Page 28 of My Brother's Teammates

Nothing could’ve prepared me for the game on Saturday. It started later in the afternoon and had most of the campus shut down. I followed the flow of the crowd towards the arena and reread the directions Axel had sent me about getting tickets he’d left at the ticket box for me. Telling the woman taking tickets that I supposedly had tickets waiting for me from one of the most sought-after players at the school made me feel like a fake, and her expression as she looked at me made me feel like she also thought I was a fake.

Quick enough, I had the tickets Axel had set aside for me and I was inside the deafening arena, trying to find my way to my seat. I felt sick to my stomach at being around so many people, but I kept picturing the way Jason had looked away when I’d admitted I’d never been to a game. I was uncomfortable, but it was the least I could do for my brother.

My nerves grew wilder when I followed signs for my seat lower and lower in the arena. I had the distinct feeling that I was getting too close to the field and one wrong move would send me sprawling out on the perfect green grass. It would also take me forever and eight-thousand steps to get out of there if anything happened, or if I just wanted to leave.

All around me, students were dressed in our school colors and I looked down in horror to see that my T-shirt was more of the blue color from the opposing team’s uniforms. That might’ve explained some of the looks I’d been getting. I was almost at the first row of seats and I was quickly convincing myself that the ticket woman, or Axel, had tricked me. I was about to turn and run up those eight-thousand steps to my freedom when a thickly accented voice called out.

“Feck! Get out of my fecking way, Conor!” The high-pitched brogue didn’t match the words but it caught my attention. “Jenny? Jenny Ramsey?”

I looked behind me and pointed at myself like a fool. My mouth was hanging open as I took in the sight in front of me. Almost wilder than the whole of the crowd at my back, the family in front of me was easily identifiable as Axel’s. The woman yelling at me had to be his mother. She had a hair full of shocking red hair and a smirk she’d passed directly to her son. At her back was a big man who had to be Conor, the man in her ‘fecking’ way. He was a blonde outlier in the group of otherwise normal sized, red-haired people. An older couple looked me over and I watched the short-haired woman rub her hands together and grin. There was also a small boy climbing over his family to stand in front of me.

“Well? Are you Jenny Ramsey?” The little boy was probably only nine or ten, but he looked like a little replica of Axel, only Axel somehow hadn’t inherited his family’s red hair. “I’m Sean Bryer. Axel’s my big brother!”

I snapped out of my stupor and smiled. I stuck out my hand to shake his hand. “It’s really nice to meet you, Sean Bryer. IamJenny Ramsey.”

The yelling woman had made it to me and she enveloped me in a massive hug. Squeezing me tight, she rocked me back and forth. “Ax did good! Look at you! Alainn!”

“Here!” The older woman called to me and patted the seat next to her as soon as she made eye contact with me.

“Wait, Mom!” The woman hugging me let go, barely, and looked me over. She stopped at my hair and her smile stretched wider. “I’m Shannon, Ax’s mom. When he told us he wanted us to welcome a friend, I knew it was going to be good. Mom had a feeling.”

Conor pulled Shannon away from me and sighed. “Sorry about her. I’m Conor Bryer, Axel’s step-dad. As another outsider sucked into this family, I just want to wish you luck.”

Shannon slapped his arm and then push-pulled me with her to the seat next to her mom. “This is my mother, Maeve, but call her Gran.”

The older woman cupped my face in her hands and stared into my eyes for an uncomfortable amount of time. I held my breath and waited for her to move back, nervously wondering why no one else was talking. Finally, she roughly patted my cheek and then planted a wet kiss on my forehead.

Shannon cheered from behind me and Conor groaned, but the man behind Gran met my confused gaze and winked. Holding out his hand, he gripped mine firmly. “Welcome to the family, beautiful girl. Axel is a smart boy after all.”

Gran, finished with her quiet study, clapped and transformed into a vending machine. “We’ve been waiting for this moment! I’m glad you didn’t waste time dressing up in the silly clothes they sell here. No need. Gran’s got everything you need to show Ax your support, Jenny.”

Shannon caught my hand and held it. “This is amazing. I’ve been surrounded by males for too long. You’ll come over, right? Fecking promise me you’ll come over.”

“Shan! Watch it.” Gran opened a bag that I would forever consider her Mary Poppins bag and started pulling things out of it. “The spirits approve of you, so I’ll give you the good stuff, Jenny. Where’s your family from, honey? Any Irish in you?”

Sean popped up in front of me. “Do you and my brother kiss?”

I swallowed loud enough for them to all hear it, over the crowd around us apparently. They all laughed but it was Conor who leaned forward and patted my shoulder.

“Don’t worry. They’ll calm down in a few decades.”

***Axel***

Thegamefinishedaftera brutal four quarters and one overtime. It’d been too close, but the other team had a defensive line that played their hearts out. I knew we’d catch hell from Coach when we met to decompress and watch the game film, but we’d won. That was good enough for the night. We all raced through showering and getting dressed, eager to start the night’s festivities. At least that’s what we were telling Jason, who really was ready to get to Jackie’s to celebrate.

Ryder, Hudson, and I knew that Jenny was waiting on us. I hadn’t been able to spot her in the stands, despite knowing she was there with my family. I could practically feel her eyes on me and knew that she’d probably been trying to murder me. Setting her up with my family had been possibly a terrible idea on my part. They were crazy and didn’t bother hiding it. I hoped she liked them, though. If she did, she’d hopefully come to more games. Having her meet and like my family had nothing to do with the growing crush I had on her. Of course, not.

Jason led the charge as we made our way through the after-game crowd waiting to celebrate us. We’d given a few post-game interviews already but the people waiting on us outside of the locker room mattered just as much as anyone publishing shit about us. If we were going to go pro, building our career started in the back halls with people who just wanted to talk for a few minutes about our game.

I’d just finished up talking to a dad and his son about speed on the field when Jason punched my arm and glared at me. I frowned at him and then looked past him to see what he was pissy about. My eyes nearly bulged out of my head and I was thankful for the stiffness of my jeans because blood surged straight to my dick.

Waiting with my family with her face turned down to Sean was a version of Jenny I never imagined I’d see. Instead of one of her normal t-shirts, she was wearing a cut-off jersey. One ofmyjerseys. She had our team colors painted in stripes across her cheeks and her hair had been tied in pigtails with matching ribbons. The jersey was…small, to say the least. I was staring at a lot of bare skin. When Sean moved out of the way I saw that Jenny still had her leggings on but without the long shirt hiding her body, the leggings were revealing in the best way.

I wiped my mouth, sure I was drooling, and bit my knuckles. Shit, she looked sexy. Beyond sexy, she looked likemine. Those thoughts were cut off by a hard fist to my stomach that stole my breath. I doubled over and groaned, but decided I’d take another twenty hits to the stomach when Jenny’s sweet scent filled my nose and she knelt in front of me to check on me.

Her eyes pinched in concern as she cupped my face with one hand and slapped Jason’s leg with the other. “Jason! What’s wrong with you?”

I grinned at her new look and wasn’t sure I needed to breathe if I could just appreciate how stunning she looked. “Wow.”

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