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"Carson Thomas is cutting a holiday short and it's no big deal?" Chase asked. "Sounds like a big deal to me. Right Hawk?"
"A bit of a big deal, yeah." Hawk looked worried now. If I got booted off the team, it might cause a disruption for a while. I had to make sure that didn't happen. If anyone could sweet talk Carson, it would be me. I just had to turn on all my charm, and remind him the team was better with me on it.
"Stop stressing," I said. "We should be focusing on the game this weekend, not on me."
"Yeah, we should," Hawk agreed.
I almost got the impression he was annoyed at me for some reason. It wasn't like I was the one causing distractions and drama. I was just living my life the best way I could. Was that a crime? It was starting to feel like they thought it was.
"Throw the ball, Chase," I snapped, my good mood gone.
He glanced at Hawk, then stepped back and threw.
We went on like that, without a word, until the coach called us to jog the perimeter of the field and then do warm down stretches.
"Are you okay?" Ollie hurried a little to run beside me. "You seem upset about something."
I shrugged. "I guess I figured the guys had more faith in me." I was more steamed about that than anything else. They seemed to think this whole thing was some kind of fucking joke.
Okay, I treated it like that too, but that was who I was. I joke around, make fun of a whole lot of stuff. I took my job seriously though. They seemed to think I didn't. It was kind of stupid, really. There was no reason for Carson Thomas to fly home early.
It occurred to me he might have planned on coming back today anyway. Yeah, that must be it. He was going to drive by after the plane landed and say hi. With any luck, he'd apologise for the whole Grace thing, and admit it was unnecessary.
I was one hundred and ten percent sure she had better things to do than plan my life. Like—I don't know, a hobby, or hanging out with her friends. Or making Ollie a superstar. Or having a long, hot, naked soak in a bath full of bubbles and…
I really needed to spend less time thinking about her. Even when I was doing other stuff, she popped into my dumb brain. No denying she was cute, but she made it clear she wasn't into me. She would be if I tried, of course. No doubt about it. That would only complicate our working relationship, if you could even call it that. Maybe once Carson called her off, I'd see if she was up for a bit of fun. Nothing too serious, just a roll or two.
Ollie said something, but I hadn't heard, on account of the fact I wasn't listening.
"Huh?" I asked.
"I said, I'm sure it'll all be okay," Ollie said again. "We all know you're a good guy, most of the time." He smiled.
"Most of the time?" I glanced over to him. "Boy, you've been hangin' with Chase and Hawk for too long." Or Henry 'Pinky' fucking Innocenti. If anyone would poison someone against me, it'd be him. Asshole.
His smile widened to a grin. Damned kid had the best teeth on the team. No wonder women liked him.
"I'm pretty sure I learned that from you," he said.
I laughed. He was probably right. "You learned well then, young grasshopper. Remind me to teach you a few swear words, just in case you need them."
He snorted. "I'm not that young. I know plenty."
"Does your mother know that?" I asked. As far as I knew, he still lived at home. Lucky him. I hated cooking and doing laundry. Some of the guys had cooks and cleaners to do that, but I could never bring myself to pay someone to come into my space and clean up my mess. I liked having my space to myself, unless Chantel popped in for a visit. She usually cleaned the house for me anyway, so why bother to hire anyone?
"No," Ollie replied. "She'd yell at me if I said anything more than damn."
I laughed out loud at that. "You ever think about getting a place of your own?"
"Yeah, but then she'd move in so she could take care of me." He made a face.
"Those apron strings are tied really tight," I said. "Careful they don't strangle you."
"I like having family close," Ollie argued.
"Me too, but there's close and there's close, if you get my drift?"
He frowned. "Yeah. I think so."
