Page 25 of Leading Conviction
His shoulders lifted casually in a shrug, but his biceps were straining against the short sleeves of his Braves jersey and his knee looked like it was about to take off on its own if he didn’t kneel soon. “Just watching the game, dove. No big deal.”
Eagle snorted but Hawk’s evil eye prompted him to clear his throat and straighten in his chair.
“Ah, give the man a break. It’s a close game,” he offered, only gaining Hannah’s discerning eye.
“Mhmm… okay, the game’s nowhere near ‘close.’ You’re both being weird and you have been for weeks now. What gives? Is something wrong?”
“No, Han, nothing’s wrong. I promise.” A warm, encouraging smile stretched across Hawk’s face and Hannah relaxed in her seat.
The way they gazed at each other sparked a jealous fire in Eagle’s stomach. One he’d been able to ignore for years, but now burned him from the inside out.
He looked away, unable to keep watching them, and turned his eyes to the game.
Hannah was right, the Braves had this game in the bag. What Hawk had planned would be the cherry on top of a great opening day.
And Eagle wasn’t sure he could bear it.
The ball cracked against the hitter’s bat, drawing Eagle from his pity party. He found the foul pop fly high in the sky and followed its descent onto the field, directly in front of their seats, and right into a Braves player’s mitt, and securing the final out of the inning. The crowd leapt to their feet and a figure darted across the stairs in front of their section.
Eagle frowned and glanced around, his senses kicking into high gear as he tried to find the person. He wasn’t sure why it was important. The stadium was packed, so there were plenty of people crossing in and out of his vision. But something in his gut told him he needed to be on alert.
He absentmindedly clapped along with the fans, still searching as everyone milled around and left their seats during the inning change. When he didn’t find anyone or anything suspicious, he slowly returned to his own seat. Taking advantage of the fact the elderly couple next to him had gotten up for refreshments, he feigned stretching in his seat so he could keep looking. But there was nothing.
Several chords blared on the speaker, making Eagle jolt. A large figure barreled up the aisle toward them. Eagle reached for the holster he’d snuck in underneath his Braves jersey… only to realize it was just a cameraman.
Thank fuck.
He and Hawk had been tricking the metal detectors to get into Braves games for years. It was nerve-wracking to hide his pistol right next to his dick, but underneath a brass belt buckle was the surefire way to fool the security guards when they had to resort to their handheld wand metal detectors after setting off the walk-through metal detectors. Once they were given the all clear, the two of them would then go into the bathroom and store their guns in their waistband holsters instead. Carrying at an MLB game was overly cautious, no doubt, but at least he knew he could protect himself.
…from a fucking cameraman.
Eagle shook his head at his own paranoia just as the speakers crackled, preceding a very cheerful announcer.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to direct you to the scoreboard screen for a very special proposal.”
Eagle’s thumping heart tanked into his stomach. He almost wished it’d been an attacker instead.
Still, the stress zapping through Eagle dissipated once he saw his two best friends still standing, all eyes on them. Hawk’s brilliant smile gleamed in the stadium lighting and tears welled in his eyes. Eagle couldn’t see Hannah’s face so he turned to watch the show that was right in front of him play out on the scoreboard screen instead.
The joy on her face dissolved all of Eagle’s jealousy. Hawk fumbled adorably as he attempted to remove the ring from its box. Once Hannah seemed to realize exactly what was going on, she gasped so loudly Eagle could hear it over the crowd. She covered her smile with both hands, but her rounded, sun-kissed cheeks gave away the fact she was still grinning wildly. When Hawk finally got the ring free, her gorgeous brown eyes widened.
Even though Hawk had invited Eagle to help pick the ring out, he still didn’t know what it looked like.
Granted, “helped” was a generous word for the sulking and shrugging he’d subjected Hawk to that day. Hawk had already known exactly what Hannah would love, he just wanted company. He’d even thanked Eagle for being there, saying something about how he wished his pops was still alive to go with him, too.
Hawk’s gratitude hadn’t made Eagle more accommodating, though. Being in that goddamn store had been the last place Eagle had wanted to be. He’d been so shitty that Hawk hadn’t even bought a ring. He’d gone back to pick one later without Eagle’s salty ass. From the look on Hannah’s face, he’d chosen perfectly, despite Eagle’s best efforts.
She was obviously going to say yes, so if he ever wanted to say anything, toconfessanything, thenthiswas the moment.
But Eagle watched on in silence as his best friend proposed to the love of his life—the woman of Eagle’s dreams. Part of him was even elated for them both, but he still couldn’t muster up even half the excitement the strangers in the crowd showed. At least the harder he worked at keeping up appearances during the proposal, the harder it was to concentrate on the proposal itself. He was so preoccupied with schooling his face for the damn camera, the bright-neon question exploding on the screen was practically a blur.
Hawk enveloped Hannah’s hand in his and slowly began to kneel. Eagle watched like an extra in a movie as the main character said those five life-changing words out loud.
“Han, will you marry me—”
A loudcrackpierced the air. Eagle snapped his gaze to the field, expecting to see one of the players running the bases. But the players were looking to the stands, seemingly just as confused as he felt. When it happened again, screams ignited across the stadium.
In the next moment, the air was knocked from his lungs as Hannah was thrust into him. He fell to the ground, pinballing between the empty seats before his back finally hit the pavement in front of his chair. Hannah wriggled and cursed, fighting to get off of him, but his arms latched around her tight, refusing to let her go.
