Page 37 of Pressure Point

“It can wait. Just hurry on the artichoke dip, please?” Felicity said.

“I can’t make it cook faster. I can get you booze though. One martini, one whiskey, one O’Hara’s and…” the waiter said, pointing to each person as he recalled their preferred drink before trailing off when he got to Avery. His lips curved into a coy smile, reaching out his hand to introduce himself. “I don’t believe we’ve met. Link Weston.”

“Avery Houghton.”

“Avery…” he said, drawing out her name like it was making a light bulb go off in his head. She looked to Liam, wondering why this guy was acting this way, but he simply shrugged as he slipped into a chair at the large round table set up for them. “What can I get you?”

“White wine?”

Link nodded and turned to leave the room, squeezing past a tall dark-haired guy Avery recognized from the last time she was here as Devlin. Devlin made quick work of slipping the in-demand artichoke dip onto the table and hightailing it out of the room before Felicity could comment on anything.

“They seem to know your order well,” Avery commented, trying to make conversation.

“Link and I go way back. But, the owner is my mentor,” Felicity told her. “So, I helped out a bunch as she was getting the place open. The food combo you see here is what we call the ‘“Achy, Breaky Heart” combo.’ It’s all my favorite eat-your-feelings foods.”

“It’s a good combination of things. You can’t go wrong with Buffalo wings. I made Liam try them for the first time a couple of weeks ago.”

“They were pretty good,” he said, reaching for the plate of them.

“Who in this family drinks white wine?” Talia asked, walking in carrying a tray of drinks. “Oh, hi, Avery! This must be yours then. I didn’t realize you were joining us.”

She smiled sweetly as she placed the drink down in front of Avery before turning to do the same with everyone else. Avery felt a rush of self-consciousness hit her, watching the beautiful brunette effortlessly move around the table. Everything Talia did seemed so light and easy. Her hair and makeup looked flawless, and the Rising jersey she was wearing highlighted her chest in a way that only someone with the perfect sized breasts could do. Looking down at her own almost flat chest, Avery wiggled in her seat, hoping her discomfort wasn’t as visible as she felt it was.

“We’re cutting into movie night, so I invited her to join us,” Gunnar said.

“I’d pick movie night over us too.”

“Hey!” Felicity exclaimed.

“Kidding,” Talia said, holding her hands up in surrender.

“Ummmm, hello?” Liam commented, gesturing at the lack of drink in front of him.

“Link had to tap a new keg. He’ll be right in,” she said, waving him off.

Liam huffed out a sigh, clearly annoyed at her nonchalance over his beer, which made Avery giggle. She liked watching the two of them interact, understanding exactly why Liam thought of her like a sister. It was hard to put her finger on exactly what about them gave off that vibe, but it was clear by watching them that the bond between them was completely platonic.

At least I won’t have to compete with her for Liam’s attention. Wait, holy shit, where did that come from?

The thought jarred Avery. She didn’t care about who Liam paid attention to in that way, right? Just because all she’d wanted since they’d left the stadium was to hold his hand didn’t mean anything. Except who was she kidding—that wasn’t the only thing she’d wanted. More than once her mind had wandered to thinking about what it would be like to curl up next to him during a movie. To feel his warmth cocoon her and keep her safe during the scary parts. Things she shouldn’t be thinking about Liam.

“So, what movie are you on now?” Talia asked.

“Iron Man,” Liam said. “Depending on how late we’re here, we might actually be able to do 1 and 2 tonight.”

A double feature? Yes, please…

“Eh, I didn’t like that one. Skip ahead to Thor. He’s hot.”

“Add that to the list of things I didn’t need to hear Talia say,” Gunnar muttered.

“Not how this works,” Liam commented, ignoring Gunnar.

Avery looked around the table as silence fell, each person not knowing what to say next. Avery wasn’t sure if it was just her presence throwing off the group dynamic, or if the elephant in the room was the match loss. She said a silent prayer that it was the latter but still started to feel slightly guilty that it was really her. Liam had told her how well they all got along and how it really was like a family even though they’d only come into each other’s lives a short time ago. Maybe she just needed to say something, show them that she could fit in too.

Mustering up the courage, she spit out the first thing that came to mind.

“Fun physical therapy fact. Physical therapists were call Sjukgymnasts in Sweden until 2014. Sjukgymnast literally translates to “someone involved in gymnastics for those who are ill.” Back in 1813, this guy name Per Henrik Ling, who is considered the ‘father of Swedish gymnastics,’ founded the Royal Central Institute of Gymnastics. There, he instituted a system of different exercises, manipulation, and massage for gymnasts, which is where ‘sjukgymnast’ came from. He's also the guy who invented the Swedish massage.”