Page 7 of Fear of Love
“We get to make our own?” Mateo asked.
“Yep. We have tons of toppings and plenty of dough for everyone to make their own.” Mila gestured to the row of pizza doughs Bryton took out of the fridge.
“We should make things interesting.” Trevor looked at all of us with a grin. “Everyone makes their own pizza, and we vote on which is the best.”
Tasha leaned back and gave her boyfriend a look. “You’ll cheat and vote for your own.”
“Either Mila or Lydia can have final say,” Josie said, forever the voice of reason.
“Lydia it is, then.” Mila shot me a grin.
Rolling my eyes, I agreed. “Fine, better make them good.”
Mateo leaned down and pressed a kiss to my cheek. “Vote for mine.”
“You can’t bribe me.” I elbowed him in the ribs before stepping out from under his arm, rounding the side of the counter.
“Let’s do this.” Wyatt rubbed his hands together. “Ready to out pizza all of you.”
With that, everyone chimed in, starting yet another argument. Doing anything competition wise with this group was bound to result in controversy. We’d had countless disputes about the stupidest shit, and we even had a competition to see if us girls could beat the guys in a hockey game. We won—granted, Mila and I were no help and had to recruit Mateo, but still.
As everyone moved around the counter to get their pizza doughs, I dared a glance at Landon, who was already watching me. There was something in his expression that gave me pause. He held my gaze for another second before he turned to talk to Bryton.
I didn’t know what that was all about, but I wasn’t about to think too hard on it. The last person I should have been lusting after was Landon. Especially when the guy couldn’t seem to stand me, and I despised him. Or at least that was the lie I told myself.
The next fifteen minutes was a flurry of everyone claiming their spot at the giant island to make their pizzas. Mila really went all out with every kind of topping you could want. She even had the ingredients to make a dessert pizza.
I stood next to Mateo at the end of the island, grabbing a handful of flour that was being passed around. I tried not to wince at the mess Mateo made beside me. I wasn’t the biggest clean freak, but as someone who grew up knowing bad things happened when you made messes, I tried to keep things neat and tidy. My office. My apartment. My life.
“Our first game of the playoffs is Friday. You guys are coming, right?” Mateo asked after a few minutes.
“Of course we are.” Josie was the first to respond. Across the island, she gave Mateo a reassuring smile. Mateo might have loved to flirt with Josie and mess with his brother, but the two of them had a close bond. He was the little brother Josie never had, and she was the sister he never knew he wanted.
“We’ll be there.” Wyatt gave his brother a nod, along with Landon.
“Wouldn’t miss it,” Trevor added. “Think you guys will make it to the championships this year?”
“You guys seem to be playing really well,” Bryton added.
It was sweet how everyone supported Mateo and his love for football. He may not have followed in his brother’s footsteps with hockey, but he was doing just as great in his sport, already the star quarterback at his university.
“Our team’s really clicking this year. We’ve only lost a few games, which isn’t bad.” Mateo shrugged as he kneaded his dough, trying to downplay it.
“Are we allowed to bring signs?” Tasha asked. “Because I wanna bring a sign.”
“Yeah, do we get jerseys, too?” Mila butted in.
“We should make jerseys!” Josie added, an excited gleam in her eye.
“I do like the thought of my name on your back,” Mateo mused, a smirk playing on his lips.
“Oh, here we go,” Wyatt muttered, slapping his dough a little too hard on the counter.
“Not my fault she’ll have my name before yours,” Mateo joked.
“She’s marrying me, dumbass.” The glare Wyatt gave his brother only made him smile that much harder.
Before one of them threw pizza dough at the other, I interjected, an idea quickly forming. “Hey, Mateo.”
