Page 10 of Bite Your Tongue

“Y’all realize this is a grown-ass man we’re celebrating tonight, right?” Tripp utters from his seat. “Are we supposed to get Sawyer a cake with candles too? Maybe a piñata?”

“I love piñatas,” I say with a shrug.

“Me too, Uncle Ry,” Logan’s daughter, Amelia, says, her eyes wide and a big smile on her adorable face.

“Talmage, you sound like Kolburne, and he’s not even here.” Logan grins, elbowing Tripp in the side. “Why are the two of you so fu—” He stops himself from cursing, glancing down at his daughter, who’s watching him with hawk eyes, before bringing his attention back to Tripp. “Why are you so grouchy, Trippy?”

Tripp and Kolt are damn near the same person. Serious. Grumpy. Intense.

Extremely intimidating.

“Daddy, where is Uncle Kolty?” Amelia says, looking around.

“Uncle Kolty had some things to do, so he couldn’t make it,” he tells her, ruffling the top of her hair. “We’ll go visit him real soon though.”

“Okay,” she whispers, smiling at her dad before she goes back to coloring.

Kolt was injured weeks ago during a game—so badly that he literally had a heart attack on the ice. I guess the one good thing that came out of it was that his estranged wife came back to Portland to take care of him while he healed. He’s been coming to practices lately, and word on the street is … he and Paige are working things out. So, even though his season has pretty much been derailed, there is a silver lining after all because no one loves his wife more than that dude.

Maybe having her back will make him less grumpy.

“Look, I’m not trying to sound like Tripp, and I’m not complaining about being here or anything,” I say, waving a hand toward the long table. “But it’s not the big three-o or anything. He’s turning twenty-four, I’m pretty sure. So, why is he throwing himself a huge celebration?” I glance at Logan because he’s the one who told everyone to be here.

“Hey, I don’t get it either, but don’t shoot the messenger. And also, Maci is off visiting her mom for a few days, so Amy and I are all about a free dinner, coming here tonight.”

Out of everyone on the team, I think I’m the closest to Smith. That makes it even weirder that he didn’t tell me about this party; instead, he had Logan tell everyone. They’re close and all—shit, we’re all close—but still, I don’t get it.

What am I even saying? I hooked up with his baby sister, and I sure as shit didn’t tell him that. I guess those in glass houses should probably keep their stones to themselves.

Amelia’s entire face lights up, and she quickly wiggles out of her chair and starts running. When we all look to see where she’s headed, we see her hug Smith as he walks closer to us. There’s a puzzled expression on his face when he takes us all in, but he tries to hide it and picks Amelia up, carrying her back to us.

“Happy birthday, Uncle Smithy!” Amelia chimes before throwing her little arms around his neck and hugging him again.

“Thank you, pretty girl.” He smiles at her.

I can’t hear what else he says because when I look behind them and my eyes take in Saylor walking toward us, my dick twitches in my pants, and my mouth waters.

Good. Fucking. God. She’s so hot.

Visions of the short time we shared flash through my brain. She took me for a fucking ride. A wild one at that. It was fast, but fucking hell, it was furious.

Saylor took what she needed from me, and she left not one single fucking crumb.

There’s no missing the startled and quickly annoyed expression that covers her face like a damn blanket as she openly gawks at us, and when Smith sets Amelia down and she runs back to her seat, he looks at his sister and frowns.

“I didn’t realize you’d invited, like … half the team,” he grumbles. “I thought it was just me and you.”

Her eyes widen, and she puts a hand on her hip. “You thinkIdid this? You think I would invite your team? Especially after—” She clamps her mouth shut, making sure to never look my way. “I can assure you, I didn’t tell a soul.”

Even though they are attempting to speak quietly enough to not have everyone in their conversation, most of us at the end of the table can hear. My eyes fly to Logan, and I give him an inquisitive look.

“Really, Sterns? You’re the one who put this party on for Smith?” I can’t stop the grin that tugs at my lips because this is so Logan. Always over the top.

“No,” he says quickly, waving his hand toward Smith. “You said your birthday was here at six thirty. So, I went and told everyone I knew you’d want to invite.”

“No, dude,” Smith deadpans. “I saidIwas meeting my sister for dinner for my birthday. I didn’t tell you to rally the troops and throw me a damn party.”

Logan swallows, subtly nodding his head up and down. “Oh, uh … my bad.” He jerks his head toward Amelia, who is luckily not paying any attention. “But, like … since we’re already here …”

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