Page 16 of Golden Rule

And the feeling is one hundred percent mutual.

Chapter Five

West

“Ahundred bucks says this turns into one big clusterfuck,” Dane grumbles. The look on Sterling’s face suggests he was thinking the same thing.

I can’t lie, as the elevator takes us to the sixth floor of our new team facility, Dane’s prediction doesn’t feel too far off. It’s like being in the final moments of the calm before the inevitable storm makes landfall. Doesn’t help that Pandora’s been silent for an entire week. Sure, we’dalllove for her to keep her damnmouth shut, but usually when that happens, it’s a sign of bad things to come.

I adjust the knot in my tie, and I’m slightly less on edge having my brothers at either side. They’re nervous as shit, just like I am, but per usual, we’re walking into the fire together.

Tammy Wu, the team’s PR director, reached out a few days ago, instructing us to arrive here at ten a.m. for a preliminary briefing, followed by the introductory press conference. I’ve been dreading that part in particular after Ira Woods’ article, but I’m committed to taking Joss’s advice.

Be in control of the conversation.

The elevator stops, and we’re roughly five minutes early. Sterling steps off first, smoothing a hand down the stubble on his chin. It’s hard to tell whether he’s stressed about the press conference or if it’s personalshit. With everyone so focused on getting settled back in Cypress Pointe, we haven’t talked much. However, I get the sense Sterling’s actually kind of relieved that’s been the case. He’s smart, which means he likely knows Dane and I are just waiting for the right moment to rip him a new asshole for proposing without even shooting us a fucking text. But if I had to guess, Sterling keeping this secret had more to do with Dane and I possibly mentioning something to Blue and Joss. In which case, it would’ve inevitably gotten back to Lexi.

And, shit… if I were him, I probably would’ve gone out of my way to avoid that part, too. Especially if it meant not having to see that look on Lexi’s face at Dusty’s last week. It was hard to tell whether she was morepissedor hurt, and Sterling’s had to live with knowing he was the cause of it all.

The set of double doors straight ahead are wide open, and quiet chatter grows louder as we approach. I imagine a room full of pretentious suits, a mixture of execs and team staff, all awaiting our arrival.

“Let’s get this shit over with,” Dane sighs, and as if he’s up for a fucking Academy Award, he flips the script the second we cross the threshold, flashing that smile his followers still go crazy over.

“Well, if it isn’t my Golden boys.” Coach Wells rises from behind a large desk to shake my hand, then my brothers’.

“In the flesh,” I say back. “Glad to be here.”

I scan the room. It’s startling to see so many eyes on us. I swear he’s invited the entire fucking zip code.

“Damn, in suits, you three almost look civilized,” he teases.

I laugh, because some things never change. He used to say the exact same thing when we played for him at NCU.

“Now you sound like my wife,” I shoot back.

“Speaking of the wives and wives-to-be,” he says, glancing at Sterling and Dane next. “How are your better halves?”

“All good,” Sterling says, but when he smiles, it’s unnatural as fuck, reminding me I need to find out what the hell is going on with him.

“Glad to hear it,” Coach says. “Meg and I will have to have all six of you over for dinner once you’re settled in.” This big-ass grin spreads across his face when he extends the invitation, and I take it as a sign of his excitement.

When we all played for him back in the day, he used to say that once he landed a coaching job in the NFL, his first order of business would be to get the three of us on his team. In his words, he planned to‘show the entire fucking world how it’s done’, and as we’re standing here today, it feels sort of surreal. There was a small part of me that considered it was possible when I heard he’d been brought on to coach theEmperors, but it seemed too good to be true.

Guess I was wrong about that.

“Let me introduce you three to some very important folks,” he says while buttoning his suit jacket as he steps around his desk, coming to stand beside my brothers and me. “Whenyou gentlemen signed your contracts, you got to meet our general manager, Jim Michaelson, and the owner of our kickass Emperors, Micky Clark. However, being genuine fans of you boys, they insisted on being here to greet you today.”

“Good seeing you again,” Micky says, reaching to shake my hand while Jim veers toward Sterling. “Something tells me this will be our best season yet.”

No fucking pressure, right?

I manage to hold a smile. “Here’s hoping.”

“You’re too humble,” he says with a laugh. “I think the entire NFL held their breath, watching to see how you’d recover after the shoulder injury, but you healed up and came back with a damn vengeance, provingallthe naysayers wrong. Your performance in last season’s championship game was some of the best football I’ve seen in decades. I have no doubt you could’ve taken your team all the way to the Superbowl. Some of those calls your old coach made were criminal in my opinion.”

I nod but keep silent, being careful not to badmouth Coach Howard. Micky isn’t entirely wrong, but losing is a team effort. Just like winning.

He moves on to shake Dane’s hand next, and I’m grateful to have the spotlight shift. “Welcome back to Cypress Pointe.”

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