Music blaring. Glasses clinking. Guys shouting over each other like we didn’t just spend the last few hours shoulder-to-shoulder already. A win does that. It turns adrenaline into noise, turns teammates into brothers who forget everything else exists.
I should be in the middle of it.
Instead, I’m at the bar with Kamden, elbows planted, beers sweating between our hands. He’s relaxed in that post-game way. His cap turned backward, shoulders loose, eyes scanning the room out of habit more than interest.
“You pitched your ass off tonight,” he says, bumping my shoulder with his own. “Hell of a finish.”
“Couldn’t have done it without you calling the game,” I reply. And I mean it. Kamden and I have that thing. An unspoken rhythm, trust built over years of reading each other without words.
He takes a pull of his beer, then glances at me sideways. “You good?”
There it is.
Not, how's the game?
Not, what’s the plan tonight?
The real question.
I shrug, defaulting to easy. “Yeah. I’m good.”
He snorts. “Bullshit.”
I smirk, because he knows me too well. “I’m breathing. That’s something.”
He studies me for a second longer than necessary, then nods slowly. “You still doing sessions with Susan?”
“Yeah,” I say quickly. Too quickly.
I don’t add that most of those sessions aren’t with Susan anymore.
I tell myself it’s because I don’t want Kamden worrying about his sister. That I’m protecting her. Protecting him.
But I know better.
The truth is uglier.
I’m afraid if I say Amelia’s name out loud, he’ll see every dirty thought, every inappropriate want written all over my face. Afraid Kamden Bronwyn, the man who trusts me with his career, will somehow see straight into my head and realize I’m already standing on a line I shouldn’t even be near.
“Good,” he says. “I’m glad you’re talking to someone.”
He tips his bottle toward me, then adds casually, “Amelia likes it there. The internship.”
My grip tightens just a fraction around my beer.
“That so?” I keep my tone light. Neutral.
“Yeah,” he says, a small smile tugging at his mouth. “She’s killing it. Always does.”
There’s pride there. Thick and unmistakable.
“She seems confident,” I say carefully.
Kamden exhales, gaze drifting to the crowd. “She is. Strong as hell. Smarter than anyone gives her credit for.”
“But?” I ask.
He chuckles under his breath. “But I still worry.”
