With no ideawhat caused Eddie to act so weird and brush me off the other night, it took Coach threatening to bench me to pull my head out of my ass and get it on straight.
With everything between us—me and Eddie, that was. I sure as shit didn’t mean Coach, who seemed close to losing his cool—that first night with him at my house distracted me.
But fuck if I’d be benched. It was a wake-up call I begrudgingly needed. With the game taking place in a few hours, I couldn’t afford distractions. Not a chance would I let my team down. We’d worked so hard to get to this point. Playing in the championships wasn’t just my dream. Every single player was thirsty for the win.
“Malcolm.”
I barely caught my grimace hearing Coach call my name. We’d been practicing for an hour, keeping it light, but since my name had been a cuss for Coach for the past seventy-two hours or so, I expected I’d screwed up again.
Neutral expression in place, I turned. “Yeah, Coach?”
“Go speak to that local reporter I always see you with. You’ve got ten minutes before I want you cooling down and icing your knees.”
“Sure thing, Coach.” With a rush of relief, I hooked the ball under my arm and headed over to Tony, who I spotted a few feet away from the major reporters and networks who were spending some time at our training session.
“Hey.” I greeted Tony with a smile before swooping him up for a friendly hug. “I didn’t see you arrive.”
He patted my back and pulled away, a grin plastered on his face. “You were busy goofing off with Cassius.”
I snorted. “I don’t know what you mean. I’m too busy busting my balls preparing for tonight’s game.”
Bright eyes were directed my way, and Tony grinned even wider. “I’m seriously happy for you, Pearce. I know how bad you want this.”
“Thanks.” I bobbed my head, trying to fight back the nerves attempting to claw to the surface. “So you’re here in official capacity, right?” I bounced my brows for good measure, earning me an eye roll.
“I could do with a quick sound bite if that’s okay.”
“Sure thing, and we seriously do need to catch up soon.”
“Tonight? After the game.”
I hesitated, my thoughts drifting to Eddie. Whenever Eddie came to a game, Tony and I never got together. He knew the score and understood when my friend was in town, my time was his.
When I didn’t answer immediately, his brows drew together. “I didn’t think Eddie would be coming, since his daughter’s recovering.”
“He’s not.”
His eyes widened, and a half-smile formed. “Huh, but he’s at your place and you need to rush home and do the domestic stuff.”
“Not need; more like want.”
“I get it. You said a couple of weeks, right, him staying?”
“It should be, yeah.” My stomach clenched knowing half of that time I wouldn’t be at home, so I’d be missing out on hanging out with them. I also knew what Tony was getting at. “Listen.” The back of my neck prickled. “Maybe we should officially cool it and stick to being friends for a while.” Which in all honesty we’d been veering toward for the past few months.
Mouth twitching, he quirked his brow. “A while, huh? Or do you really mean for good?” He waggled his brows for good measure, and thank fuck he was such a good guy and wasn’t making this awkward.
“Probably for good. Just sticking to friends. Things with Eddie… well, I’d like there to be all the things with Eddie.”
“Friends I can do.” He snorted. “Well, notdodo, but we can absolutely be just friends. I hope you figure things out with Eddie. I really do.”
The stumbling of my heart coincided with my head snapping to movement over Tony’s shoulder and my gaze connecting with Eddie’s.
He was here. Now. And close enough to hear exactly what I’d just said. I was sure of it.
Tony’s “Oh” after my movement led to him saying, “Well, uhm… I’ll give you a couple of minutes before that sound bite,” before he scurried away.
As soon as he was gone, Eddie stepped toward me. Red colored his cheeks.
