Page 43 of Perfect Storm
He hadn’t bothered saying anything to Ross about his own abilities, because there was no way that wouldn’t break bad. He’d only reassured Ross that Ross himself had skill to make it happen.
Secretly he wasn’t sure that was true, and he only intended to be loyal to Ross as long as he got the job done. If he didn’t—if he let Aidan down—then Levi knew exactly what side he was coming down on.
“I don’t think so,” Levi said optimistically. The guy knew his starting job was riding on his performance; he’d bring it today. If it were Levi in Ross’ position, he’d make sure of it.
“If you think so,” Logan said dubiously. Clearly he was siding with Levi here. He’d probably already watched the film from practice half a dozen times and seen the issues just as clearly as Levi had. Ross was a hair too slow to react to the rush, and not as agile as he needed to be to stick with the coverage.
“Yeah,” Levi said. The elevator dinged open. Another look at his watch told him he had two minutes to grab his bag. “Hey,we’re heading into practice. I gotta grab my stuff and make sure I don’t make Aidan late.”
“Sure, that would be a nightmare,” Logan said.
“Hey,you’repunctual,” Levi said, keying himself in one more time to the main door to the condo. “No judgment.”
“I’m gonna judge all I want to,” Logan said stubbornly. “But as long as you’re happy, baby bro, that’s all that matters.”
“I’m happy,” Levi said automatically.
“Good,” Logan said. “Don’t be a stranger—to Landry or Lyla, either, okay?”
“Yes,Dad,” Levi said, only because he knew it would annoy Logan.
It worked perfectly, Logan squawking in outrage as Levi hung up the phone. Sometimes Levi thought Logan had gotten the majority of the big-brother genes even though he wasn’t the oldest.
He had approximately thirty seconds to grab his bag from his bedroom and meet Aidan at the front door.
Aidan was already waiting, hat turned backwards, old Thunder T-shirt on, the fabric clinging to his biceps and stomach in a way that Levi found incredibly distracting.
“Ready to go?” Aidan asked and Levi nodded.
He was quiet as they rode down to the garage level, where Aidan’s Range Rover was parked, thinking about what Logan had asked and how he’d answered.
He hadn’t considered the question before he answered it, not really anyway, because it was always a mistake to be too honest with any of his brothers. They tended to get fiercely protective and over-involved—though he’d give them credit, because they’d never, ever been as bad as Aidan had been with Riley—and make trouble when Levi could handle his shit just fine. He was twenty-seven. A full-grown fucking adult. He didn’t need to be bailed out from tricky situations.
He’d done it with his contract, hadn’t he? Lyla had told him when they’d talked about it that she’d been sure he’d settle for less, just to stick where he’d always been, and she’d been proud of him for branching out. For refusing to accept less than he was worth. For going to a team, even a team new to him, that had a real shot at winning it all.
Levi had rolled his eyes, annoyed at his sister, even as he was a little touched by her concern.
He tossed his bag into the backseat and was just buckling up, watching out of the corner of his eye as Aidan hooked up his phone to monitor the traffic to the practice facility, when Aidan said, “All good?”
“Yeah, bro, of course.”
Aidan shot him a long-suffering look as he pulled out of the space. The practice facility was further out of town than the stadium, which was nestled right in the heart of downtown, forming a sports triangle with Scotiabank, which the Maple Leafs and the Raptors shared, and the Rogers Centre, where Canada’s only baseball team played. But the practice facility was at least a thirty-minute drive, if traffic cooperated, and even though Levi had only been in Toronto for just over a week, he’d begun to realize that traffic rarely cooperated.
“You’re being super quiet,” Aidan pointed out. “That’s not like you.”
Levi tried not to feel suddenly self-conscious that he was spending the drive into practice every morning chattering Aidan’s ear off.
Aidan hadn’t seemed particularly annoyed by it, and Levi knew he hardly held back offering his opinions when somethingdidannoy him.
“Talked to Logan this morning,” Levi said, which was not really the change of subject Aidan probably thought it was. “He asked me if I was happy, and I just told him yeah, sure,because . . .” Levi slid a glance over at Aidan, suddenly unsure if he should say everything.
Aidan was Landry’s best friend, after all, and the original card-carrying member of the Overprotective Brother Club.
“Because?” Aidan prompted.
“Because if I said no, one of them would be on the first flight out here, fuck their own responsibilities,” Levi said.
Aidan hummed under his breath. “You really think so?”
