Chapter 16
Hospital Pass: A poorly executed pass that puts the receiver in a vulnerable position, making them likely to be tackled heavily by an opposing
player.
Translation: Mountain men aren’t good at passing new babies.
Everly
“Everly, it’s Wyatt. I’m going to need you to pick up Wolf from the bus stop in Boulder today,” my uncle says into the phone
line, and my heart lurches up into my chest.
“What? Why me?” I ask, my chest contracting with instant anxiety.
“Because I’m on my way to the hospital.”
And now my anxiety ratchets up to a whole new level. “What? Why? What happened? Are you okay?”
“Addison is in labor!” I hear Luke’s voice call out, and then the phone shuffles noisily as Wyatt passes it over. “Her water
broke at the lumberyard, and Bullhead is driving her to the hospital now.”
“Oh my God! Oh my God!” Also, who the fuck is Bullhead?
“This is scary as shit.”
“She’s going to be great. What else can I do?”
“Can you run to my cabin and get our hospital bag?” Luke asks, his voice sounding more stressed than I’ve ever heard it. “She
was supposed to leave it in her vehicle but said she forgot. Oh, and she needs someone to put Mildred in the fridge.”
“Who is Mildred?”
“Her sourdough.”
“Oh, that’s right. Yes, I’m on it,” I exclaim and slam my laptop closed.
“Trista is coming up from Mount Millie. Bring her and Stevie down the mountain with you. Don’t drive separate.”
I hear Calder’s voice in the background. “Papa Bear, if ever there was a time to not worry about the fucking environment,
it’s now.”
“Carpool, Everly. I mean it,” Wyatt exclaims again, and I hear Calder grumbling in the back seat.
“Okay, no problem,” I exclaim, running into my room to grab the present I had wrapped and ready for this exact day.
“I texted Wolf to let him know you’re going to be late,” Wyatt says, grabbing the phone back. “I’d ask Grandma to get him,
but Addison wants her in the delivery room when the baby comes, and she’s already at the hospital waiting. Dakota is alone
at her T-shirt shop, so she can’t leave, and Max and Cozy are dropping Ethan at camp today. Luke is a fucking mess. We’re
all falling apart, kid.”
“Put me on speakerphone,” I demand, my voice firm.
When the hum of the car grows louder, I call out, “Uncle Luke?”
“Yeah, Evs?” Luke replies, his voice trembling.
“Everything is going to be okay. I’m getting your bag now, and we will all be there soon.”
He inhales sharply, and I can hear the tremor in his voice as he says, “Addison acts tough, but I know she’s so scared.”
My heart lurches as I picture him in the truck, running his hands nervously through his hair. Calder is probably squeezing
his shoulder, and Wyatt is most likely gripping the wheel so hard it’s going to fall off. Luke and Addison lost their first
baby early in the pregnancy, so I know their anxiety must be high. Who wouldn’t be nervous?
“It’s normal to be scared,” I say calmly, feeling the essence of my grandpa move around me. “Grandpa always said being scared just means you’re about to do something really brave. You’re about to become a dad, Luke. Nothing braver than that.”
A gruff noise echoes in my phone, and I think it might be Luke crying. Or Calder. Or Wyatt. Or all of them. They all get equally
choked up with one of Grandpa’s infamous life lesson quotes. He was full of them.
We’re not here for a long time, we’re here for a good time.
Rejection just means you’re one step closer to finding your solution.
And now this one. Being scared just means you’re about to do something really brave.
My grandpa left his mark, that’s for sure.
“But we’re all going to be there for you guys, okay? We’re all going to be waiting and brave and ready to celebrate with you
the minute that baby boy is born.”
Luke sighs and murmurs, “Thanks, Everly.”
“I love you, Uncle Luke. See you all soon.”
“I love you too, kid,” he croaks and then hangs up.
I blow out a calming breath as I stand in my cabin and glance down at the mountain compound. That’s the terrifying thing about
love—it just raises the stakes for heartbreak. And the stakes are mountain high for all the Fletcher brothers.
It’s six thirty when I pull up to the bus stop in Boulder and see Wolf sitting on the bench, dressed in a pair of jersey shorts
and a T-shirt. He stands up and walks toward my car, his eyes cast downward as he throws his duffel bag into my back seat.
When he slides into the passenger seat, my eyes land on his groin and instantly flash back to that night he kissed me and
what that groin felt like pressed up against me.
Fuck, this is awkward.
And now I have to speak to him. There’s no avoiding it.
“Hi, how’s it going?” I ask cheerily as I put the car into Drive. He turns to gape at me like I’m speaking a foreign language. “Did you have a good training? Like your new team? How’s the coach?” I ramble as I pull out onto the street and head back toward the hospital.
“Are you okay?” Wolf asks, and my cheeks flame as I feel him staring at me.
“I’m great. You’ve heard the news about the baby coming, right?”
“Yes, Wyatt told me,” he grinds out.
“Great! I’ve dropped off Trista, Stevie, and the hospital bag already and am making my way back there to join the family.
So, I’m thinking you can take my car back up to Fletcher Mountain, and I’ll just catch a ride with Wyatt or Dakota if she
sticks around. Or I’ll just spend the night at my dad’s. Lots of options.”
Wolf releases a low, guttural noise as he rubs his hands along his muscular thighs. “I could have just taken a cab up the
mountain.”
“This is no trouble. I’m happy to help!”
“Can we just speak normally?” he bites, his tone acidic.
“What do you mean, normally?” I ask, my voice hitting a new octave. “Everything is fine.”
“Everything is not fine,” he argues as I pull into the hospital parking ramp. “You’ve been weird since Saturday night, and
I just want to have it out already and be done with it.”
“Well, now isn’t a great time. Luke and Addison are having their baby.” I pull into the first open spot I find, my hands trembling
as I shut off the car. I’m not even close to the entrance to the hospital, but my brain isn’t exactly braining right now,
and it’s just better for me to be done driving.
“Bloody hell, Fletcher, just tell me if I need to pack my bags, at least.”
My head snaps over to look Wolf in the eye.
It’s dark in the ramp, but a yellow security light casts a glow through the sunroof, enough for me to see him.
The expression on his face cuts right through me.
He looks tortured. Stressed. Depressed. His brown eyes reveal the most emotion I think I’ve ever seen on Wolf.
“Why would you need to pack your bags?” I ask, my voice timid and unsure.
His jaw muscle shifts under his skin. “Because I expect you’re about to turn me in for fucking sexual assault, which I deserve.”
I inhale sharply. “You think that kiss Saturday night was assault?”
“Of course I do,” he exclaims, his voice fraught with worry. “Why else would you be acting so weird toward me?”
“I’ve been acting polite!” I squeal defensively.
“That’s weird,” he roars back.
“I was just . . . trying to be cool about it all.”
He rakes a stressed hand through his hair. “We’ve been over this . . . You’re not cool.”
“I know. I’m cringe.” I spit his words back in his face. “And you said it was better than cool. And then you kissed me out
of pity, and now I’m having a fucking identity crisis because I don’t know how I am to behave after all of that.”
Silence squeezes us into the car, and all I hear is the heavy breath of Wolf and the racing pulse of my heartbeat in my ears.
His voice is quiet and resigned as he looks forward and asks, “You think I kissed you out of pity?”
“Obviously,” I sputter, wiping at some spit that just came out of my mouth. “Because I am pathetic, and you were trying to
help me, but that help just made me feel even more pathetic.”
He shakes his head, his eyes glassy in the dark car. “I didn’t kiss you out of pity.”
“Then why did you?”
His jaw ticks angrily. “I kissed you because I know what it’s like to be looked at like you’re less than. Like you’re not worth someone’s time.”
“Okay, sure.” I bark out a disbelieving laugh. “No offense, Wolf, but the six-foot-five rugby bad boy with anger issues is
usually the asshole doing the bullying, not being bullied.”
Wolf’s whiskey eyes snap to mine. They’re dark and punishing, and his tone is acidic when he replies, “And the rich, blonde,
white girl people-pleaser is the classic blueprint for being a mean girl cunt.”
Our harsh words hang between us, thick and heavy, as fear builds in my chest. But I’m not afraid of Wolf. In fact, I feel
safe with him always. What I’m afraid of is what I don’t know. What he carries with him. I think perhaps I’ve always known
there’s something darker going on with him . . . even before I became close to his sister.
“I’m not a cunt,” I reply firmly.
“And I’m not a bully,” he bites back.
I sigh heavily. “Forgive me, but for years, all you’ve ever sent my way has been snarls and silence. It’s like you’re always
ready for a fight, no matter who it is.” I hate saying that, but it’s true.
His lip curls. “You think I wanted to learn how to fight? You think one day I woke up and decided it would be fun to be the
scary bastard the whole uni calls a convict?” He leans in, his voice low and strained. “The only person who ever stood up
for me my whole life was the girl I shared a womb with. Why should I talk when I don’t want to? Why shouldn’t I snarl if all
I get from others is judgment?”
I open my mouth to argue, but then close it because what can I say? I started this. I made an assumption about him. People
do it to me all the time, and I should have known better.