Page 122 of On the Line
Brent’sbachelorweekendwasupon them, and Mitch was genuinely excited to get out of Detroit for a few days.
The only thing Brent had asked for was somewhere warm where they could go golfing, so as a group they settled on Hilton Head, South Carolina. Of the five of them—Brent, Mitch, Cole, Brent’s brother Nate, and Berkley’s brother Logan—three of them, Mitch’s career-ending injury notwithstanding, traveled for a living, and the other two had seen enough places that it was difficult to find somewhere none of them had been. Berkley had actually been the one to recommend Hilton Head, claiming Lexie had been there before for work, and told her it was a great place to relax and spend the weekend on the links.
Cole had suggested they go to Vegas for the weekend to enjoy his final days as a single man, an idea Brent immediately shot down.
“After all,” Brent had said when they started planning this trip, “I don’t consider these my last days of freedom. They’re just my last days before I get to marry the love of my life.”
Mitch was envious of that, the confidence in his relationship, and the fact that he and Berkley were making their love for each other official in front of all their friends and family.
Mitch wanted that one day. And he couldn’t help picturing Lexie up there next to him on that altar.
After their little heart-to-heart at the loft after the Warriors’ Cup win, and the way she reacted to him the night they went to Contour, Mitch had to admit he was floating. He’d half expected her to call him the next day and finally give in.
But she hadn’t.
And like a dumbass, he’d constantly been checking his phone since, waiting for a call that never came.
She said she needed time, but Mitch was growing impatient.
“Waiting for a call from your giiiiiirlfriend?” Cole sang when he caught Mitch tapping his screen for the millionth time on their ride from the airport to their resort. “Let me guess, you got ghosted. A little taste of your own medicine?”
“Shut up, Cole,” Brent said from the front seat.
“If we can’t joke about him dropping us all like hot cakes the second he got traded, what can we joke about?” Cole said with a shrug.
“That’s enough, Cole,” Brent growled.
Mitch caught his gaze and gave him a grateful nod, mouthing, “Thank you.”
Brent nodded back.
This weekend wasn’t about Mitch.
It was about celebrating the end of Brent’s bachelor status.
It was about his best friend settling down with his soulmate.
Saturday morning, they were out in the hot sunshine on the ninth green at the Shipyard Golf Club. All five of the guys were extremely competitive, and there was a lot of money on the line thanks to various bets they had made over the course of the first eight holes.
“If I make this putt,” Cole said, taking his stance and eyeing the distance from his ball to the hole, “you each owe me fifty bucks.”
Logan groaned. Berkley’s brother was a serious guy at first glance. But the more time he spent around the group, the more he relaxed, and the more he reminded Mitch of Berkley. He could easily see why the two were so close.
“You guys realize I don’t make hockey player money, right?” Logan said.
“And I’m a poor as fuck med school student,” Nate quipped.
“He’s not going to make the putt anyway,” Brent said with a shit-eating grin on his face. “Cole always chokes on easy shots.”
Cole straightened and glared daggers at Brent. “I do not!” He said indignantly.
“I’m going to have to agree with Jean here,” Mitch said. “Remember that game against Buffalo a few years ago where y’all caught the goalie on an odd-man and faked him out. Brent laid the most perfect pass of all time on your tape, and you still shot wide.”
The group devolved into laughter as Cole’s cheeks burned bright red. “Okay, that was one time,” he said, resuming his stance and quickly tapping the ball toward the hole. It rolled slowly across the green, appearing as though it was going to drop in, before veering to the left and missing the hole entirely.
“I think that means you owe us fifty bucks,” Logan said with a laugh.
“Nobody took my bet,” Cole said, his cheeks still tinged pink. “I don’t have to pay up if we don’t shake on it.”
