The Bromance Book Club - Lyssa Kay Adams Page 0,84
I’m so nervous that I won’t even jump on the chance to avoid another run-in with my best friend, Rachel.
“We should probably stay through the awards,” Gavin said. Translation: I’m nervous too.
“So leave after that?” Translation: So, I have two hours to get over my nerves?
Gavin killed the engine and looked at her in the dark. “Deal,” he said. Translation: I have two hours to get over my nerves.
Gavin gripped her hand as they exited the elevator on the top floor of the administrative wing of the ballpark, where every year the facility and banquet staffs transformed the soaring, spacious lobby into a Christmas ballroom. Gavin led her through a maze of tall cocktail tables to where Del and Nessa waited for them. Most of the players they passed waved or fist-bumped Gavin as they walked by, but their wives and girlfriends couldn’t have been more obvious in their dismissal of Thea. Their eyes shifted away from hers, their smiles brittle. Which wasn’t all that unusual, but tonight it seemed more pronounced.
She found out why as soon as she and Nessa sat down while the men went to grab drinks.
“Rachel and Jake had a massive fight,” Nessa said, looking like a runway model in her floor-length, beaded gold gown. “I don’t know if it’s true or not, but he apparently told her tonight he wants to stay in a hotel for a while.”
Thea felt a surprising flash of empathy for Rachel. “Are they here tonight?”
“Yeah, but it’s pretty clear something is going on.”
“She blames me, doesn’t she?” Thea said, finally catching up. “My bad mojo at Thanksgiving?”
Nessa winced. “I did hear something like that.”
Great.
When the men returned with drinks, Nessa and Thea dropped the conversation. Del held his beer up in Gavin’s direction. “To beautiful wives.”
“I will definitely drink to that.” Gavin leaned forward and clinked his bottle against Del’s before taking a drink.
Then he bent close to Thea’s ear. “To the most beautiful wife in the room,” he whispered, lightly tapping his bottle against her glass. He kissed her before letting her drink.
“I’m feeling a little ignored over here,” Del joked. “What about you, Ness?”
Thea looked up. Nessa’s smile was sentimental, Del’s naughty. Gavin swiped his lips across her temple. This was going to be a long night.
Other tables began to fill up with couples over the next half hour, but theirs remained conspicuously empty. Even Yan and his wife, Soledad, chose to sit on the other side of the room, which stung. How could people be so superstitious? Did they really think she had anything to do with Jake and Rachel possibly breaking up? Thea drank her champagne quickly and let Gavin get her another.
A few minutes before dinner, two of the coaches and their wives finally took mercy on them and asked if the seats were taken. Apparently, the superstition didn’t extend to the coaching staff.
By the time dinner was over and the awards ceremony started, Thea had consumed three glasses of champagne and realized with a quiet giggle that at least she was no longer stressing about having an orgasm later.
The awards were for a combination of serious accomplishments and silly traditions. Most Epic Playoff Beard. Worst Bull Pen Dance. Del jokingly refused to accept the award for Worst Dugout Tantrum for a botched attempt to steal second early in the season. But each award took them closer to the inevitable moment when Gavin’s grand slam would be recognized, and with every minute, she tensed in anticipation.
If they didn’t make a big deal out of it, she’d be fine. But there was no way they’d rush through that one. It was the biggest play of the year. They’d probably show a video of the entire thing, which would be the first time she’d watched it since the night it happened. She hadn’t allowed herself to watch any replays because the memories were too raw. The night of his greatest career accomplishment had been the night of her greatest humiliation and hurt. The fact that both could exist in the same space and time was a cruel twist of fate, and she would have to relive it in front of all these people.
If Gavin shared her anxiety, he didn’t let on. He kept a hand on her or an arm around her at all times, glancing at her every few minutes with that dizzying smile or a wink.
“This next one is a no-brainer,” the marketing guy finally said. “Best Long Ball goes to . . .”