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Chapter One

BODE

I t’s the perfect day. Basking in the sunshine, with a cold beer in hand, there’s worse ways to be spending a Saturday afternoon than hanging out at my pool.

Happy shouts from the kids splashing in the cool water echo around the yard. Most of my teammates and their families are here. Dax is playing with Marcus’s kids, and Jasper is standing and talking with Noah and Graham while manning the grill.

“Will you play with us, Bode?” Sam asks.

A pair of goggles sits on her forehead, hair sticking to her face.

“What do you want to play?” I lean forward, dropping my feet in the water.

“How about chicken?”

“Chicken? What’s that?”

If I’m using the pool, it’s usually to stay in shape during the offseason. It’s an easy way to get a workout in without having to go into the gym. I never actually play in it.

“We sit on your shoulders and try to push the other off.” Sam looks at me like I should know this.

“Who would you be pushing off?” I ask.

“Sadie. She’ll sit on Uncle Dax’s shoulders.”

“Is this safe?” I ask.

“What have we told you girls about playing this game?” Harper comes up from behind me, arms crossed with a fierce look on her face.

“Ahh, nuts,” Sadie says. At least, I think it’s Sadie. Honestly, it’s hard to tell these two apart sometimes. Identical twins and all.

Sam gives a sigh. “That we’re not allowed to play it because then Jamie will want to play and he’s too little.”

“Maybe after he goes down for a nap, okay?” Marcus comes up behind Harper and wraps his arms around her waist.

“Yes!” The twins pump their arms in unison as I hop up from the side of the pool. The girls start splashing Dax, who gives it right back to them. “Can we play with the big chess set after we swim?”

“Sure can,” I tell them.

“You don’t ever want this?” Marcus asks, nudging me in the side as I drop my sunglasses over my eyes.

“Fuck, no. Can you imagine me with a kid?”

Marcus laughs. “It’s why we don’t let you babysit the girls.”

I shrug a shoulder. “I’d be offended if it weren’t true.”

“You’ll want it one day,” Harper says, without looking at me.

“Will I?” I quirk a brow at the two of them. The two of them were made to be parents. They’re great at it. Me? I can’t even manage uncle duty.

“I can’t wait for the day when you’ll eat your words.”

“I don’t think that day will ever come.” I clap him on the back. “Because I can do whatever the hell I want without anyone telling me what I can’t do.”

“Whatever you say, Bode. Whatever you say.”

Marcus backs away from me as one of the kids does a cannonball into the pool. This is what I’m good at. Having my teammates over at my house and throwing a killer party? Yeah, this I can do.

Plus, with a few weeks off before offseason training starts, I might even go out tonight and see what kind of fun I can find with a willing partner.

The perfect day followed by an even better night.

Grabbing another beer from the cooler, I make my rounds, chatting with the guys who came. Some are here by themselves, while others came with their families.

The guys are sitting under the patio as I take one of the bratwursts and drop into one of the seats next to Marcus.

“Bode said we can play with his giant chess set when we’re done,” Sadie tells him. She’s brimming with excitement. “And we’re done.”

“Are you sure, Bode?” Harper asks.

“Yeah. Who else is going to use it? I don’t play chess.”

“That’s because I beat him.”

Sadie has a huge smile on her face.

“That’s mean, tiny Evans. I’ll take you on after lunch.”

“Twenty bucks says I win,” Sadie says.

Marcus shakes his head. “Don’t take that bet, Bode. You’re going to lose.”

I walk over and stick my hand out to her. “Oh no. I’ll take you on.”

“My sister is going to beat you,” Sam pipes up.

“I always love watching Sadie kick your ass, Bode,” Marcus says.

“You guys are mean, especially considering I invited everyone here.”

“We like your pool,” Noah deadpans.

“See if I ever invite you over again.” I pull my sunglasses down and grab Noah’s drink before heading back to the pool. But before I get far, a woman with a car seat carrier rounds the yard.

“Excuse me. Is there a Bode Adams here?” she asks.

“That’s me.” I hold out my hand for her to shake.

She glances at it and shifts what’s in her arms. “I’m Miss Mitchell from the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services.”

A sound hits my ears. There’s a tiny baby in the car seat that she’s holding.

“Why are you here?” I ask, confused. “I don’t have any kids.”

I don’t miss the whispers that Graham, Noah, and Jasper exchange.

“Oh, shit,” Marcus whispers.

“I’ve been trying to get ahold of you for a few weeks now and was told you’d be here,” the older woman says. She holds out a stack of papers to me, which I don’t take. “This is your son.”

“I’m sorry, what?” There’s no way I could have heard her correctly.

“Your son.”

“What the fuck?”

“If you would have answered any of my calls, you’d know who I am and why I’m here.”

“Your calls? I haven’t missed any calls.”

“You have.” Now she sounds exasperated. “It took me some time to track you down, but here. This is all the information regarding custody of the minor in question.”

“Seriously, what the fuck is going on? This has to be a joke.”

“Bode!” Marcus hisses. “You can’t say that around a baby.”

“He can’t understand me,” I snap.

The woman presses the papers into my hand as I glance at the kid that is now set on the ground. “If you would look at the paperwork here, you’ll see that you are named as the baby’s father.”

My mouth is dry as sandpaper as I look at the information swirling together on the page. A baby? “There’s no way this kid is mine.”

“I am only here to relay the information provided to me. As you can see on the birth certificate, again, you were named the baby’s father.”

Her patience is wearing thin. Maybe because it’s hot outside or because I have no idea what is going on, but damn it. What the fuck is going on?

The name of the mother doesn’t ring a bell. I do my best to rack my brain, but I come up empty.

“And you’re here because…”

“Because the mother is terminating her rights and wants the baby’s father to have custody.”

“How do I even know if this kid is mine?”

“Bode.” Marcus elbows me in the side. “Look at him.”

For the first time, I drop down and look at the kid inside the car seat.

Wide brown eyes.

Light-brown hair.

An almost-there dimple on his left cheek.

Fuck. The kid is a spitting image of me. Even I can see it.

“The mother was clear on giving custody to you, the father. If you don’t want him, I’m going to need you to sign some paperwork.”

“For what?”

“Well, we would need to find another foster family for him to stay with and?—”

Whatever else she says is drowned out by the echoing in my head. It feels like I’m underwater and gasping for breath.

I’ve never had an inkling of responsibility in the world. Just me and hockey. That’s it.

Now, there’s a baby on my doorstep.

“Can I have a minute?”

“I will need to know today. The family he’s been staying with is going out of town, and we would need to line up another family.”

“Right.”

I glance at the baby before heading inside. I feel sick. The cool blast of air conditioning sticks to my overheated skin.

A baby?

Holy shit.

Of all the ways I thought today would go, this is not it.

“Bode? Are you okay?”

“What?”

I don’t know who in the world is talking right now, but when I look up, the guys are surrounding me.

“I asked if you’re okay,” Jasper repeats. “You look like you’re going to be sick.”

“Here.” Harper presses a bottle of water into my hand. “Drink that.”

I chug it down in a few quick gulps. The coolness helps to clear some of the fog that has taken up residence in my head.

“Bode.” Harper’s clear voice cuts through the noise. “You have to step up and do the right thing. This is your child. You can’t let him go into the system.”

I glance over at her. “Is that what would happen?”

She nods. “Yes. You can’t let this sweet boy go with complete strangers.”

“You know I’m a stranger to him, right?”

Jasper slaps me on the back of the head. “You’re his father. Do you want to be a deadbeat dad, or are you gonna step up and be a man?”

“Fuck.”

I scrub a hand over my face. Shit. That’s the last thing I want.

I don’t know the first thing about raising a kid, but after my childhood, do I want to be that guy? Damn it. Fucking Jasper knew exactly what to say to pull my head out of my ass.

“Okay.”

“Okay, you’re keeping him?” Harper asks.

“Okay, I’ll keep him.”

It’s the scariest thing I’ll ever say in my life.

Me? With a kid?

I have no idea what is going to happen, but I have to step up. I have to be this kid’s father.

It’s now or never.

I only hope this decision doesn’t screw up both of our lives.