“I mean.” Ivy sighed. “Yeah.”
Atticus clapped. Kai lifted his head and finally spoke again. “You should watchClannadnext.”
Ivy narrowed her eyes at him. “I won’t be doing that, thank you.” Kai only shrugged as he dropped his head back down, pink tipped hair splaying out over the table.
“Come on.” Atticus began tugging at his waist, pulling him out of the booth. “Big day tomorrow.”
“For you,” Kai mumbled. “I’ll be sleeping off a hangover.” Atticus made to drop him, but Kai was already latched on, arms around his waist, ready to be led away.
Theywerecute. Comfortable together, as though their relationship long predated just the past summer. They’d been friends first, even as Atticus had harbored feelings that he’dmostlymanaged to keep to himself.
A familiar ache took up the beat in Sammie’s chest. A pulsing sort of hurt that echoed what she wanted, what she hadalmosthad. What she had walked away from when it started to hurt too much.
“I need to go too,” Ivy said, yawning as she bumped Sammie with a hip. They scooted out of the booth, their group of four leaving behind the restaurant and all of the players who were tempting fate with a late night.
Well, not all of the players. There had been a few notable exceptions missing from the restaurant. Bowen Kelly, for one. He’d been with their group but had made a hasty exit after he’d gotten a video call.
The team’s captain hadn’t been there either.
Sammie had been too afraid to ask why.
Ivy bid them all goodnight, heading toward the elevators. The team and staff were all on the same floor, two to a room. Kai had offered to share his room on the first floor with Sammie.
“You’re that way,” Kai pointed back toward the elevators. Atticus smiled, soft and sweet, and it made Sammie’s heart ache all the more even as it swelled with happiness for what her brother had found.
“I’ll walk you to your room.” Atticus pressed his lips to the top of Kai’s head. Sammie trailed behind them, letting the two saps have their moment. She knew her brother hated to say goodnight, to walk away from the man he loved at the end of the day.
That thought poked at a too-fresh wound, so Sammie discarded it. It was the night before the championship game. The last thing she needed to be doing was wallowing.
A door opened as she was passing, and the figure stepping through collided with Sammie’s side.
“Sorry!” Hands grabbed her, holding her steady, keeping her balanced and upright. Sammie looked up to find kelly green eyes searching her face, wide with surprise.
“Hi.” The word left Sammie on an exhale. Kieran was there, closer than he’d been since their last night together. His hands burned her skin through the fabric of her shirt. His eyes didn’t leave her face, not even as several long moments passed.
“Hi.” Sammie must have imagined the flash of a smile that crinkled Kieran’s eyes, because it was gone in a heartbeat. His hands let her go as he stepped back, putting space between them. Sammie finally had a chance to take him in fully. Sweat ran down his neck, curling the wispy hairs that had fallen from his bun. His white t-shirt, branded with a tiny Cats logo on the chest, clung to his shape.
Sammie decided tostoptaking him in, because seeing him drenched after a workout in form fitting clothes was absolutelynotgoing to help her situation.
“Hi!” Atticus waved from two doors down the hall, his signature shit-eating grin beaming in their direction. Sammie huffed at him even as Kieran chuckled.
“You didn’t want to celebrate with the rest of the team tonight?” Sammie didn’t know why she asked. Well, she did know, but she was going to pretend she didn’t. Being a glutton for punishment who had only ever wanted a few more moments in this particular man’s presence was a technique she had perfected over the years.
Kieran rubbed the back of his neck. “I needed to run. Helps with the nerves.”
“Sammie dearest, I would like to leave my beloved in your care, so if we could hurry up with the awkward hallway conversation that would be fantastic!”
Sammie threw a glare in her brother’s direction, then remembered that the best way to beat her brother was to match his energy.
“Hey, Kieran,” she said, loud enough that her brother would most definitely hear the words. “Are you excited to go up against your favorite player tomorrow? What was it you told me? ‘That Tate guy, he’s pretty damn good.’”
Atticus let out a wounded cry. “Tate? Julian Tate? What thefuck, Kieran!”
But Kieran was laughing in earnest now, his eyes still set on Sammie’s face, as though everything else around them had faded to nothing. For a moment, he leaned closer, and Sammie saw it all play out before her eyes. He would lean in close, his lips would find hers, and she would finally,finallyhear the words she was so desperate to hear from him. Confirmation that what she felt was no longer one-sided, that all of it hadn’t been for nothing.
Kieran did lean in, so close that Sammie could feel the heat of him. But he didn’t kiss her. He didn’t confess his undying love in that dim hotel hallway. He simply reached out, ruffling the hair on the top of her head.
“Night, Sammie. See you tomorrow.”
