Page 14

Chapter Fourteen

BODE

Stevie

You looked good out there tonight

Bode

Thanks

It was a good win

Eve sent me the photo of Caleb watching the game

Isn’t he the cutest?

He really is

Did you ever think you’d be gushing over him this much?

No

It’s weird, right?

No

It’s cute

Get some rest. Caleb and I will be watching tomorrow night

T hat has me wanting to puff out my chest and bring home the win just for them. Stretching out onto the queen-size bed, I ignore the too-firm mattress beneath me.

Would I rather be at home hanging out with Caleb and Stevie? Absolutely.

But I love my job, so that means I’m here with the guys tonight in another hotel room that blends into all the rest.

“Open up.” Banging on the door echoes in the hotel room.

Fuck. I just lay down, my entire body giving a happy sigh. The first game of a road trip is always hard, and New York is a tough team. All I want to do right now is lie down and go to sleep.

I have a feeling the one thing I’m going to like about these road trips is sleeping through the night. No crying baby to wake me.

Dax opens the door and the guys pile into the room.

“We’re playing video games tonight,” Graham tells us, unceremoniously.

“Really? Aren’t you exhausted?” I ask, moving over on the bed when Jasper whacks me in the thigh.

“Can’t keep up anymore, old man?”

“Who you calling old, Jasper?” I jab.

He flips me the bird as he sits down next to me.

“We need a little team bonding,” Noah tells us.

I roll my eyes. “You know, you can say you just want to hang out. You don’t have to do it under the guise of team bonding every time.”

“Would you say yes otherwise?” Noah quirks a brow at me.

Fuck, he does have a point. I know it’s the only way to get Marcus on board, based on the face he’s making. I know he would rather stay in his room and call Harper and the family, but clearly he lost that battle.

“I don’t know how you have the energy. I mean, Dax here took that wicked hit in the second,” I tell them.

“That means we do what I want to do,” Dax says, giving us all a smile that lights up his baby face. Poor kid doesn’t look older than a teenager, thanks to the facial hair he can’t grow. Something I’ve heard him whine about too often since we room together.

“So video games it is,” I say, resigned.

Any other night and I wouldn’t mind. All I wanted to do tonight is crash. I had a quick call with Gran while we were on the bus and heard all about Caleb’s night.

It’s weird how much I enjoyed hearing about the mundane things he did. Like eating peas.

Who would’ve thought I would have been so engrossed in a kid eating peas? Seeing as how he’s thrown them at me every time I’ve tried feeding them to him, I’m ecstatic.

Noah and Graham fire up the game as Dax takes a seat next to them.

“How’s Caleb doing?” Marcus asks from his seat near the window.

“He’s good. Great, actually.” I pull up my phone and find the picture Gran sent me tonight. He’s sitting in his floor seat with a tiny Knights onesie on. “Look how cute he is.”

Marcus looks at the picture and then looks back at me. “You’re just like any other parent now. Showing pictures of your kid to anyone that asks.”

“I can’t help it when he’s the cutest fucking thing ever.”

“Harper has to stop me from oversharing pictures of Jamie.” Marcus laughs. “Literally, the kid could puke all over me and he’d still be adorable.”

I rear back in disgust. “Okay, having gotten spit up on the other day, I can confirm that is not cute at all.”

“Can you two stop talking about kids puking?” Dax yells out, twisting his body as his character does another lap in the game. “No one needs to hear about this.”

“Hey.” Marcus chucks a piece of popcorn from the bag he’s eating at the back of Dax’s head. “This is what you talk about when you have kids.”

“If you two start talking about poop, I’m leaving,” Jasper tells us.

“I mean, if it gets you guys out of here faster…” I trail off.

He cuts me a mean glare. “Don’t even think about it.”

“Hey, if I win the tournament, everyone is out.”

This is how it always goes when we play video games together. We take turns competing against one another until there’s a winner. Usually, everyone has to buy them drinks that night, but we never actually follow through.

Mainly because Noah and Graham duck out early, and Marcus never comes out because he wants to call his family.

Which, now that I have my own son at home, I can’t blame him. I’d rather stay in than go out and celebrate a win.

“See if you can do better.” Dax pops up, mumbling about an unfair loss and hands me the remote.

“Oh, I will.” I give him a cocky smile.

Because now that I’m in control of the game, I plan on winning so I can go to bed. Like I wanted to before these guys came to interrupt my plans for the evening.

Marcus grabs the controller from Graham and the two of us take our starting positions. It’s a game I’ve played too many times to count. I could play it in my sleep. We learned early on that we can never play hockey games because we got into a fight and Dax nearly got his nose punched in.

Hockey players aren’t competitive at all.

I take an easy lead, Marcus not putting much effort into his lap at all. Knowing him, he knows if he gets out of here sooner, he can go call Harper.

“You have to at least try, you dickhead.” Noah punches Marcus in the arm.

“I am!” he defends. “It’s not my fault I’m terrible at this.”

I roll my eyes at him. “You’re not terrible. You just don’t want to be playing.”

Marcus leans back onto the bed, dropping onto his elbows. “You’re right, I don’t. Can’t we just say Bode wins and all go to bed?”

“Seriously, you are a grump,” Graham tells him.

“Not a grump,” Marcus corrects. “I have a very hot wife waiting up for me, and I’d rather see her than your ugly mugs.”

“Ouch.” Dax feigns hurt. “It’s like you don’t love us.”

“More like I love my wife more.”

“Get out of here.” Jasper smacks him on the back of the head. “I’ll take over for you.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice.” Marcus flies off the bed like a bat out of hell. We can’t get a word in before the door is closing behind him.

“Damn. Apparently he misses her,” Noah points out.

“It’s not like everyone travels with their partner,” Graham tells him.

Noah gives Graham a chaste kiss. “Aren’t we lucky?”

“Is everyone in love?” Dax whines.

“Technically it’s only those two.” Jasper doesn’t look at us as he easily takes the lead from me.

Shit. I really need to be paying better attention. If I win, I’m definitely kicking these guys out. But because I want to go to sleep, of course it takes another hour for me to finally claim victory. It’s easy to enjoy the night with these guys because they’re like family, but right now they’re a very annoying family that doesn’t want to take the hint and leave.

“Alright. I’m kicking you guys out,” I tell all of them.

“Ugh, fine,” Noah groans. “I’ll take Graham on when we get back to our room.”

“How do you still want to play?” I hold the door open for them, not letting anyone linger.

“We’d invite Dax with us, but he’s looking exhausted too,” Noah says as he pulls the door shut behind him. Dax is already asleep, hand resting on his stomach.

I shake my head at them as they all file out. The minute the door closes, it’s silent. Just what I want. Exhaustion has well and truly taken over as I collapse face-first into the pillows.

* * *

“What the fuck was that?”

Looking around, the room is cloaked in darkness. Dax lets out a grunt from the bed next to mine.

“Dude.” Reaching across the small space in the room, I smack his arm. “Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?” he groans.

“That noise.”

“I have no clue what you’re talking about. Why are you awake?”

Glancing at the alarm clock, I see it’s just after three in the morning. “I don’t know. Something woke me up.”

“And you felt the need to wake me up?” Dax rolls back over, facing away from me, and pulls a pillow over his face. “You’re just mean.”

Nerves are roiling through me. I don’t know what it is or what I heard—or thought I heard—that is making me jumpy.

Grabbing my phone, I unlock it and navigate to the app that Harper had me load. The one that connects to the video monitor in Caleb’s room.

It’s hard to make him out through the slats in his crib. Is he even in there?

Shit. Maybe that’s what made me panic.

Is Caleb okay?

I don’t think before hitting Gran’s number on my favorites and waiting for her to pick up.

“What in the hell are you doing calling me this early in the morning?” she says by way of answer.

“Is Caleb okay?”

“What?” Her voice is muffled. “Why are you calling? He’s fine.”

“I can’t see him.”

“Because he’s sleeping.”

“Gran. Can you please go check on him for me?”

I hear her huff out a breath. “You know he is just fine.”

“Oh my God. Would you go into the bathroom? Some of us are trying to sleep here!” Dax yells, throwing a pillow my way.

“I don’t know who that is, but I agree with them.”

“You two are being ridiculous,” I tell them, tossing the comforter off me and stalking toward the bathroom.

“We’re being ridiculous?” Dax calls out after me. “You’re the one waking everyone up because you had a bad dream.”

“It wasn’t a bad dream,” I mutter to myself.

“Then why are you calling?” Gran asks.

I close the bathroom door behind me and put her on speaker so I can pull up the monitoring app again.

“I can’t check on my kid?”

“Not when it’s two in the morning.”

“Please?” This time, my voice is softer. Maybe if she hears me pleading, it’ll make her want to help.

“Only because you asked so nicely.”

If I could see her, I know she’d be rolling her eyes at me.

“I love you, Gran.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Light spills out from her opening the door. “You know, in my day, we didn’t have these fancy contraptions to let you see your baby when they were sleeping.”

“Did they have electricity then?” I ask her.

“I should whoop your ass for that comment and hang up right now.”

“Hey, you volunteered to do this,” I point out.

“Did I? I don’t recall that.”

“Pretty sure you said you’d help when you moved in.”

“It’s too early to remember what I agreed to,” she whispers. I can see her in Caleb’s room, a casual flip of her middle finger sent to the camera.

“Real mature, Gran.”

“If you wanted mature, you would’ve called Stevie.”

“Is he okay?” I ask. “The sooner you answer me, the sooner you can hang up.”

“He’s fine.”

“Fine as in still breathing?”

She huffs. “Yes. He is fine. I’m going back to bed.”

Ending the call, she cuts me an evil glare through the monitor and leaves his room.

Fuck. Is this what being a parent is like? Constant dread and worry? Maybe it’ll get easier with each road trip.

But what if something happens while I’m gone?

Would Stevie think I’m ridiculous if I call her tomorrow night? Probably not. She’d go check on him, let me know how he’s doing, and that’d be the end of it.

No middle fingers or argument.

Now I wish I was able to call and talk to her. She’s only been with us a couple of months, but it’s like she’s been in my life so much longer. I never realized how nice it would be to have someone like her around.

She’s gorgeous. A knockout, really. But it pales in comparison to how big her heart is. She’s seen me at my worst and didn’t turn away.

Her soft smiles and warm glances are what keep me going on the hard days. She makes me feel like I can do this whole parenting thing.

Fuck.

Now I really shouldn’t be thinking about her like this. Because the memory of running into her in the hallway, in just a towel no less, is living rent free in my head even after all this time.

And not just my head…

I really need to get it together, because I don’t want to scare her off. She’s one of the few people that knows me for me and likes me.

I want to keep it that way.