Maggie nods her agreement, but Marissa shrugs. “I call him Nick,” she mumbles.
“That’s because you’re new here,” Dozer says gently, patting her on the shoulder.
She sticks her tongue out at him. “I’m notthatnew. Not anymore.”
“Sure, sweetheart,” he says. “We know.” Then he lets out anoofwhen she elbows him in the side, and everyone laughs.
“I call him Abernathy because I work for the team,” Maggie adds. “But if I didn’t, I might call him Nick too. He won’t mind whichever one you call him,” she says to me.
“Thanks for the tip.”
“It was cool that Molly came out,” Marissa says to Maggie. “Did you invite her?”
“Yeah. She’s been having kind of a rough time lately. I thought she could use a little fun. Plus, I know she wanted to meet Hailey, too, even if she wouldn’t be as pushy about it as Tina.” To me, she adds, “Molly’s my boss, though she gives me a lot of leeway in running the socials. But she’s the one who’s been managing the release of your wedding announcement, so I know she was interested in seeing the woman who finally caught Jason Chalmers.”
My eyebrows go up, and I look at Jason. “Have you been running away from women?”
Laughing, he shakes his head. “No. Though I am known for my speed. But I’m not aware of any women who’ve been chasing me.”
Shaking her head, Maggie finishes off her drink. “Of course you’re not.” Then she turns to Bouchard. “This has been fun, but I’m pretty tired. It’s been a long day. Can we head out?”
“Awww,” Bouchard says, pulling Maggie in for a hug. “Of course. We could’ve left ages ago if you’d wanted to.”
“I didn’t want to abandon Hailey,” she murmurs against his chest. “I know Marissa’s here, and Tina’s great, but I could tell she was feeling overwhelmed. I wanted to make sure she was okay before we left.” She turns her focus to me. “It gets easier the longer you’re around. When I first started working for the Emeralds, I could barely keep everyone straight. Now they’re all like a big extended family.”
Marissa nods. “I mean, I’m not quite as integral as Maggie is, since I don’t work for the team. But it’s a good group. They’re happy that Jason’s happy, so they all want to get to know you. You’ll have to make sure you come to the next team thing.”
Nodding, I murmur a noncommittal response because the truth is, I’m feeling all discombobulated after tonight. The allure of belonging is strong, but the reality that Jason and I have a definite ending planned makes me hesitant to let myself get pulled in.
I don’t want to lose another friend group as the result of a break up. And I can already tell that if I let myself get pulled in, losing this one will hurt even more than the last.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Jason
When we leavethe Salty Salmon, I don’t want to let go of Hailey. And fortunately, it makes the most sense for us to continue holding hands. Having her tucked against my side all night just felt right. And when everyone demanded that we kiss?
I didn’t want to stop.
She felt perfect in my arms, against my body, her lips moving against mine. It would’ve been so easy to taste her, but I held back—mostly because of our audience. If I could get her to kiss me like that again at home …
Hailey tugging on my hand pulls me out of my daydreams and makes me realize we’re standing on a street corner about to go the wrong way. “Aren’t we parked over here?” she asks, gesturing to the right.
“Oh, yeah. Sorry. I was lost in my thoughts.” I take a couple of steps in that direction, but Hailey pulls me to a stop again, and when I look at her, she has her lower lip caught between her teeth.
“Look, I know several of your teammates were talking about going to a club …”
My brows lift at her mention of a club. Hailey’s never struck me as a clubbing kind of girl, and she’s not exactly dressed for it. But it’s the Pacific Northwest. No one’s too fussy about dress codes around here. If she wants to go clubbing in jeans, sneakers, and my Emeralds hoodie, who am I to complain?
“You want to go to a club?” I clarify.
Her head jerks back and she sputters out a laugh. “Me? God, no. But Marissa mentioned …” She trails off again, and I really want to know what Marissa said now.
“What did Marissa say?”
She huffs, her whole body getting in on the action, though she hasn’t let go of my hand. “Just that even though you weren’t usually connected to anyone in a relationship, she was sure you weren’t living like a monk. I don’t know how you usually celebrate a win, but if you wanted to go out with your teammates, I can get an Uber ho—” When she meets my eyes, whatever she sees there has her stopping mid-word. She swallows hard—it might be audible if the city noises weren’t so loud. “Look, I know this between us is?—”
“What?” I cut in. “What is this between us?”
