I guess the other shoe’s about to drop.
“Look, man,” Declan begins. “I know with everything that’s going on right now, you’re pissed at me, but can we not do this right now?”
“I think there’s no better time to have this conversation than right now,” Cam responds, and Declan squares up, ready to take a punch if that’s what’s coming to him.
“Alright,” he continues, “what’s up, Bowman?”
“I want to apologize.”
My eyes dart to the guys, their eyes already on me. No one in this room saw that coming. Not only was Declan seeing Cam’s sister behind his back, but there was also a big blowout between Declan and his sister just a few weeks ago.
Declan tilts his head, almost as if he didn’t hear Cam right. He turns toward Jax, then looks at me before turning back to Cam.
“You want to apologize?”
“Yeah,” Cam says. “I had no right to blow up on the two of you the way that I did. Truthfully, I think it was more out of pain than anger. Ember and I have told each other everything since we were kids. Finding out she was keeping something like that from me. It fucking sucked, man.”
“I can imagine how you feel,” Declan replies. “You don’t have to apologize. Not to me anyway.”
Cam squeezes Declan’s shoulder. “You’re a pretty cool guy, Declan. You’re good for her.”
“Well, I don’t know if she sees it that way,” Declan continues. “I don’t know if we’ll ever be what we were again.”
“Don’t give up on her, okay? She loves you. I don’t know how I didn’t realize it sooner,” Cam says.
“Me either, man, it was pretty fucking obvious,” I interject, and they laugh.
“Yeah, I really should’ve realized at that banquet when you started dancing with my sister,” he adds. “What can I say? I’m a little slow sometimes.”
He heads toward the door to leave the locker room.
“Cam,” Declan calls after him, “thanks.”
Cam nods before leaving. The second he’s gone, all of us are around Declan.
“What the hell just happened?” Declan lets out a sigh of relief.
“I never thought I’d see the day that you and Cam were on good terms,” I respond. “And I sure as hell never thought he’d apologize.”
“Especially after you broke his sister’s heart,” Fletcher says, and I whack him in the back of the head. “Ow.”
“All I need is for his sister to hear me out.”
“I think she will,” I begin. “She loves you.”
“Why do I feel like you know something I don’t?” he asks, and I shrug.
“I have no idea what you mean.”
Ican’t believe we won.” I jump into my truck and start it as I turn toward Avalon.
“You did tell me you guys were going to win this game.” She smiles, and seeing her smile is almost better than winning.
“I know, but now that we did, oh fuck, it feels amazing. We’re one game closer to being champions, and I never thought we’d get to say that.”
“You guys played one hell of a game. Jay was quite impressed.”
“Where is Jay?”