Long Pass Chronicles 01 - Outing the Quarterback (16 page)

She shook her head. “No, I’ve got work and study group tomorrow.”

“Where do you work?”

“I’m actually an intern at a technology think tank in Irvine.”

“No shit?”

She grinned. “Yeah. Gotta find something to do with my higher math skills.”

“Who the fuck is this?” The slurred voice came from Will’s right. He reached out and took Evangeline’s hand. Why couldn’t his mother have stayed home drunk on the couch like usual?

His mother grabbed his shoulder, and she supported herself as she leaned toward Ev, breathing heavily. “When did you hook up with a black girl, William?”

Will shrugged away from his mother’s grip. She nearly fell but just managed to slosh her drink on the marble floor. Will stepped next to Ev. “Mom, this is Evangeline Jones. She’s Jamal’s sister. Ev, this is my mother, Frieda Ashford.”

Ev nodded but didn’t extend her hand. “How do you do, Mrs. Ashford.”

“I do damned well, sweetie.” She downed another big mouthful of what appeared to be vodka and vodka. “She’s real pretty, Will. So’s this one got what you like more than the blonde? Bigger tits or something?”

Could you walk out on your mother? Or slap her face?

“Frieda, that’s enough.” His father walked up from behind Will and took his wife’s arm. She tried to pull away, but he held on. “Why don’t you go back to the guest room and take a rest?”

“Don’t wanna rest.”

Jill Batson came up with a smile stuck on her face. “How about you come back with me, Frieda? I’ll show you the new coat Jason bought me. Chinchilla. You’ll love it.”

His mother looked confused for a second, then nodded. “Okay. Wanna see the chinchin.” Jill took her arm and led her across the dining room and out toward the entry.

His father smiled. “Sorry about that, Will. Your mom’s just had one too many.”

Will frowned. “How about ten too many?”

His dad gave him that look that meant
don’t wash family laundry in public
, then turned to Ev. “So I haven’t met your friend.”

Will stared after his mother.
Crap
. He wanted to leave and not come back. More than the party. He glanced at his dad, who looked at him expectantly. “Oh, Dad, this is Evangeline. She’s Jamal’s sister.”

She extended her hand this time. “People call me Ev.”

He shook her hand. “Delighted to meet you, Ev. So glad you could come to our company party.”

“Will was nice enough to invite me.”

“I have some people I want you to meet.” He put a hand around her shoulders.

Will touched his arm. “We’re waiting for drinks.”

He smiled grandly. “Ah, I happen to have a little pull with the bartender. What would you like, my dear?”

She glanced at Will. “Just iced tea.”

“Not old enough to drink?”

“No. I just prefer not to.”

“Well, there are some young men circulating with trays of iced tea and Arnold Palmers, so all we have to do is find one. Come on.” He pulled her away from the line, and Will followed them into the great room, which was great if you happened to be a Spanish conquistador. Dark wood furniture that looked like it ought to be in a church in Castile, heavy rugs on top of polished marble—all the décor fought with the simple, traditional style of the home like crazy. The artist in him shuddered.

His father guided Ev through the crowd of people toward a gaggle of young females standing by the fireplace giggling. Will knew them all. A couple, June and Rayna, went to SCU, Deb was in high school still, and Taylor went somewhere else. UCI, maybe. His dad walked up to them. “Ladies, I have someone I want you to meet. This is Ev. She’s the sister of the center for the SCU football team.”

Obviously he knew just what to say to get their interest. The girls all turned to Ev with smiles. They might come from the middle of Orange County white society, but they were young and used to a little diversity in their lives. The girls started introducing themselves. “Hi, I’m Taylor.”

Rayna said, “I love Jamal. He’s a hunk.”

His dad guided Ev into the midst of the girls. “You ladies get to know each other.” He turned to Will. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

Just when he’d been thinking his dad might actually like Evangeline.
Shit
. “Okay.” He leaned over to Ev. “Be right back, okay?”

She looked a little startled. “Oh, okay.”

“Just have to talk to my dad for a minute.”

His father smiled. “And we’ll find that iced tea.”

She nodded and turned back to the other girls. Will sighed and followed his father through the Spanish arch into a den. Quieter, though a lot of people stood around drinking and chatting in here too.

His father turned with a frown. “What the hell are you doing? Where’s Tiffany?”

“We broke up.”

“Like hell you did! You snag the prettiest girl at the university, who happens to be the captain of the fucking cheerleading squad, and you decide what, she’s too perky? Her boobs are too big?”

“She just doesn’t do it for me, okay?” Will stared at the polished stone floor.

“What the hell do you mean?”

He shrugged. More floor staring. “We don’t have any chemistry.” Man, that was the truth.

His father gripped his shoulder and hissed, “Half the guys in southern California want to fuck her and she doesn’t do it for you?”

Enough of this shit.
He tore his shoulder away from his father’s grasp and stepped back. “If you love her so much, you fuck her!”

“Would you like some iced tea?” The soft voice came from behind him, and it traveled straight up his spine and blew the circuits in his brain. Noah.

He spun around. “What are you doing here?”

Noah gave a half smile and nodded at the tray full of glasses of iced tea. “Waiter, remember? One of the restaurants I work for catered this party. How about you?”

“My father’s company is throwing this party.” Was Noah mad? He didn’t look too mad.

His father cleared his throat. “Excuse us, young man. I’m talking to my son.”

Will turned. “Actually, sir, don’t you think we’re done?” He took an iced tea from the tray Noah held. “I should get this back to Ev.”

“We’re not done, but we can table it until later.” He looked slowly at Noah, who still stood there with his tray. “How do you two know each other?”

Jesus, his lies were closing in. He opened his mouth—

Noah smiled, though it looked pretty plastered on. “I waited on Will and his party at a restaurant last week.”

His father raised an eyebrow. “You certainly got to know each other quickly.”

Noah stared at Will’s dad. “Well, sir, my face is pretty unforgettable. Excuse me.” He turned and walked out of the den, glasses tinkling.
Oh shit, now he was mad
.

“What the hell? Who is this person, Will?”

He swallowed. “Like he said. A waiter with an unforgettable face. I’m going to take this to Ev.” He turned and walked away. Could your heart beat that hard and still survive? How the fuck had this whole thing happened? Weren’t there odds or something? Shit, Laguna house. Laguna restaurant. Not such a stretch. But damn.

He walked up beside Ev, who gave him a smile that might have included relief. The gaggle of girls closed in tighter. He held out the glass. “Mission accomplished.” She took it and sipped.

“So how’s the team, Will?” June gave him dimples. She was a cheerleader, so she had to know he and Tiffany split. She didn’t seem too broken up about it. Of course, she got to go tell Tiffany about Evangeline. That was power.

“Great. Jamal’s great. We have a new second-string quarterback who has a boatload of talent. It’s a good team.” As if she really wanted to know.

“Good. Good. So you and Tiffany?” She made a pffft sound.

“Yeah. It was all my fault.”

“I can see that.” She gave Evangeline a slow look. “Sorry to hear it, though.”

Then why was she smiling? “Excuse us. We need to go see some people.”

Rayna nodded. “Sure, Will. Great to meet you, Ev.”

She nodded. “You too.”

He led her away toward the patio. His pulse wouldn’t go down, and he searched for Noah even while he guided Ev. What did Noah feel about Will’s being here with a girl? Shit, after the other night, he probably didn’t feel anything. How much more of a loser could Will be?

Ev glanced at him. “Dayum, man, I thought you’d never get back.”

“Sorry, my father had words for me.”

“About me?”

“Not exactly. More about breaking up with the apple of his eye, Tiffany.”

“What’s it to him?”

“He figures she’s the trophy I should have hanging on my arm. Like he did with my mother.”

She didn’t say anything, but he could feel the skepticism. They stepped out onto the covered deck and made their way to the stone walk beyond.

He looked at Ev. “Believe it or not, my mom was a hot, gorgeous female before she married my dad. Then I think she figured out she’d never be more than a trophy and decided to pour a little alcohol on the wound. Then a lot more. She aged fast. I’ll bet her liver’s on the way out. She’ll die young.”

“I’m really sorry, Will.”

“It’s okay. They had me with the idea that I’d fix the marriage. When I didn’t, I became part of the problem. She and I got nothin’ much.” His eyes searched the crowd.

“Shit, man, that’s sad.”

He glanced back at her and cocked his lips. “You’ve got such a great family.”

“Yeah. The best.”

“Want something to eat?”

“Sure.”

They slipped into the line surrounding the huge outdoor buffet table. Umbrellas shaded the array of meats, salads, and seafood. He grabbed a plate and handed it to Ev, took one for himself, then looked up. His heart stuttered. Noah was serving glasses of tea to a table of six under a big umbrella on the other side of the pool. Will stared and the blue eyes glanced up. Noah’s smile flashed a thousand watts.
Wow
. Did that mean he wasn’t mad?

“Will?”

Oh.
He looked back at Ev, and she tugged on his arm to get him to move down the line.

“Sorry.”

“You okay? You want to leave?”

“No! I mean, I’m fine. I don’t want to go.”

She cocked her head. “What’s going on?”

He sighed and screwed his eyes to the right. “See that guy over there with the ponytail, serving tea?”

“The gorgeous one?”

He smiled. “I love you.”

“What?”

“He’s got a big scar on his face.”

“Yeah. I can see that a little. It distorts his eye, right?”

“Yeah. Lots of people see the scar and nothing else.”

“You kidding? That scar makes that face better. Like you notice the beauty more.”

He wrapped an arm around her and hugged her. She chuckled her low, sexy laugh. “I guess I said something right.”

He speared a piece of cheese and put it on his plate just to have something to do with his hands. “That guy is my guy. I mean, the one I like.”

“Holy moly. I can sure understand why if you like ’em pretty.”

“I do.”

“Did you know he’d be here?”

“No. I was shocked. He walked up when I was talking to my dad.”

“So what are you going to do?” She started loading her plate.

He scooped some chicken and followed with salad. “Don’t know. I sure would like to talk to him.”

“Talk?” She gave him a sideways smile.

He grinned. “The last time I saw him, I thought he was mad and didn’t want to see me. He just now gave me a big smile. I’m confused in a good way.”

Carrying her plate and some flatware, she led the way to a bench on the edge of the pool deck. He could see Noah real clear from there. The guy slipped up quietly on the guests and offered tea. Yeah, and Will could see the double takes some people did on his face.
Shit
. He wanted to punch them out.

Ev fiddled with the food on her plate, then looked at Will thoughtfully. “Sadly, you have to take me home because I’ve got no other way to get back to Huntington.”

“Of course. I’d never leave you behind. I just meant I’d like to talk to him for a minute. Find out what’s in his head. He may tell me to fuck off.”

She glanced at the glass of iced tea. “I’m going to be needing some more iced tea soon, and I expect to have to spend some time in the ladies room cleaning the tea off my pants. So you could talk to him then.”

Will looked at the spotless white slacks. “Uh, what tea?”

She grinned. “The tea I’m going to spill right after he hands it to me, dummy.”

Will laughed. “You’re tricky.”

“Always.”

He stared across the pool. No Noah. “Looks like we lost our target.” He kept his voice light, but, damn, he didn’t feel that way.

“He’ll be back.”

“Why do you think that?” His eyes scanned the door to the kitchen.

“Because you’re here. I’m betting he can’t stay away.”

“Romantic.”

“I wish.” Her smile looked a little sad.

“No Ms. Right?”

“Not so far.”

“How do you know you’re gay?”

“How do you?”

“Okay, stupid question.”

His breath caught as Noah emerged from the kitchen with a full tray. Ev raised her arm and waved. Noah looked over and started walking toward them through the people eating and drinking around the pool.

Thump thump
. Heart like a drum. He was so toast around this guy.

Ev laughed softly. “I can feel you vibrating. You really like this pretty boy.”

“Yeah.”

Noah got closer. Will’s damned grin kept spreading until his cheeks hurt. Noah grinned back. He stopped by Ev. “You want some tea?” His eyes flicked to Will.

She smiled. “Yes, please. I’m Ev, by the way. And in a minute I’m going to spill this tea all over my pants, which will give me a good reason to disappear in the bathroom for quite a while, and maybe you might want to take a break and talk with my friend here?”

Noah’s mouth opened a little. “That would be real nice. Not the iced tea part, but, you know.”

Will exhaled. “I wasn’t sure you’d want to.”

Noah nodded. “We need to talk.”

Oh shit, what did that mean?

Ev was moving the party forward. “So, do you need a minute to ask for a break?”