“Nothing. Just a lot on my mind.”

“Any of that have to do with our Sissy?”

Mitch didn’t see a point in lying. “Yeah. It does.”

“You in love with her?”

Ducking his head, Mitch focused on his food. “Some might say.”

“Is she in love with you?”

“God,” Mitch muttered, reaching toward the pie to cut another slice, “I hope not.”

And like that, the pie was pulled away. “What do ya mean, you hope not? You trying to tell us our Sissy isn’t good enough for you?”

Mitch let out an annoyed sigh. “Of course I’m not telling you that. If I had my way, I’d give Sissy anything she wanted. Do you think I want to end my time with her? There are so many things I want to do with her, but that’s just not possible.”

“If you could do anything with Sissy,” Janette asked, “what would it be? And keep it clean.”

Mitch smiled. “Anything? I’d take her on a date. We’ve never been on a date.”

“Mitchell, darlin’, I don’t understand what the problem is.” Francine huffed a little. “This whole thing with you and these…what did you call them the other day?”

“Scumbags.”

“Yes. These scumbags. That can’t go on forever. They’ll catch whoever tried to hurt you.”

“It won’t make a difference, Miss Francine. When this is all over—when I leave here—I’ll be going into Witness Protection.”

Francine sat up straight. “You’re doing what?”

“I really thought you knew. I thought I told you.” Mitch rested his elbows on the table. “Maybe I didn’t. I don’t know anymore. There’s so much going on right now. Someone’s trying to kill me, I’m in love with your niece, the game is coming up…”

A big slice of pie was pushed in front of him and another glass of milk.

Francine reached over and petted his cheek. “I want you to tell us everything, darlin’.”

Sissy ignored Dee’s laughter as she showed off her new leather jacket. “Look, heifer, fringe will never be out of style.”

She yanked the jacket off, unceremoniously shoved it back into the bag, and snatched a beer out of Ronnie’s hand.

Dee glanced at Sissy as she sat down next to her on the bleachers. “Rumor is,” her cousin murmured beside her, “whoever tried to kill Mitch may be heading this way.”

“May be. No one knows for sure. But the sheriff’s department and the Elders are on alert.” Sissy looked at her cousin and blinked.

“What?”

Sissy thought for a moment and then realized it couldn’t hurt to ask, “You know, they say it’s a lioness who didthis.”

“Yeah? And?”

“Dez thinks she’s military.”

Dee’s gaze moved across the field, and she asked, “Is that right? And what makes her think that?”

“The shot this female made, nailing Mitch from where she did…she had to be well-trained. But other than her scent, she’s left nothing. No hair, no fibers—nothing that our kind can usually find when no one else can.”

Sissy knew she was touching on a sensitive subject here. She hadn’t asked her cousin about what she’d done for the military because she already kind of knew from Bobby Ray. Dee’s unit handled full-humans who knew of their kind and made hunting them a sport. They were usually rich, secretive, and extremely dangerous. Not only to those they hunted, but to Sissy’s kind in general. And Dee hunted the hunters. She was very good at what she did, but the last time Sissy had seen her, she could tell the whole thing had been wearing on her cousin.

Really…there was only so long a body could do that job and keep her sanity.

Dee nodded. “I’ll make some calls to old friends.”

“Thanks.”

Her cousin grunted as Travis called a break and sent them off the field. Mitch came right over to her, but before Sissy could stand up and drag him away to her chosen spot, he crouched in front of her, pulling off his helmet.

“Hey.”

“Hey.” She smiled. “Look, I found a place—”

“I was thinking we should go on a date tonight.”

Sissy stopped talking abruptly, her words tumbling to a halt. “Uh…what?”

“A date. You and me. It’ll be nice.”

“Nice?” And Sissy couldn’t keep the disgust out of her voice. “I don’t do nice.”

“Would it kill you to try?”

“Possibly.”

Mitch grinned. “I’ll pick you up at your parents’ house. We’ll go out to dinner, so dress nice.”

“I don’t dress nice.”

“Start.” He kissed her cheek and headed back to the other players and Gatorade.

“Did he just ask me on a date?”

Ronnie nodded. “Sounds like it.”

“Well, what’s going on?”

“Why are you asking me? I was with you until practice started.”

“Dee-Ann?” But Dee had done her ghost thing and was nowhere in sight. Sissy would have to find out how she did that.

“Are you gonna go?” Ronnie asked, taking Sissy’s beer and gulping down half of it.

“I guess. I mean…a date? Me?”

“We better leave now then. Who knows what we’ll have to put together to get you dressed proper.”