As if frustrated, Ollie flapped his hand at me, indicating for me to hurry the hell up and answer. “Just… when?”
“Thursday,” I answered carefully, feeling almost like this was a weird sort of trap or something.
“Fuck” came from Cassius. At the same time, the rest of my teammates burst into loud laughter and hollers.
Joel clapped me on the shoulder. “Congrats, man. You’ve made me so damn happy.”
“I’m confused.” I glanced around, looking for some sort of explanation.
Jax tugged me into a hug. “Seriously, Pearce. Best news ever.”
“Uhm…” Okay, something funky was going on. “As much as I obviously agree that it’s fucking amazing news, what gives?”
Ollie, the good captain he was, clasped my hand and pumped it a couple of times, saying, “It’s a double celebration, as an engagement vetoes boyfriends, which means Cassius doesn’t win.”
I grinned at that news. “Sucks to be you, Cass.” I bounced my brows, earning me another middle finger. “But weren’t there multiple bets or something?”
“There were. We voted a few weeks back to pile up the pot. Just one winner now.”
“And who’s that?”
“Coach.”
My jaw dropped at Ollie’s answer. “You’re kidding?”
With a snort, Ollie shook his head. “Nope.”
“But Coach never gets involved in this bullshit.”
“Right,” Cassius responded, sounding seriously put out, complete with a pouty lip. “That’s what I said.”
“If you wanna tell Coach he can’t get in on a bet, have at it,” Ollie said pointedly.
Cassius’s eyes widened. “Uhm… that’ll be a hard pass.”
“Damn.” I turned and tracked down Coach. When our gazes caught, he held up his beer and winked at me. I laughed in response and saluted him. When I focused back on my friends, I asked, “How big was the pot?”
Cassius sighed. “Thirteen grand.”
“Holy shit.” Impressed, I nodded for good measure. “Never mind, Cass,” I said with sugary sweetness, “let me buy you a beer.”
“Fucker. It’s an open bar.”
I grinned, knowing that. “Well, I am going to get a beer. You want me to fetch you one?”
When they all piped up about “favoritism” and calling out their drink orders, I sighed. “Cass, come with me to get the drinks.”
With a lot of loud fuss, he followed me to the bar where we ordered everyone’s drinks. As we waited, I looked back at the small group of my single teammates. Over the years, we’d had a helluva lot of fun together. Knowing that life had unequivocally changed, I waited for the pang to hit, but it never came.
“I really am happy for you and Ed,” Cassius said at my side.
“Thanks. I’m happy too.”
His focus followed my own, looking at our tight group. We did hang out as a whole team fairly often, but over the years, we’d sort of navigated to singles versus those with families.
“We’re going to have to take back your single card,” Cassius said.
“You reading my mind?” I asked, and Cassius laughed.
