Taking His Shot (Hot Jocks Book 7) by Kendall Ryan

Author:Kendall Ryan [Ryan, Kendall]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kendall Ryan
Published: 2020-06-08T18:30:00+00:00

13

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No Guarantees

Jordie

God, this is awful.

I’ve never seen my teammate Asher like this. His eyes are wet with tears, and his broad shoulders shake with emotion as he leans against his fiancée, Bailey. She buries her face into his jacket as a single tear slips down her cheek.

There isn’t a dry eye in the place.

Asher’s eighty-seven-year-old grandmother, Lolli, passed away earlier this week. From what I understand, there wasn’t a thing wrong with her—she just went to sleep one night and never woke up. Out of a show of support for one of my teammates, I’m sitting uncomfortably in a funeral home in San Diego. It’s a quick trip with a twenty-four-hour turnaround time because of this week’s game.

Most of the team is here, at least all the guys who are close with Asher. And I realize, for the first time, that I’m the only one here who’s still single. Our goalie, Owen, is here with his wife, Becca, who’s pregnant again, even though they have a one-year-old. Grant and Ana are here with their daughter. Justin and his fiancée, Elise, are here, as well as Teddy and his wife, Sara.

They say bad things happen in threes. First, Coach Allen’s heart attack, and now there’s been a death in the family for my teammate Asher. Basically, it has me on edge wondering what the hell else is going to go wrong.

After the service, which is actually really heartwarming and even funny at times, since several of her grandkids tell humorous stories about her, we all head back to Asher’s grandmother’s beach house. The humorous stories don’t stop as we fill our plates full of the most delicious-looking Mexican food I’ve ever seen.

I hear several other colorful tales, including the one about the time Asher’s grandmother set a record riding a mechanical bull at a local bar. Although, with each retelling of the story by Asher’s sisters, and then by his cousins, the amount of time she lasted on that bull and the records she apparently set all get bigger and better. It’s like a fishing story growing over time.

But I’m smiling, and the bourbon is flowing. Eventually, night falls, and we’re all sitting outside in lawn chairs around a low-burning bonfire. The beach is deserted, except for our group, and the sound of the waves in the distance is calming. A light breeze ruffles the palm trees and flowering bushes at the edge of the sand.

“You okay, Ashe?” Grant, our team captain, asks.

Asher nods once, his gaze fixed on the fire. “Yeah. Just thinking.”

His fiancée, Bailey, rubs his shoulder and gives him a sympathetic look.

“We wanted to get married before Lolli passed,” Asher says, his voice thick with emotion. “Right here on this beach. Wanted to have her at our wedding, make sure she got to see us exchange our vows. But our careers got in the way, and now she’s not going to be here for it.”

Bailey gives him a sorrow-filled look. Between his schedule playing hockey and hers as a doctor, they’re both busy.

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