51
Noah slid into the available seat in the booth next to Miko.
Some of the team had migrated to the bar, their post-practice energy amplifying with each round of drinks.
Glasses clinked, laughter bounced off the low ceilings, and Kelsey was already in full celebration mode, taking every opportunity to brag.
“It’s done,” Noah sighed.
“What’s done?” asked Toby, both arms still in slings. He creatively stuck one straw into another straw into another straw so that way he can still drink his beer, despite not being able to hold a pint himself yet. It was innovation at its finest.
Noah, reaching for his beer, took a big sip. “The HR paperwork.”
Jack smoothly sauntered into the bar with a beautiful brunette woman, his hand around her waist. “Hey, mates, can’t drink with you tonight, I am taking Tiffany out for drinks.”
Tiffany was glowing with pride, she had met the Jack Hayworth, and he said he would take her dancing after introducing her to the team.
Noah couldn’t help but smile and be a little jealous at how quickly Jack was able to recover from the past week.
“So, it’s official, people!” Kelsey announced, raising his beer high. “The Doc and Cap are fuckin’. And I knew the whole time!” He spun his body in his seat to grin at the team. “Of course, I knew the whole time because they like me the best, and because I am the best secret keeper on the planet.”
Laughter erupted around the table. Miko rolled his eyes, Liam just shook his head with a grin, and a few of the younger players muttered something about it being “about time.”
“You haven’t kept a single goddamn secret your whole gay life, Kels,” Liam said to Kelsey, slapping him on the back.
Noah’s ears burned, but he held up a hand. “Actually… it wasn’t exactly–”
Kelsey cut him off, waving a finger like he was refereeing a game. “Oh, please. Don’t try to rewrite history, Cap. I have already told Suzanne, and we have known since Christmas about your secret relationship.”
Noah groaned and leaned back, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “To be fair, Kels, you were there at Christmas because you commandeered the doc’s family and bedroom and happened to be there.”
Kelsey’s grin widened to full mischief. “Happened to be there? Well, let me remind you, Cap, that you were the one who barged in. I was invited by my loving family.”
“I was saving her from that douche yank.”
“Oh, don’t you dare. You wouldn’t even know this had happened if I hadn’t texted the group chat.” Kesley was flabbergasted at the audacity.
Kelsey was right. Noah wouldn’t have known if Kelsey hadn’t texted into the group chat.
He never would’ve driven across town, never would’ve stood in that doorway with his heart in his throat, never would’ve seen the truth written all over Claire’s face.
Christmas had been the hinge. The moment everything shifted.
Noah dropped his hand from his face and looked back up, eyes bright with something dangerously close to laughter. “Sure,” he said easily, taking another big sip. “You lit the flare.”
Kelsey leaned forward, triumphant. “Exactly.”
“But” Noah added, voice warm, unapologetically content, “last I remember… it wasn’t you in the bedroom with us.”
For a split second, the table went silent.
Then it exploded.
Someone nearly fell off their stool. Miko let out a bark of laughter. Liam slapped the table so hard his drink sloshed. Toby exhaled a bubble of beer through his straw. From somewhere down the bar came a horrified, delighted, “CAPTAIN!”
Kelsey sputtered. “I might as well have been, given how loud you guys were.”
Noah just grinned, utterly unbothered. “You can take credit for the introduction, mate. But the rest? Nah. That was all me.
Kelsey opened his mouth, closed it, then lifted his beer in surrender. “Fine. Fine. I’ll settle for being the visionary.”
“To the visionary,” Liam toasted.