“No, I’m not worried about that,” Luca whispers. “I’m worried he’ll think I’m not good enough for you.”
I lift my head from my pillow and glower down at his gorgeous face in the moonlight. “Are you insane? You’re Luca Maguire, for fuck’s sake! Of course, you’re good enough for me! And if he doesn’t think so, then he’s stupid.” I mean what I’m saying, but that doesn’t mean I’m not nervous about how tomorrow’s big revelation will go. First, with my father and brother, but even more importantly, with the two biggest bigwigs at the Mastodons. I’ve committed an HR violation here, after all. And I’m not indispensable and protected by the players’ collective bargaining agreement, like Luca is. So, I think it’s distinctly possible tomorrow will mark the end of my time at the Mastodons. But so what if it does. I’ve come to realize I’d rather be forced to find a new job with another team—one with an analytics department, hopefully—and therefore get to be with Luca out in the open, as my boyfriend, even if we’re long-distance, than continue hiding my love for him for another day.
Luca’s Adam’s apple bobs. “Listen, if Bellamy tries to use this situation to finally get rid of you, I’ll protect you. I’ll refuse to play unless he—”
“No, no, Luca.” I roll my eyes.
“Yes, Chelsea. With my recent stats, I’ve got some leverage here.”
Man, does he ever. Through the last four games of the season, Luca’s stats have been off the charts—even better than Moriarty’s. In fact, Luca’s become such a cornerstone of our defense, Bellamy’s already told Luca they’ll be sending a fat, multiyear contract proposal to his agent next week.
We go back and forth for a bit, with Luca insisting he’ll do whatever it takes to protect me if any kind of shit hits the fan tomorrow night. But in the end, I simply snuggle up to him and coo, “Don’t worry so much about me. I’ll be fine. All I care about is getting to kiss you and hold your hand at the party once I’ve told everyone. As long as I get to do that, let the chips fall where they may.”
CHAPTER 40
Chelsea
LOUD MUSIC ANDoff-the-charts energy are bouncing off the walls of my parents’ large living room. For everyone here, this party has turned out to be the perfect finale to a fabulous day of events and activities honoring my father. Plus, for every Mastodon in attendance tonight, it’s also the perfect opportunity to celebrate the exhilarating finish to our season. For perennial playoff contenders like my brothers’ teams, an even-record finish might get a head coach fired. But for the Mastodons, our matching wins and losses felt like a massive step in the right direction, and it was all thanks to my father’s brilliant leadership.
The DJ switches up the track to a new one that instantly inspires everyone on the dance floor, including Luca, Daisy, Nate, and me, to dance and sing along with gusto. The song is Aloha Carmichael’s ubiquitous girl-power anthem, “Pretty Girl,” which anyone not living under a rock knows by now, even if it’s only against their will. And the sight of Luca and Nate singing and dancing so effusively to it makes Daisy and me practically buckle over with laughter.
Midway through the song, Daisy suddenly grips my arm with urgency and wide eyes. “Now’s your chance, Chelsea! Your dad and Lincoln are alone over there!”
I whip my head to where she’s gesturing, and sure enough, my father and big brother are together in a corner of the packed party, engaged in what appears to be a loose, relaxed conversation. As today’s guest of honor, Dad’s been barraged nonstop by well-wishers, which has made it harder than anticipated to pull him aside and talk to him privately about Luca. But like Daisy said, it looks like now is my perfect chance.
I tug on Luca’s sleeve, since he’s currently belting out the Aloha Carmichael song with my brother, Nate, like his life depends on it, and direct both men’s attention to my father and Lincoln in the far corner. Instantly, they both encourage me and tell me I’ve got this—and so, after getting high fives from the men and a slap on my ass from Daisy, I make my way off the dance floor.
On my way to my brother and father, I happen to pass my mother, who’s standing in a conversational group that includes Luca’s mother, Ava. When Mom waves at me, I point toward Dad and Lincoln, letting her know that’s where I’m headed and that I’m finally doing that thing I told her about earlier today, and she excitedly tugs on Ava’s arm and whispers something that makes Ava blow me a kiss and shoot me a thumbs-up.
Oh, Mom.I suppose it makes sense that she’d share my plan for tonight with Luca’s mom, since they’ve become so close over the past few months. Plus, Luca’s already told his closest family members about us, and they’re all ecstatic, so I guess there was no harm in my mother keeping Ava updated. But still, now that I know I’ve got an even bigger audience for what I’m about to do than I’d planned on, it’s making my stomach churn. Thankfully, not enough to make me lose my dinner any time soon. But I’m definitely feeling queasy and stressed out with each step I take toward my father and brother.
When I reach them, I call out, “Hey, you two, can I talkto you for a minute?” In a heartbeat, my tongue feels thick and too big for my mouth. My throat feels dry. But I push ahead and blurt, “I’m dating Luca.” I look at Linc and clarify. “Maguire. I’m madly in love with him, in fact. And Luca feels the same way about me.”
Dad and Lincoln look at each other, and to my extreme shock, neither man looks at all surprised. Instead, it’s more like Dad’s expression is saying to Lincoln, “I told you so!” and Lincoln’s in reply is muttering, “Fucking hell.”
What the heck? Of all the reactions I’d braced myself for, this wasn’t one of them. How’d they already know? My mom and Nate would never betray my trust. I know that for a fact. Did Luca’s parents let the cat out of the bag during the festivities today?
“You both already know about this, I take it?” I venture.
Dad shrugs, his body language confirming that’s accurate. “I got a strong hunch about you and Luca at the beginning of training camp,” he says. “And my hunch only solidified from there. That’s partly why I assigned you to Moriarty when he came back. I thought you might benefit from some breathing room from Luca.”
I’m reeling. If someone were to press a fingertip against my forehead right now, I’d stagger backward or maybe even fall down. “I-I thought you did that because you believed in me as I coach.”
“I saidpartly. Yes, of course I believe in you, Chelsea. More than anyone. Otherwise, I never would have trusted you with such a valuable player. But I also knew Moriarty most likely wouldn’t listen to you anyway, any more than he’d listen to Raul or anyone else, because he’s an egotistical type who thinks he knows everything.”
“Ain’t that the truth.”
“So I figured there was no downside in assigning him to you, not only for his professional benefit and yours, but alsoto give you some space from the guy who made you blush and smile in a way I’d never seen before.”
I rub my forehead. “I didn’t blush and smile. I’m a professional. I kept my attraction to him under wraps.” Dad flashes me his patented “don’t give me that bullshit” look, so I add in a whisper, “Maybe I got thrown for a loop a little bit at first, when he first showed up. But I never let my attraction to him affect my job.”
“I agree. You never did. I didn’t mean to imply otherwise. To be clear, I didn’t know if you two had gotten together or what when I assigned you to Moriarty. All I knew was Luca looked at you like you walked on water, and you couldn’t stop blushing and smiling at him in return, and that was so out of character for you, I worried the whole thing would somehow get you off track.”
“Off track how? I’m not allowed to fall in love?”
He places his hands on my shoulders. “Of course, you are. But you’ve always had big dreams for yourself, Chelsea—dreams we all support and can’t wait to see you achieve. So, I didn’t want you losing sight of your own dreams while helping Luca achieve his.” He frowns. “And, of course, I also didn’t want Luca hurting my little girl and getting himself cut over it.”
I gasp. “Dad, you’re not going to cut him over this, are you?”
