“I know.”
“And there’s a reason for that,” he said.
“Don’t care.”
Cruz grunted. He stopped at the door to the press conference. “Gotta feeling you will.” He turned and headed back to the locker room.
* * *
After the press conference,we decided to grab a late dinner. We were all starving—common after a win—and we took over a great ramen place a few blocks from our hotel. The moment my bowl settled in front of me, I slurped the excellent pork broth from my large spoon and munched my mung beans and bamboo.
“Keelie really likes Hana,” Cormac said next to me. He wielded his chopsticks like a pro, and I winced as my noodles slid back into my bowl.
“Millie, too.” Stol scowled at his bowl of noodles and meat, having the same problem I was.
“That’s because Hana’s cool,” Cruz said. He was even better with his chopsticks than Cormac, the big showoff. Somehow, he slurped the noodles without getting a drop of broth in his beard. That was just…inhuman. He pointed his chopsticks at me, which neatly held a perfect piece of meat between the little wooden ends. “She is cool.”
“I know that. She’s really funny, too. When she’s not freaking out like she was with all the CATS today. Maybe that was a bad idea, having them with her there.”
“They can be a little much,” Cormac mused. “That’s why we sent Paloma in. To diffuse. Plus, if Hana’s going to be with you, she needs to know what she’s getting into.”
I slurped up noodly goodness. I loved this stuff—when I could get it in my mouth. “What’s that?”
“We play hard and we love harder,” Maxim said, leaning back in his chair.
That asshole had ordered bao…and used his hands. I wished I’d thought of that. I managed another bite, probably looking like the animated version of the Beast in the Disney film, so I went back to the spoon.
“That’s right. Not only do we love hard, we do it as a family,” Cormac said. “Which means we got your back, Naese.”
“Thanks,” I said.
“Slippery little shits,” Stol said. He’d given up on the chopsticks and asked for a fork. He’d almost finished his big bowl while I was only about a quarter of the way through mine. “Your dad’s a real piece of work, and I don’t like him. Millie likes Hana, which means I will, too. Have her come over for dinner soon, yeah?”
“I’ll try. But…” I grimaced and set down the chopsticks. “I can’t make her stay with me. I need to offer to pay off her loans?—”
“Whoa. Nope. No.” Maxim shook his head.
“Not a good idea. She won’t be receptive to that now,” Cruz said. “You need to let her get used to the idea of being around you again. She’s skittish because she was hurt, right? It’s not going to be a quick transformation. She may fight you on this, but if you want her in your life, it’ll be worth it.”
“Then later, you don’t offer to pay off the loans, you just do it.” Maxim smirked. “And she’ll be mad, say she wanted to be independent, but you’ll tell her that’s how you show her you love her.”
“Can you believe he’s happily married?” Cormac said with a long-suffering sigh.
“No accounting for taste,” Stolly said cheerfully. “But Cruz is right. Show her how much she means to you. That worked for Millie and me.” He grinned. “And I’m the dumb one of the group, so if I can pull it off, you totally can, Mr. Aeronautics.”
“You’re not dumb,” Cruz said. “You have dyslexia. If that had been sorted when you were a kid, there were interventions that would make reading easier?—”
“That’s enough, big guy. I’m good,” Stol said, patting Cruz’s shoulder. “I’m fabulous.”
Cruz studied him for a minute before nodding.
“Get her to stay with you,” Cormac said. “Then you take the next step.”
* * *
Once we madeit back to the hotel, I lay in my bed and sent Hana a text.
Me: Once you move here, I’d really like you to stay with me. We deserve the chance to see if we still fit together.
