Page 5 of Pressure Point

“I’ve got it,” Liam offered. He nodded at Avery, who smiled sweetly at him. She’d been silent ever since they’d joined the team, and he was suddenly worried that something was wrong. Or maybe group settings just weren’t her thing, and she was better one-on-one, like he was. Damn, he wished this were a real date. That she was here because she was interested in him. Turning back to the bar, it only took him a couple of steps to reach Talia, who was making her way to them with two very full trays of drinks.

“Take this one,” she said, extending her right hand out to him. He took the tray containing two very full pitchers of beer and three stacks of pint glasses, trying to hold it as steady as she had.

“Hey, you two,” Gunnar said, coming up behind Liam.

“Oh good, you got my text!” Talia said, giving her dad a side hug. “Congrats on the first win. Felicity must be thrilled!”

“She’s pretty excited. This team has been her baby for years, at least on paper. So seeing it come to life has been pretty special,” he told them, sounding extra proud of his girlfriend. Felicity had recently taken over ownership of the team, after her father passed away a few weeks back. There had been a bunch of drama surrounding who within the parent company of Southland Holdings would take over the Atlanta Rising. It hadn’t helped matters that Felicity and Gunnar had been secretly dating, since she was technically his boss at the time, but it all worked out in the end, and now the two were living out their happily ever after.

“Rest of the team is over in the corner if you want to go say hi,” Liam told his coach and mentor.

“The whole team?”

“For the most part. I think Michaels is the only one not here. Something about a teething wain.” Liam shrugged, unable to remember exactly the excuse that their captain had given as they were headed out. Whatever it had been, it had sounded pretty legitimate at the time.

“Let me go get Effie. I’m sure she’ll want to congratulate everyone.”

Gunnar turned and pushed past a large group that had just walked in, heading toward the narrow hall in the opposite corner that led to the bathroom and the office of Bunz’s owner, Heather Atwell.

“So, you brought Avery tonight…” Talia commented, turning back to him once Gunnar was out of earshot.

“She’s here because of Dash,” he said, admitting to the one thing he’d been trying to forget. “I have been relegated to the friend zone.”

Liam glanced back over at Avery, who was awkwardly standing in between his teammates like she wasn’t quite sure what to say or do. He could see her gaze locked on Dash, though, as he continued to joke around with Chance, hopefully having dropped the sister kissing discussion. More than anything, he wanted Avery to look at him like that. For her to see him as more than just another member of the team. He just had no idea how to do that.

“Then get yourself promoted to…I don’t know what zone it would be, but you know what I mean,” Talia said, bringing his attention back to her.

“And just how do I do that, oh, wise woman?” he remarked.

“Well, you said you guys had fun watching those superhero movies that night you almost had the concussion.”

“I didn’t almost have a concussion,” he groaned. “But yes, we had a good time. We talked about watching the Marvel Universe in order.”

“Then do it! Ask her if she’s still interested in the movie marathon. Then you’ll have six thousand hours of action and adventure to figure out how to put the moves on her.”

“She likes Dash.”

“No, she thinks she likes Dash. Because he’s pretty.”

Liam bit back another groan. Not Talia too. He liked Dash, he did. He was a good teammate and friend. But watching every girl they encountered swoon over him was starting to get old.

“Not you too.”

“Oh no, not me. But anyone with a pulse can see that he’s pretty,” she told him. “You can’t let that stop you. Go over there, give Avery her drink, and see if she wants to come over, so you can be Thor and she can play with your hammer.”

“You did not just say that.”

“Oh, I did.” Winking at him, she turned and walked away.

He huffed out a breath, shaking his head as he followed her toward the table. She was right though, he needed to try. He just wasn’t sure that he could handle it if in the end she still chose Dash. It was one thing to put yourself out there and be rejected. It was another to be passed over for someone you were close with. He’d already lived through that once, and he wasn’t sure he’d survive a second time.

Not after Orla.

* * *

The last time Avery had felt as self-conscious and as much like a fish out of water as she did in this moment was that day in college when she agreed to let her best friend, Hazel Phillips, dress her up, do her makeup, and take her to some party that the baseball team was throwing. Except at least then Hazel had been by her side.

She tried to take her focus off of Dash—she didn’t want to be caught staring—but everyone else was so deep in conversation that it seemed rude to insert herself. What did she say to these guys anyway? She saw them every day at practice, so she should be able to think of something. Anything. But all she could come up with was weird science facts, and having tried to use those as an icebreaker before, she knew that it was a mood killer. She needed to find something fun and cute to say. Something that would make Dash turn his attention to her.