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Leah and I continued to giggle like schoolgirls, and Radleigh and Bryce exchanged a look of amusement.
“If you weren’t four weeks from giving birth, I’d swear you’d been hitting the cocktails already.” Radleigh placed a kiss on the top of Leah’s head.
“No, no,” she answered, still chuckling. “We’re just getting into the old skool feel by acting like adolescents.” She nodded in Cody’s direction and our gazes followed. Cody was now offering the girl his best smile, and possibly trying out some pick-up lines. Lucky for him she laughed at whatever he said, and I was sure he was going to get his wish.
“Ohh,” Bryce said, grinning. “So that’s the girl he’s been talking about. Not bad at all.”
I hadn’t paid much attention to the way she looked, but Bryce was right; she was a hottie. Blonde, slim, with perky boobs that may have been cosmetically enhanced. She had deep blue eyes and a genuine smile.
“She looks familiar,” Radleigh said, his ice blue eyes fixed on her. His grip on his beer bottle tightened as he tried to place her.
Beside him, Leah tensed and her eyes flicked towards me. No doubt what she was thinking. Has Radleigh slept with that woman?
“That’s because she looks like every other woman Cody hooks up with,” Bryce said, unaware of the rising tension. “Her name’s Ashley, I think.”
“Ashley!” Radleigh snapped his fingers then turned to Bryce. “You know who she is, right?” When Bryce’s brow furrowed, Radleigh went on, “She’s Jen’s cousin.”
Bryce’s eyes widened and he slowly lowered his beer bottle from his lips and placed it on the bar. “That’s Ashley? You mean that little girl who used to hang out with Jen at the training ground sometimes?”
Radleigh nodded. “That’s her.”
“Wait,” Leah said, looking up at Radleigh. “Jen? As in your ex-girlfriend?”
I didn’t like the flash of panic that crossed Leah’s face at the mention of Jen’s name, and I hoped this didn’t kick start her insecurities again. Ashley was only Jen’s cousin, after all, not the woman herself. I remembered her, though. Bryce was right; she used to come to work with Jen and watch the players train sometimes. She was much younger then, barely eighteen, but much more sincere than Jen.
“Yeah.” Radleigh glanced over at Ashley again before turning his back on her and pulling Leah in to him. “Don’t worry about it. You know Cody; it’ll just be a one-nighter and then he’
ll never see her again.”
Leah slipped her arms around Radleigh and smiled. “I’m not worried.” She rose onto her tiptoes to kiss him, punctuating her point and making Bryce and I roll our eyes as they headed off into their own little world.
“I think that’s our cue to leave,” Bryce said, placing an arm around my shoulder.
Laughing, I picked up my drink and skates, and we edged around the room looking for the rest of our party. Finding them was easy; they were the enormous group sitting on the huge corner sofa and around the largest table at the back of the room, all pointing and laughing at each other’s outfits. Most of the team and their significant others had showed up, and as we joined them we were greeted with enthusiastic hellos.
Bryce dropped his arm from around my shoulders and took a step away as Miguel stood up, smiling. A laugh burst out of my mouth as I took in his outfit. Faded, ripped jeans with the classic, “Frankie Say Relax” t-shirt. The white shirt was a little tight and clung to his solid frame in a way his clothes usually didn’t. He was more a loose-fitting shirt kind of guy. Aside from the retro-ness, the look kinda suited him.
“You look incredible.” Miguel pulled me into a hug and placed a kiss on my cheek.
My breath caught in my throat at his move, but I shook it off, dropped my skates to the floor and circled my arms around him too. It wasn’t as if we’d never hugged in public before; we were an affectionate group. However, the amount of hours we’d spent together over the last few weeks ensured guilt continued to lurk inside me. Bryce was still the only person who knew Miguel and I had slept together, but when we were around our friends, a constant bubble of fear lingered, fear that they could… I don’t know, smell it on us or something.
“Thank you,” I said as we pulled apart. “You look great too. I love the t-shirt!”
He smiled and shrugged. “It was either this or my Michael Jackson costume.”
I gave him a playful shove. “You do not have a Michael Jackson costume.”
“How little you know me!” Miguel struck a classic MJ pose, spun around on the spot then began an impressive moonwalk, much to the amusement of our friends. He took a bow to the sounds of us clapping, cheering and whistling at his performance.
I did not know he had those moves in him.
“Believe me now?” he asked.
“About the costume?” I laughed. “That’s still a no.”
He shrugged again, and I shook my head, amused. Around us, everyone had gone back to their own conversations, but I nudged Miguel when I spotted Jesse heading towards us, hand in hand with a terrified-looking blonde girl. They were dressed in matching eighties geek outfits, which included rolled-up blue jeans, a shirt and a huge bowtie for Jesse, and a knee-length plaid skirt, a neat white button-down shirt and knee socks for Isabelle. Both wore matching black-framed nerd glasses. As they got closer, Isabelle lowered her head and Jesse gave her hand an encouraging squeeze. Considering he’d already explained how Isabelle shy was, I thought it brave of him to bring her to an occasion that meant she’d have to meet everyone at once. On the other hand, with us all dressed like wannabees from a Madonna music video, it was one heck of an ice breaker. On their way, they stopped off to speak to Leah and Radleigh at the bar, and Isabelle blushed when Radleigh hugged her. They’d already met in London so at least there was one other person around she was familiar with.
“Should we go say hello?” Miguel asked. “Or wait until later?”
