She pouts, blue eyes melting my shield of ice. “But that’s no fun. I want to hear it from my date.”
“I’mnotyour?—”
“Leave him alone,” Carter says with a tired breath, strolling up to us. She glares at him, which he ignores. He slaps his hand on my shoulder instead, pointing her toward the dance floor. “Arden wants you out there with her. Please stop harassing my teammates and go and have fun with my girlfriend.”
“Fine,” she mutters, rolling her eyes. She glances up at me, a gentle smile tugging at her mouth. “You look fucking great, by the way. In case you were wondering.”
She refrains from adding a ‘too’ to the end of that sentence so that she doesn’t reveal that I was gassing her up to her brother.
I thank her for it with a dip of my chin. She waltzes off, and Forker apologizes for her yet again, like she hasn’t been the best part of this trip. Like she hasn’t been the best part of any day of mine that she’s walked right into.
“Ten tequila!” Declan orders, exploding into our circle, eyes glassy. “For me and my boys!”
I grin, wrapping my arm around his neck. Our boy is a little drunk.
He brought the remaining Pittsburgh players with him to the bar, trailing behind him like little ducklings. There’s emotion written all over his face, and it’s clear he wants to convey how much us being here means to him, but he won’t. He used up all his poetry skills on those vows that we helped him memorize with each shot he took on net this morning.
Lark grins, leaning against the bar by his lanky elbow.
“Love you guys,” is all Lowesy says, glancing at every one of us. “Thanks for being here.”
“Aw,” Fork muses, reaching forward to smack him gently on the cheek. “We love you more, buddy. Best night ever, yeah?”
“Yeah,” he says, his throat bobbing. He reaches for Saltzy and me on either side of him, pulling us into a weird, three-way hug. “You two are stuck with me forever, too, you know?”
I grin, dipping my chin. “Wouldn’t want it any other way.”
Remarkably, Saltzy’s eyes soften a bit. He says nothing; he just pats Dec on the back as the bartender hands out tequila shots.
This feels good. The teammates who are here tonight are the good ones. Declan didn’t invite everyone, because yeah, some of them are just coworkers. He invited those who truly matter. Could you imagine Tom being here? With Morgan? No chance. Luka would be fine, but that means Emma would have to come along. Hell no.
“To our boy becoming a man!” Fork shouts, and we all echo it back, downing our shots.
Declan gives us the finger with a sloppy, drunken smile, but then One Direction blares through the speaker and two loud, shrill screams of excitement erupt from the other end of the ballroom. He freezes with wide eyes, his gaze darting around our circle.
“That would be my wife,” he says with a curt nod, shoving his glass in my hand. “Gotta go, before she breaks her neck.”
He vanishes into the crowd, and we all watch him go. He finds his wife instantly, like his heart is tied to hers by an invisible string. She and Avery practically leap onto him, completely airborne, and he catches them on either arm like this is a routine they’ve mastered over the years. The laughter that echoes through that dance floor is the best song in the world.
They really are a lucky bunch.
My eyes flicker to the other bodies around them. To a blonde in a baby blue dress with a long, thick ponytail, dancing hand-in-hand with a redhead. I glance at Fork, who is watching them with a happy smile of disbelief.
“Couldn’t have worked out better for you, huh?” I ask.
He shakes his head, unwilling to tear his eyes from them. “If Ari didn’t like her, I don’t know what I would have done.”
Because his sister is his whole world. His sister has always been the only person who mattered until Arden. She isstillthe person whose opinion matters to him the most. He can act like that isn’t true all he wants, but Ari will forever hold that power.
I swallow, but that tequila shot is suddenly sitting weirdly in my stomach.
I’ve been dancing on a very thin line and I need to put a fucking pin in it.Now.
What am I doing?
Forker’s eyes snap up to mine. “I’m going to go and shake my ass out there. You in?”
I glance across the room and she meets my eyes, gesturing for me to join them on the dance floor, as if she didn’t just get sent away from me like a child being scolded. If I can’t trust myself with her in a room full of people with liquor coursing through my veins, I should stay the hell away.
