me as if I’d grown another head. “He’s wearing real clothes.”

Miles picked his head up from where he lay pinned underneath Delgado, grass sticking to his wild hair. “Where’s your hat? I need you to tip your head down—we have a bet going on whether you’re bald under there.”

Jace squinted down at my feet. “Are those the same boots, though?”

“You look like a finance bro at a parent-teacher conference,” Molly added with a smirk.

“Oh dang, he does,” Delgado said.

Beckett shoved his hands into his gym shorts pockets. “You just lost so much aura, bro. Watch and learn how to have rizz all nonchalant.”

The kids all groaned, throwing anything they could find at Beckett as he laughed.

“Never again,” Molly called through her megaphone. “You’ve lost speaking privileges for a week, Coach.”

I dragged a hand over my neatly trimmed mustache. “You’re all hilarious.”

Junie slid off Beckett’s shoulders and sprinted over, throwing her arms around my waist. I ruffled her hair, my chest loosening the way it always did around this crew.

“Hey, bug,” I said. “You take Smash down?”

She tilted her chin up, those too-big front teeth showing in her wide grin. “Yeah, I did.”

“I swear, she’s got better aim than half the team,” Beckett said. “We need to get you on the ice, Rookie. Wanna come to the rink with us tomorrow and try it out?”

Junie shook her head, then looked back at Beckett. “No skating, but I want to go.”

I was glad I still had my head tipped down so only she saw my smile. This kid was something else. The way she advocated for what she was and wasn’t comfortable with? Fuck, I loved that. “Rookie, huh?”

She looked back up at me with that big, toothy grin. “They said I need a nickname if I want to be on the team someday.”

I nodded, then looked at Jace. “Is your mom inside?”