I got to the end of my chapter, stuck the e-reader in the seat pocket in front of me, and sat back with a sigh. “Okay. What?”
Dylan Sorrento flashed me a wide, white grin, his knocked-out tooth making his otherwise model looks, well, not model-like. “Jeanine and I would like to invite you, and everyone else, over for dinner two nights before our first home game.”
“Oh. Cool.” Mentally, I’d already cleared my schedule for Violet every night into perpetuity, just in case. In case of what? In case she’d want to hang out every night and sleep in my bed.
Which reminded me, she’s sensitive to scented laundry detergent. After she bailed on me for a second time, I went back to using it as an act of rebellion, and probably to make myself miserable.
Well, now I’d be burning my sheets, getting all new ones, and washing them in Violet-safe detergent.
Did I need to get a new washer? A new mattress? Better order one just in case. I opened a browser tab.
“That’s it?” Sorrento asked. “Cool?”
I huffed and gestured to my phone in my hand. “I thought of something I had to look up.”
“Like what you could bring to my party?” His grin had turned to more of a grimace.
I put my phone facedown on my tray table. “Yes, Dylan. What can I bring to your party?”
“Nothing, but yourself and whatever girl has you tied up in knots.”
“Got his dick tied in knots,” Jack Leroy grumbled.
“Is that why he’s being so spacey?” Royce asked.
“Easy, now. The man’s in love,” Dylan pouted. “I remember young love.”
“Not quite young love at this point. They say third time’s the charm,” I said.
“You’ve dated this girl twice already?” Leroy asked.
Royce put a finger up. “Wait, how have you dated your eighteen-year-old girlfriend twice?”
“She’s not eighteen!” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “We datedwhen we were bothin college, hooked up at a wedding, and now we’re . . . not even dating. We’re just friends.”
Sorrento rolled his eyes. “Fine. Bring your,” he made air quotes, “‘friend.’”
Royce smirked. “The one with the hot mom? You never showed me a pic.” He swiped my phone out of my hand.
“Gimme that, you fucking animal.” I snatched my phone back. “What’s the matter with you?”
Royce shrugged. “I just feel like it’s the captain’s duty to make sure everyone has someone nice to go home to. So you need to hook me up with somebody. You know the phrase. ‘Happy goalie, happy life.’”
“That is not—” Owen started, but the poor thing couldn’t even get his whole sentence out.
“Shut up, rookie.”
“No, but really, that’s not your job,” Sorrento followed up. “Get a dog, Royce.”
“Are you calling Colt’s girl’s mom a dog?” Royce said, barely able to say it before he started cackling.
I massaged my temples. “You know what? Maybe I don’t want to bring Violet.”
“No, no, bring her,” Leroy said, sounding like he actually cared.
I snapped my head over to him, shocked by the rare show of interest in another human. “Really?”
Leroy scoffed. “You think I care whether you bring her? I’m recruiting friends for Mara.”
