Chapter 14
14
LEO
T he second I saw those brown puppy eyes, I knew I was fucked.
Royally fucked.
We were back home for a couple of days before traveling for a pre-season game and some more practice. Training camp has been as good as it can possibly be. The team is doing fantastic, and everyone has made a ton of progress since last year.
And everyone is healthy, which is honestly the biggest thing. It’s terrible when someone has a major injury during training camp. So far, it’s only been a couple of strained muscles, but nothing too serious.
The pre-season games are always interesting because for most of them, I get to sit back and mostly watch. I’m excited to see what the new guys can do, but so far I’m really positive about how our season is going to go.
The nights I’m home, Briar makes sure my dinner is ready the second I get there, and Elara makes a point to use this time, with me sitting at my dining room table, to water the plants around my place .
I still haven’t totally figured out what I’m going to tell Owen or the guys if they come over and see them.
Yeah, I took up a new hobby , I could say. But I doubt they’d believe me.
The more days pass, the more and more I adore Champ. She sits outside of my door when I get up at five each morning, and I run her outside so the girls can sleep in. We walk through the morning haze, both exhausted, before heading back up to my place. I hold my breath the entire time, just hoping Owen isn’t going out for a run or anything.
Not that I think he would. We’ve been beaten up enough to want to put ourselves through that torture on top of practices and games.
And even in the morning, the air is too hot and humid.
But at some point we’re going to have to come clean.
“Where are you going tonight?” Briar asks, leaning against the kitchen island.
Grabbing my wallet and keys, I shove them into the pockets of my jeans.
“It’s Cooper’s birthday, and we’re going to dinner.”
“Sounds like a cute date,” she says, and I roll my eyes as she smirks.
“You guys doing anything fun tonight?” I ask her. Elara has been in her room playing with Champ.
“Probably just going for a little walk, but nothing too special.”
“Stay safe, okay?” I tell her. A city is a city, and I always get nervous about her going out alone.
“We have a guard dog with us, we’ll be okay. ”
Champ wouldn’t hurt a fly. In fact, she’s frequently seen losing her mind over a bug, but she refuses to just eat it.
“Yeah, sure,” I say, my lips pressed firmly together.
“Please don’t get into trouble, okay?” Briar says, her eyes intense on mine.
I sigh. “What in the world could I possibly do to get in trouble?”
We’re just going to dinner. And maybe somewhere after. I’m not quite sure. But either way, I’m going to be on my best behavior.
“You’ve been doing so well. Just don’t want you to lose all the progress because you decided to be an idiot for one night, okay?” she holds up her hands.
While some would be offended, I wear the title with a badge of honor. “I would never be an idiot, Briar,” I hold a hand to my chest. “I am simply a degenerate. Totally different things.”
I watch her fight a smile, and when she can’t, she looks down to hide it, examining her feet.
“I swear I’ll be a good boy, okay? Is that what you want to hear?”
She nods.
“Pinky swear.”
Whether he wants to admit it or not, Cooper is one of the biggest foodies I know. Whenever he goes out to eat with friends it always has to be a big production, whether it’s his birthday or a regular day.
Which is why we’re at one of the most expensive restaurants in the entire city, sitting in a large booth with at least twenty people .
While some are guys from the team, like Owen, Dirwin, and Emmett, there’s a couple of guys I don’t recognize.
“You guys ready for the season?” one of his friends asks. He’s a tall kid, a little shorter than I am. He runs a hand through his dark hair, and his tattoos catch my eye. I’ll have to ask him where he got them done later.
“I think so. We’ll see. We don’t have an easy schedule this year, that’s for sure.”
Which is true. As prepared as I think we are, this season isn’t going to be easy for us no matter what.
“Well I’ll be rooting for you all,” he says as he takes a sip of his whiskey.
Cooper turns to us, finished with a conversation he was having with someone else on the other side. “Did I introduce everyone? I forget if I did or not. Damon and I have been friends forever,” he slaps the guy's chest. “Went to school together, then the fucker went off the grid for awhile.”
Damon smirks, the glass at his lips. “A journey to self-discovery.”
“Yeah, whatever the fuck that means,” Cooper laughs, already fairly plastered. “Anyways. Came back and told me he now has a freaking dog named after me. How cool is that?”
Damon shakes his head. “The dog was named Cooper before I met him, Coop.”
Cooper rolls his eyes. “Yeah, okay man. Keep telling yourself that.”
“It’s true!”
“Anyways, you guys make sure you’re nice to him so he visits more. The asshole ditched me and moved to Seattle. Who the hell would move all the way to Seattle ?”
“It’s where my girlfriend is from!” he laughs.
“No excuses,” Cooper says, dramatically throwing his arm up to stop him from speaking .
Damon turns to us. “I’m only here for a couple days. My girlfriend’s here visiting some friends in DC.”
“She let him out for a night, thank god. She’s got his balls firmly in her grasp, seriously.” Cooper whispers.
“She does not!”
“It’s okay bro. We all know way too much about each other’s balls here.” Cooper thinks for a moment as a shot is placed in front of him. He takes it, making a face before slamming the glass on the table. “And nipples, too. Like Crosby over there. He was so whipped he got his nips pierced for his girl.”
Owen groans. “I told you a million times. What was she supposed to do?”
“Can we stop talking about this?” I ask, shuddering. Reliving that entire story isn’t something I want to do right now.
“I’m telling you, man, I know what each and every Cobra nipple looks like. Can spot them from miles away.”
“You’re a real nipple expert, Cooper.”
He places his hand on his heart. “Thank you, Warner. That means a lot.”
“You really need to start getting the recognition you deserve.”
“You know, that’s exactly what I think, too. There’s little recognition around here.”
More food arrives at the table, and the more the drinks flow, the more shitfaced Cooper gets.
And the more I drink.
It doesn’t take long for Cooper to force us all into a bar, and more drinks flow.
“Alright guys,” Damon says, setting his beer down. “It’s time for me to get home to Amelia. It was great to see you again, Coop,” he tells us, getting up and giving Cooper a hug. By this point Cooper is absolutely shit faced, the biggest grin across his face .
“Yeah man, please visit again soon. Tell Amelia hi for me. I can’t wait to meet her one of these days.”
Damon smirks, but I’m not totally sure why.
After fist bumping all of us, Damon heads out of the bar, but a lot of the party is still here.
“I think I’m going to head out too,” Owen says, looking at his phone.
Cooper pouts. “You guys all get girlfriends and immediately become no fun.”
Owen laughs. “I don’t think that’s it, bud. We have a game in a couple days.”
With a dramatic eye roll, Cooper throws back another shot. “That we probably won’t be suiting up for.”
“Still have to deal with coach, and I don’t feel like throwing up for the next couple days.
Owen doesn’t drink that much. He gets the worst hangovers.
And honestly I do too. I just don’t make good choices.
When Owen heads out, a couple others do too.
“Mark got us a room at a hotel. Said we can all crash there, but he has a surprise for us,” Cooper says, a naughty glint in his eye as he smirks.
“I may just go home,” I tell him, Briar’s words replaying in my head. If the others went home, that gives me permission to as well. There’s nothing wrong with leaving a party. I don’t always have to be the last one to leave.
That’s what I keep telling myself.
“No! Just come to the hotel, okay? It’ll be fun, man.”
“I don’t know…”
“Well we’re going now,” he says, interrupting me. Pulling on my wrist, Cooper leads a group of us out of the bar and into a car. I’m all too aware of the phones snapping photos of me as we go.
It can be hard to ignore them, and although the people are pretty good about not coming up to us and asking for photos every five seconds, letting us live our lives, that doesn’t mean they won’t try to snap a couple photos here and there.
“What is this?” I ask as we step into the hotel room. There’s money all over the place. I think it’s fake, but upon closer inspection, I can tell it’s real.
Ones, twenties, and hundred-dollar bills are scattered everywhere, the lights dimmed in the fancy penthouse hotel room.
“We got strippers!” Mark says, his hands in the air as he comes out of the room with five girls around him, practically naked.
Any other time, I’d be fine with this. Actually, I would be fully on board. Excited about it, even. Strippers? I won’t lie, I’ve been to a couple strip clubs. Have talked to a couple strippers. There’s nothing bad about it. The women make good fucking money.
But for some reason now, tonight, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
But it’s Cooper’s birthday, so what am I supposed to do?
Sit in the corner, I guess. At least, that’s what I do. For two hours, I sit in the corner of the room nursing the same beer, watching the idiots in front of me have fun and get even more wasted.
Sunny
You doing okay?
I think so, but now that I know you’re up… are you willing to come get me?
How drunk are you Big Guy?
I may be hungover tomorrow if that’s what you’re asking.
Great. Send me the address and I’ll be right there. Make sure you’re ready.
Sighing, I get up, heading over to Cooper to say goodbye, hoping he doesn't cause a fuss.
But he hugs me, telling me to be careful, sending me off with a slap to my ass.
There’s three girls by the door, and they look up when they see me, counting cash. “Hey, it seems like you’re the most sober one here somehow,” the brunette says, her eyes tired. “Can you possibly walk us to our cars? The guy who usually comes with us left.”
The other two women look at me expectantly before looking back at their phones.
I yawn. “Yeah, sure,” I tell them, opening the door.
In the hallway, we walk silently down the hall, and a door opens behind us. I hear whispering, but I assume it’s about the noise coming from Cooper’s room.
When we get to the parking lot, I make sure they’re all to their cars safely before I round the building, waiting for Briar.
When she finally pulls up in her beat up rust bucket, I climb in without a word, exhausted from the night.
“Thank you for asking me to get you, Leo. You did the right thing by leaving.”
Finally, I can say I did something right.