JASON
Everyone chatters happily in the locker room. We won. I helped.
“Party at my place,” Finn announces to everyone as he towels off. “Chicken wings and beer. You should come, Jason.”
I pause. “Me?”
“Yeah, you.” Finn grins. “It’s been a while since you’ve come to one of my things.”
The understatement of the century.
“I don’t know...” I hedge.
“Come on,” Noah chimes in from across the room. “Bring Cal. I want to properly meet the guy who turned our grumpy teammate into a human being.”
A few of the other guys chuckle, and heat creeps up my neck.
“I was always human,” I mutter.
“Debatable,” Troy calls out, but he’s grinning.
“Seriously though,” Finn says, his voice gentler now. “I’d like you there. Both of you.”
I can feel the weight of everyone’s attention, the careful hopefulness in their faces. They want me to say yes. They want me to be part of this again, part of the team in a way I never let myself be before.
“Okay,” I say before I can lose my nerve. “Yeah. We’ll be there.”
Finn’s face lights up. “Great! You know where I live.”
I do know. Finn lives three floors above me in the same Seaport building.
Now, as I stand outside his penthouse door with Cal beside me, I’m wondering if I made a mistake.
“You sure about this?” I ask Cal for the third time. “I mean, Finn’s place is... it’s really nice. Like, stupidly nice. Makes my apartment look like a studio.”
“Jason.” Cal straightens my collar with patient fingers. “It’s a party. With your friends.”
“Teammates,” I correct automatically.
“Friends,” Cal says firmly. “People who don’t care about you don’t invite you to their homes.”
“Okay.” I square my shoulders, ignoring the nervous energy thrumming through my veins. “Let’s do this.”
I ring the doorbell, and within seconds, Finn’s voice comes through the intercom.
“That better be Jason with his mystery boyfriend!”
Cal grins. “Mystery boyfriend?”
“I may have been... private about you with the team. Before.”
“Private. Right.” But Cal’s still smiling as the door buzzes open.
Finn’s penthouse is as ridiculous as I remember—floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the harbor, a kitchen that costs more than most people’s cars, and enough space to host half the team comfortably.
“Jason!” Finn appears at the elevator doors, pulling me into a hug that’s surprisingly fierce. “And you must be Cal. I’ve heard so much about you.”
“All good things, I hope,” Cal says with a laugh.
