Page 63 of The Linebacker

“We have been kind of seeing each other,” he said instead. “And I should have been upfront about it.”

Royce snorted. “Date whoever you want. You don’t need anyone’s permission.”

“That rule does not extend to Callahan, by the way,” Broderick called out, pointing at his teammate. “You totally need to start running your dates by the rest of us before you make any sort of commitment.”

Callahan snorted.

Amil shook his head. “I should have made sure it was cool with my friend first.”

“Bros before hos,” Broderick yelled.

“Shut the fuck up, Broderick,” Pedro snapped.

Broderick laughed. Of course he did.

Something flashed across Jalen’s face—anger, maybe?—but then it was gone, replaced with a resigned headshake. “It’s cool, man. I probably could have handled the whole thing a little better myself.”

“A little,” Callahan stage-whispered.

“So why was she crying when she left your room last night?” Jalen asked, ignoring Callahan.

“She was crying?” Amil hadn’t realized that. If he had, he would have tried a hell of a lot harder to convince her to stay so they could work it out. Or at least until she was calm enough that she wasn’t crying.

Shit, he couldn’t believe he’d made her cry. He never wanted to do that.

He cleared his throat. “I asked for too much, too soon,” he admitted. Waving at the group, he added, “Seems like the entire damn team is aware that she has issues when it comes to relationships. And I thought I could push through them like a bulldozer, when really I needed to be way more patient and considerate.”

“Patience usually works,” Broderick said solemnly.

“I already waited two damn years,” Amil grumbled.

“You and Diana dated two years ago?” Callahan yelped.

Jalen dropped his head back and stared at the ceiling for several heartbeats before saying, “They hooked up in the fall, after Pedro and Jillian’s wedding. At the 49ers game.” He rolled his eyes. “Not unlike this. Except, much better outcome. For them, anyway.”

Callahan frowned. “So what’s the problem?”

“I caught them,” Jalen said impatiently.

“And?” Callahan persisted. “Are you the hookup police?”

Broderick snorted. “Good one, Callahan.”

“No,” Jalen said, pursing his lips for a moment. “But I was still…you know.”

“Hoping Diana would come back for seconds?” Callahan suggested. “Dude, even I knew that wasn’t going to happen. How did you miss it?”

“This isn’t about me,” Jalen protested.

“I’m not so sure about that,” Broderick said. “Seems like Diana’s been walking on eggshells around you for a long-ass time now.”

Jalen threw his hands in the air. “I admit, I handled my crush, or whatever it was, poorly, okay? I’m over it now. Which, yes, I should have made clear to Diana. Jesus. What the hell else do you all want?”

Broderick piped up. “We want Amil to be out on that field for the second half. But since that isn’t going to happen, guess we’ll have to settle for him reassuring us that he and Diana will make up.”

If this was an intervention, it was the strangest one Amil had ever witnessed. Not that he’d witnessed any outside of television shows.

“You have two minutes to get out on the field,” somebody shouted from the hallway.