THAT NIGHT, WILLIE TOOK MATTHEW, ASHER, AND LOIS OUT FOR DRINKS. They were all laughing and doing shots at a bar down the street from their apartment. As the Carlisle woman turned around to get more drinks, she saw the back of a familiar head. She tapped him on the back and smiled, "Hey, Alex."

"Hey, what's going on here?" he questioned, looking back at the people that she was with. He was in a suit, and he looked really out of place as he scanned all of the people in t-shirts and jeans. Or, if you were a nerd like Matt, a polo

"Oh, this is my brother, Matthew, and his friend, Asher. They're visiting from California," she explained, introducing them all. He had already met Lois, so he just nodded to her. She returned the gesture with a sarcastic smile. "Guys, this is Alex, my boyfriend."

Matthew stepped forward, Asher put his head in his hands knowing that the man was most likely going to say something embarrassing. "So, you are the man that stole my sister's heart."

"Why do you have to make it weird?" Asher groaned, grabbing his friend and pulling him back to the table that they were standing at before he gave the guy a fist bump or something. Asher did not know this Alex guy, but judging by his outfit and demeanor, he did not seem like the fist bump guy.

Matty frowned, confused and clueless as ever, "I'm not making it weird."

"So, is this some kind of double date?" Alex questioned, and Lois rolled her eyes so dramatically that you could hear it. She was not a fan of Alex, something that Willie did not understand.

"What?" the Carlisle woman questioned, wondering why he had to be like that. She was obviously just hanging out with some old friends, and it was not like that. "No, of course not. They're just visiting, and I wanted to treat them to drinks."

The man tilted his head as his girlfriend, putting his arm around her, and it was obvious to everyone around them that he was asserting his dominance. Asher had to fight the urge to laugh, and the Turner man quizzed, "Why didn't you invite me? I'd love to meet them."

"Sorry, it was late, and I didn't think about it," she apologized. It was true. She wanted to hang out with her friends and have some drinks since she had not seen them in forever. She had assumed that Alex had work or something since she always had to plan her dates with him a week in advance because he was so busy.

"Well, I gotta go," he replied, nodding cruelty and gesturing over his shoulder where a woman was waiting for him. "I'm having drinks with a colleague."

She reached up and kissed him on a cheek and rubbed his shoulder as he released her. "Ok. Bye. I love you."

"Love you too." He left, and she turned back around and downed the rest of her drink and Matt's. They were all staring at her, but she refused to meet their eyes, knowing what they were going to say. After a few minutes, they shook it off and got back to having fun.

《❂》

WILLIE WAS PRACTICALLY DROWNING IN PHONE CALLS. Sam and the rest of the team had put tape over the Dubai Air logo on their jerseys, and there were a lot of people unhappy about it. She was happily handling them, though, because she was so proud of everything that Sam had done.

"Sam, do you think that your protest may have distracted the team tonight and led to the loss?" Trent Crimm asked the boy in the press room after the match. Sam looked up at Willie, and she just nodded at him, letting him know that he was okay to say whatever he wanted. She trusted him.

"I'm not here to talk about football. I'm here to ask the Nigerian government to put an end to decades of environmental destruction caused by Cerithium Oil. Destruction that the powers that be have turned a blind eye towards for far too long," Sam answered, raising his eyebrows at the man. "Do you have any questions about that?"

Trent nodded, pushing his glasses up on the bridge of his nose and leaning forward in interest. "Yes, I do. Follow-up question, please. Thank you. Sam, are you openly accusing the Nigerian government of corruption?"

"Yes, I am."

"Oi, oi, oi, oi, oi!" Jamie shouted back in the locker room. The team was having some beers with Rebecca, Sassy, Keeley, Asher, Lois, Matt, Willie, and Nora. Obviously, the thirteen-year-old was not drinking, though. "A toast to Sam, who did something incredible tonight. The little Nigerian prick stole my thunder." They laughed. "No, but seriously. To Sam."

They all laughed and talked for a moment before Sam got their attention once again, gesturing to the young girl standing in front of him. "Hey, guys! Guys! We're gonna take a picture for Nora." Willie took out her phone as the team gathered around the girl who looked mortified but excited, and she couldn't help but smile at the family in front of her.

When they got home, Lois and Matt crashed immediately on the floor in the living room, and they decided that they would all just sleep in the same room that night. Willie was sitting down on the couch bed next to Asher. She asked, "Are you enjoying your stay so far?"

"I am. Thank you so much for flying us out," he responded. There was a short pause while the two of them stared at the muted TV in front of them. Finally, he spoke up again about the events of the other night. "Your boyfriend is an interesting guy, huh?"

"He's not always like that. I swear," she responded, shaking her head. She did not know why Alex was being like that at the bar. He was jealous, and he was never like that.

"You sure?" he asked, and she nodded with a smile. She missed his protective big brother energy. Matt always tried to be like that, but he was built like a toothpick and not very threatening. She had seen Asher beat up a few people in his time. "If he ever does anything, you give me a call, and I'll come kick his ass."

She chuckled, "All right. I seriously doubt that will be needed."

"What about that Tartt guy?" he questioned, and it took her a moment to process what he was talking about. Then, she remembered the day when they first came, and Jamie had acted all weird when she introduced him to Asher.

She furrowed her eyebrows, wondering why talking about Alex made him think about Jamie. He made it sound like the two were related somehow. "What about him?"

"I mean, he clearly likes you," he replied, and she almost choked on a drink that she did not even have.

"What? Jamie?" she scoffed, shaking her head. That was completely ridiculous. She barely even spoke to Jamie, even though their conversations had been becoming more and more frequent recently. "No. If anything, he's still hung up on his ex, Keeley."

He shrugged, putting his hands up in surrender, even though he knew he was right. He had seen dozens of guys look at Willie in a romantic way, but the way jamie looked at her, it was like all of those looks combined and multiplied by a thousand. "Not from what I saw, but, hey, I could be wrong. Well, I'm headed to bed. Good night."

"Good night," she answered, and she turned off the television as they both turned over and went to sleep.