Page 225 of Call the Shots
Montoya sounded so convinced too, it hurt to listen to. I touched his arm. “Do you know what Bear and I call you?”
“No,” he mumbled.
“We call you our kid.”
“No, you don’t?—”
“Yeah, we do. In private. We know you didn’t mean for anything bad to happen to King. Sometimes, people make mistakes, and we hurt each other. That’s kind of being human.”
“You never made a mistake like this.”
“I’ve made a lot of them—I’ve hurt people when I didn’t mean to. I said things I didn’t mean.” I took a deep breath. “You’re still one of my favorite people, Montoya. That hasn’t changed. I know you’re anxious about the season, I know you’re anxious about your place on the team, but I promise, I’m not. You’ll find your footing, I believe in you.”
I pulled him into a hug and Montoya hugged me back, squeezing me tight enough to cut off my breathing. I scanned the room until my eyes landed on Bear. I silently urged him over, pointing at Montoya.
“Montoya!” Bear hauled him up. “You’re bowling with me, come on.”
I could’ve kissed him. I meant everything I said but I knew it didn’t mean as much as it would coming from a teammate, especially Bear. Bear talked to him in a low voice while he punched their names into the scoreboard. I was so grateful. Montoya couldn’t be isolated from everyone, like Elijah was.
Ugh. That was a whole thing we’d have to deal with.
“Here they come,” Cleo remarked, and I glanced over my shoulder. My heart leaped. My best friends were coming through the bowling entrance, Miles at the front, with Ryan, Kassie, Adam, Piper, and King and Willow in tow. I turned to Cleo and she shrugged. “I told Miles to bring something to liven up the party.”
The hockey players stretched back, craning their necks. “Dad!”
“Everybody excited for the big day?” Miles asked, his voice booming over the bowling alley.
“I haven’t told them yet,” Cleo replied, amused. When everyone turned to her, she folded her hands together. “The whole team is invited to our wedding?—”
“That’s a mistake,” Nick chortled.
Some of the guys punched him on the shoulder, shoving him off his chair to speak over him, the team was obviously excited about getting their invitation. Their excitement tapered off with King’s arrival, but Bear came up and clapped him on the back, clearly bringing him in.
“What is this, a fucking morgue?” Adam demanded. “Where’s the music?”
The bowling alley had their volume down for a Wednesday, but Adam didn’t let that bother him. He cranked up the volume on his phone and mussed my hair before typing his name on the list for bowling.
“I have a speaker, I keep it for the bars I work at.” Willow shuffled through her backpack. “We’re using thisifI get to pick the music.”
The iciness of the night was broken and I could see the guys individually coming up to King. King, bless his heart, nodded through the conversations with vaguely confused looks directed at Willow. He definitely didn’t remember them.
“Paychecks hit!” Sully shouted.
Heads jerked up from around our team until phones were practically thrown out of their pockets.
“Damn,” Fridge groaned. “I love having a real coach.”
“It’s a Sémajuste payday.” Nick stopped. “It’s a Sémapayday!”
We were finally on track for a real night together. I breathed out in relief and took the candy bar from Bear when he offered it. The night wasn’t as easy as I wanted it to be, but I’d take the awkwardness over everyone being apart.
King relaxed on the corner seat beside me. “Hey.”
“How do the stitches feel?”
“Good—I stitched myself the first time, so these are way better.” A grin crossed his face when he saw my grossed-out expression. “Were you serious about the go-kart double date thing? I want to tell Willow.”
“Mm-hmm, it’ll be like a living, interactive video game for Bear, he’ll love it.”
