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“Is everyone set with rides?” I ask. I’m sober and happy to give anyone a lift.
“Calista isn’t,” Wendy says.
Murphy steps forward. “We can—”
“I’ll get her home safely,” I say, cutting in before he can finish.
“I don’t want you to go out of your way,” Calista says.
“It’s not a problem at all,” I reply, dispelling her worries.
I watch as the girls hug each other and say their goodbyes. Murphy moves over to stand next to me.
“Are you sure this is a good idea, dude?” he asks.
“What?” I play dumb.
“Spending time with Calista. The two of you have been glued to each other all night. I’m surprised Darius didn’t notice.” He keeps his voice low so the others won’t hear.
“I think he has more important things on his mind, like marrying the woman he loves,” I say.
“Yes, he does. But if, or should I saywhen,he notices what’s going on between you two, the shit will hit the fan. And it won’t be pretty.”
“Let it go, Murphy.”
“This is bigger than just you, man. The team—”
“I’m sick of hearing about how my personal life could affect the team. I give my everything to our fucking team. And no one can say differently.” I grit the words out between clenched teeth.
“I know you do,” he agrees.
“I care about her, Murphy.”
“Yeah, you care about a lot of them,” he jokes, laughing.
I grab his arm to get his attention. “I mean it. I really care about her—deeply care about her.”
“Wow. I had no idea,” he says.
“Yeah, I know you didn’t.”
“I’m happy for you, bro. But it sucks that she’s Darius’s sister. Couldn’t you care deeply about someone who’s not related to one of our teammates?”
“In a perfect world, yeah. In this one, no. I didn’t intend to fall for her or anyone else. But she’s damn near irresistible.”
“I hope you know what you’re doing,” he says.
“Oh, you mean like you did with Wendy?” I ask, pointing out his hypocrisy.
“Fair enough. I want you to be happy. I just don’t want it to affect our upcoming season.”
“I don’t want that either. But I’m telling you now, I’m not willing to give her up for the sake of keeping peace on the team.”
Murphy exhales long and slow. “Why do I think this is going to be a shitshow?”
“Because it probably is.” I shrug. “But so be it. Besides, Darius can’t hold a grudge forever.”
“I’m sure we’ll find out,” he adds.
