Dad mutters something under his breath—something along the lines ofeverybody’s a critic—while Oakley and Quinton each take their turns hugging Cam and congratulating him.
It’s only after they release him that Cam looks at me, and I ask him a silent question with only my gaze.
Do we tell them now?
He nods, smiling as my gaze shifts from him to my brother.
“You know, Oak…it might not be on the ice, but I actually do know where you can be thebestman.”
There’s a beat of silence while my brother looks at me, eyes narrowed. It’s only when his gaze drops to my hand, spotting the matte black ring I slipped on after the game, that understanding has his expression morphing into a wide grin. Of course, it’s the same instance I’m smacked in the shoulder by Lexi, who is damn near fuming in my direction.
“Ow!”
“You’reengagedandthisis how I find out? By asking your brother to be your best man instead ofme?”
“Engaged?” Mom echoes at the same time Laura asks, “When did this happen?”
My gaze shifts between the three of them, but it’s Cam who murmurs “a couple weeks ago” in response to his mom’s question.
Of course, the admission only serves to earn me another hit on the shoulder from Lexi.
“Damnit, Lex,” I complain, rubbing the aching muscle. My attention shifts around the group, finding the whole lot of them sporting dumbstruck grins by the revelation.
“You should know secrets don’t make friends,Logan,” she chides, but she’s grinning now too.
“We wanted to wait and tell everyone at once after the Finals were over,” I say in my best attempt at reasoning.
Though, once we decided to keep this to ourselves, I’d be a liar if I hadn’t thought about how nice it’d be for this new milestone to be just ours, even for a while. And after being under a microscope from so many different angles and our lives beingdictated by so many other circumstances, I think we earned it.
After their initial shock wears off, everyone in the group takes their turn at hugging and congratulating us. Mom, Laura, and Lexi host their own form of an inquisition, asking all of the questions: the wheres and whens. It was only when they get to the “who asked who” of it that we share a comical look before Cam launches into the full story of how he ruined my proposal with his own.
Of course, while Lexi and our moms find it romantic, Sully looks like a deer in headlights.
“Fuck, you really set a high bar with this one,” he mutters, glancing between Cam and me. His gaze shoots over to Quinton and Oakley, only to say, “Don’t tell me you have an equally adorable yet nauseating version of your engagement.”
My brother smirks. “Actually—”
“You don’t wanna know,” Quinton says, cutting him off. “I promise, just quit while you’re ahead.”
Sully glances over at Lexi, who is still chatting animatedly with our mothers, before another soft curse leaves him.
“Y’all better be available for some advice when the time comes. Lord knows she’s gonna have high expectations now.”
I don’t bother fighting the smile that crosses my face, knowing just how serious he is about Lexi. As he should be, because she deserves it.
Cam wraps his arm around me again, and I catch him grinning. “Don’t worry. I’m always down to teach an old dog some new tricks.”
Sully’s eyes narrow. “And just for that, Rook? I’m not buying you a drink tonight.”
“It’s probably better you save that money for retirement anyway. You know, since it’s right around the corner,” Quinton says with a cocky laugh.
“Funny, de Haas. It’s almost like you forgot who held the Cuptoni—”
“Are we done having a dick measuring contest?” Lexi cuts in out of nowhere. “Because I don’t know about all of you, but I’d like to get out of here before the janitorial staff recruits us.”
I glance around, realizing the hallway is now empty, save for the six of us loitering here. At some point during their banter, all of our parents started toward the exit without us noticing.
“Of course, baby girl,” Sully says before wrapping an arm around her shoulder.
