Page 3

CHAPTER 3

CAMDEN

I t was incredibly difficult to sit at home while my best friend gave birth at a hospital just minutes away from me. I’d been with her when her water broke and it had scared the shit out of me. That burst of fluid that happened almost like in the movies caused me to frozen for a few seconds.

Like, I knew what was happening but wasn’t sure it was real.

Then I’d jumped into action. This was the exact reason my brother had wanted me to hang with Harlowe at his house when he wasn’t there. Not a hardship for me, given that she was my best friend. Then he’d shown up and I was about to be a third wheel in a delicate situation where only two were needed.

Would I have stayed? Absolutely. But it wasn’t my place. Harlowe had what she needed and Brooks would move heaven and Earth to make sure she was taken care of. So I headed back to my brother’s house to clean up the mess we’d left there and yes, that did include Harlowe’s amniotic fluid.

Whatever. It looked like water. After I was done there, I went home, promising myself that I wouldn’t text for updates. I’d be patient. Which was very hard when all of my other brothers were at the game. It was the second game since the home opener and it had just started .

So I plopped down on the couch in the living room, careful not to put my feet up on the coffee table that I now knew Monroe’s dad had designed and crafted—making it very expensive—to finish watching the game.

But my head wasn’t into it. My mind kept wondering if the baby had been born when obviously, that takes time. Though Harlowe had realized that she’d probably been in labor all day because she’d complained about pain in her back. She’d just thought it was the normal back pain from carrying the load around, but the nurse had said those were likely the start of her contractions.

Almost as soon as the game ended, my phone rang.

“Hello, brother,” I said after seeing Silas’s name on my phone along with the dorky picture I’d snagged two years ago that I’d set to come up when he called.

“Any news?” he asked, but it sounded like he was on the move. He must’ve been walking down the hall to the clubhouse. The game had just ended after all.

“No. None, unfortunately.”

“I almost had a heart attack when Coach came to pull him.”

I snickered into the phone. It was easy to see how that could happen. “Well, I almost had a heart attack when Harlowe’s amniotic fluid splashed everywhere.”

“Nasty.” He groaned, making me laugh harder. “Head to my house,” he said suddenly. I was about to ask why, but he didn’t give me a chance. “We’re all going there to wait for the news. Amity, Everly, Monroe. All of us. ”

It being Saturday, all the girlfriends were probably at the game. It was even an afternoon game starting just after one.

“Yeah, all right,” I told him. “Is that everyone who’s going to be there?”

“I assume.” A door closed behind him. “Mom and Dad are doing their shit. Fuck. I don’t even know if they know, but I won’t be the one to tell them.”

“Of course Mom knows. Hello. Nothing happens with the team that she doesn’t know—plus, he was pulled from the game on television. She’d ask questions, anyway.”

“Yeah, that’s true. So it’ll just be us.”

Nodding, I told him, “I’ll head on over.” There was no way I could ask if Jenner was coming because I didn’t ask questions about Jenner Greene.

The hope he wouldn’t be there was all I had.

As I suspected I would, I got to Silas’s house before everyone else. They had to change and shower and their girlfriends would’ve waited for them. Luckily, I had a key to every single one of my brothers’ places. I just didn’t normally use them.

Since I had time to kill on my own, I decided to figure out dinner. The game had been at one, and it had lasted almost three hours. The guys would have had a snack, but we’d need to eat dinner in a few hours, so I might as well figure it out now.

First, I took inventory of what my brother and Amity had already in their house. Then put together an idea. Baked chicken breast, roasted Brussels sprouts—which my weirdo brothers all loved—and a baked potato. It’d give them all the recovery magic they needed. I would also do a salad because there wasn’t a single chance that any Brussels sprouts pass through my lips. Though I wasn’t sure about the other women.

I’d wait for them to get home before placing an express delivery order for the things I needed. Sure, Silas had chicken, but it was all frozen.

Finally, the entire crew came through the door.

“Any news?” Silas was first as everyone else was crowding in. His house was big enough to fit us all and while we’d grown up in a McMansion—to say the least—my brothers so far had opted for normal-sized large homes.

“No,” I told him. “I’ve heard babies can take forever.”

Which meant the entire group of us was here for the duration. Or until my older-brother grandpas had to go to bed. Rest was important to the game. I’d heard it a hundred million times.

My muscles relaxed once Cobb had shut the door behind him and no one else came in. Meaning Jenner wasn’t with them. It was just my older brothers and their girlfriends.

We chatted for a while until the delivery arrived and then Monroe, Everly, Amity, and I went into the kitchen to cook dinner. It wasn’t that my brothers wouldn’t help. Not at all. It was more that we wanted to talk without them right there.

My brothers had big personalities. Hell, I had a big personality but all of them together could really take over the conversation and sometimes, we wanted girl time.

Dinner was good and it wasn’t until nine-thirty when we were all getting ready to leave that my phone rang.

“It’s Brooks,” I called out and the entire place went silent. I answered but on speaker phone. “Hello?”

“Hey,” he said, but there was so much happiness and love in his voice that I knew she was here. “She’s here.”

No one said a word, but large smiles crossed all of our faces. “And? Harlowe?”

“She’s great. Tired, but great. Kelsie was born about an hour ago. She weighs seven pounds twelve ounces and is nineteen and a half inches long.”

To most of my brothers, those stats wouldn’t mean anything. But I had desperately wanted to know every detail about my new niece.

Though I was a little surprised that they’d gone with Kelsie for her. I thought for sure the siblings and I would stop the tradition of naming kids after people in baseball. Or in my case—a baseball field. But no. They’d chosen to name their baby after the first woman to sign a Major League contract.

It had been a hot topic of conversation in my family.

Though Brooks swore he’d never push his kids into the sport. Not at all. She could do whatever she wanted when it came to that. Still, Harlowe loved the name, so that had been the end of that .

“Congratulations,” I said, holding back happy tears, which got him a round of congratulations from the rest of the family.

“Thanks,” he said with a chuckle. “I’m sending you a picture now.”

It was only a second before my phone buzzed and everyone crowded around me as I swiped to my texts. There she was. Beautiful as anything I’d ever seen before.

“Oh, my gosh, Brooks. She’s so beautiful.”

“I know.” He cleared his throat of the emotions threatening to get out. “Listen, I have to call Mom. You’re our first call and visiting hours are over.”

I snickered because he’d know that I would want to head right up. “I know. I already looked them up, so you can expect me at ten tomorrow morning.” Then I gave every person in the room a glare so they’d know I meant business. None of them were getting up there before me. Harlowe was my best friend. I needed to go see her.

“Looking forward to it.”

Then he ended the call because like he said, he had to call Mom.

“I can’t believe one of us is a parent,” Urban commented as he squeezed Everly against his side.

She jabbed him with her elbow. “Don’t get any ideas.”

We all laughed, but it was like every one of us knew exactly how life-changing this was.

Harlowe texted me that night saying she couldn’t wait for me to meet Kelsie. I couldn’t wait, either. She also said she’d give me all of the gory details if I wanted them. Which absolutely I did, but I could wait until she was home. I’d be spending a lot of time helping her out when Brooks went back to work. He’d only get three games off and that included today’s.

So he’d be back at work on Tuesday, leaving them only one day at home.

It sucked, but that was how it worked.

The next morning, I was up and ready to go long before I needed to be, but the excitement wouldn’t let me stay in bed. Instead of waiting around, I went shopping for some things for the baby. Not that they didn’t already have everything she could possibly need, but I needed to commemorate the moment.

I was an aunt. Which was the one thing I thought brothers were good for. Brooks had finally come through.

After getting the little outfit and teddy bear into the giftbag, it was finally time that I could head to the hospital. First, I stopped across the street to get Harlowe’s favorite frozen coffee. She and I didn’t drink a ton of coffee, but when we did, it was sweet and frozen. Once in a while iced.

Right at ten, I was strolling into the hospital. After getting her room number, I stepped onto the elevator. As the door closed, an arm shot through the opening to stop it and make it open back up. The absolute last thing I expected was the person who stepped on right before the doors closed.

His blue eyes widened slightly when he saw me as I pressed my lips into a grimace, not caring if he saw it. I didn’t hide my disdain for Jenner Greene from him. My body was suddenly heavy as my chest tightened.

Good thing I was in a hospital because being alone in any space with that man was something I usually made sure never happened. If it tried to kill me, I was in the right place.

But god, why did he have to look so damn good?

“Camden,” he greeted me after noticing that the fourth floor was already pressed.

I didn’t answer him, choosing instead to ignore his existence.

When he stepped off the elevator behind me, a throbbing pain began in the middle of my forehead as the scar on my chest suddenly felt hot. It wasn’t. It was my brain doing it.

This was what he did to me. Caused me pain just by existing.

“What’re you doing?” I asked once we were outside of Harlowe’s room.

“Going to see Brooks and Harlowe. See the baby.”

I scowled at him. “Can’t you just wait out here while I go in?”

He shook his head. “We have this carefully choreographed so all of your brothers and girlfriends can stop in before the game. They only allowed two visitors at a time, I got slated to go first since they all knew you’d be here right away.”

I hated my entire family at that moment. Though I couldn’t blame them because they only knew of my hatred of players in general, not Jenner specifically .

After letting out a sigh to make sure he knew how annoyed I was right then, I knocked quietly on the door, waited to be told to come in, then pushed through.

Instead of letting that man ruin this moment, I put a big, excited smile on my face. As I rounded the little corner, I found Harlowe sitting up in the bed with my brother beside her holding the baby. Now I understood why some women found it hot for a man to be holding a baby. Not that my brother was hot at all. I could just see the aesthetic now.

“Hey, Mama,” I said as I put the bag and coffee on the closest table before hurrying over to my best friend and hugging her. “Congratulations.”

Jenner greeted Brooks with that guy-hug thing they do, so I did what I could not to roll my eyes.

“Thank you.,” she said quietly as I released her. Then she whispered, “Did you two come together?”

I curled my lips back in disgust. “Gross. No. He got into the elevator and there was no way for me to push him out.” I grabbed the coffee then came back to her. “I did bring you this.”

She groaned softly. “Bless you. Go meet Kelsie.”

I rounded the bed, which caused Jenner to step back, and wrapped my arms around my brother’s waist. Since he had the baby in one arm, he wrapped the other around my shoulders.

“Congratulations,” I told him. “Now let me see my niece.”

Brooks chuckled as he released me then brought the baby down to my level .

She was the little picture-perfect baby sleeping soundly and I loved her already.

“I get to hold her, right?”

“Of course.”

Before he could give her to me, I hurried over to the hand sanitizer on the wall, took a couple of squirts, and rubbed it in. Then I was back and ready to hold my niece for the first time. She was so tiny and perfect that my heart was about to burst with love for her.

As I stepped back, I realized that Jenner was standing too closely behind me and a picture flashed in my mind. Of us in this very position, yet it was different. Because I was the one who’d just given birth.

Gross. Why couldn’t I get him out of my mind? Never once since I’d realized that I’d fallen for him had I been clear of those feelings and I didn’t understand it. After all, I hated him. I really hated him for what he’d done, but at the same time…

When Jenner cleared his throat, it took everything in me not to turn and look up at him. Did he have the same thought? No. Of course not. If he felt anything for me, he wouldn’t have hurt me five years ago. I had the scars to prove it.

Everyone, including him, knew how I’d always planned to be a mom. That wasn’t going to happen anytime soon which was fine with me. I wanted to have a kid with a man I was committed to. Someone I loved. And since I didn’t see that happening anytime soon, neither would a baby. Besides, I was still young and it wouldn’t be fair to another man if I had lingering feelings for Jenner, even though I really hated him .

Luckily, my brother was just starting the season so I’d get plenty of time with this little one.

All that hate I had for Jenner didn’t stop how attracted to him I was. They weren’t kidding when they said there was a fine line between love and hate because I hated him. Yet there was still something else there. Maybe it was hate-fuck that I understood now. I hated him yet would probably still fuck him.

No. I really wouldn’t. There was no chance that would happen, but that didn’t mean I didn’t want to.

“Do I get a turn?” Jenner’s deep voice asked, bringing me out of my own spiral.

“I don’t know,” I said without looking up at him. “I’m not sure we can trust you to not hurt her.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him wrap his arms over his chest and scowl at me. “That’s kind of insulting.”

“Well, some of us know how you are,” I countered, keeping my eyes on the baby.

“What the fuck, Camden?” Brooks asked. “He’s held a baby before.”

My eyebrows shot sky high. Imagine my surprise to find out that Jenner had held a baby. Now I wanted to know whose baby, when this had happened—just everything.

Instead, I asked if he’d sanitized his hands. He had, so I didn’t have another excuse to not hand her over. My arms missed her right away, but I went over to Harlowe and sat on the edge of her bed .

“So, I’m planning on coming to your house Tuesday morning,” I told her. “Brooks is going to let me know when he’s leaving.”

“You don’t have to do that,” she countered.

“Yes, I do. You’d do it for me.”

“Of course I would.” She nibbled on her bottom lip shyly before saying, “Did I tell you that I sometimes wished you’d get pregnant, too? So we could have our babies together?”

I snickered. “You did tell me that, but it’s not going to happen.”

“Fuck that,” Brooks said, like he’d been listening the whole time. “She’s too young.”

Harlowe looked up at him with a huge grin. “We’re literally the same age.”

“It’s different.” He brushed her off, leaving both of us shaking our heads.

Then Brooks got a text from Silas saying they were in the parking lot and heading up. It was the system we’d come up with so that whoever was visiting could leave before the next visitors came up.

“All right,” I said as I stood then looked back to Harlowe. “Don’t be afraid to kick my brothers out if you’re getting tired.”

“I won’t be.” Then she gave me a fake salute. “I feel really good, actually. Approximately the size of a small house, but good.”

“Pft. Do not. You don’t even look like you just gave birth. Your belly is like one-tenth the size it was. ”

She snickered as Jenner handed the baby back to Brooks and by the look of it, he really had done this before. Damn my curiosity.

But then the two of us left as if we were together.

“What the fuck was that?” he asked once we were on the elevator.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

He snorted. “You don’t know if you can trust me with a baby? Like I was going to drop her or something?”

I shrugged. “How am I supposed to know if you’re going to drop her or not? She’s a girl. You tend to drop woman.”

He scowled. “No. I don’t. I don’t drop anyone. I also don’t drop the ball as a profession. If you’re talking relationships, I’d have to be in one to drop someone.”

My jaw tightened and the throbbing in my head came right back. It had only taken a single moment alone with the man. This was why I needed to keep my guard up and distance between us.

Then Jenner sighed, but the doors opened and we had to step off. Though I didn’t see Silas and Amity, the next pair to visit, unfortunately. They were probably on another elevator up.

“Look.” He stopped in the entryway near the doors and grabbed my arm to stop me too. His touch radiated up my arm and warmed me. Now I had to hate my body for its reaction to him. “Camden, I know you’re still angry, but it was a long time ago. I’m not sure why we can’t be friends. Or fuck, at least friendly like I am with the rest of your family. ”

“Oh, really?” I bit back a smile. “You’re friends with my dad?”

Now he groaned. “No one’s friends with your dad.”

He wasn’t lying there, but I realized that this was another step for him. Had I been paying attention, I would’ve realized before now that he was trying to get me to see him differently than I did now.

Hell. No.

Not going to happen.

“Yeah, well…” I took a step closer to him and it must’ve looked ridiculous because he was like six feet tall while I hovered around the five-feet-three-inch mark. “The last time I trusted you, I ended up with a couple of huge scars on my chest.” Without thinking about it, I touched the spot at the top of my right breast where I knew the scar was.

Jenner took a step back like my words had the ability to physically push him. “That’s not fair and you know it.” He swallowed hard. “I regret how I handled all of that, Camden. I do. I wouldn’t ever want you to get hurt. You have to know that.”

I tightened my jaw and glared at him. “I don’t know anything.” Then I turned and hurried out of the hospital as fast as I could without running. It wasn’t until I was safely inside my car that I blew out my breath and all the tension along with it.

Jenner Greene wasn’t going to get to me again.