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“Speaking of your wedding,” I began, broaching the conversation I was dreading, mostly because I hadn’t run it past her first, “I may have invited Theo to your wedding.”
I was greeted by the kind of silence that made me cringe. I knew exactly what face she was making, and I understood why. Adding another person to her guest list probably created more complications than I’d realized.
“You’re lucky I love you,” Sariah grumbled. “You’re also lucky that I already planned for this.”
“You did not.”
“I did!”
“There’s no way in hell you knew I’d ask Theo to come to your wedding with me.”
“Name a better way for him to get to know you—the real you, not the front you’re putting on up there so your family doesn’t figure it out?” she countered. I swore under my breath, making her laugh. “Wait until he finds out you walk around barefoot everywhere, and I do mean everywhere.”
“There’s nothing wrong with that,” I shot back. “Humans weren’t born with shoes on their feet.”
“Right—”
“And it’s not everywhere,” I continued, ignoring her.
“How many times have you walked from your house to my house without your shoes on?”
“We’re on a beach!” Years ago, we’d gone from invading each other’s apartments to a questionably open-door policy. When May bought the stretch of beachfront property, she’d refused to let Sariah move without making sure I came too. Expecting us to go from living down the hall in the same small complex to over an hour apart had been unreasonable—her words, not mine. May had solved the problem the only way she knew how: by buying two houses with coordinating private beaches. I’d argued until I was blue in the face that I could buy my own place. It wouldn’t have been a private beachfront property, but I could’ve figured out a little starter house somewhere close. She’d ignored every word. Seven years later, I still paid for the taxes, insurance, upkeep, repairs, and just about everything else, but she stubbornly refused to let me buy the place outright. For all intents and purposes, it was my house. According to May, it was merely my house that happened to have her name on the paperwork.
“Mhmm, wait until he sees you in those dad sandals of yours,” Sariah said.
“Don’t you make fun of my sandals, woman,” I snapped.
“Anyway!” she continued in that sing-song voice of hers. “The wedding… I already moved you and Theo to a VIP cabin, but you’re on the other side of the boat because I don’t want to hear your kinky shenanigans on my wedding night.”
“It’s not that big of a boat,” I replied with a smirk.
“I will put you in a fucking bunk room if you’re not careful, Kennedy. Try and get your freak on then—and don’t you take that as a goddamn challenge!” she exclaimed. “The whole crew is already ready to sweep him up to take care of him while you’re busy with me for the rehearsal dinner night and the wedding day. The guys are big fans of how he plays. I swear, they’re putting bets on what teams will draft him or something like that.”
That notion made me smile. Our crew mostly consisted of May’s bandmates and techs. I’d just been the best friend tagging along after Sariah and May started dating, but not a single one of them treated me like an outsider. Somewhere between tours, holidays, beach bonfires, and musical karaoke, they’d become my people. My family.
And apparently, they were already doing the same for Theo. They were doing it just because that’s what we did. If someone belonged to one of us, they belonged to all of us. He had no idea he’d show up as my date and leave as a part of our family.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
“Oh, that’s nothing,” she said, dismissing it. “Besides, by the time we’re done telling him stories, we’re going to owe you and then some!”
“No,” I groaned.
The last thing I needed was for anyone to start telling him embarrassing stories about me, even if that was their version of family initiation.
CHAPTER 50
Theo
There was something gloriously satisfying about watching Rhodes get into a yelling match with Hale, but even more satisfying was watching Hale storm off the field after Rhodes fired him. I wasn’t even sure if Rhodes could do that, but the thrown headset made me think he could.
The satisfaction didn’t last long, though. The scoreboard reminded us there was still football left to play. We weren’t ahead by much. It was just enough that one mistake could erase everything we’d fought for over the last three quarters.
Across the field, the Cedar Hills Sea Lions showed no signs of rolling over. Their sideline buzzed with the desperate kind of energy that only came from a team with nothing left to lose.
Rhodes didn’t waste another moment on Hale. He went straight to barking orders and reorganizing our team. And while it was obvious he’d moved on from the fight, the team was struggling to catch up as he pulled us into the huddle.
“Does anyone else have anything they want to say about my coaching style?” Rhodes demanded when he had our attention.
