Page 64 of Perfect Storm
“You don’t want to rant about it? I’m happy to listen if you do.”
“Did you want to rant about it when you realized you were in love with Mo and he didn’t love you back?”
Aidan wanted to be annoyed that Dawson had brought that up,again. It wasn’t like he enjoyed thinking about it. But then he really listened—repeated back in his mind what Dawson had just said—and realized that no, he hadn’t wanted to talk about it. He’d railed at fate plenty, sure, but he’d done it alone, after everyone had left the lake house.
A lot of nights out on the patio, in front of the fire, staring at the flames, moodily sending so manyfuck you’sto the universe.
“Not really,” Aidan admitted.
“There you go,” Dawson said. “Now eat your sushi and let’s talk about something else.Anythingelse.”
“How’s Cam handling things?”
Dawson groaned under his breath. “He’s too damn cute. All naive and shit. So fucking young. Were we ever that young?”
Dawson might’ve been, but Aidan hadn’t been. He’d never had that privilege.
“Do I need to giveyoua shovel talk?” Aidan asked, raising an eyebrow. He hadn’t expected Dawson to say Cameron was “too damn cute.” He hadn’t noticed any non-platonic vibes between them, but then he hadn’t been paying that much attention, either. He’d been too wrapped up in football and Levi.
“Nah. He’s just . . .” Dawson sighed, pushed his empty plate away. “He’s a cool kid.”
“I gotta warn you about using that nickname, unless you wanna get your ass kicked on the regular,” Aidan said.
“How so?”
“I used to call Riley that, and it absolutely came back to bite me in the ass. How many times have the Thunder beat the Condors in the last three years?Zero, that’s how many. It’s embarrassing. And every time it happens, and we meet mid-field to shake hands after, he gives me this look and callsmekid.”
“Ouch,” Dawson said, wincing.
“What I’m saying is that we better fucking win this year,” Aidan said. “Anddon’t call Cam that unless you want to live to regret it.”
“Probably better if I don’t, anyway.” Dawson looked like he was hesitating, and a warning bell pinged at the back of Aidan’s brain. “Might be creepy. Riley’s your younger brother but Cam’s not my bro. He’s my . . .my . . .you know.”
Aidan shot him a warning look. “Yourrookie?”
“Exactly.”
It occurred to Aidan then, as they finished up their lunch, that he needed to be paying a little closer attention to what was going on with the team. He wasn’t the special teams captain—that was actually, ironically, Dawson—but he was the de facto leader on the team. And if this shit was going on under his radar, that could be a problem. Camwasyoung, and definitely on the naive side, and Dawson was not. While he was licking his wounds, some hero worship and blown-out-of-proportion admiration might look real good to him.
Aidan wouldn’t begrudge him the distraction, but the fallout could be ugly.
The Levi thinghaddistracted him. He needed to either decide, once and for all, to let things play out next summer, the way he and Levi had originally agreed to, ordosomething about the sexual tension simmering between them.
Chapter 10
LeviwasexpectingforRoss to make some kind of comment to him on Monday morning when they showed up for practice.
If he was being honest, he was dreading it. He’d talked to LoganandLandry about it over the weekend, and they’d both reassured him he was doing the right thing. That even if Ross was pissed, it wasstillthe right thing to do.
He and Aidan hadn’t talked about the switch more, but he’d sensed Aidan’s gaze heavy on him more than once, as they’d been driving into the practice facility, in the locker room, and even now, with the offensive linemen gathered on the opposite side of the field from the skill players.
But so far Ross had been silent—sullen, more like—but that was better than dealing with any unnecessary bullshit or passive-aggressive comments.
“We’re gonna make a change,” Coach announced to their group. “Gonna try Banks out at left tackle. Acker—you’re gonna move to right.”
It was clear from the annoyed resignation on Ross’ face that Nedhadtold him ahead of time, at least, but he still didn’t look happy about it.
“Sure thing, Coach. Sounds good,” Griff said, clearly trying to smooth things over. He gave Ned a solid nod and then shot Levi a reassuring smile.
