Page 46 of True Honey (The Hornets Nest #4)

COURTNEY

O ver the course of nearly two weeks, I went back and forth with Cael.

We had figured out everything for the photoshoot.

He had known what to do for every step we took, and even though I could tell he’d rather be on the field with his friends during the games that week.

He was teaching me more about baseball than I’d ever cared to learn.

He sat with me in the stands for five of the seven games they played and explained anything I asked about while we came up with ideas for new calendar shots and tried to figure out exactly what months everyone could be.

I hadn’t realized before, but he really was a sweet guy. He just loved attention. He was standing off the field with August as the photographer set up his gear and the rest of the volunteer Hornets stood around nervously.

“You guys are wearing way too many clothes!” Ella yelled coming onto the field with a big smile on her face.

“Who let her in here?” Arlo said, pointing to her with a scowl.

“You didn’t think you were going to get away with shooting this without me? Did you!?” Ella laughed wildly, “that’s cute.”

“Get her out of here.” Arlo pointed, shaking his head at Silas as I ran the cloth over his shoulders, making his skin shiny under the hot sun. Arlo continued to whine as Silas turned to face me with his arms out at his sides and an amused smile on his face.

“I didn’t think they actually rubbed you down with oil?” I said, running the cloth over his chest.

“I thought you were going to tackle the makeup girl when she told me to strip,” Silas said, his smile wide as he watched me spray more of the sweet smelling spray on his skin. I couldn’t tell if it was baby oil, or watered-down sunscreen but it tickled my nose and made his tanned skin glow.

“I was not going to tackle her…” I mumbled. My jealousy had gotten the better of me when she decided she was going to touch him. Seeing the excitement on her face, I took over the job with a few choice words that had Silas laughing at me.

“She doesn’t get to wash it off me later.” His voice was low as he leaned down and caught my eye, tapping the underside of my chin with his finger. I froze at the tiny show of affection, knowing August was probably watching but Silas had thought about that already. “He’s busy.”

“I don’t like hiding it from him,” I whispered, my voice growing sad despite the promise of private affection later.

“Then tell him,” Silas pushed.

“That’s asking for disappointment,” I responded softly and I could see the hurt in his eyes but it was the truth.

It was one thing to have my heart broken, but to break August’s was a whole other ballgame.

I couldn’t do that to him, no matter how much I loved the way Silas looked at me, or how safe I felt around him… around them all.

“I’ll win you over eventually,” he said, masking the sadness quickly as the wolfish smile returned to his face. “You can’t get rid of me that easily.”

“It’s your turn.” I tapped his chest, ignoring his statement with a knowing look on my face, “go before we lose Arlo and he doesn’t want to do it anymore.”

He stared at me for a second longer and it was obvious that he wanted to say something more but didn’t want to start an argument or ruin the day. I tossed the cloth and spray bottle to the table beside me and went to stand with Ella who was watching intently as the photo shoot unfolded.

“I can’t believe you got them to do this,” she said, crossing her arms as Silas grabbed a bat and mimicked Arlo’s pose.

Both of them stood with their feet wide in low-hanging baseball pants with the bats over the back of their shoulders.

The angle made Silas’s arms grow in size as his muscles tensed from the stretch, his stomach flexing as he laughed at something Arlo grumbled.

“They’re good men,” I said, “that’s how.”

“Mmm,” Ella agreed quietly. “All of Harbor thanks you for your service.”

“I have one more person to convince,” I looked over my shoulder at Cael whose face was a little grumpier than usual but still doing his best through the pain to entertain August.

“He loves getting naked, it won't be too hard,” Ella encouraged as I turned away from the delicious show that was Silas and Arlo. I walked across to the dugout, leaning over on the banister. “Can I talk to you for a second?” I asked, both of them looked over at me, “Cael.”

He handed August the book he was holding and pushed off the bench to join me.

“What’s up? Do you need me to grab something?

” He asked, his eagerness to be useful even now was impressive.

It wasn’t hard to see that even though he was healing and starting therapy with Silas, he was still fighting waves of pain.

Intense soreness that a normal person would take medication for but he was handling without help.

“I need you to get on the field,” I said and his expression turned from eager to apprehensive.

“No it’s a team thing, they don’t need me out there.” Cael said, stepping back from the banister. Not a single dirty joke or playful remark was made. Even I knew that wasn't like him.

“Cael,” I said, pulling his gaze up from the dirt. “Get on the field.”

“Listen I know you mean well and I appreciate it, but… It’s a baseball thing,” Cael sighed, running a hand over his shaved head roughly. “I’m never going to play again, which means I’m not on the active roster and I don’t have a place in the Hornets calendar. Not anymore.”

His eyes drifted to Silas and Arlo having their photos taken and I could feel how heartbroken he was. I stared at him for a second before nodding, backing away but only to move to my bag with my notebook to show him something.

“I figured out what the front will look like, did I show you?” I asked him and he turned back to me with a soft shake of his head, reaching out for the notebook. His eyebrows scrunched together and his jaw tightened with a visible tick as he studied the messy sketch.

“The Nest,” he said, a tiny smile creeping on his face. “That’s clever.”

“You live there don’t you?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he sighed.

“What’s your excuse now?” I challenged and he looked up at me with that fire returning to his blue eyes. “You’re up with Dean next, and if you keep wasting time I’ll send Arlo over here.”

“You’re a fast learner,” Cael laughed, throwing his hand up in retreat before handing the notebook back.

Instead of the Harbor Hornets, the calendar would be called The Nest. Meaning Cael’s reasoning was thrown out the window because he may not play again, but he’d always be a part of the Nest.

“Don’t make me use the mom voice on you,” I warned and that got his feet moving. August stood up and joined me at the banister. “How you doing?” I asked him, brushing my fingers through his hair until he swatted my hand away.

“How are you doing?” He countered and I gave him a funny look. “What? It’s not like you’ve ever gotten involved in anything like this before…I’m just asking.”

“This is the job,” I said, “I work for Silas, this was just work.”

August eyed me, “okay,” he said after a minute. “You’re happy though, it’s…”

“Nice?” I said, instead of saying, unusual, weird, out of character.

Deep down my skin was still crawling with anxiety, worried profusely over how today would go and we still had eight hours left of photos to take.

It should have been an easy job, it was my idea after all but once the players had signed on to help the stakes raised and suddenly it was elevated to a very important job.

“Yeah,” August admitted. “Mom,” he said quietly, “are we going to stay?”

I want to.

“It’s pretty perfect here, isn’t it?” I said.

He’s pretty perfect.

I watched as Silas scanned the crowd of players and professionals until his eyes landed on me. He always knew when he was on my mind. He winked, the sun catching in his eyes as they were shuffled out to bring in the next group for photos.

“It is.” August said, his voice tight and confident.

He was thriving here and I would do anything to keep his life this full, I just wasn’t exactly sure how when it felt like it was on a winding clock and at any moment the time could be up and we could be evicted from the perfection.

Work harder.

“I should get back to helping,” I tapped the banister and leaned over to kiss him on the head, “dinner later?” I asked and August nodded as I backed away. Cael had been helped out of his shirt and was being prepped to do a few shots with Dean, as Josh looked on with a grumbly expression.

“Don’t worry, you’ll have your turn,” I said gently. “You’re going to have to get wet though…”

Josh’s head snapped in my direction.

“You don’t want to get shirtless, I can respect that, but you’ve got to get wet.”

“Wow, this is the thanks I get for volunteering first,” he jabbed but it wasn’t meant to hurt because there was a small smirk on his face. “No ring today?” He asked, his dark eyes trailing down to my hand tucked across my chest.

“Uh, didn’t want to lose it…” I said, trying to keep my tone flat.

His eyes flickered back up to mine and I could see the question behind them.

“My brother is pretty smart but there’s a whole lot of stupid going on lately, don’t break his heart.

He won’t survive anymore betrayal.” Josh's words were heavy and meant with purpose, looking away from me. Lately it felt like everyone wanted something from me that I couldn’t promise.

And all the requests involved Silas’s heart or well being.

It was a lot of pressure to put on a woman who could barely keep it together for herself.

“Dean and Van are going to dump a tub of water over you for the photo, are you okay with that?” I tried to deflect the conversation.

“Yeah,” he said with a nod. “I’m sure they jumped at the chance when you asked them.” His eyebrows flickered upward.

“They have a bet on whether or not you’re going to punch one of them,” I said.

“Pretty sure you aren’t supposed to tell me that,” Josh responded dryly.

“What are sister in-laws for,” I said softly, knowing what it meant.

Whether or not Josh had figured out what was happening between his brother and I, didn’t matter.

Because he wasn’t the type to blow something up unless he thought it was going to hurt his newly found family.

And that wasn’t my intention, it never had been.

In fact I had been brought into the circle for the exact opposite reason.

With the intention to keep the Nest together, to save harbor. So far, so good.

“Hey Top-gun!” The assistant to the photographer called to Josh and I watched as a few of the players turned to look who she was talking to. It was like the entire field had been fed laughing gas the way they all lost it laughing.

“You know you kinda of look like the other one,” I said to him as everyone continued to laugh. Josh’s jaw tightened, “From the new one, Auggie loves that one. What’s his name…”

“Don’t say it!” Dean tried to stop me but it was too late.

“Miles Teller!” Ella’s head whipped around, finishing my sentence with a wicked grin formed on her face when she pointed at him. “Oh you are never getting away from that one, Rooster .”

“Seriously?” Josh growled. “Don’t call me that!”

“Oh that’s your new nickname, Rooster !” Ella drove it home, giggling.

Josh flipped her off without so much as warning or a word.

“This is a perfect day, naked baseball players, insulting Josh…” Ella leaned against Arlo and sighed.

“Way to go,” Josh said, rolling his eyes at me.

He went off as Dean and Cael finished their simple pose.

Dean’s arm propped on Cael’s good shoulder while Cael squatted in the sand shirtless.

His incision was still raw but the tips of the wiry scars were turning pinkish and white.

They had been sprayed with water and droplets were running down their handsome faces.

“What did I do?” I laughed.

“Nothing, don’t listen to them,” Arlo said. He tossed Cael a towel as he approached the side of the field and ran his hand over his head with a proud look on his face.

“Thank you,” Silas murmured from beside me, so quiet I hadn’t even noticed he’d circled around to my side. “For talking him into it.”

“It was more of a threat.” I smiled. “Besides, he’s just as much a part of all of this.

On or off the field, I know that much,” I said, looking over my shoulder at him.

His gray eyes were soft and appreciative, I could tell he wanted to kiss me but he behaved himself and settled with his fingers sneakily brushing against my side.

“You don’t give yourself enough credit. This, today…

It wasn't just Cael that needed it. We all did.” Silas’s touch disappeared as a few of the players wandered by laughing and pushing.

The two of us watched as Dean and Van, both shirtless and smiley, dumped water down over Josh who was positioned with his legs hanging over the dugout top.

His dark curls stuck to his forehead and neck but he had that smug smile on his face that would make for a perfect calendar shot.

The rest of the afternoon was spent rotating pairs and trios, Cael and Arlo took a few shots and Cael snuck in a kiss that would definitely make it into the calendar if Ella had a say because her laughter was infectious when it happened.

Dean and Jensen showed off their party trick of backflips that would make a perfect July page, and then I had to send August away because Cael got even more naked and had Van hoist him up on top of the dugout.

They all were getting into it and by the end, Jensen, the catcher was on his knees at home plate with Van Mitchell pouring water down his throat but making more of a mess than anything else.

When the boys cleaned up, Silas bought dinner, filling the Nest with the smell of Italian food and the sound of pure euphoria.

They all piled around the table, leaving an empty chair that after some explaining I learned was a spot in honor of Lorraine Cody that no one used.

But as I looked around I realized just how important they all were to each other.

It wasn’t just a college baseball team. They were a family.

My heart squeezed uncomfortably in my chest.

I couldn’t screw this up.