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.”
