a video with me?”
My eyes fly open wide. “Holy hell yeah! Would you do one with me?”
“Of course! It would be amazing!”
“Okay, okay!” I’m so excited I’m nearly bouncing. “We’ll plan it!”
Behind Layla, Lilly waves at me, smiling. “Hi again. I wondered if I’d see you here. How did the move go the other day?”
“Hi, Lilly! It went great.” I slide Josh a sideways look. “All ready for you to actually move in tomorrow.”
“Finally,” he says. “I’m tired of that hotel.”
“Oh, no doubt,” Lilly says sympathetically. “It’ll be nice to have you in the same building. You and Easton and Owen and Evan can all carpool to practices.”
“Uh, yeah,” Josh says unenthusiastically.
“How did you two meet?” Lilly asks us.
“She interviewed me for her podcast,” Josh says.
“Which aired Thursday night!” I remind him.
“I have to listen!” Layla says.
“Did you listen?” I ask Josh.
“Yeah. On the plane coming home.”
“We’re getting tons of good feedback. Tons of listeners!”
He smiles down at me. “That’s great.”
For a few seconds, we’re alone, his warm gaze and smile enclosing me in a bubble of privacy. But that’s an illusion.
“I’ll have to listen too,” Lilly says. “What’s your podcast called?”
“Random Acts of Sara.”
“That sounds fun.”
I shrug. “I’ve done some fun interviews. My YouTube videos talk about a lot of different shit. How about you? What do you do?”
“I’m a dog walker. That’s how Easton and I met. That was his dog Otis I had the other day.”
“He’s cute.”
“He’s adorable. I love him. I’m in the process of opening a doggy daycare. I also work for Colton and Layla.” She waves a hand toward Layla.
A server arrives with a tray loaded with shots and offers us one.
“Those are from us!” a woman calls from the table in the corner, part of the group. “Kamikazes!”
I meet Josh’s eyes. “That’s Nadia,” he says. “Igor Barbashev’s wife.”
We each take a shot glass, and the server moves over to Kaylee and James, who also pick up glasses. We wait until everyone has one, and Nadia shouts, “To the Bears! Drink!”
We all down our shots.
“Oooh, that was pretty smooth,” I say. “What’s in that?”
I guess Nadia could hear me, as she shouts back, in a Russian accent, “Vodka! Also orange liqueur and lime juice.”
“She and Barbs are crazy,” Josh mutters in my ear.
“We order more!” Nadia calls. She waves to the waitress then circles her finger to indicate another round.
I’m happy to take another shot and toss it back.
“Easy there,” Josh says. “I don’t want to have to carry you home again.”
“I was not drunk that time. And I’m not a lightweight.” I clap my hand to my chest with an affronted look. “I can hold my liquor.”
He eyes me skeptically. “You are literally a lightweight. You probably weigh half what I do.”
I narrow my eyes. “How much do you weigh?”
“Officially? Two hundred eighteen.”
I blink. “Officially?”
“Yeah. That’s what they put in the stats.”
“So…what’s your unofficial weight?”
“Two eighteen.”
I giggle. “Okay, then. I weigh more than half your weight.” I pause, doing the math. “But not by much.”
“There’s no way you can drink as much as me.”
“Hey. You don’t believe me?”
“Uh…”
I lift my chin. “I’ll match you drink for drink tonight.”
“It’s not a competition.”
“Why not?” I challenge. “You’re a pro athlete. You should thrive on competition.”
“Actually, I do. Ah, what the hell. We have a day off tomorrow.” He lifts his second shot in a toast, then swallows it down.
“Like I always say…if it involves a hangover and bad decisions, I’m in.”
Josh laughs.
“She does say that,” Kaylee puts in from my other side.
“Christ.” Josh rubs his face.
Chapter 19
Josh
“I bet my stick would feel great in your crease.”
My jaw drops. Did I really just hear that? I turn to look at Red, flirting drunkenly with Kaylee. At first she was laughing it off, but now she appears to want to escape.
“Red!” I bark.
He lifts blurry eyes to me. “Yeah?”
“Shut the fuck up.”
He frowns. “No, you shut the fuck up.”
I sigh. With a jerk of my head, I say, “Outside.”
“You wanna go? Serioushly?” He pushes away from the table and lurches my way.
“As if I’d fight you.” I roll my eyes and grab his arm. I drag him toward the front of the bar. “She has a boyfriend. Leave her alone.”
“I’m jusht having fun.”
“It’s not fun for her. You’re making her uncomfortable.”
“Aw fuck.” He shakes his head. “She’s hot.”
“She’s taken.”
He heaves a sigh. “I need to take a leak.”
“Bathrooms are downstairs.” I point to the stairs.
He staggers that way. Hopefully he doesn’t fall down the