A Very Badd Christmas (The Badd Brothers #19)

1. Emerson

CHAPTER 1

emerson

M y phone buzzed on the counter as I braided my wet hair. Beside me, McKenna was doing the same thing, and all around the locker room, my teammates were in various stages of stripping out of practice kit, showering, and getting dressed after a particularly brutal practice. We'd kept biffing the play Coach Anderson wanted us to have down by the game this Friday, and he was getting pissed, so we ended up running laps around the practice pitch more than we did running the damn play. The real bitch of the thing was that I, as the goalie, couldn't do a thing to get the girls to run the play right, but I still had to run laps with them.

"You gonna answer that?" McKenna asked, glancing down at my phone, which was still buzzing.

I finished plaiting the last of my thick, curly, red hair, tied it off, and tossed it back. "It's Delia, I'll call her back."

McKenna finished her hair at the same time, tilting and twisting her head this way and that to make sure there weren't any flyways or bumps. Since my hair was wacky on the best of days, I tended to braid it and forget it since it would be wisping and frizzing out of the braid in an hour anyway.

"I can't believe Lexie on that play," McKenna groused, fishing lip liner out of her makeup bag. "She should have that shit down. It's a simple play. Pass, pass, shoot. What's her issue?"

I shrugged. "She's been off all week. She bombed a test in math, and math is her whole thing. She does pages of calculus to calm down when she's stressed."

"Did Jake break up with her or something?” McKenna asked, leaning toward the mirror with her eyes wide, now applying mascara.

I swiped on some lip gloss. "I don't think so? I saw them sitting together in the cafeteria yesterday and they seemed fine. I don't know what's bugging her."

"Well, she needs to figure her shit out because if we have to run any more fucking laps this week, I'm gonna have some sort of episode. I swear to god, we've run a marathon this week alone just in fucking laps."

"No kidding," I mumbled, applying mascara myself now, doing the weird-mouth-eye-makeup thing. "I don't mind running, but this week has been a lot."

"You should talk to her,” McKenna says, capping her mascara and rifling through her makeup bag for something else.

I pull the wand away and turn to look at her. " Me ? Why me? Lexie hates me."

“She does not hate you." She couldn’t say that with a straight face because Lexie did, in fact, hate me.

Or, at least, she didn’t like me. The feeling was mutual.

"She wouldn't piss on me if I was on fire and you know it, Mac."

"Okay, fine, she doesn’t like you, but just because you're the star even though she's the captain. But she scares me, and no one scares you. So…just ask if she's okay."

Behind us, Lacey, Tonya, Keisha, and Maria were gathering their stuff, half listening to our conversation.

"She may not like you," Maria said, "but she listens to you."

"Fuck,” I groaned, capping my mascara. “ Fine ! I'll talk to her. But you bitches owe me."

"Better catch her then," Keisha said, tying her box braids back. "She got out of here real fast."

"You're all a bunch of pussies," I said, tossing my stuff into my duffel, pocketing my phone, and heading for the locker room exit, ignoring the good-natured return jabs from the other girls.

I spotted Lexie already halfway to her car—a baby blue BMW M4 convertible that she drove as if she were Lewis Hamilton. She was from Seattle, so she didn’t live on the UW campus but rather in an apartment that her loaded parents paid for.

"Lex!" I called, jogging toward her. "Hold up!"

She stopped, blond hair still held back by the plain black headband she wore for practice. She hadn't even changed out of her kit, only having removed her shin guards, socks, and cleats and put on a pair of black Adidas slides.

She didn't reply, but she did wait. When I caught up, she resumed walking toward her car, bleeping the locks as we approached it.

She paused at the driver's side door, giving me annoyed side-eye. "What?"

Just out with it, I guess. "Um. Are you okay? We’re all a little worried about you. You haven't been yourself lately."

"I'm fine." She yanked open her door and tossed her bag on the passenger seat.

"Lex—"

"I said I’m fucking fine !” she snapped.

Okay, well, that cleared things up. "Lex. Look. We're not friends. Cool, whatever. But you're not fine. Our captain has been playing like shit for two weeks, and we have regionals coming up. I'm not asking you to, like, bare your soul to me. But something is up. If you don't wanna talk to me, great. But we need you to figure your shit out."

She closed her door and leaned back against it. "You wouldn't understand."

"Oh? Well, maybe try me."

A sigh and an eye roll. “You really wanna know? Okay. My dad got caught cheating on my mom with his assistant, which is like, whatever—she's not even a year older than me. And my mom is not taking it well, even though this isn’t the first or even the second time. They're talking about divorce. And I mean, I’m out of the house and whatever, but it still sucks. And they have to sell the house, and they want to sell my apartment and have me move into the dorms. I'm a senior! I have literally never lived on campus. It's like, what the fuck?"

That's the big issue? For real? She was right about one thing: I didn't understand how that was something to have a meltdown about. But I didn’t say that, and I hoped it didn’t show on my face.

"God, Lex, that sucks. Why would they want to sell your apartment?"

A shrug. "I don't know. I heard Dad arguing with someone on the phone on Monday and it sounded bad, like it was about money. Maybe they're in trouble. I don't know. They don't tell me anything."

My phone went off again—Delia, I'm guessing. If she was calling me twice, it wasn’t just to chat. I silenced it again. "I'm sorry you're going through that, Lex. We're all here for you."

She wriggled her nose, blinked hard a few times. "Thanks. I…" a hard swallow. "I just…it seems so random. They've always made it work, even though Dad is a cheating horndog and Mom likes her pills and champagne a little too much. I just don't want to have to pick sides, you know? Remember when Kelly's parents split up, how ugly it got and how she got pulled into the middle of it?”

Kelly was the captain last year, a talented midfielder who graduated with honors and moved east to pursue her master’s at Harvard despite what she went through last year.

"I remember. That shit was messy." I didn't really know what else to say. "I guess I just…if there's anything we can do, you know we've got your back, girl."

She shrugged, rolled her eyes. "Yeah, thanks." A sarcastic grin. “How'd you get tapped to do this? Pull the short straw, so you have to go comfort big bad Lexie?"

I grinned. "Pretty much. But we are worried, for real. You're our captain, and we need you on your A-game for regionals. We have a real shot at the title this year, but not if you're distracted."

"So it's about soccer, not me."

I sighed. "Lex—” I cut myself off. "You know what? Yeah. Pretty much. But it seems to all of us like you're not talking to anyone about it. Plus, you bombed that math test, which is when I knew you were going through something."

She huffed. "For real. That was the day Mom first dropped the D-word."

"I am sorry. And I am here for you if you ever need to talk."

She frowned at me. "Why, though, Emerson? Like you said, we're not friends."

"Doesn't mean I don’t give a shit."

"Why would you give a shit about me? I've always been a bitch to you."

"Because I've been through a lot, and I know how it feels and what it looks like. And it looks like you're going through it alone." I grabbed my phone as it buzzed a third time. "We don’t have to be friends for me to think no one, even a bitch like you, should have to go through something hard alone. Not when you've got a whole team behind you."

She sniffed. "Thank you, Emerson. Really." She glanced at my phone. "Looks like someone wants to get ahold of you."

"Yeah, it's Delia. She hates it when I ignore her. But three times means she's serious. I better call her. But we're all here for you, Lex. You're not alone."

"I'll get my shit together, I promise. We're gonna take regionals, states, and nationals. Just you watch."

She got in her car, and the engine coughed to life with a snarl. I hiked my bag higher on my shoulder and dialed Delia back.

It rang once. "Emerson Grace Day! You are not allowed to ignore your best friend."

I cackled. "Oooh, the full name from Delia Emmaline Badd."

"I called you three whole times , you whore." She sounded grumpy.

"What's got your panties in a twist?"

A sigh. "I think Garrison is either cheating on me or he's gonna propose, and I don't know which is worse."

"I thought we liked Garrison?" I asked, heading for the cafeteria.

"We like him. He's cute, funny, and decent in bed. But I don't love him. It's not like that between us and I thought he knew it. It's not, like, casual, but it's not serious either. But he's acting weird."

"Weird how?" I asked.

"Hiding his phone when I'm around, gone a lot, not answering texts." She groaned. "God, I don't want to deal with this. I wanted to have a boyfriend for Christmas."

I laughed. "Just a boyfriend? Any old dude with a dick and a job?"

"I mean, yeah, basically. My relationships always end before the holidays. I just want a guy to do Christmas with."

I cackled louder than ever. "Good luck with that. You do know why your guys always break up with you before Christmas, right?"

Silence. "No?"

I sighed. "Delia, babe. Come on. Your family is fucking nuts . I grew up with them so it’s whatever for me, but to an outsider, they're pretty intimidating. I mean, for one, there's, like, a thousand of you people. For another, they're all fucking hot as hell, half of 'em are famous, and the men are all huge and scary. Doing Christmas with the Badd Clan is not for the faint of heart, honey-bunny."

"But they're all nice once you get to know them."

“Well yeah, but it can be overwhelming, Dee. I love them, you know that. Big Daddy Bast and Mama Dru are more my parents than my parents. But for the uninitiated, it can be a lot."

"I hate it when you call him that," she huffed, “and I can't help how my family is. We're close, we're loud, and there's a metric shit-ton of us. Is it so much to ask to find a guy who's not scared shitless of Daddy and my uncles?"

"I mean, normally I’d say no, but when your dad is your dad and you have seven uncles, each bigger, scarier, and hotter than the last, no matter which order you put them in, yeah, it can be a bit of a big ask."

"Why are you always talking about how hot my family is?"

I laughed. "Um, because they’re Zaddies, baby. Zaddies."

She faked a gag. "No, no, no. They're not zaddies, and if my dad heard you call him a zaddy, he'd have words for you."

"Promise?"

“ Stop !” She shouted. " DON'T BE GROSS ABOUT MY FATHER !"

I couldn't help but laugh because we both knew I considered Sebastian Badd my real father. "Sorry, sorry, sorry. I'm done now, for real." I paused outside the cafeteria building. "So, you're blowing up my phone about Garrison why?"

"I just needed to vent."

"Well, based on what you told me, I'm gonna say he's cheating. He wouldn't need to suddenly turn his phone off whenever you entered the room if he was planning a proposal. That's cheater one-oh-one."

"Ugh. You're right. I guess I just needed outside confirmation of my feelings."

"Well, validated, then."

"So, are you coming home for Thanksgiving?"

I sighed. "Probably not. Christmas I will, though. But we have practices up to regionals. Assuming we make it, nationals are the first week of December.”

"Meanie."

I laughed. "Babe, I can't do anything about the tournament schedule."

"I know. But you better be home for Christmas. If I can't have a boyfriend, I at least have to have you."

“I’ll be there," I said. "You know I never miss a Badd Clan Christmas."

"Jax asks about you every other week."

I groan. "Still? That boy needs to get over the crush. Your cousins are like my cousins, which means I will never, ever date a Badd. I told him that."

"He says hope springs eternal."

"Well, his hope spring needs to dry up. I played dolls with that boy. He's like a brother to me."

"He's committing to Caltech for the fall, so we're all hoping he'll find a new girl to be infatuated with down there." She sighed. “He's held this flame for you for like ten years."

I groaned. "Everyone knows, huh?" I winced. "They don't hate me for shooting him down, do they?"

"God, no. You're family. Everyone agrees it would be weird if you did date one of the cousins."

"Whew," I say, pretending to wipe sweat off my forehead, even though she couldn’t see me. "That's a relief."

"You know, you could bring a boyfriend with you for Christmas,” Delia says, the shit-eating grin evident in her voice.

"As if ," I say, in my best valley girl accent. "For real, what boyfriend?”

"You literally never date anyone, Sunni. You're gonna die alone."

"I'm twenty-two, ding-dong. I have time. I’m focused on my degree and soccer. And besides, there are boys; they’re just single-serving boyfriends.”

"You and your single-serving boyfriends."

"Hey, I'll have you know I hooked up with Trace four whole times. A new record."

"Ooooh, really turning a new page, there, sweet cheeks."

“I’m not your sweet cheeks, bimbo."

“I’m not a bimbo, skank."

"I'm not a skank, slut."

She laughed. "Enough, enough. I have to go meet Garrison. I'll probably break up with him just to get it over with. Maybe I can still find a boyfriend for Christmas."

"You should be more like me. Until my life is in order, boys are for fun. I don’t have the time or interest in a serious relationship." I pulled my lanyard with my swipe card out of my bag and twirled it around my finger.

She huffed. "I couldn't do that. I'm not built that way, you know that."

"Yeah, because everyone in your family has been married for a billion years and still look at each other with gaga eyes," I said, snark ripe in my voice.

"You saw that too, Sunni."

"Yeah, but…” I sighed, shaking my head. "I'll find a guy someday. I just don't even know what I want in a guy, you know? Like, my boytoys are all so different. I don't even have a type."

She laughed. "Maybe when you come up for Christmas, the Badd Family Love Charm will strike, and you'll meet a guy and have a super sexy rom-com Christmas."

"Do not get me started on the Badd Family Love Charm bullshit, Delia Badd. Do — not . It's not real."

"You know the stories as well as I do, girlie. You know it's true."

"Then why has the love charm not struck anyone in twenty years?"

"Because everyone got married. Now it's just waiting for us kids to be old enough."

"You talk like it's a sentient thing. Which is fucking weird." I accidentally hit myself in the nose with the swipe card, looking around to make sure no one saw. "Also, I'm not even an actual member of the Badd family, so the Badd Family Love Charm cannot work on me."

She blew a raspberry. "Do not underestimate the power of the Badd Family love charm, Sunnie-girl."

"I won't hold my breath, how about that?"

"Well, now you've gone and done it. According to family lore, when you deny it and insist it won’t happen, that's when it does."

"Then why don't you get the love charm to strike you?"

"Because I'm not ready. I want a boyfriend for Christmas, not a husband by the New Year.”

I laughed. "And according to the lore, that's how it works."

"Exactly." She makes kissing noises. "Okay, gotta go. Love you bye!" Click.

I pulled the phone away from my ear and looked at it. "Okay, bye to you too, weirdo."

Laughing and shaking my head at my lifelong best friend's antics, I pocketed my phone and headed in to eat.