Chapter 46
FORTY-SIX
Lake
“I don’t know how I let you talk me into this shit,” I mutter.
Riggs grunts in agreement.
Leo just drinks deeply from his beer.
“You’re supposed to be the captain,” Knox says, slugging back his beer. “Which means that you should get that this is team bonding.”
I sigh, roll my shoulders.
I know he’s right.
I’m still grumpy about it because I want to be home. With Nova.
Because I’m fucking obsessed.
Because…I’ve fallen deep and hard, and it’s better with her than—
Spending time with these idiots.
And because practice was another shit show.
Not just tough and tense and frustrating—or not because of the usual reasons, anyway. We were being filmed for a sports show, so now the internet has a video of two of my teammates exchanging blows…
And Coach jumping in to punch them both.
Coach has a black eye and a fat lip for his trouble.
The two idiots are benched.
And my social media is no longer flooded with requests for more of Nova’s drink recipes.
I’m tagged in videos from every angle, breaking down exactly what happened (none of which are actually right since the fight was about something so fucking stupid, it doesn’t even bear discussing), and listing all the things I should be doing to make it better.
I’m the captain.
I’m responsible.
The problem is very few people in that locker room respect what I say.
Because they don’t respect each other or themselves or the sport or the fact that we’re meant to come together.
It’s a team of individuals.
And we’re never going to make it all the way to hefting the Cup without working with each other.
It’s a fucking miracle we’ve won as many games as we have.
I lift my brows at Knox. “Since you’ve got the A”—the assistant captain position—“I’m open to any and all suggestions.”
He winces. “Nah, man, I’m just here for the fun times and shit-giving.”
“Right,” I mutter. Which is exactly the problem.
I seem to be the only one who gives a fuck and is trying to change the way the team is working.
Sighing, I roll my shoulders then lift the pitcher and refill my glass with beer, deciding that I’ll take any type of alcohol at this point, but also wishing I had a honey rosemary mule.
Because I’ve been thoroughly corrupted by Nova Cassidy.
Who…
Walks in the door, arm in arm with Knox’s sister, Daniela—or Ella, as everyone calls her.
Or Trouble Number Two as she should be known.
Nova spots me and smiles, but when she starts to head for an empty table, I inwardly shake my head, get up, and move to her.
This woman doesn’t get it.
She’s staying in my home, even when I’m not there.
She ordered the furniture that’s now filling the rooms inside.
But I can’t shake the feeling that she still has one foot out the door.
And what are you doing to convince her to stay?
Not running in the other fucking direction, that’s what.
Tell her that I want her to stay.
And letting her pick out furniture and stay in my house, and fucking her into oblivion every opportunity I got.
Cooking for her.
Watching crappy movies.
So everything and…nothing.
I rub at the ache in my chest, my heart doing that Nova thing again—squeezing, rolling over—and make my way to her, snagging her hand before she can sit down. “What are you doing?” I growl.
Growling at her.
Probably not the right move when I want her to stay forever.
She frowns up at me. “Ella and I are getting a drink.”
“Here?” I ask.
Her frown deepens and she makes a show of looking around. “I mean, is your name on this table?”
“No,” I snap. “I’m sitting there.” I look over at Ella. “With your brother.” I look back at Nova. “And you two are going to sit here?”
“Have you ever heard of girl talk?” Nova asks sharply.
“Have your girl talk later,” I tug her toward me, drawing her away from the table and back to mine.
This makes Ella cackle, but she doesn’t argue, just picks up her purse and follows us, slanting a look at Nova. “Sure you need to have that existential crisis?”
Nova glares at her. “Shut up.”
I don’t know what that’s about.
I just know that she lets me nudge her down onto my stool at the table.
“No, no!” Nova says with a laugh, her cheeks flushed, four honey rosemary mules in. “That’s too much. The whole thing is going to taste like soap.”
“Can’t taste any worse than the vodka itself,” Knox says, tossing back the drink he’d dumped a shit ton of rosemary simple syrup into.
Then almost immediately gags.
I bust up, Leo alongside me. Riggs shakes his head, and Ella just sighs and shakes her head. “I can’t say you didn’t warn my idiot brother, Novs.”
“God,” Knox wheezes, downing a glass of water. “That’s foul.”
“Yup,” Ella says. “Because you’re the dumbass who doesn’t follow directions.”
Knox glares at her. “You’re just testy because I broke the doorbell of your Barbie dollhouse fifteen years ago.”
“Hey”—she pokes him—“it’s more like twenty, old man.”
I snort.
Nova giggles and goes back to what she was doing before Knox sent this off the rails, like usual—making more mules.
Knox likes to make trouble.
Leo is quiet, but confident, charming the servers, but always aware of his surroundings.
Riggs is focused, as usual.
But tonight he’s focused on Ella, which isn’t usual, and given the look in his eyes, the interest in them, this is going to spell trouble for my already beleaguered locker room.
“And,” Ella goes on, “it wasn’t just a dollhouse. It was my Barbie Dream House and you ruined it.” She lays the back of her hand on her forehead. “Oh the humanity.”
Riggs’s mouth twitches, but he doesn’t otherwise speak, his man-of-few-words personality exacerbated in this type of environment. Quiet. Observing…
Ella.
Damn.
“And you”—Ella turns and points a finger at Nova—“I cannot believe that you carry a bottle of that at all times in your purse.”
“I don’t carry a bottle at all times,” Nova says from the other side of the bar, mixing up the drinks like the almost pro she is. “I just grabbed this on a whim when I dropped Steve off at the house.”
The house.
Not my house.
I stare down at my drink, consider the feelings sliding through me.
The. House. That’s…good. I like that.
Our house would be better, but—
“Likely story,” Ella teases, nearly falling off her stool.
Riggs catches her arm, nudges her back in place.
“Thank you, kind sir,” she slurs.
“And I think that’s the sign for you to be done,” Nova says, snagging the still half-full glass back.
“What? No!” Ella reaches for the glass, but Nova just lifts it out of reach and tosses it back.
“Ah, that’s good,” she says, setting the empty glass on the bar top—where we’ve relocated because she’s teaching Sue, one of the regular bartenders, how to make her drink—“and look at that, I’m all out of rosemary simple syrup.
Darn.” She winks at me as she rounds the bar and slips out, ignoring Ella’s protests.
Protests that result in Riggs having to catch her again.
When Nova walks close enough, I loop an arm around her middle, draw her close.
“I’m jealous,” Knox slurs, gaze on my arm.
I glance down at Nova. “Apparently, the Adlers can’t hold their alcohol.”
Her lips twitch before parting and I lean in to hear her but Knox butts in, as usual. “Hell,” he says, wavering slightly, and I don’t miss that Riggs doesn’t try to catch him. “I even made a pass once at all that hotness.” A pouty face as Knox waves a hand in my direction. “And he turned me down.”
Leo snorts because he knows better.
Riggs brows shoot up as he looks toward me.
I shake my head.
Bullshit. As always.
I narrow my eyes at Knox. “Sit down before you fall down.”
“But I waaaant you,” he says, arms outstretched, lips pouted into a kiss. “Don’t turn me down tall, dark, and broody.”
I drop my chin to my chest. “Christ.”
Nova giggles.
“I don’t know if I should be disgusted or recording this,” Riggs mutters.
Same, linemate. Fucking same.
“Recording,” Leo says, digging in the pocket for his phone. “Definitely recording.”
Fucking hell.
I exhale, shove Knox away when he gets close, and for some godawful reason, the next words come out of my mouth.
“You’re not handsome enough to tempt me.”