“Are you guys jet-lagged?” Jayden asked, his attention drifting from the mountain of creamer he poured into his coffee.
“Not too bad. Ryan got us the good tickets, and we actually flew into LA yesterday morning.”
Pearce took a seat next to me, grinning over at Ryan and Nate. “They were surprised, huh?”
“You knew?” Jayden asked.
“Yeah, since last week when Ryan reached out to me.” He seemed thoroughly pleased with himself that he’d been in on the surprise visit.
“We’ve actually brought you a gift, Jayden.” Ryan picked up a backpack, which he’d dropped on the floor when we’d sat. It was overfull, the zip barely containing what was inside.
“Sweet.” Jayden reached out, stopping when Ryan stood.
“Actually, why don’t you just come with me for five?”
I quirked my brow at that, already dreading what Ryan could possibly be gifting Jayden. “This sounds like it’s a bad idea.”
Nate chuckled. “It’ll be fine.”
I narrowed my gaze on my Aussie friend. Out of everyone at the table, he was the one person I trusted to be the most sensible.
“Please tell me you’ve got me sex toys.” Jayden stood quickly, eagerness in his voice.
I spluttered out a laugh, not even touching that. Well, certainly not in public anyway.
With a sigh, Ryan shook his head. “Why would you think I got you a bag of sex toys?”
Wide-eyed, Jayden shrugged. “Because you’re an awesome friend and want to make me happy.”
My mouth twisted to keep from laughing, while Nate chuckled. Pearce snorted loudly. Ryan simply moved from the table, mumbling, “Fuck knows why it is I miss you guys so much. You drive me insane.”
Watching them go, I asked, “Seriously, Nate, should I be worried?” His laughter tugged my attention away from Jayden’s retreating form.
“Nah, mate. He’s going to be in his element.” He smirked and eyed me. “You guys had a good time doing this gig?”
“Definitely.” My answer was immediate. Sure, we’d had a wobble a few weeks back, but that was about the secrets we’d kept catching up with us and not about the summer training. “We’ve even been invited back next summer, so we can’t have pissed off Coach Jenkins too much.”
“You guys accepted? You plan to come back?”
I nodded. “We’ve said yes. It’s been fun.”
From my side, Pearce added, “I’ve committed too. It’s been good getting back to basics while pushing it. Plus hanging out with some of the former players… yeah, it’s been good.”
The pink covering Pearce’s cheeks as he spoke took me by surprise. He made eye contact with me before darting his gaze away. Rather than quizzing him, I looked at Nate. “Everything okay back home? That niece of yours okay?”
He grinned. “Ivy’s great. Into everything and driving Ryan insane. He’s loving spending so much time with her, though.”
“Don’t you have a store to run?” I asked, registering that he was here and planned to be in the US for at least a week.
He chuckled. “Yeah. From having so much time away last year, the guys have it completely covered. Me being there feels a little redundant at times.” He didn’t seem too put out by it, though. “It’s made heading here last-minute nice and easy, especially with—”
A commotion at the entrance caught our attention. Laughter filtered around the room, starting off quiet before it spread quickly. My gut told me that Jayden was involved.
Turning and seeking out what was going on, I spotted Jayden immediately, rubbed my hand over my face, and laughed. Jayden entered the room with a huge-ass grin, complete with a kangaroo that he was riding.
“Where the hell did you find that?” I flashed a look at a laughing Nate.
“Isn’t it epic? Found the costume online and managed to do a rush order so we could bring it with us.”
