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EMMETT

I never thought I’d be thankful to get kicked out of an event, but here we are.

“How long do you think it’ll take Leo to show up?” Cooper asks beside me. He brings the bottle of beer to his lips, taking a long swig.

“I wouldn’t bet on him showing up at all.” I settle in my seat, watching the condensation roll off the bottle in front of me.

We’re in the back room of Lulu’s, a semi-secret extra bar that allows for a little more privacy. We’ve been coming here for years after games, and on Mondays, since Tuesdays are usually our off days unless we planned things ourselves. Leo tends to like an early Tuesday gym session.

“You’re right,” Cooper nods, “he’s going to get his ass kicked.”

I have to agree with him, but for as much as I love the man, he deserves all the ass kicking in the world, and if there’s one person capable of doing it right, it’s Briar.

My best friend is a little hard to deal with. I love him like he’s my own brother, but the guy is a bit of an idiot, and although he’s gotten so much better since Briar entered his life, he can still be a bit of a loose cannon.

“I was surprised I only saw two of them there,” Cooper mutters, looking around at the people walking around the dim bar. It’s gotten a little more crowded since we got here, with members filtering in from the club room behind the entrance.

My eyebrow raises in question, and he sets down his drink with a loud clank. Cooper may be one of the most talented, allusive tight-ends in the league, but how that came to be is a genuine miracle. The guy is a complete mess off the field.

“I thought the other one would be there too.” Cooper leans back in his seat, folding his arms over his chest.

“I’m pretty sure there’s a couple of other friends in that group.” Try as I might, I can’t seem to understand what he’s attempting to allude to.

If there’s one thing I’ve known about Isla’s friend group, it’s that the women are glued to each other. Literally. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a tighter knit group of women. I’ve found myself, on multiple occasions, hoping that it’s something Juniper has when she grows up.

At first it was just Isla, Mila, Amara, and Heidi, and then when Briar, Owen’s older sister, started hanging around more, she and her friend Izara started hanging out with them regularly.

I don’t think I’ve ever heard one of them say one single bad thing about anyone in the group. The have definitely had choice words about us, but never any of them.

“Ama—” he trails off with a frown.

Getting annoyed, I shoot him a look.

“Amara,” he says louder with an eyeroll. I’ve heard him complain about her before, but there was never really any real reason for it. I just assumed that she turned him down at one point, but that also confused me. Cooper is a lot of things, but someone who would be a total dick after someone turns him down is not one of them.

I’ve seen the man get turned down many times. He just smiles and moves on, because more often than not there’s someone else there that will give him the time of day.

“Why was that like pulling teeth?”

His lips tighten as his light hair falls into his face. Placing his elbow on the table, he perches his chin on his fist.

“I don’t know,” he shrugs, but he has a faraway, glassy, weird look on his face. The same look that he gets when there’s any conversation that involves her at all.

Not only has he been weird around her, but whenever the women are about to meet us anywhere, he always asks who in the group is making it out.

“Cooper,” I say sternly, taking a sip of my beer.

“Drop it.”

“You’re the one who brought it up.”

Before he can argue back, something behind me catches his eye. “Hey!” he calls, waving his arms.

I look over my shoulder and watch as Isla walks into the room, Mila right behind her.

And I can only guess who’s in tow…

“I’m gonna go get another beer, you need anything?” I tell Cooper as the redhead makes her way through the door.

I feel like a crocodile attempting to flee Steve Irwin—may he rest in peace—as I leap out of my seat, moving around the bodies that found their way into room. When I think I’ve put enough distance between us, I risk a look back.

But Heidi is on her way to the bar too.

Fuck.

I didn’t think that one through very hard, did I? Of course the women would want drinks.

Looking around over the bar, I see the bartender hand a man at the far end a beer and I make a beeline for the newly vacant spot, immediately raising my hand.

“What can I get ya, Gardner?” Lucy asks as she wipes her hands on the white cloth on the counter.

“Just a beer,” I say quickly, watching Heidi make her way over from my peripheral.

“The usual?” I nod, my eyes widening in hopes she’ll get the message.

It’s not that I can’t talk to her. I just don’t want to. I freaked out and stopped talking to her after weeks of texting back and forth. It was all innocent. Nothing was ever bad. But there was something about her that I just couldn’t place, and my draw toward her scared me.

“Here ya go,” Lucy says as she hands me my beer. I give her a quick smile as I spin just as Heidi nearly reaches me.

I’m a big man, as hard as I may try, it’s nearly impossible for me to blend in here, so instead of trying to hide, I take a moment to watch as Heidi rolls her eyes, smiles at Lucy, and orders a drink before I grab the handle to the back door and fling myself through it.

It only takes my eyes a moment to adjust to the bright lights along the back of the bar, and when I finally allow myself to relax, all I can think about is how god damn juvenile this whole thing has been.

I’m an adult.

Why am I running away from a woman? A pretty woman? A woman I spent an evening with on the beach, watching the kids?

Heidi is far from someone I need to protect myself from. I know her enough to understand that.

I’m so deep in thought that I almost don’t realize the back door is opening, and before I know it, the redhead is standing in front of me, a fruity drink in hand as she watches me processing all of it.

“Hey,” she says quietly, looking down at her feet.

“Hi,” I respond simply, suddenly having no idea what to do with my hands… or my feet. Why do I feel shaky on my feet?

“Can I ask what that was back there?”

“What are you referring to?” I ask with an awkward chuckle.

Heidi glances behind her, brows furrowed. “Did we experience the same thing back there? You running from me?”

I purse my lips before thinking of my next response. I could admit it all. That would probably be the correct choice, honestly. Or I could make up a quick excuse that’ll get me out of here quick.

Just as I open my mouth to give her an explanation —a bad one—Leo’s head peeks through the door.

“There’s my beautiful bitch,” he beams. “I bought you shots big boy, let’s go.”

Looking at Heidi one more time, my mouth still half open, I awkwardly turn on my heel and head inside, unable to shake the feeling that I did something really, really wrong.