Page 31 of Perfect Storm
“He did not,” Dawson said, but he was laughing now. “I was here! He didn’t.”
“Okay, he lookedlike hewantedto,” Aidan amended.
“He’s a good kid,” Dawson said bluntly, clearly feeling like he should defend Cam. “Inexperienced maybe. Naive for sure. You should invite Wes, too, if we’re inviting people over.”
“Wes?” Levi asked. He couldn’t think of anyone he knew on the Thunder roster named Wes.
Aidan sighed. “My backup. Wesley Matthews.”
“Dude, he’s not just gonna be your backup,” Dawson reminded Aidan. “You told me Coach said he wants you to teach him. Mentor him, like.”
No big surprise that Aidan didn’t like the defensive guy who’d laid him out in practice, even accidentally, or his potential replacement.
“Right. Mentor him.” Aidan didn’t sound like that was any better thanbackup.
Levi got up and elbowed him hard in the side. But notthathard. Itwashis job to keep him upright. Keep Aidan in one piece. Keep him safe.
Even when he was being an ass.
“Invite him,” Levi said.
Aidan rolled his eyes, but he pulled his phone out of his pocket.
“You’re pretty bossy for someone who’s been here less than an hour,” he said to Levi after he sent the text.
“Hey, I’m just trying to get to know my teammates,” Levi said.
Aidan didn’t look convinced, not even a little bit, and then of course, Dawson actually started laughing.
“Flynn,” he said, “you havenotchanged, dude.”
“Nope,” Levi agreed, and he and Dawson high-fived as Aidan continued to look disgruntled that his afternoon chat with his old college buddy, regurgitating every bad thing that had happened to him in the last year, was probably permanently on hold.
Aidan had planned this and he had alsonotplanned this.
Hehadgone out of his way to make sure that when Levi arrived at the condo, there would be a buffer person here. Dawson was an easy invite, because he’d also been wanting toget some one-on-one catch-up time with his old friend, and he knew Dawson probably had a lot to talk about, with the divorce and the criminal proceedings against his ex-father-in-law.
Dawson also didn’t make him feel old or washed up or like he was in the twilight of his career, the way that Wes sometimes did.
Of course, Aidan hadn’t been dumb enough to think that he could have a buffer at the houseallthe time. He and Levi were going to be living together, at least in the short-term. They’d be alone sometimes. But Aidan hoped at least that it wouldn’t be right away. That he’d have some time to recalibrate his brain first. To think of Levi as a teammate. As his best friend’s little brother. Not as a guy he’d kissed. Not as a guy that he’d like to do more than kiss.
But he hadn’t planned that his living room would be full, hours later, with a bunch of teammates, Levi in the middle of them, cheering and yelling as Wes got annihilated atMario Kartyet again.
“You should take a turn,” Dawson said to Aidan, nudging him with his shoulder.
“Nobody wants to see that,” Aidan said.
“I know you know how to play video games. You played in college.”
“That was a long time ago.” It felt like a lifetime ago, honestly. When things had been so different, his life and his career stretching endlessly and optimistically in front of him.
“Not that long,” Dawson said bluntly. “I’m the one who’s divorced and washed up. So you can’t act like that’s you too.”
Maybe Aidan wasn’t divorced, but he’d never gotten close enough to anyone to marry them in the first place. Except Morris. Andthathad turned out so fucking well.
“No,” Aidan agreed.
“Come on,” Dawson said persuasively. “Do it for me. Remind me what you were like ten years ago.”
