Page 116 of Home of the Brave

I rolled my eyes at Jake’s prediction. He was getting too in his head about the wedding cake stuff.

“Perfect,” Victoria grinned. “Thanks.”

He walked off, and Adam Lombardi replaced him. “East women are going to win, and East men are going to win it all.” He paused. “I don’t think it’s one person. I think there’s at least three people, but I’m pretty sure Taz is in on it.”

“Any tips?” Cambrie asked. “How do you know?”

“He just seems the type.” Adam turned and eyed his captain before walking away.

“West women, West men,” Sean rushed next. “I think it’s the goalies working with the coaches, but I can’t prove anything.” He blinked. “No tips.”

“Very efficient,” Victoria thanked him as the line moved forward.

When I told her my idea this morning, she wasn’t very excited. I understood she was a journalist, not a social media content creator, but times were changing, and she had a demand for these videos.

When she showed me her accounts after the museum yesterday, while we were eating cannoli, I’d been shocked by the endless direct messages. I thought all the questions and requests were in the comments, but she had thousands of unread messages pleading for her to ask what they wanted to know from their favorite players.

She was in an incredibly unique position, not only as a journalist, but as a friend to so many players to be able to fulfill fan requests. She pulled this off, getting the men’s teams to the arena before the women’s game an hour early so she could ask them to predict the tournament winners and guess who was behind the pranks. She not only asked, but the guys showed up.

There weren’t many people in our sport, or the industry as a whole, that could make this happen.

Sure, some of the guys did it as a favor to me, or because their captains encouraged them, but they did it. They were here, and she was getting content no one else had.

By the time she and Cambrie were done, they were practically vibrating with excitement. “We need to start working on this now.” Cambrie slung her bag over her shoulder. “We can work in the press room and watch the game on the TVs.”

Victoria looked disappointed, but quickly agreed. “Yeah, the women's predictions need to be up before the game starts.”

“Then, let’s get to it.” Cambrie headed toward the elevators, but Victoria hung back.

“Thank you again for putting this together.” She paused for half a second before stepping forward and wrapping her arms around my waist and resting her head against my chest.

It was absolutely the best feeling in the world. I’d lose the tournament, the next season, even retire early to feel this every day.

That realization was shocking, but I held onto her, willing the alarm to go away.

“I’m glad it worked out,” I said against her hair before placing a quick kiss on the top of her head. “But you need to hurry.”

“I’ll see you after?” She looked up at me.

“Yes.”

Before I could react, she pecked a quick kiss on my lips and ran down to where Cambrie was holding the doors open.

“Dang,” Schultz appeared at my side. “That’s a huge change from two days ago.”

I ignored him.

“A miracle, some would say.” Madi was suddenly at my other elbow. “What could have caused such an abrupt turnaround?”

“Leave him alone,” Amelia chuckled as she walked past.

Derek put his arm over his wife’s shoulders. “Nah, tell him you guys were right again.”

“Honestly, you should have seen it coming,” Kendall said from behind me. “You’re lucky they started with something small. Plans B and C were much more dramatic.”

I turned, glaring down at all my so-called friends. “More dramatic than saying she should give up her life?”

“B involved combustibles,” Kendall shrugged, like that wasn’t an insane thing to say.