Fighting For You (The Connor Family 5)

“We’re really watching soccer, huh?” Franci wondered after Dad hung up.

“Well, no. We’ll be watching Jace... with some soccer on the side.”

I’d told her about him on the phone, but now I was going to give her all the dirty details. We sat cross-legged on the couch as we’d done when we were kids. The two of us had developed a love for binge-watching even before the era of Netflix. I had missed Franci terribly once she’d left for college, feeling a little lost without my older sister there.

“Remember when Dad would try to rope us into watching?” Franci asked.

“Oh, God, yes. And Mom would come to our rescue. She was quite resourceful, coming up with excuses.” My heart tugged as I remembered my conversation with Jace, about how he felt as if he didn’t have enough memories with his parents. My parents had divorced when I was a kid, but I had many good memories before that, and even afterward they both did their best to be good parents to us.

“You know, I think Jace is even hotter than last year.” Franci parked her chin in one palm, sighing at the screen. “That should not be legal.”

“I agree.”

“Well, hot or not, I am going to be impartial. Is he treating you right?”

“Oh, yeah.”

“Does he know his way under the covers?”

“Hell, yeah.”

Franci wiggled her eyebrows. “When can I officially meet him?”

“Officially? Don’t be so old-school. I don’t know. We’re very relaxed about things.”

“Relaxed. Uh-huh.”

I grinned, even though I knew this would only bring another round of teasing. It was good to see my sister cheerful, even though she was having fun at my expense. Her divorce had been finalized three months ago, but she was still not over it. I couldn’t ask how she was, because she’d agreed to join me for soccer night on the condition that I didn’t ask about her. Maybe that was for the best. There was such a thing as over-discussing a topic. Maybe what she

needed was just some fun with her sister.

“Hmm... that Levi guy is a close second on the hotness scale,” Franci commented as the game went on.

“I guess.”

“You guess?”

“I don’t like him. He’s a bit arrogant and is jealous of Jace.”

“Interteam competitiveness is normal though, right?”

“To a degree, yes. But Levi is being an ass about it.”

Over the past week, he’d stopped by my desk a few times, inquiring about Carl Hill. I told him that Carl was considering only Jace or Andrew, but Levi wanted me to push him more. He wanted to be back in the running.

I told him his game had to improve first, because not only was Hill not even considering him anymore, other sponsors were worried about Levi as well.

Franci giggled before eating a mouthful of popcorn.

“What?” I asked defensively.

“You’re protective of Jace. It’s cute.”

Of course, I was. Not that Jace needed it, but I just couldn’t help my instincts. He didn’t need any crap from his own teammates. The strength of a team consisted in them being able to rely on each other.

“Ugh, I can’t wait for him to be back. He’s got another game away after this one.”

I jutted out my lower lip like a small kid.