Chapter Thirty-One
“NO MORE ALCOHOL.” Kai groaned as he leaned back in his seat.
“Lightweight,” Sammie and Atticus chirped at the same time.
Ivy giggled into her sparkling water. The four of them were shoved into a small booth in the hotel’s restaurant.
Players and team staff were strewn about the place.
The guys had wanted to go out, to celebrate their penultimate win the night before the final game, which their coach expressly forbade under any circumstances.
He okayed light appetizers in the hotel lobby, as long as everyone on the team agreed there would be no drinking.
“Fuck off.” Kai glared at Sammie as he reached under the table to pinch Atticus on the thigh, sending him bouncing around the booth seat to try and avoid the pain.
“Nobody said you had to celebrate for the both of us,” Atticus crooned, earning another pinch. He picked up Kai’s glass, remnants of a neon blue fruity concoction pooling at the bottom. “I don’t even like this sweet shit.”
Kai groaned again, dropping his head onto his folded arms. “I do, that’s the problem.”
“They’re cute,” Ivy whispered, leaning close to Sammie.
Since their evening spent raiding dragon hoards, things had almost gone back to normal.
There was still a hesitancy between them, a tentative truce that still needed reinforcement on Sammie’s end.
She knew it would be fine, though. Ivy had accepted her apology, and as far as Sammie was concerned, that had been the biggest hurdle.
If she could make it that far, she could go the distance in proving that their friendship was one she would always fight for.
“They are.” Sammie smiled to herself, which seemed to catch her brother’s eye. He frowned.
“What are you two whispering about? Haven’t we all learned our lessons when it comes to secrets?”
Sammie rolled her eyes as Ivy leaned forward.
“Actually, I have a bone to pick with you shitheads.” Ivy pointed at all three of them in turn, though Kai didn’t notice, considering his face was still buried in the table.
“I finished Banana Fish and what the actual fuck?” She looked at them in mock horror.
“Are you all so miserable that you had to bring me down with you?”
Atticus beamed as Sammie shrugged. Kai’s shoulders shook with… giggles?
“I’m never taking another recommendation from any of you ever again.” Ivy crossed her arms, sinking low in the booth.
“It was great, right?” Sammie nudged Ivy with her elbow. Deep frown lines cut into her friend’s face as she pondered the question.
“I mean.” Ivy sighed. “Yeah.”
Atticus clapped. Kai lifted his head and finally spoke again. “You should watch Clannad next.”
Ivy narrowed her eyes at him. “I won’t be doing that, thank you.” Kai only shrugged as he dropped his head back down, pink tipped hair splaying out over the table.
“Come on.” Atticus began tugging at his waist, pulling him out of the booth. “Big day tomorrow.”
“For you,” Kai mumbled. “I’ll be sleeping off a hangover.” Atticus made to drop him, but Kai was already latched on, arms around his waist, ready to be led away.
They were cute. Comfortable together, as though their relationship long predated just the past summer. They’d been friends first, even as Atticus had harbored feelings that he’d mostly managed to keep to himself.
A familiar ache took up the beat in Sammie’s chest. A pulsing sort of hurt that echoed what she wanted, what she had almost had. What she had walked away from when it started to hurt too much.
“I need to go too,” Ivy said, yawning as she bumped Sammie with a hip. They scooted out of the booth, their group of four leaving behind the restaurant and all of the players who were tempting fate with a late night.
Well, not all of the players. There had been a few notable exceptions missing from the restaurant. Bowen Kelly, for one. He’d been with their group but had made a hasty exit after he’d gotten a video call.
The team’s captain hadn’t been there either.
Sammie had been too afraid to ask why.
Ivy bid them all goodnight, heading toward the elevators. The team and staff were all on the same floor, two to a room. Kai had offered to share his room on the first floor with Sammie.
“You’re that way,” Kai pointed back toward the elevators. Atticus smiled, soft and sweet, and it made Sammie’s heart ache all the more even as it swelled with happiness for what her brother had found.
“I’ll walk you to your room.” Atticus pressed his lips to the top of Kai’s head. Sammie trailed behind them, letting the two saps have their moment. She knew her brother hated to say goodnight, to walk away from the man he loved at the end of the day.
That thought poked at a too-fresh wound, so Sammie discarded it. It was the night before the championship game. The last thing she needed to be doing was wallowing.
A door opened as she was passing, and the figure stepping through collided with Sammie’s side.
“Sorry!” Hands grabbed her, holding her steady, keeping her balanced and upright. Sammie looked up to find kelly green eyes searching her face, wide with surprise.
“Hi.” The word left Sammie on an exhale. Kieran was there, closer than he’d been since their last night together. His hands burned her skin through the fabric of her shirt. His eyes didn’t leave her face, not even as several long moments passed.
“Hi.” Sammie must have imagined the flash of a smile that crinkled Kieran’s eyes, because it was gone in a heartbeat.
His hands let her go as he stepped back, putting space between them.
Sammie finally had a chance to take him in fully.
Sweat ran down his neck, curling the wispy hairs that had fallen from his bun.
His white t-shirt, branded with a tiny Cats logo on the chest, clung to his shape.
Sammie decided to stop taking him in, because seeing him drenched after a workout in form fitting clothes was absolutely not going to help her situation.
“Hi!” Atticus waved from two doors down the hall, his signature shit-eating grin beaming in their direction. Sammie huffed at him even as Kieran chuckled.
“You didn’t want to celebrate with the rest of the team tonight?
” Sammie didn’t know why she asked. Well, she did know, but she was going to pretend she didn’t.
Being a glutton for punishment who had only ever wanted a few more moments in this particular man’s presence was a technique she had perfected over the years.
Kieran rubbed the back of his neck. “I needed to run. Helps with the nerves.”
“Sammie dearest, I would like to leave my beloved in your care, so if we could hurry up with the awkward hallway conversation that would be fantastic!”
Sammie threw a glare in her brother’s direction, then remembered that the best way to beat her brother was to match his energy.
“Hey, Kieran,” she said, loud enough that her brother would most definitely hear the words. “Are you excited to go up against your favorite player tomorrow? What was it you told me? ‘That Tate guy, he’s pretty damn good.’”
Atticus let out a wounded cry. “Tate? Julian Tate? What the fuck, Kieran!”
But Kieran was laughing in earnest now, his eyes still set on Sammie’s face, as though everything else around them had faded to nothing.
For a moment, he leaned closer, and Sammie saw it all play out before her eyes.
He would lean in close, his lips would find hers, and she would finally, finally hear the words she was so desperate to hear from him.
Confirmation that what she felt was no longer one-sided, that all of it hadn’t been for nothing.
Kieran did lean in, so close that Sammie could feel the heat of him. But he didn’t kiss her. He didn’t confess his undying love in that dim hotel hallway. He simply reached out, ruffling the hair on the top of her head.
“Night, Sammie. See you tomorrow.”
And then he turned and walked away, in the same direction Ivy had headed off in minutes earlier. It took Sammie’s mind too long to catch up, spinning out over what had just happened—and what hadn’t happened. By the time she muttered a soft, “Night, Kieran,” he was already too far away to hear her.
“Well,” Atticus said as Sammie shoved past him into her room. “That sure was something.”
“Shut up,” she said.
“If both of you could shut up, that would be awesome,” Kai groaned from the bed. Atticus snatched something off their small bathroom counter, pushing it into Sammie’s hands.
“If he ends up with a migraine, his medicine is in this pouch. Make sure he takes one, even if he thinks he can just tough it out. He’ll be out for the whole day otherwise, and I need him to see me shut out Julian fucking Tate tomorrow.
” Then Atticus crossed the room, grabbing a water bottle out of the mini-fridge and kneeling next to the bed.
“Drink this, then sleep,” he said to Kai.
He got a nod in answer, which he seemed to deem good enough.
As he reached the door, opening his mouth to yap some more, Sammie cut him off.
“Did I just fuck up?” She kept her voice low.
Atticus quirked his head to the side. “What?”
“Was that the moment?” She twisted her hands together. “Was I supposed to chase after him and convince him that there could be… something here? Did I just miss my shot?”
Atticus watched her for several long seconds.
She saw the instinct to tease her melt from his bones.
“I think,” he began, weighing each word carefully.
“That you’ve put yourself out there for him from the very start, and maybe now it’s his turn to close the distance.
If that’s what both of you want.” He put a hand on her shoulder, squeezing lightly. “You deserve to be chased, Sammie.”
And even though he drove her crazy, Sammie tugged her brother into a tight hug.
“Thank you,” she whispered as he held her tight. “Good luck tomorrow, Attie.”
Sammie was crawling into the single, king-sized bed a short ten minutes later. Sleep didn’t come for her quickly, even as Kai’s soft snores started up next to her.
Tomorrow would be a big day. And if Atticus was right, if he’d been hinting that not only did Kieran need to be the one to make a move now, but that there was any possibility of that actually happening, then Sammie needed to be patient.
The most important game of the season was on the line.
Of course now wouldn’t be the time for Kieran to be distracted by anything beyond that.
He needed to focus. For himself, for his team.
Sammie could wait. She could be patient, even if patience was something she’d never really excelled at. She could give Kieran time. After all, she’d already waited this long.
She could wait a little longer, hanging onto the smallest branch of hope that her brother had held out to her.
Chicago Wildcats Group Chat
Bowen: MORNING ASSHOLES
Bowen: TIME TO WIN A FUCKING TROPHY HAHAHAHA
David: Christ Bow, it’s 5am.
Bowen: RISE AND SHINE RISE AND GRIND BITCHES
Eric: he’s still in bed guys
Eric: he’s texting from under the covers do not let him fool you
Aaron: I’ve been up for an hour.
Atticus: Mister perfect over here
Atticus: iVe bEeN uP fOr aN hOUr
Aaron: I hope you sprain your ankle on the treadmill I just saw you hop on.
Atticus: :(
Atticus: So mean
Kieran: Good morning.
Kieran: I think I have a plan but I need your help.
Eric: OH MY GOD
Bowen: FUCK SHIT OMG
Aaron: Details NOW.
Atticus: I feel like a prophet :D:D:D
Kieran: What? Why?
Atticus: Oh no reason!
Atticus: Whatcha need from us, captain?
Coach Rodriguez: You’ve all tainted McCullough with your misuse of this WORK chat.
Coach Rodriguez: I give up.
Kieran: Sorry coach.
Kieran: Okay. I know we have a plan for when we’re back in Chi-town.
Atticus: Dude no one calls it that
Eric: i mean, some people do
Aaron: No they don’t.
Kieran: But I think we have to move up the timeline.
Kieran: So, after we win…
Bowen: BECAUSE THE WIN IS A DONE DEAL BABYYYYYY
Coach Rodriguez: Love the positive attitude.
Ivy: OH MY GOD WHY THE ACTUAL FUCK IS MY PHONE BUZZING THIS MUCH AT 5:15 IN THE MORNING I HATE YOU ALL