Chapter 36
A Fuck It Moment
Olli
When I stepped up to the bar to order a shot that would hopefully calm my nerves, I realized I had no idea what Kodi would want to drink. So I turned on my heel only to be surrounded by the my teammates who weren’t on stage.
“Dude!” Taylor said in an excited whisper. “That was amazing. There’s no way she isn’t falling in love with you.”
“Love?” I repeated with a scoff. “There’s no way I’m even close to that.”
Though even as I said it, my heart skipped a beat, excited at the possibility of Kodi falling for me.
“I mean, yes. But you’re on the right path. That’s a hell of an improvement.”
“She was jealous as fuck that all those women were bidding on you,” Jimenez added. “When Rosa takes credit for getting you two together, just let her have it. She’s the cutest when she’s gloating about being right.”
“Oh, that’s some good shit, too,” Taylor said.
“Of course it is. I love my wife, she’s amazing.”
“Here,” someone said behind me, a shot glass held out to my left. I turned to see Carter holding out the drink. “A little liquid courage for whatever shenanigans the boys have dragged you into. Don’t know what it is, don’t wanna know, but I figure it’s important if you’re doing it.”
I gave him a tight nod and took the shot, downing it. The burn of the alcohol was short-lived and did nothing to dim the nerves ringing in my ears.
“Maybe one more,” I mumbled, turning back to the bar.
“Wait, man, you better not be getting cold feet. I’d never hear the end of it,” Jimenez said as he followed after.
“Not cold feet. I just need —”
“A little liquid courage?” Brooker filled in, crashing into the conversation as he hopped off the stage. “I saw your little chitchat. Congrats, man.” He clapped me on the back. “Taylor, get him another couple shots on my tab. I’ve got a date with someone who just bid 9k to be with me.”
“Holy fuck,” Carter whispered in horror. “Is that normal at these events? I thought it was insane Kean got as much as he did.”
“Oh, yeah. I’ve broken 20k before,” Brooker said with a cheeky smile. “I blame my all-time low on Kean distracting everybody.”
“Uh-huh, sure, that’s what happened,” Taylor said with a scoff, knocking his fist on Brooker’s arm. The other man rolled his eyes before waving him and the rest of us off and joining whoever his lucky lady was.
“All right.” Jimenez patted my shoulder then turned me to the bar. “Let’s steel your nerves, so you can get back to your girl.”
“She’s not …” I started to argue but stopped when the warmth of those words hit me. I liked the way that sounded far too much to argue and that was all the more reason I needed to get my shit together so I could actually make her my girl. “Yeah, let’s go.”
“That’s our guy!” Taylor cheered as we all headed to the bar. Carter spoke to the bartender, ordering us all a round of shots.
“Jimenez,” I said while we waited for the drinks. “What do you normally get Rosa to drink?”
“At a place like this?” He leaned his back against the bar, head tilted up as he thought. “I guess whatever red wine the bartender recommends. We don’t usually do these kind of events, but I know she’d wanna drink something fancy to match the atmosphere.”
“Match the atmosphere,” I repeated, brow furrowing as I tried to think of a drink that matched Kodi and the gala. The bartender set our shots down in front of us and I quickly downed it and motioned for another.
“You don’t have to overthink it, man,” Taylor said, grabbing one of the drink menus and setting it in front of me. “She’ll appreciate the thought either way.”
I looked down at the menu, debating the choices like I debated what team to sign with my first year. It felt that important.
“I’ll get a glass of the Kir Royale,” I told the bartender, remembering Kodi ordering something equally fruity at the club in Nashville. And then, once the drink was set in front of me, nerves twisted my stomach. “And another shot, please.”
“You got this, man,” Taylor said.
“Yeah and if there’re any lulls in the conversation, ask her about herself, stuff she likes, shit like that. And remember what she says. Or at least put it down in your notes app, that’s what I do.”
“Huh, that might be the smartest thing you’ve ever said,” Carter told Jimenez. “Shame you don’t do the thing same with our plays.”
“Oh, shut up.”
I took my third shot while the others alternated between bickering and giving me unsolicited advice. Setting the glass down, I murmured thanks to the guys and went back to Kodi, holding her drink tightly, like it was a raft in a storm.
Kodi had returned to her table, whispering something to Rosa, who had the biggest grin on her face. She said something to Kodi and her eyes went wide, face reddening. Kodi opened her mouth, but shut it when I reached the table.
“For you,” I said, holding out the drink. Her eyes widened again, but this time with a shine of excitement.
“Oh, that looks so good.” She immediately grabbed the drink and took a small sip, humming.
“Good choice, Kean,” Rosa whispered, patting my arm. “I’m gonna go see what my husband got for me.”
“Rosa,” Kodi hissed when the other woman walked away, but Rosa only gave her a wink and kept going. Kodi whispered under her breath, “Traitor.”
“Why’s that?”
“Nothing,” she said quickly before taking another sip of her drink. She set it back down, fingers fiddling with the stem of the glass. She nodded up to the stage, then asked, “So … was being up there as bad as you thought it’d be?”
I tilted my head as I thought.
“I guess it could have been worse,” I admitted.
“Right? You got a lot more bids than I thought,” she said with a nervous laugh. “I hope you don’t mind having to put up that much cash to get out of a date with a stranger.”
“Kodi.” I said her name a little sterner than I meant to, but this had to be clear. “I look at this as a date with you. And I’d spend any amount of money for that.”
“Oh fuck, why do you have to say things like that dressed like that?” she whined. “It’s unfair, you know?”
I huffed out a laugh, wishing I could tell her just how unfair she’s been by not remembering me. But things were going too well now to bring that up.
“Do you want to go for a walk and … talk? I imagine the music won’t start up for a while.”
“You don’t wanna see how much Marshall’s gonna go for? You know, a few years ago, I would’ve killed for a chance to —”
I stopped her by looping my arm around hers and pulling her tight against me. “Stop talking about Marshall like that. Better yet, don’t talk about him at all.”
As I walked us to the door that led to a garden, Kodi giggled and teased, “You sound jealous.”
My grip on her arm tightened and I took a deep breath in an attempt to loosen my nerves.
“I am. That’s why I hit my head in the last home game.
” We stepped out into the garden, the buzz of the crowd dulling as the doors shut behind us.
Without all that noise, I felt like I could finally breathe again, like getting those first few words out was all I needed.
I slid my hand down Kodi’s arm to intertwine our fingers and led us farther in, heading to the gazebo where we’d be out of sight from the gala goers.
“It’s why the guys keep trying to push us together.
It’s why I said yes to this auction thing and all the social media stuff.
It’s why I told off Brooker. It’s why I ran away from you during practice.
And it’s why I gave you a month's worth of tasks to complete in a week.” We stepped into the gazebo and I turned to face Kodi.
“I’m jealous. I’m insanely jealous of anyone who gets your time, your company, your thoughts.
I want all of that to be mine. Because for me, everything, all my thoughts, all my actions, they’re all about you. ”
“Oh.” Kodi’s cheeks went the most beautiful shade of pink. “I kinda thought we were still in the denying-our-attraction phase and were gonna stay there for a little bit.”
“Is that what you want?”
She huffed. “How could I possibly want that after you said all …” She waved her free hand at me. “That.”
“Then what do you want?” I asked, stepping closer to her. She moved backwards, away from me, but didn’t let go of my hand.
“What do I want?” she repeated, voice shaky. I took another step forward and again she stepped back, this time her back hitting a column. “Like, right now or just in general?”
“Both.” I shuffled, leaving just a bit of space, just enough that she could leave if she wanted to.
“Well, in general, I guess I want to be the Dastards’ social media manager and … have that date. Maybe do something … I don’t know, quiet. Not a movie or dinner, but maybe mini golf?”
“Mini golf sounds nice,” I said, swallowing a lump in my throat at memories of us going to this one course over and over again that summer we were together. “But what about right now?”
“Right now?” she choked. “God, right now I just want you to pin me down and fuck me.”
That was it. I couldn’t take it anymore.
If I didn’t kiss her now, something in me would break.
So I slammed my lips to hers and finally felt whole for the first time since I saw her name on that application.