Chapter 22
TWENTY-TWO
RYAN
Sitting on the patio with the sun spilling down around us, the umbrellas offering us shade, I subtly pinched myself. Being out in public, even with the few cameras that had been directed our way, was all okay. I didn’t doubt that Sutton and Jayden being here took off the pressure.
I’d admitted to Nate that his real introduction to cameras, fans, and any paps would be easier if we weren’t alone.
The hope was that while the gossip rags would get the scoop of me having a friend from Australia visiting, they’d be more focused on snapping images of me hanging out with my former teammates.
Drinking water like I’d just survived a hike in the Sahara—hell, it was hot—I laughed as Jayden told me about his zany aunt flirting with Sutton.
“He’s making it all up.” The eye roll from Sutton simply made us all laugh more.
I accepted my chicken salad from the waiter with thanks and sneaked a quick look at Nate’s plate to make sure they’d got his order right.
“You going to offer to cut his grilled chicken for him as well?”
I flipped Jayden off, ignoring my embarrassment that I wasn’t subtle. “Fuck off.”
Jayden reacted with a wide smile. “It’s all levels of adorable, you being attentive and shit.”
“What the hell! Adorable,” I scoffed.
“You know, that there screams years’ worth of indoctrinated toxic masculinity.” Sutton’s deadpan words dragged three pairs of eyes in his direction. “What?” he asked, picking up his fork.
“You see what you’ve started,” Jayden complained, his focus on me.
“What did I do?” For a short while, I’d forgotten what life was like with these two as my friends. The conversations they started, the shit and sometimes mayhem they created, forever kept me on my toes.
“You see,” Jayden said, pointing his knife at a bemused Nate, “this is why he needs reining in. Ryan just can’t help saying shit that gets Sutton all ramped up.”
As I grumbled a “Hey,” my boyfriend cracked up, finding the attack on my character highly amusing.
“Do you know what Sutton studied at college?” Jayden continued. My brows dipped in confusion, wondering where the hell he was going with this. “Go on, hazard a guess. You both get one try each.”
I glanced at Sutton, taking in his huge frame, his ink-black hair and hazel eyes.
It was the relaxed expression he sent my way that had me thinking harder.
Honestly, I didn’t know much beyond knowing Sutton had a large family, his mom moving to the USA from Zimbabwe when she was a kid, and his dad being second-generation Polish-American.
He was kind and intelligent. He also had a killer field goal percentage and, on the court, tried his hardest to get the job done. But his personal history, I knew very little about.
“Anthropology,” Nate said from my side.
My brows shot high. Fuck, I was going to go with the standard “communication.” Rather than answer straightaway, I rethought my answer while all three men looked at me.
No way could I say what I’d been thinking.
While Sutton was smart, I’d assumed he’d elected for communication or arts and social science while being on a ball scholarship like most players I knew.
Apparently, I was a dickhead. “Uhm.” I racked my brain. “Economics?” There was no certainty in my selection at all. Sutton scoffed, and I had the good grace to shoot him an apologetic smile.
“Bioethics.” A grin stretched Jayden’s mouth wide.
“Oh, wow. I have no idea what the hell that is, but it sounds complicated,” I said.
“Right. That’s what I said when Sutton told me. The point is, don’t get him started.”
A frown dipped Sutton’s brows low, and he angled a look at Jayden. He didn’t say a word, simply turned his frown into a challenging stare and a raised eyebrow.
Sutton, to anyone who didn’t know him, and honestly even to those who did, could be super intimidating. Not so much to Jayden, though. The guy simply winked at his friend, blew him a kiss, and said, “You know how I like to brag about how smart you are.”
When Sutton groaned and dropped his head back, I chuckled and glanced over at Nate. Doing so was always a risk in public, as it was a legit struggle not to touch him, let alone stare at him in a way that wouldn’t share with the world that my heart was his.
Nate still appeared bemused, but his attention was sharp, focused as he studied my two friends.
They acted like an old married couple. Everyone and his dog commented on it.
It was something I liked about their relationship.
In many ways, I envied their freedom and bravery in being themselves, and without apology.
But I supposed that was a luxury two straight men had.
They could fawn over and love up all over each other without the fear of being outed, perfectly comfortable in their own skins and sense of selves.
The thought pulled me up short. What the fuck I’d give to be my authentic self. I steadied my breathing, determined not to let Nate clue in to my brain and emotions working overtime.
It would happen at the end of the season for sure.
No excuses. No hesitation. Absolutely no take backs.
The guys’ five-day visit passed in a bit of a blur.
We hit the casinos, took in a show, and did a heap of touristy stuff, most of the time managing to avoid cameras.
Admittedly, it was pretty hard to stay incognito with four tall guys, three of whom were well above average, especially when one in particular thought he was a comedian.
Their visit was worth it, though. Not only because of the added freedom it allowed Nate and me, but it was good to be reminded they had my back.
Nate and I said goodbye to them as they headed to Cleveland to watch a soccer game. Despite me being able to get my hands on tickets, Nate agreed he’d prefer to stay incognito a while longer. Considering we’d spent hardly any time alone in the past five days, I was more than okay with that.
What we hadn’t banked on was my new coach reaching out to me for a get-together at his house.
He’d latched on to my hesitation, even when I explained I had a friend visiting from Australia.
But he’d lapped up the idea of another Aussie being around and had followed up with “Your friend will probably make mixing with your new team easier for you, right? Most are bringing their families so have a buffer. Call it good timing.” I hadn’t been able to refuse.
Felix was a good coach. There were plenty of stories floating around about him being a ballbuster, which I believed after meeting the guy. But I knew enough just from the four times we’d met to know he ran a tight ship, wanted the best out of his players, and also cared about them.
That now included me.
“You’re being weird and fidgety,” Nate unhelpfully said as I drove us toward Henderson, where Coach Felix lived.
“Joining a new team is always the worst,” I complained.
Nate side-eyed me. “Says the man who moved to a whole new country by himself, knowing no one, when he was eighteen. Hell, you couldn’t even buy booze till you were twenty-one here. Must have sucked knowing I was getting wasted legally.”
His words had the desired effect and earned him a grin.
“Holy shit, that’s the real reason you stopped calling, right? You couldn’t cope with my being an adult before you,” he sassed, like the dick he was.
“Piss off, Griffin.” The sat nav in my car announced we’d arrived, and I pulled over, distracted by the collection of expensive cars outside what looked to be a fairly traditional suburban family home. Yeah, it was big, but it wasn’t ostentatious. Taking it in, I relaxed a fraction.
“Nice place,” Nate said from beside me.
“Yeah,” I agreed.
“We doing this?”
I nodded. “I’ll grab the cooler.” Nate snorted at the name. I rolled my eyes, saying, “Well, they don’t have Eskys here.”
We got out of my car, and I opened the trunk—just one of the many words Nate teased me excessively for when he heard the multitude of Americanisms I’d picked up over the years.
Large cooler in hand, I headed toward the front door, Nate on my heels. After ringing the bell, I worked hard at easing the tension in my shoulders. I needed to make an effort to get to know the team. Them getting used to having Nate around would be ideal too.
Coach answered the door wearing an apron and a smile.
“You made it. Come on in.” He led us in and straight through to the backyard.
A swimming pool took up a fair bit of space.
A handful of kids were currently playing volleyball, and Jason Curtis, Vegas’s point guard, bobbed around on a giant flamingo.
“Everyone,” Coach called out, and I fought hard not to wince at the attention, “Broadwater’s here, so be nice and don’t scare the man off before the season starts. This here is Nate, his buddy visiting from Australia.” My chest warmed a little that he’d remembered Nate’s name.
Several of the guys called out, and Phillips, the captain, stood up from a lounger, a toddler on his hip, to greet me. He looked curiously at the large cooler in my hands.
“Beers and soda and lots of ice,” I explained.
“Shit, Coach, you expecting us to start bringing drinks with us?” Phillips looked a little wide-eyed, his question genuine rather than him taking the piss.
“Nah,” I answered quickly, “it’s just an Aussie thing. You don’t turn up anywhere without an Esky and beer. You’ll get used to it.” I grinned, put the cooler on the ground, and shook Phillips’s hand.
“Good to know, and good to meet ya. Coach said he’d hoped you’d come along.” His grip was firm and friendly.
“Glad for the invite.” I indicated toward the girl in his arms. “And who’s this princess?”
Phillips grinned. “Less princess and more wildcat, I think. This is Milly, my daughter. It’s her first birthday in a couple of weeks. We’re actually having a big party. You should come, and Nate here too if he’s still visiting.” He glanced over at Nate and pumped his hand in a friendly shake.
“I’ll still be here,” he answered, his tone warm. “I’m making the most of my ninety days.”
Phillips bobbed his head. “Nice, though why you’d want three months in Vegas is beyond me,” he teased, earning a “Hey, my home city you’re cussing there,” from Tucker Andrews, another of my new teammates.
With a smile, Phillips rolled his eyes. “Come on, let me introduce you to everyone. Best grab a beer first. You’re going to need it dealing with this lot.”
The rest of the afternoon continued with the same level of good-natured shit-talking, three more party invites, and me feeling like this might all just work out after all.
“Did you have a good night?” Reaching out and placing his hand on my thigh once safely in the car, Nate squeezed. “They seem like decent guys.”
I covered his hand with mine, relieved to be able to touch him again. “Yeah.”
From the corner of my eye, I saw him smile, another sliver of tension that had sat with me since Coach’s phone call disappearing.
“I was thinking maybe we should head for a week to the beach together soon, before training starts properly. Banksy mentioned he and his girlfriend head to a resort in Mexico. It’s pretty exclusive, no paps, apparently a state-of-the-art gym too. ”
When the shooting guard had mentioned the place to me and suggested it was a good place to escape the craziness of Vegas and perhaps an ideal place to take my friend, I’d initially frozen.
Wasn’t that a couples thing to do? Before I could react more or even ask questions, he’d mentioned a few of the guys on the team went too, but with friends, so it wasn’t a romantic escape or anything.
When I’d grinned in response and said I’d talk to Nate, he’d laughed, saying, “Seriously, it looks like you need to unwind. Privacy before season starts… you should already be on the phone with your travel agent.”
The magic word privacy had pretty much sold me. My condo was great, spacious, but the image of Nate and me chilling on the beach, perhaps getting some surf in, was a visual I liked.
“Oh wow, really?”
I signaled to turn. “Yeah, why not? A week with not having to go to parties.” I threw him a quick wink. “Sounds awesome.”
“A week on the beach and chilling with you would be brilliant. You think we can get a room at such short notice?”
As I pulled into the underground parking lot, I shrugged. “Not sure, but I’ll try my hardest.”