Page 56

Tristan purses his lips, stepping over to the fridge and grabbing two bottles of water. He says nothing as he walks past the three of us and heads back in the direction of the bedroom.
I open my mouth to stop him, but Asher holds up his hand to keep me from saying anything. Once Tristan leaves, Asher turns toward us.
“He has some weird connection to her. I’ve noticed how she relaxes with him around. I have a feeling it has to do with the night he rescued her from the bar. So let him see if he can help calm her in his Tristan ways.”
“Yeah, I’ve seen that too,” I admit as I take another pull from my beer.
A few minutes later, Phoenix comes into the kitchen, and she lets out a long breath. She frowns as she looks at me, as if debating what to say.
“What did you get out of her?” I cock my head to the side.
“Whatever she saw, which she wouldn’t go into detail about, you and Cam were in it. So when you went into the room, she thought she was still dreaming. But whatever happened in the dream, it wasn’t good. She won’t tell me, though. And I’m not pushing her.”
“No, don’t,” I agree. “What do I do? I mean, I don’t want her scared of me.”
Phoenix nods, weighing her words. “Yeah. I think you just need to give her some space. I think she may be slightly embarrassed by her reaction to you, and add in whatever she was dreaming about… well, she’s feeling a lot right now. Though, oddly enough, she seems comfortable around Tristan.” She furrows her brows.
“Yeah, we can only assume it’s from when he rescued her from the bar. Because that grumpy fucker never makes anyone comfortable.” Kayce grins.
“How was she around you?” Asher asks Phoenix.
“She almost looked relieved to see me.”
Asher lets out a hum. “You going to the practice stadium tomorrow?”
Phoenix nods and scrunches her face, trying to figure out where Asher is going with this. As am I. “Yeah, I am. I have somethings I need to handle in the morning. Plus, I wanted to watch the practice.” She shrugs.
“You should come pick her up and bring her with you. Get her out of that room and her mind off whatever has upset her,” I offer.
“Took the words right out of my mouth.” Asher smiles. “She would benefit from that. I would take her, but I have a few errands to run tomorrow.”
“And obviously she doesn’t want to be anywhere near me right now,” I sigh.
“Drew, don’t take it personally. She is dealing with so much right now.” Phoenix rubs a hand up and down my arm. “She will get there. But she needs to talk to someone. See if she can work through this mess. You know that helped me after all we went through back in the day.”
“She’s got a point. Maybe we need to look for a head doc for her.” Kayce shrugs.
“Atherapist,” Asher corrects, raising a brow at him. “They have actual job titles.”
“It’s three in the morning. My brain doesn’t care about job titles. It’s sleepy. Words are hard.” Kayce snorts.
Ignoring Kayce, I say, “I’ll call around and find her one.”
“Actually, I know a woman who can help,” Asher offers up. “She actually just moved to the valley. She’s setting up her practice. I know her from college.”
“Okay. Then let’s get her in there. The sooner we do, the sooner we can help her through this better than we have been. Because it seems like every time we take a couple of steps forward, it’s ten steps back. And this is definitely a fuck load of steps back.”
Everyone nods in agreement as I rub the back of my neck. The stress of all this is starting to get to me. Maybe Cameron has a point. Maybe this is going to mess with my game.
No, I decide.It’s not going to. Because when I step out onto that field, my mind is clear as fucking day. It’s the only time it is. I have complete and utter focus. It’s me and that strike zone.
“I’m going to go take a room downstairs. Wake me when it’s time for practice.” Kayce stands from the stool he was sitting on, stretching his arms.
“You have an alarm on your phone, dick.” I point to the phone in his hand.
“Yeah, but just in case I sleep through it. I’m tired. Didn’t you hear me say that a few minutes ago? Me sleepy.” Kayce walks over to Phoenix and gives her a kiss on the cheek, then turns and heads toward the downstairs bedrooms.
“I’ll take the room next to hers,” Asher offers. “This way I’m close, too. Though I’m sure Tristan isn’t going to leave her side tonight.” He gives Phoenix a hug and heads back toward the bedrooms.