“The fuck you guys doing here?” Jayden beat me to it, stepping more fully into the room and wrapping Ryan in a hug.
I grinned at Nate, and he moved toward me, hugging me hard. “Holy shit. You guys are here,” I said, stating the obvious. I then hugged Ryan.
When we finally broke free, still startled at seeing them here, I grinned. It was good to see them. Sure, it had only been a little over six weeks, but with all that had happened, on top of how busy we’d been, it felt like a lot longer.
“Heard there was a game tomorrow. Thought we’d come and check it out,” Nate offered, appearing super pleased with himself that they’d surprised us.
“You’d have much preferred the last game a few weeks back,” Jayden said without missing a beat.
“True. Watching you guys getting your arses handed to you by college kids would have been something. I had to settle on watching the highlights.” Ryan quirked his brow.
“Whatever. We all know we were going easy on the guys. Didn’t want to destroy them before they had a chance to start their careers.”
We all snorted at Jayden.
“Nice tee,” Nate said, eyeing up the basketballer sugarplum fairy.
“Right!” Jayden grinned. “I’m going to talk to Pearce about getting a whole line on the go.”
“That right?” I turned to Jayden, who gave a casual shrug.
“These things would sell. What’s not to love?” A legit twinkle appeared in his eyes, and I knew his brain was also rolling around the idea with a lot more seriousness. “We could do a whole range.”
“We?” I asked. “And how are you contributing to this?”
“I’m the inspiration behind it, obviously. Hell, Pearce could design other fairy players. Do a whole line. Work directly with one of the LGBTQ charities. We cou—”
“Whoa there.” I edged over to him as his hands flew about the more animated he got as his ideas poured out of him in the frantic way they tended to do. Standing at his side, I wrapped my arm around him. “Let’s focus on these guys being here, then harass Pearce sometime next week, yeah?”
The stink eye he shot my way wasn’t amused. “As if I’ll remember anything by then. These ideas are here now. Once I’ve thought them, said them once, they flutter away, never to be seen again.” I knew he thought he spoke the truth, but he needed to give himself more credit.
“How about we put a pin in it, and we’ll talk it through together before chatting to Pearce?”
Jayden turned to me, taking me in, a smile forming. “Yeah?”
My heart leaped, enjoying the tenderness and openness in his gaze. “Definitely.”
He leaned in and pressed his lips against mine. Immediately, obnoxious coughs exploded in the room, followed by Coach saying, “They don’t stop.” Amusement tinted his words, and I smirked against Jayden’s mouth as I pulled away and returned my attention to the others in the room.
“So you guys really here just to see the game?”
Nate answered, “Mainly, yeah, Ryan also has a meeting in a few days in LA, so we came early to catch up with you guys first.”
Curious about what meeting Ryan could have, I glanced over at him. Not that I’d ask.
“Who are you meeting in LA?” Jayden, however, had no such restraint.
Ryan bobbed his brows a couple of times. “How about I tell you about it later at dinner?”
“Sounds good,” I said quickly before Jayden had a chance to complain. “You coming to hang out on the court? Gonna meet the guys?”
“Absolutely.” Ryan nodded.
“You guys go ahead. I’ve got some calls to make,” Jenkins said, waving us off.
We all left Coach’s office, heading straight for breakfast and coffee.
I didn’t take long to plate up our breakfast and get four decent cups of coffee before us all.
