Page 212 of Call the Shots
“Hey, wifey.” Bear grinned, face close to the screen.
“Did you call her wifey?” Denali asked, his voice muffled. “Do you hear the words that come out of your mouth, or do we just have to suffer through them?”
Bear ignored him, setting his phone down for me to see the charcoal-colored suit, styled perfectly over my boyfriend’s broad shoulders. My eyes widened, taking him in.
“We need gameday suits for the season!” Elijah belted, striding into the camera’s view, wearing a navy-blue suit, raking a hand through his dark curls. He grinned when he spotted Willow. “PRUITT! Take a look, Ruthless on the streets, leave ‘em speechless in the sheets.”
We burst into laughter but that stopped with Fridge’s arrival, in a burgundy suit that rivaled everybody’s, and Nick, in dark green. The boys looked so good but where was…?
“Kid’s Toy!” Elijah shouted. “Front and center!”
Bear grabbed someone’s arm off screen and brought Montoya over. He ducked his head, blushing with a nervous smile. I couldn’t believe it. He was supposed to be Baby Montoya! I didn’t recognize this man in a suit. Who wasthis?
“Montoya.” Willow’s hands flew to her mouth. “Purple never looked so good.”
“He’s growing up,” I groaned. “I can’t handle it.”
Bear dusted him off. “He looks good, doesn’t he?”
“We look good as fuck,” Elijah boasted. “This fucking season’s ours.”
After their big shopping trip,I left Willow and grabbed dinner with the boys atGianna’s. It wasn’t hard to figure out where to sit. They were laughing so loud, people nearby were giving them dirty looks.
“June!” Elijah waved me over. “Did Bear tell you yet?”
“Nice, Elijah.” Nick thumbs-upped him. “You should win an award for subtlety.”
I slid into the empty seat next to Bear. “Tell me what?”
“Nothing.” He draped an arm over my chair. “Don’t worry about it.”
“That’s comforting,” I teased.
“Tell her,” Elijah insisted. “If June doesn’t like it, we can switch venues. Don’t spring it on her like divorce papers at a baby shower.”
“He has a point,” Fridge agreed.
Bear sighed, finally turning to me. “So—uh—your going-away party, we kind of rented a place for it.”
“Ooo, exciting.”
“Like the whole team chipped in to put down money—and, uh, it’s…your house.”
For brief moments, the guys stopped messing around and shoveling pizza in their mouths. It was a table of eager faces, everyone gauging my reaction while I realized what he meant.
They rented my old house.
Different emotions swirled inside. That wasn’t really my house anymore, especially now that the garden was gone,butthey put in the work to rent it for the party. I didn’t even know how they got past Xavier’s oversight.
“That means a lot to me,” I said truthfully to everyone around the table. “I know we don’t want to say goodbye but thank you for making the end so perfect.” I glanced towards Bear and wrapped an arm around his waist, careful of the bruises. “Thank you.”
He reached down for my chair, sliding it closer. His warm brown eyes were soft as liquid chocolate. “I love you, baby.”
“I’m a great wingman,” Elijah sighed happily and picked up a piece of pizza, chomping at the cheese. “It’s like strategic or something, it takes a special kind of intelligence.”
“And you have so much in abundance already,” Nick agreed, shoving a breadstick in his mouth.
Footsteps strode to the table and the conversation hushed when none other than Sloane interrupted us. My favorite waitress atGianna’s,a curvy redhead who always remembered my smoothie order. She glared at Elijah. “I can’t believe you’re making me do this.”
