Page 8 of When to Call a Blitz

Mila gasps. “We had a code 8?”

I hang my head. “We did indeed.”

Mila peers around me toward the door, her dark hair falling over her shoulder. “She looks stressed.” She contemplates something for a second, her eyes narrowing slightly. “Okay, that’s it. We’re going to Lulu’s after this,” she concludes finally as she hands me everything she was holding, making a beeline for our friend.

My lips tighten as I look around the room.

I can do this,I tell myself in the hopes that some day I’ll have said it enough that I’d actually believe it for once.

3

EMMETT

Inever thought I’d be thankful to get kicked out of an event, but here we are.

“How long do you think it’ll take Leo to show up?” Cooper asks beside me. He brings the bottle of beer to his lips, taking a long swig.

“I wouldn’t bet on him showing up at all.” I settle in my seat, watching the condensation roll off the bottle in front of me.

We’re in the back room of Lulu’s, a semi-secret extra bar that allows for a little more privacy. We’ve been coming here for years after games, and on Mondays, since Tuesdays are usually our off days unless we planned things ourselves. Leo tends to like an early Tuesday gym session.

“You’re right,” Cooper nods, “he’s going to get his ass kicked.”

I have to agree with him, but for as much as I love the man, he deserves all the ass kicking in the world, and if there’s one person capable of doing it right, it’s Briar.

My best friend is a little hard to deal with. I love him like he’s my own brother, but the guy is a bit of an idiot, and although he’s gotten so much better since Briar entered his life, he can still be a bit of a loose cannon.

“I was surprised I only saw two of them there,” Cooper mutters, looking around at the people walking around the dim bar. It’s gotten a little more crowded since we got here, with members filtering in from the club room behind the entrance.

My eyebrow raises in question, and he sets down his drink with a loud clank. Cooper may be one of the most talented, allusive tight-ends in the league, but how that came to be is a genuine miracle. The guy is a complete mess off the field.

“I thought the other one would be there too.” Cooper leans back in his seat, folding his arms over his chest.

“I’m pretty sure there’s a couple of other friends in that group.” Try as I might, I can’t seem to understand what he’s attempting to allude to.

If there’s one thing I’ve known about Isla’s friend group, it’s that the women are glued to each other. Literally. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a tighter knit group of women. I’ve found myself, on multiple occasions, hoping that it’s something Juniper has when she grows up.

At first it was just Isla, Mila, Amara, and Heidi, and then when Briar, Owen’s older sister, started hanging around more, she and her friend Izara started hanging out with them regularly.

I don’t think I’ve ever heard one of them say one single bad thing about anyone in the group. The have definitely had choice words about us, but never any of them.

“Ama—” he trails off with a frown.

Getting annoyed, I shoot him a look.

“Amara,” he says louder with an eyeroll. I’ve heard him complain about her before, but there was never really any real reason for it. I just assumed that she turned him down at one point, but that also confused me. Cooper is a lot of things, but someone who would be a total dick after someone turns him down is not one of them.

I’ve seen the man get turned down many times. He just smiles and moves on, because more often than not there’s someone else there thatwillgive him the time of day.

“Why was that like pulling teeth?”

His lips tighten as his light hair falls into his face. Placing his elbow on the table, he perches his chin on his fist.

“I don’t know,” he shrugs, but he has a faraway, glassy, weird look on his face. The same look that he gets when there’s any conversation that involves her at all.

Not only has he been weird around her, but whenever the women are about to meet us anywhere, he always asks who in the group is making it out.

“Cooper,” I say sternly, taking a sip of my beer.

---