Page 46 of Unrivaled Love (D.C. Renegades #2)

Bryson

It’s all about believing.

I roll up to practice shirtless because I busted a nut all over myself on the drive in. I might get fined for being late but it will be worth every penny.

Fuck, I miss her.

And when she crumbled afterwards it physically hurt not to be able to pull her into my arms. For all her toughness she shows the world, I think deep down she’s a gooey cinnamon roll and I want to get into the warm center of her.

I step into the locker room and Duncan lets out a wolf whistle.

"Boba Tea rolling in hot!" He calls out and I just hang my head and laugh.

"Shut up."

"It's nice out but it's still October. Or is this some new naked-as-the-day-I-was-born thing ahead of your birthday?" Duncan taunts.

"Speaking of, we're gonna be on the road for your bday this year." Felix says as I sit at my locker and start to gear up for practice. "Do you want to do a hotel party or should I start looking for venues?"

"I dunno, we'll be in Seattle so maybe somewhere by the water?

" It's going to be a struggle not to feel mopey all night since Jo won't be there.

She's got her second to last regular season game that night and right now her team is on the brink of winning the conference.

She needs two wins to snag it outright and some of the toughest teams are ahead of her in the next three weeks .

"On it." Felix says as he slaps a hand on my shoulder. “You need to talk about anything else buddy?”

“Ah, no I’m good. See ya out there.” I deflect and get dressed as quickly as I can. Sweating it out at practice, even if it’s supposed to be an easy one, might be the only thing that helps settle my mind.

***

Traveling immediately after a game is rough. I’m always stiff from sitting in an airplane seat instead of relaxing on my luxury mattress.

Jo and I were able to send a few more texts to each other but my game was a good three hour block of time when we couldn’t chat. I felt distracted all night. I only secured a secondary assist tonight too. We lost 2-1 and I could tell the team was frustrated with my lackluster performance.

It’s normal to have an off night. It’s expected from time to time.

But without a solution to my problem of missing Josie, I’m not sure how I’ll kick the funk.

I cross my arms and lean into the seat to get as comfortable as possible.

Normally, I’d already have my ereader fired up and I’d be getting as many pages in before the boys start shooting the shit.

Instead the device burns a hole in my backpack. Reading about couples falling in love and overcoming pitfalls like falling for their roommate or deciding there’s nothing fake about their pretend relationship will only make me feel worse about mine.

And if I can’t enjoy fictional characters, I really don’t want to play cards or make stupid bets with Crosby and Duncan.

Especially after losing a bet over how many sticks Aiden would give out to kids during warmups tonight. He just had to go and be super generous didn’t he? Now I’ve got to grow out a mustache for three weeks.

Idiots.

The crew dims the cabin lights and I close my eyes. Maybe a nap will help me feel better.

***

The nap didn’t help. I’m still pouting and grumpy as we get off the bus at the hotel. I’m tired, sore, and feeling ineffective in my relationship.

“Alright, that’s enough.” Felix says as he steps into my path.

I draw up short and look up into his face.

“What?” I challenge.

“You’re not good and you will tell me what’s wrong.”

I look around at a few other teammates as they pass. No one is throwing me a lifeline here. I spin further and see Aiden, Crosby, Duncan, and Emmett standing behind me looking about as receptive as a line of referees after a 10 man fight.

“The distance is getting to me. With Jo. Or, rather, without her.” I admit quietly to Felix.

He rests a hand on my shoulder. “Let’s go.”

With a nod to the boys behind me we turn to the elevator and head up to Felix’s room. I’m not sure what he has planned but it could be anything from a meditation session to scream therapy.

Turns out, it’s movies.

I should have known .

It’s exactly what we did for Aiden when he was struggling with his spot on our team and it led to an issue with Harper. And we did it for Felix’s buddy, Austin, when we had to help him realize he needed to win the girl of his dreams back.

“Why are there a hundred channels but nothing good on?” Felix grumbles as he pages through the guide channel. “This is what I get for an impromptu Big Guns movie night on the road.”

“Oh! There!” Duncan yells as he points.

“UFC Thursday Thunder?” Aiden asks.

“No. That!” Duncan points again.

We all read the other titles on the screen.

Starting in two minutes is something called Mistletoe Merger on the Heartmark Channel.

“You can’t be serious.” I say as I cross my arms. They have me sitting in the desk chair about three feet from the TV. Front and center. No distractions.

“ Absolument! ” Felix cheers and he selects the channel.

“And here I was worried this would be a waste of time.” I grumble. They mean well but I don’t see how some cheesy made-for-TV movie is going to help me strengthen my connection with Jo.

“Are we really watching Christmas movies now? It isn’t even Bryson’s birthday.” Emmett points out.

“Or Halloween or Thanksgiving.” Aiden adds.

“We’re watching them. Get cozy.” Felix commands in his Captain voice and we quiet down.

Forty minutes into the movie I swear Crosby is sniffling. The girl just delivered the news that even though they had a successful mistletoe selling season the farm still isn’t financially viable and she has to recommend shutting it down to her boss.

It’s brutal.

“How much money do they expect to make from fucking plants?” Duncan yells at the screen.

“Why couldn’t she suggest another loan?” Crosby asks and he’s definitely crying.

“Sometimes you have to do the hard thing.” I tell them. But yeah, shutting down his family’s business is kinda cruel.

“We’ve got two more commercial breaks before it’s over.” Aiden tells us. “Harper watches these all the time. It’ll be fine.”

“How do you know?” Crosby asks, distressed.

“Because, there’s always a third act break up and then they get back together. Happily Ever After is merrily guaranteed in these movies.” Aiden says.

“Shhh, it’s back on.” Felix says from the bed behind me.

Sure enough we watch as the girl uncovers an income source by making the farm double as a wedding venue and they finally kiss under the pines.

The next movie starts before a commercial break so we get sucked right into the high-end pastry chef coming back to her hometown for the cookie exchange fundraiser.

“It’s the same actress!” Crosby yells as the third movie starts hours later. This one is called Snowed In With My Ex and it promises to be a slightly more palatable story than A Gingerbread Kind of Love was.

But sure enough, the frazzled, workaholic on screen is the same pastry chef from Gingerbread and Olivia, the big-city consultant out to get the small town Christmas tree and mistletoe farm owner in Mistletoe Merger .

“She must make three of these a year.” Duncan says as he settles in with the snacks he went out to collect from the little shop in the lobby.

“She definitely has the role of overwhelmed and driven woman down though.” Emmett says.

Huh.

All the characters have been high-strung, no-nonsense women.

And the men she ends up with helps her realize relationships can help her, not hold her back.

In the first movie she nearly knocked the farmer down trying to carry a christmas tree and he cut the tension by laughing.

The pastry chef sabotages her rival with a cup of cinnamon in his dough and together they evacuate the kitchen as they cough and laugh to clear the debris.

We haven’t gotten to the moment yet in Snowed In but I bet he challenges her to a funny contest or burns dinner to a crisp and they have to eat candy canes instead.

The role of the guy in these movies is to counter her serious nature with levity and love.

That, I can fucking do!