Page 116 of The Closed Off Captain

“No, Babe. It’s terrible.” He turns around. “Kyle! Owen!”

Aiden and Gunner both smirk as the two rookies for this season saunter over. Rico and Amber join our group as well.“Here, Guys. Cake.” Sebastian places a piece in both their hands. He hands one to Aiden next, but Aiden knows not to eat it. I watch as Owen and Kyle both take huge bites, and then simultaneously gag. The guys crack up as Owen spits his out, and Kyle looks for a trash can. I wipe the tears from my eyes as I shake my head.

“Oh, come on. It can’t be that bad. Let me try a piece.” I put out my hand for a plate.

“Your funeral,” Sebastian says, handing me a piece.

“Cap, you gonna make your girl try it alone?” Rico taunts.

Gunner grabs a plate from the table and faces me. I happen to know he doesn’t like sweets anyway, so he wouldn’t like it, even if it were good. But I stare him down. “Ready?” He nods. “One, two, three.” We both take a big bite and instantly regret it. My eyes widen, and I fight the urge not to gag. I whirl around looking for the trash can as Sebastian doubles over in laughter once again. I spit mine into the napkin Brielle shoves at me, and Gunner spits his in the trash can before he walks over to the table and picks up the entire cake and shoves it in the trash can.

Sebastian's nearly in tears. “Your faces.”

Gunner scowls at him. “That was terrible.”

“I told you, but none of you would listen,” Sebastian says, still laughing.

“Who bought it?” Stephanie asks.

Brielle looks sheepishly at Gunner. “I did,” he says, obviously still irritated. “I didn’t know it was going to taste like somebody’s ashes.”

“Ew, Gunner!”

He shrugs at me. “It does.”

I laugh. “Well, it wasn’t the best I’ve ever had.”

“It was definitely the worst though,” Sebastian says, thoroughly enjoying himself.

The night is something I will remember for a long time. We celebrate late into the night, and I don’t know when I’ve ever felt so loved. They even got me presents. Aiden gives me one first, I open it up and start laughing as soon as I see what it is—Aiden's jersey. Gunner turns to Aiden with a scowl. “What the—”

“It’s payback,” Aiden says, cutting him off.

Gunner turns to me, obviously confused. I put my hand on his arm, still laughing. “Brielle wore your jersey to a game once. It was the only one I had on hand for her to wear to the game. I’m pretty sure Aiden has hated me for it ever since. So, he gave me his jersey to wear.”

Gunner picks up the jersey and wads it up and throws it at Aiden. “She’s wearing mine.” We all get a good laugh out of it.

Brielle hands me a gift bag. “This is really your present. The guys just thought that was a funny gag gift.”

“It’s a great gift,” Sebastian calls out.

Bri just shakes her head. “This is from everybody.”

Curious, I pull the tissue paper out of the bag and pull out a white box. I stop when I see what’s on the front. My eyes shoot to Gunner’s in shock. “Open it,” he says in a low voice.

I pull the lid off and stare down at the latest and greatest iPad Pro. It’s the most expensive one on the market right now. I know because I’ve looked into it. Stephanie gives me the rundown on year and storage. “There’s more in the bag,” she encourages. I pull out a slender white box and shake my head at the brand-new Apple Pen. I also pull out a new cover, air pods, and a magic keyboard.

“You guys.” I am completely overcome.

“Since you live on that thing, we figured it was time for an upgrade,” Sebastian says, earning a laugh from everybody. I know just how much everything in this gift bag is worth, and it blows my mind. I mean I know these guys make a lot of money, but they have bills and families.

“I...” I shake my head, not knowing what to say. “This is way too much.”

“No, it’s not,” Gunner says. “We all know how hard you work.”

“Yeah,” one or more of the other guys says.

“We owe you for the following we’ve garnered over the last few years,” Rico says.

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