Our goalie smirks despite the fact that he’s got his attention zeroed in on his cell. It doesn’t take a genius to work out who he’s messaging. I swear he only smiles for one person.
“Yep,” he agrees absently, proving that he is actually listening. “And it’ll happen to you one day.”
Killer scoffs.
A couple of months ago, I’d have done the same. But now…now I know better.
I wasn’t looking, and I certainly didn’t see it coming, but now, I can’t imagine my life without Bea and our little bump in it. Hell, I don’t even want to try.
As we make our way to the hotel where tonight’s party is being held, my knee bounces nervously as the rest of the guys chat amongst themselves. Well, everyone but Monroe, who is gazing out the window, lost in his own sad world.
Concern tugs at me, but while parenting might be out of my wheelhouse, so is dealing with real feelings and talking shit out.
So instead, I nudge his toe with mine.
When his eyes meet mine, there’s nothing but pain in them. He blinks and quickly clears it, but it was there all the same.
“Still heading home in a few days?”
A smile twitches his lips, but there’s very little joy to it. Usually, Monroe is buzzing to see his family. When they come to games, especially his twin sister, he’s unbearable. But all that has vanished somewhere in the last few weeks. I can’t help feeling like while I’ve been finding myself, or at least I hope I am, he’s losing grip. Our overexcited rookie who walked around with stars in his eyes has disappeared.
“Yeah,” he says simply, unwilling to say anything else. Instead, he pulls his cell from his pocket and busies himself with whatever is on it.
The second the car pulls up outside the hotel, I launch myself at the door.
Thanks to a message from Bea, I already know they’re waiting for us. Well, Parker is waiting for Linc, who is predictably late. I have a suspicion that some of the blame for that will shortly be placed at my feet.
He races through the hotel entrance just ahead of me before jabbing his finger against the elevator button.
He glances at his watch nervously. “She’s going to kill me,” he mutters.
“Don’t say we didn’t warn you,” Kodie points out, stepping up behind us.
“Ugh,” Linc complains as we step inside the elevator. “At least I have ways of making it up to her. I do this thing with my tongue that she loves. It makes her—” I slam my palm over his mouth.
“Shut the fuck up, or I’ll send you out there with a swollen eye for your photos.”
His smirk twitches against my skin.
“No, you won’t. Those women waiting for us scare you just as much as they do me.”
62
EVERETT
The second I step into the room, all thoughts of Linc’s chirping about my sister vanish.
Only a few feet away, Bea stands with the girls, her head thrown back, and laughter pealing out of her.
Not only does she look mind-blowingly beautiful, but she also sounds so fucking happy, and she looks like she belongs.
I mean, I didn’t expect anything other than for Parker to bring her into the fold and ensure she was okay, but she may as well be standing there with Sienna and her girls from the salon with the smile that currently lights up her eyes.
I startle when a large hand lands on my shoulder. “You did good, man,” Handsy rasps before he follows after Kodie and Linc as they head for their women.
As desperate as I am to do the same, I hang back and watch as Parker turns and scowls at Linc, chastising him for being late. But there’s an excited twinkle in her eye, though, which says she’s not pissed at all and totally expected it. Before she allows him a kiss—gross—she insists on straightening his tie and smoothing down his shirt, as if he doesn’t dress himself every other day of the week.
Movement beside them steals my attention, and when I look over, I find Bea aiming that megawatt smile directly at me.
