Page 57 of Honey Undone (The Hornets Nest #5)

JENSEN

“ A re you nervous about today?” I sat at the table with Josh and Louis, just trying to mind my business while the press ran the final game junket on all the players. Most of Portland's guys sat down the hall from us doing the same thing.

Adeline had come around to the Nest with me that morning to help Zoey make signs and do August’s hair with old temporary blue hair dye she had lying around. She fit in so effortlessly with them all that it was hard to remember a time when she wasn’t there. I was just so stupidly in love.

“Sorry, what?” I asked, rolling a small piece of ripped paper between my fingers.

“Today? Are you nervous about the game?” The reporter asked again. She was a tiny thing with an innocent, bright smile.

“A little, but nerves are good for the game,” I tried to answer as diplomatically as I could without sounding like a total asshole.

I wasn't nervous at all. Mostly just excited. To be honest, typically at these things they left me alone. It wasn’t the catcher they wanted information from, it was the pitcher, the first baseman, the coaches.

I usually just goofed around.

“What are some of your favorite pre-game snacks?” One of the social media girls asked Louis who looked at Josh confused. Sometimes the girls still talked too fast for him to understand, and his sad, puppy dog face always made me laugh.

I turned to him, explaining what she meant in French and he clued in quickly .

“What about you?” She asked me next, leaning in close.

“Chicken wings.” I said without hesitation, but my mind was between Adeline’s thighs.

Most of the time these junkets were full of either extremely serious questions or goofy ones that were almost harder to answer.

Anything to do with routines, food, or favorites.

It was for socials so the answers they were looking for were funny, buzz things that made people interested in the sport because of the player.

I was generally better at answering the stupid questions over the serious ones.

“And you Josh?” She asked.

“A sandwich and a banana.” He answered dryly with a smug smile on his face. For a man so beloved by the female crowd you’d think he’d have more suave with them off the field.

“Fun,” she said, trying to add something more to his answer that wasn’t boring. Once she moved on from our table, Josh grumbled something under his breath making me laugh.

“Relax,” I whispered to him. “They just want to make you seem human.”

Josh turned his death glare on me, “How much longer do we have to do this?”

“We’ve got at least two hours,” I told him and he swore. There was a reason we were sat at the same table, if anyone could make Josh seem personable it was me.

“This is your last season with the Hornets, today is your last game. Any feelings about that?” Another short, chubby man asked, practically stepping on the girl.

“Careful,” I said and he looked to his left, finally noticing her.

There were far too many in this room today.

“Pride,” I answered him, popping the small paper ball in my mouth.

“It’s been a long five years with these guys, and a lot of us are done with the team this year. We want to make it count today.”

“And after?” The female reporter asked. “There’s rumors you signed with a team in San Francisco.”

“Something like that,” I smiled at her before flicking the wet ball at Van and hitting him in the forearm with a small wet tick.

He looked down at it with a disgusted look and flipped me off secretly as he continued to answer the question he was asked.

Eventually the room died down and the reporters dwindled leaving us all sitting there, staring at each other burnt out for the morning but ready to play that evening.

The air was tight, almost buzzing with energy as Coach shooed us all back up to the Nest for lunch.

Drew, Clementine and Mrs. Shore had put together a massive lunch for us, that half of us picked at because of the nerves but it was nice to sit around the table one more time. After lunch I dragged Adeline up the stairs to find a quiet place to kiss her silly.

“I’ve never been in here without Todd watching us like a hawk,” Adeline giggled, curled around me in my bed.

It would be one of the last times I’d be in this room and I couldn’t help but feel a little sad about it.

“I always thought it was weird you didn’t just live at home with how close it is to the stadium. ”

I laughed, pressing my face into her hair, “I didn’t originally. Mom had to convince me that it would be good. I was happy to live at home.” I huffed, “She was right though. It was good. Living here is different, the Nest makes everyone family.”

“Yeah,” Adeline hummed. “Are you nervous about today?” She asked.

“No.” I shook my head. “Games like this, like today. They’re my favorite.”

She shifted in bed, resting against my chest so she could look at me with her judgmental hazel eyes, “are you sure?” She asked, checking a little more thoroughly that time. It wasn’t about the game though, she was asking how I felt about everything else.

“It’s going to be hard, not just on me but everyone too. Today means a lot of different things to everyone. It’s a once in a lifetime win for some, it’s a chance to be draft eligible for others, for some of us it’s a goodbye.”

Adeline swallowed tightly.

“A happy goodbye, Belle. Not a sad one.” I cupped her face. “I can’t stay in this room forever, eventually I have to grow up and I’m grateful I get to do it with you.”

Before she could say anything else her name was hollered through the house by Zoey interrupting what little alone time, we were getting that day.

“Hey!” She popped her head in the door, “There you are. I’m doing Ella’s hair, do you want me to do yours?” She asked her as Adeline gently looked back over her shoulder .

“Do I get ribbons too?” Adeline asked with a bright smile.

“I thought you’d never ask!” Zoey squealed and put her hand out, “Come with me!”

Adeline didn’t move right away, her face turning back to mine. “If I don’t see you before the game,” she whispered, giving me a small kiss, “I love you.”

The I think portion had finally faded away and the certainty in her voice made me vibrate with unbridled affection toward her.

I squeezed my fingers into her skin involuntarily and surged forward, sinking my teeth into her bottom lip as I stole another kiss.

“I love you,” I repeated back as she pulled away.

“Hey,” I called out as she slipped off the bed.

She turned back to look at me, her hair wavy and crazy around her perfect face.

“One more?” I asked and she came right back.

“One more.” The second kiss was longer, sweeter and left me a little breathless when she finally pulled away.

“I got you a surprise,” I pointed to the dresser and she smiled.

Sitting on top was a folded jersey and two bags of gummy cola bottles just for her.

“You spoil a girl you know.” She scooped her jersey off the dresser, my phone number freshly plastered across the back.

“Seriously?” She threw her head back laughing, her cheeks bright pink with amusement before she scrunched her nose up at me.

“It’s perfect,” she hummed and disappeared after Zoey. “Good luck!”

If you win I have a treat for you

Baby, you are the treat.

“In you come, boys, no more delaying.” Coach stood at the door of the stadium staring at us all in a huddle.

I shoved my phone away and pulled at the collar of my suit walking up, suffocating on the pressure that was coming down on our shoulders.

I swear the whole team sat in the parking lot for nearly twenty minutes before any of us dared to move.

Holding my breath I stared up at the iron bars in awe, no matter how many times we did that walk. It never got old.

I held my breath to steady my heart and take in the moment.

Harbor Stadium had been my home for the last five years.

“You coming?” Van leaned against the door when I came back to focus and I nodded, following him with a smile. I had told him that morning about what was going on and in true Van fashion, he was nothing but proud of me.

“You’ll make a cute house wife, Jenny. ” He teased, throwing my clean ball pants at me from the dryer.

“I’ll be working, I’m not just going to be her ball boy.” I shook my head.

“I don’t know, that sounds kind of fun.” Van shrugged, folding his pants. “What did she say?”

“She thinks I’m insane,” I said, with a laugh. “What do you think?”

“I’ve just been waiting for you to catch up, man. I’m glad you found some happy.”

Cael had the party mix blasting in the locker room by the time we caught up with everyone, Arlo and Nicholas were huddled with Josh going over plays as the rest of the players stripped from their suits just trying to keep the energy in the room high.

Seeing Cael navigate the room, stuck in his dress clothes sucked for everyone but he was taking it in strides.

“Hey, Cody.” I called out to him, tapping his locker with my hand. “Get changed. You can’t go out there like that.”

Cael looked at me, his jaw clenched tightly as his eyes landed on his untouched locker.

“Just because you can’t play doesn’t mean you don’t get dressed,” Van agreed from beside me. He was uncharacteristically quiet as he shifted in his fancy shoes, his blonde hair pushed back off his tight face.

“What the fuck are you waiting for?” Arlo barked and Cael instantly moved toward his locker laughing nervously from the intrusion. Arlo watched over his shoulder for a moment, giving a tiny nod to both Van and I.

“Do you think that was a smile?” Van leaned down to whisper to me .

“That was definitely a smile.” I hit him on the shoulder and started to get changed.

Coach cleared his throat, flanked by Silas and Ella at the front of the room.

“The last game is always the hardest, boys,” he said, looking around the room.

“It’s the end of season for some of you, for others it’s the end of your career with the Hornets but that doesn’t matter because that’s tomorrow's business. Today, you get together and you show Harbor what it means to be a family, you show them exactly how fucking good you are at being a team. Walk out on that field with your chests out and your heads held high. You have gone through hell to get here today,” Coach’s glance stopped on Cael and Josh across the room as his hand raised to his chest. “You’ve overcome challenges as boys and came out the other side as men.

Portland fucking knows how hard you’re going to fight for this so do not let them down, you fight for that win tonight and when you think you can’t fight anymore, you get back up and try some more. ”

“Yes Coach.” The room erupted.

“I don’t talk about her much because frankly none of you boys need to see a grown man cry but,” Coach cleared his throat. “Rae would be proud of you.”

He tapped his chest with two fingers, and we all mirrored it, holding it a little longer than we usually would have. Taking in the silence and letting it wrap around our nerves.

“Bring it home, boys.”