Page 86 of Hail Marry
“Iamgetting worried about Bennett, though,” he says.
“Why? You earned this, fair and square. It’s not his spot.”
“He thinks of it that way, though. And”—he grimaces—“he suspects us, Tori.”
My heart trips.
His brows draw into a tight-knit frown. “What if he reports us?”
“No,” I say with much more confidence than I feel. “He wouldn’t, right? He may be competitive, but that would just be…evil.”
My stomach swims, becoming more unsettled as I think about it. Bennett does stand to gain from reporting us. He’d get his starting position back. But it would end Luca’s career and force him back to Canada. It could landmein jail. The thought of jail terrifies me, but is it crazy that I’m almost more scared of Luca disappearing back to Canada?
“I don’t want you to be negatively affected by any of this,” he says.
“Let’s not worry about that tonight, okay?” I grab his hands, thread my fingers through them, and squeeze. “Don’t let him taint this victory. You’ve worked so hard for it.”
He nods, squeezing right back. “You’re right.”
“Besides,” I say, heading for the door, “we have more questions to get through.” Our interview appointment is tomorrow, and while we’ve been preparing like crazy, I don’t want to leave room for any surprise questions.
We forget about the threat of Bennett and eat dinner on the deck to the sound of the waves as the sun dips lower and lower in the sky. We talk about how to answer some of the questions Preston sent over, like who does the cooking (me, but only due to time) and who wakes first (always him). Then we go over the events that led up to the wedding.
“Are you gonna be able to handle this?” I ask as I bring a bowl of freshly popped popcorn,Love Maps, and a blanket outside.
“What do you mean?” He takes the blanket while I sit down next to him and put the popcorn on his lap.
“I mean that you’re not a good liar.”
“I can handle it,” he says firmly.
I’ve got to believe him because both of our futures depend on it.
I openLove Mapsto our bookmarked place, but he takes it from me.
“I always answer first,” he says. “It’s your turn.”
“Fine.” I munch on popcorn and scoot farther under the blanket. Mr. Ross left this piece of deck furniture, and I love it because of how deep it is. I can cross my legs and still have room to put the bowl of popcorn in front of me.
“Okay,” Luca says, finding his place. “Who’s your best friend?”
“Hm.” I chew, staring out at a surfer who scrambles onto his board, only to sink back into the water two seconds later. “In college, I had a lot of close friends. When I started dating Ryan, I kind of adopted his group as my own, though. Then graduation happened, and a lot of my friends moved away for jobs or got married. And then Ryan broke up with me, which left me sort of…friendless, I guess.”
I think about the time since he dumped me. “Jess has been the person I’ve spent the most time with since then. But I wouldn’t call her my best friend. Oh!” I snap. “My sister. Siena.” Duh. It shouldn’t have taken me so long to answer that. “Your turn. Who’s your best friend?” I grab another handful of popcorn.
He grabs a handful, but it sits in his hand for a few seconds. “You.”
My gaze darts to him and my chewing slows.
He turns over a piece of popcorn in his hand like he’s trying to put it right-side up, but popcorn doesn’t have a right and wrong side. It’s all perfectly wonky and delicious. “When I found out I was gonna be starting at this week’s game, you were the person I wanted to call.” He looks at me, a little rueful smile pulling at his mouth. “Is that sad to you?”
I shake my head quickly, my throat suddenly thick. It’s not sad. It’s…incredibly sweet. And unexpected. Luca’s spent hundreds, maybe thousands of hours with his USC team, and now dozens of hours with the Admirals. I was sure he’d name one of his teammates.
But he didn’t. He said me.
I think about my own answer. Siena and I have always been close. Ever since she got married, things have been different, though. She’s not the one I talk to most or tell about my day. She’s not at the top of my text threads or call list. That’s Luca.
“I haven’t really had best friends.” His fingers fiddle more with the popcorn.
