Page 30 of Ruled Out

Jensen’s eyes soften as he sees the anguish in me. “You know that I’m here for you too, right? You aren’t alone.”

I drop my head between my shoulders and exhale slowly. “I know. There’s a lot that’s changed for you though, man. With Kate and the twins. You have a lot going on, and I don’t want to get in the way.”

He reaches out and sets a hand on my shoulder. “Jessie, you are never in the way, and when you’re ready to talk, I’m always ready to listen. I just get concerned when you disappear and ghost us. It happens a lot.”

I nod once and grab my wrist tape from his bench, trying to deflect from the conversation. “This is mine.”

He snatches it back and rolls his lips together. “Look at it as penance for ignoring my texts all weekend.”

I roll my eyes. “You’re so fucking needy. Also, you didn’t answer my question. How’re my niece and nephew?”

He zips his bag shut and smiles. “June and Will are good. Kate’s fucking stressed though.”

“Why?”

He dumps himself down on the bench, bending over to do up his laces. “Her maternity leave ends in a month. She’s stressing over going back—how many hours to do, what her cases will look like when she takes them back from Nina ‘Bitchface’ Higgins. She’s giving herself a hard time, feeling guilty about leaving June and Will.” He blows out a humorless laugh. “I don’t think it helps that we barely get any time to go out together. I think what she needs is a date night with me, but our nanny just quit since she’s getting married and moving away, and I’m not about to invite her parents over to sit for us.”

Kate Jones could rival me in the closed-book department. What I do know about her is, her family sucks ass—other than her brother, Easton, who works in the Middle East. From what Jensen has told me, Violet and Henry Monroe are lucky to be free people after being caught up in a huge tax scandal. Pretty much all their assets were seized and sold to pay off bills and unpaid staff wages. They swapped their huge mansion for a modest two-bedroom house, and Kate hasn’t seen them in over a year.

“Well, I could help.”

I gotta admit, avoiding his texts on Saturday was a shitty move. Babysitting June and Will is the least I can do. Not to mention, I love the twins with my whole damn heart. I’ll never forget the time Jensen told me he had named his son after my brother.

I swallow down the lump forming in my throat. “If you want?”

He smirks and stands from the bench. He’s only got a couple of inches on me, but in his mid-thirties, he sometimes feels like the father figure I never had. “You ever change a diaper before?”

If you count the times I had to change my own, then yeah.

“I can manage. When do you need me?”

A cheeky smile spreads across his face as he takes a sip of water from his bottle.

I hold up a hand. “I don’t need the freaky details, just where and when and for how long.”

“This Friday night. It’s our last game before the bye week, and I want to take her out to the same French restaurant I took her to a couple of birthdays back. Probably be a few hours, max.”

“Yeah, sure. Sounds good.”

Walking back out into the gym, we’re met with blaring music and a horde of guys working out.

Coach stands in the center of the room and raises a brow at us. “You planning on joining us this morning or what?”

“Yep.” Jensen pops thePand then turns to me. “When you’re ready to talk, just know I’ll be waiting.”

MIA

J

Still thinking about those pancakes …

My phone buzzes on my desk, and Tara’s eyes dart to the screen, lit up with Jessie’s message.

“Ooh.” She leans in and speaks low so the professor can’t hear. “Is Pancake Boy the same guy on the other side of your door on Saturday night?”

On a side-eye, I pick up my phone and drop it into my bag.

“It is, isn’t it? You guys were quiet on Saturday. I didn’t hear a thing.”