Jameson (Face-Off 4)

The hum of screaming fans fills the Wells Fargo Center as their cheers bring the event center to life. I get a certain high from being in this environment. But I also

feel for Charlie. It reminds me of when she played college basketball for Villanova. Everything I had done or sacrificed to get her there was to ensure Charlie made it pro. Until her dream was no longer a reality.

With our lives so intertwined, Charlie’s loss and the pain of her injury were also mine. The day I lifted her off the court and carried her in my arms was one of the most painful experiences for both of us. Luckily, Charlie had met Mickey Donoghue, the famous sports agent, while she was still in college. He took her under his wing and gave her the career she has today. She healed on the outside, but I know the trauma of her injury will never go away, like a phantom pain that claws inside her chest.

I feel it, too. As I watch Charlie gaze out onto the basketball court, she sucks in a deep breath, her eyes focused on the players. I’m the only one who knows her well enough to understand the glaze in her eyes and the way she clears her throat to keep herself from breaking down. Basketball will always be her first love. Even Alex hasn’t picked up on her mannerisms. He doesn’t know Charlie the way I do.

“What do you think of the seats?” Charlie asks. “I picked them just for you. Alex wanted a box, but I talked him out of it.”

I nod, unable to take my eyes off the game. “Good call. I can see the sweat dripping off the players from this seat.”

The Chicago Bulls are making the Sixers look like a high school basketball team, and I don’t want to miss a second of it. Charlie hooked us up with courtside seats for the Sixers-Bulls game. It doesn’t get much better than this. And having Rico come along with us only makes it that much sweeter.

I lean over and say, “Are you trying to butter me up after a long day of doing women crap?”

We spent the entire day shopping for Charlie’s wedding gown and doing girly things that I don’t even understand. Being the man-of-honor in Charlie’s wedding is still such a foreign concept to me. I have no idea what I’m supposed to do. Instead, I wait for the girls to tell me what’s next on the list. There is no honor in my job.

“Maybe.” Charlie winks at me. “But I also wanted you to check out the venue for the wedding. I still can’t believe the owner is letting us get married here. It’s like a dream come true for us.”

“Yeah, that was pretty cool of them to let you guys have it here. Now, you have to invite enough people to fill this place.”

She laughs. “Yeah, right. Even with everyone in the bridal party combined, we still don’t know enough people to fill half the seats. I hope it doesn’t look empty and ridiculous in our pictures.”

“You worry too much. I’m sure it will be okay. Just think about how cool it is that you’re getting married here. How many people can say that?”

She shrugs, her eyes focused on the court. “None that I know of.”

“Jamie,” Rico yells, tugging on my Michael Jordan jersey and diverting my attention. Yup, we wore our Jordan gear to a Sixers game. I guess we should be lucky we made it to our seats without being harassed. Philadelphia sports fans are a little…passionate, to say the least.

“Hey, buddy, stop messing with MJ,” I joke, rubbing my knuckles into his hair. “This is a collector’s item.”

Vintage Jordan is not easy to replace. Charlie already yelled at me for wearing it tonight. In retrospect, it was a bonehead move, but I got overly excited when I was sorting through my jersey collection.

As far as children are concerned, Rico is the closest to a son Charlie or I will have anytime soon. Even with Alex and Charlie getting married, none of us is ready for a family yet. With how much Charlie travels for work and Alex for hockey, who would even watch the kid? Me? I’m good with Rico. He’s old enough to take care of himself, but I can give him back to his mother after we’re done hanging out.

“I’m hungry. Can we get a soda and nachos?” Rico peeks up at me from beneath a chunk of dark brown hair that hangs over his forehead, flashing those puppy dog eyes that make it impossible to say no. He’s getting older, closer to high school. But to us, he’s still the little kid Charlie and I began coaching a few years ago.

“You just ate a hot dog, kiddo.”

“That was a snack. I want nachos. You promised I could get whatever I want since it’s Coach’s special day.”

I sigh, staring up at the game clock hanging from the ceiling at center court.

There are a few minutes left at the end of the fourth quarter. Even though there’s no way the Bulls could blow this lead, I don’t want to miss the final buzzer. Charlie brought everyone here tonight to celebrate her engagement to Alex, which also added a few of his teammates and their girlfriends to the usual cast.

Kennedy is pregnant and looks about ready to pop any day now. Then, there’s Sydney, who says cock more than normal. I’ve never met a woman as vulgar as Sydney. As a romance author, I guess that’s expected when she writes smutty stories all day. She’s the far extreme of Coach and the kind of girls I’m used to. At least she’s good for inappropriate humor.

Both Kennedy and Sydney provide their own form of entertainment when we’re out shopping for Charlie’s wedding gown. When I’m ready to gouge my eyes out, Sydney usually cracks a joke about monster cocks. It’s weird, like her, but it works. I still cannot believe I am the man-of-honor, performing maid-of-honor duties.

Because it’s so uncommon to see a man in a bridal shop, I have a lot of women hitting on me until Charlie pretends I’m the groom and scares them away.

At the rate she’s going, I will never find a date to the wedding. Every girl I introduce to Charlie has found an excuse to retreat after Charlie gives her the motherly interrogation.

No one is good enough for my Jamie, she tells me all the time. That’s also what I had told Charlie anytime I met a guy she was interested in dating.

I suppose I acted the same way when Alex first showed up in our lives. But I had every reason to be a jerk to Alex. He was notorious for one-night stands and scandals. He had a reputation. Unlike the girls I have brought over to the apartment to meet Charlie.

Like Alex, Tyler Kane and Carter Donovan mostly give me a hard time for being the man-of-honor. They laugh every chance they get. Sydney keeps telling me that I have to help her make penis cakes for the bachelorette party. That only gets more of a rise out of the guys who take so much joy in pissing me off. I can’t help it my best friend is a girl. Charlie is the only family I have left. She’s like a sister to me.