7. Pecker
Chapter 7
Pecker
I spend an ungodly amount of time in my closet trying to find the perfect thing to wear. Bree’s bouncing on my bed, telling me my options are horrible and Danny’s leaning against my headboard playing a video game. They’re wonderful help.
“Hey! I’m home!” Sydney calls from the living room.
“We’re in my room. Come help me, please!”
She walks down the steps and her eyes widen. She glances around at the clothing covering every surface and shakes her head.
“Do you want to tell me why your closet threw up?”
“He’s going on a date,” Bree singsongs.
“Oh, really? Who’s the lucky lady?” Sydney lifts Bree into her arms and twirls her in a circle. Then she leans down and presses a kiss to Danny’s head.
“Sophia. She’s my boss’s girlfriend’s cousin.”
“That sounds… complicated.”
“It kind of is.” I chuckle.
“Is she from Maple Springs?”
“No, she’s from Philadelphia. She’s just visiting Leslie.”
“Peck…”
I sigh at the tone of her voice. I know what she’s going to say and I don’t want to hear it. It’s stupid to go on a date or even be interested in someone who doesn’t live around here. I get that, I really do, but I can’t seem to walk away from this woman.
Instead, I'm clinging to the one thing that doesn’t make me look desperate.
“Colt asked me to take her out for dinner so Leslie would go on a date with him. It’s that simple, Syd.”
“So, you don’t like her? She isn’t gorgeous? You haven’t been thinking up excuses to text her?” She gives me a pointed look.
“I'm going to plead the fifth.”
“You’re going to get your heart broken.”
“Well, can you help me at least look good for this? I might as well look good even if my heart is shattering on the inside.” I shrug, trying to pretend this doesn’t bother me.
“You’re a mess, but yes. I want you to look handsome for your date. Drop the khakis. No woman wants a man showing up in khakis.” She shakes her head and begins rifling through my things.
I pause at the front door and take a deep breath. Running my hands up and down my thighs, I try to calm my nerves. I’ve never felt like this before and I don’t love it. Sweaty hands aren’t the best impression.
I shift on my feet as I ring the doorbell and wait for someone to open it. It’s cold out tonight, but not nearly as cold as it will be over the next week. This is the calm before the blizzard.
Colt swings open the door and I hear Sophia’s voice float out into the cool air. She’s standing right behind Colt with a frown etched between her brows.
“I am not crazy, you-” Her words die on her tongue as her gaze shifts to me.
“I'm sorry, what were you saying?” Colt smirks, more than entertaining himself.
She’s stunning in a short black dress and strappy silver heels. Her hair is twisted into a bun at the base of her neck and her makeup is slightly heavier than normal. She looks like she just stepped off a runway and she did all of this for me.
“I said Leslie’s too good for you,” she whispers, never moving her attention away from me.
“Sophia,” I breathe her name, as I blink at her. I’m practically speechless. “You look incredible.”
“Holy shit,” Colt murmurs, glancing over his shoulder.
“Do I look ok for our date?” Leslie steps into my view and nibbles on her bottom lip as she glances down at her dress.
“No, I think your dress is too short. Colt was just telling me how mine was unacceptable and yours is shorter than mine,” Sophia pipes up from beside Colt.
“Shhh, no one’s talking to you, little girl.” He tries to cover Sophia’s mouth, but he’s too busy staring at his girlfriend and he just ends up swatting at her face and covering her eyes.
“Are you staying in uniform or are you changing?” Leslie wrinkles her nose as she glances at Colt’s clothing.
“I was going to change, but I'm wondering if you want to watch a little strip tease before we go out,” he murmurs, pressing a soft kiss to her neck.
“Oh my gosh! I might puke!” Sophia groans and covers her eyes.
“Again, no one’s talking to you, little girl.” Colt rolls his eyes. “Don’t you have your own man to keep you company tonight?”
“Only because you told him to ask me out,” she huffs as she grabs her coat off the couch and stomps to the door. “Are you ready?”
“Uh… yeah. See ya later, guys.” I wave as Sophia pushes past me and into the cold night air.
I have to jog to catch up with her and stop her from opening her door by herself.
“Hey, are you ok?” I duck my head to meet her gaze and find there’s a fire burning in her eyes. She’s pissed and I really want to know why.
“I'm fine,” she sighs as she folds her arms across her chest.
“You seem a little upset and I’d love to know why.”
“I don’t want to talk about it. Can we just get in the car? It’s cold.”
“Yeah, sure.” I open the door and help her in, before running around to my side.
As soon as I’ve started the engine, I get the heat going and back out of the driveway. My left hand holds the steering wheel and my right hand lays on the center console. I’ve always driven like this, but tonight I really wish Sophia would place her hand in my free one. I want to feel her soft skin against my rough skin.
“Where are we going?”
“There’s a little Italian restaurant I wanted to take you to, then I have a special surprise I think you’ll love. Do you like Italian? I guess I should’ve asked you that.”
“It’s my favorite.” A soft grin spreads across her face.
Once we’re seated at our table and the waitress has brought our drinks and taken our orders, I settle back into my seat and stare across the table at my beautiful date.
“Tell me about yourself. I want to know everything.”
“Everything? That could take a while.” She smiles in the candle light, somehow looking even more stunning than she did earlier.
“I don’t have any plans for the next few weeks.”
“Ok. I grew up on Mulberry Lane with my mom, dad, sister, and twin brothers.”
“Are you the youngest?”
“Of course.” She rolls her eyes.
“Is Mulberry Lane specifically important?” I cock my head to the side and watch her carefully. It’s odd that she named the street.
“Yes. It’s the greatest place on earth. My dad owns a construction business with his best friend and they built seven homes on Mulberry Lane. One for each of them and their friends. They’ve all raised their families there and they became my pseudo aunts, uncles, and cousins.”
“That sounds awesome. You had built in best friends and a huge support system.”
“That’s why it’s the greatest place on earth.” She smiles as she runs her finger along the edge of her glass.
“What do your sister and brothers do?”
“My sister is the lead physical therapist for the Philadelphia Pit Bulls.”
“Wow, that’s impressive.”
“Do you like sports?” She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear as she watches me.
“I like football, baseball, and hockey. The rest I don’t really care about.”
“What are your favorite teams?” She runs her tongue along her bottom lip, stealing my attention away from the conversation for a moment.
“Uhh, I went to college in Philadelphia and kind of fell in love with their teams. Fans in Philadelphia are crazy. They love their teams with such passion, I’d never seen anything like that.”
“So, you like the Pythons?” She peeks up at me through her lashes.
“Love them. My favorite players are the Robinson… twins,” I say slowly as the name clicks. “Holy shit. Are they your brothers?”
“Yup. Jax and Cody are pretty awesome.” She smiles with so much pride. I can tell she really loves her brothers.
“I'm impressed.”
“Because I'm related to someone famous?” She rolls her eyes.
“No, that some rich hockey player hasn’t swooped in and convinced you to marry him.”
“No rich hockey player wants me. They have enough puck bunnies to keep their attention.” She sighs like this actually bothers her.
“Well, you’re definitely keeping my attention.” I lift her hand to my lips and press a soft kiss to each knuckle. “Tell me about the bakery you want to open.”
We spend the rest of dinner with Sophia describing her dream bakery. I smile and laugh as she describes how she wants to have baking classes and host children’s parties. She’s so excited and animated about her dream. I think she’s going to love the surprise I have in store for her tonight.
“Where are we?” Sophia glances around at the building and frowns.
“This is Sydney’s Sweets. It’s the best bakery and it’s open twenty-four hours a day.” I grin as I take her hand in mine and lead her towards the front door. Her hand feels so small in mine and it makes me want to protect her even more.
“Really? I’ve never seen a bakery open twenty-four hours.”
“Yup. The owner says people deserve to have sweets whenever they’re craving them.”
“That’s really awesome.”
As we step inside the shop, Sophia’s eyes light up. She rushes up to the display of desserts and peers inside like a little kid.
“There are so many options! This is amazing. None of the bakeries by me have this many desserts available daily. Do the options change a lot?” She peeks up at me in awe.
“There are a few things that switch out, but for the most part, they stay the same. I think it’s mostly seasonal things. Like the s’mores cookies get exchanged with pumpkin cookies in the fall. Then they get switched with hot chocolate cookies in the winter.”
“What about the spring?” She grins.
“Well, the spring is for lemon cookies, of course.” I wink at her, making her grin grow.
“I love that. There are a few places near me that switch out the flavor of cookies every day and I hate it. Sometimes I’m really craving cookies they don’t have that day and then I'm left disappointed.” A little pout settles on her lips and it’s taking everything in me not to kiss her.
“That sounds awful. What do you want to get?” I place a hand on the small of her back and grin when she steps closer to me.
When it’s time for Sophia to go back to Philadelphia, I'm going to be crushed. She’s so easy to be around. So quick to laugh and smile no matter what we’re talking about. She brightens my day and makes me look forward to the next time I get to see her.
“I want all of it,” she whispers. “I guess…” She taps her chin, trying to make a decision.
“Hey, Peck. What can I get you?” Melissa steps up to us with a box ready to go. I chuckle to myself when I notice it’s the biggest box Sydney carries here.
“Hey, Melissa. Can we have one of everything?”
“Of course! Do you want me to put it on your tab?” She winks at me.
“Yes, please. I can only imagine what my bill will look like this month,” I joke.
Since I moved here, Sydney tells me she’s paying for my help with desserts. Any time I want something sweet, I can go to Sydney’s Sweets and take whatever I want. We joke around about me having a tab, but Syd never makes me pay. She says I help her out too much and she owes me more than what I could eat in desserts in one month.
“Peck, we don’t need to actually get one of everything.” Sophia places her hand on my chest and stares up at me with the biggest blue eyes I’ve ever seen.
“Don’t worry about it, sweetheart. I'm happy to indulge your sweet tooth. Plus, I kind of want a little of everything too.”
Taking a chance, I wrap my arm around her waist and tug her against me. She could get mad and push me away. She could yell at me and put me in my place. But when she wraps her arms around my waist and rests her head against my chest, my heart starts hammering against my ribs. I could get way too used to having her in my arms.
“You’re such a sweet guy.”
I lean down and press a soft kiss to the top of her head. I wish I had somewhere I could take her so we could spend time together without an audience. Something tells me if I take her home, Sydney, Danny, and Bree will make it impossible for us to be alone.
Instead, I think we’re stuck claiming a booth here and making the best of our situation. I need to start looking for my own place in Maple Springs. I’ll never have a girlfriend if I'm still living with my sister and her kids.
Once Melissa has our goodies boxed, I asked for two large glasses of milk and hand Sophia the box. She grins down at it like a kid on Christmas morning about to open their first gift.
“Why don’t you go pick a table? I’ll grab our drinks.”
She nods her head and slips inside a booth. I watch her, shaking my head. I don’t know how I got lucky enough to be on a date with her, but I'm never going to forget this night.
Placing our drinks on the table, I take my seat across the table from Sophia and crack open the box.
“Now, how are we doing this? Are we sharing each one? Are we claiming cookies? First come, first serve?”
“I think we need to share. I’m going to get pretty upset if you take one I want. It could start a fight and I don’t think you’re prepared for that.” Her eyes sparkle with excitement as she peeks up at me.
“Oh, yeah? You think you can take me?” I puff out my chest.
“I don’t think you understand what I’ll do to get my hands on a cookie. I play dirty.” The most devilish grin I’ve ever seen spreads across her face.
“I'm going to need examples, or I won’t believe you.” I place my elbows on the table and lean in close. I really wish she were sitting next to me so I could touch her in some way.
“Ok… let me think.” She twists her lips back and forth as she tries to come up with a good example. “Alright. When I was little, Jax stole my cookie from me. I told him to give it back or I was going to stab him with my fork.”
“You stabbed your brother with a fork?” My brows shoot up my forehead as I stare at her in disbelief.
“Right in the forehead.” She points to a spot right above her right eyebrow. “Cody teases me all the time and says he can still see the four dots from the fork prongs, but I think he’s just messing with me.”
“Have you ever looked?”
“Jax is six foot six inches. I can’t see his forehead.” She chuckles.
“Wow, okay. I feel like I should take this away from you.” I reach across the table for her fork and she giggles.
“I promise I won’t stab you. I'm pretty sure that would be considered assaulting a police officer.”
“Is that the only reason?” I laugh.
“Nah, you’re too handsome. I wouldn’t want to mess that up.”
She breaks a cookie in half and lifts a piece to her lips. I stare at her as she wraps her lips around the sweet treat. Her eyes slide shut and she lets out the smallest groan.
“Speaking of… someone owes me a verdict.” I grab the other half of her cookie and dip it in my milk before taking a bite.
“I guess I do.” She smirks. “Well, I spent some time stalking your social media after you friended me…”
“Not before? Dang, I expected more from you. I thought you’d know everything about me within ten minutes of me leaving. Your stalking skills are lacking.”
“Eh, it’s not my style. Normally Emma and Bella are my social media stalkers.”
“Hmm, I don’t think you’ve mentioned them before. Your best friends I assume?”
“That’s correct.” She points a cookie in my direction.
“Mulberry Lane?” I guess.
“Of course. Where else do you find best friends?”
“I think I need to visit this place. It sounds too much like a fairytale.”
“Are you saying you want to meet my family?” She arches a brow.
“I guess that depends on this verdict… And if I can bring my jersey for your brother to sign.”
“Wait! You have one of their jerseys? Who? Please tell me it’s Cody!” She leans in close with so much excitement.
“Number ninety-six.” I grin, feeling like I made the intelligent choice when I bought my jersey. I wasn’t sure which one I wanted, but now I'm happy with my purchase.
“Oh my gosh!” She squeals so loud some of the other customers glance in our direction. “This is the greatest. Scoot over.”
She’s out of the booth and motioning for me to move over. Before I can ask what’s going on, she has her phone out and is waiting for a video call to connect.
“What up, squirt?” A guy’s face fills the screen, but I'm not sure which brother he is.
“Are you with a boy?” An almost identical face pushes in next to the first guy. “Does Dad know?” His grin widens and there’s a mischievous glint in his eyes.
“I am with a boy. A boy who’s a big Pythons’ fan.” Sophia’s way too excited about this and I'm getting a little scared. I know Colt has told me she’s a troublemaker, but I haven’t seen that side of her yet.
“Sweet! I approve. You can marry him.” The brother who looks like he’s up to no good waves her off.
“Well, he wants to know if he can get his Robinson jersey signed if he comes to Mulberry Lane.” Her grin widens as her brother’s eyes narrow.
“What number?”
“Jax, are you getting jealous? You don’t even know if it’s Cody’s jersey or not.”
Ah, ok. The one who looks mischievous is Jax. That makes sense. He gets a lot more penalties called on him. Cody always seemed like the more laidback one.
Cody lets his head fall back and his rich laughter fills their side of the phone. It’s funny how different they are and how their personalities show on the ice.
“I no longer approve of this marriage. You could do so much better, Sophia.” Jax folds his arms across his chest and glares at me.
“Does it make it any better that it took me a while to pick if I wanted number ninety-six or sixty-nine?” I ask with a wince.
“Only slightly,” Jax grumbles.
“At least he knows what number you are.” Cody laughs even harder. “Man, if you come to Mulberry Lane, I’ll sign whatever you want. He’s going to be bitter about this for months and I’m going to rub it in his face every chance I get.”
“I'm telling Dad you’re out with a boy. Let’s see who’s laughing when he drives eight hours to meet this guy.” Jax pouts, making Cody and Sophia laugh even harder.
“Oh, don’t be such a baby.” Sophia waves him off, but I'm not loving this threat.
The way Sophia, Leslie, and Mason have talked about Mr. Robinson, I'm a little nervous to meet him. I'm sure he’s extremely protective over his little girl.
“Are you sure this is a safe guy to be hanging out with?” Jax narrows his eyes again. Cody instantly sobers and begins examining me with the same intensity.
“Stop it. He’s a police officer… a sheriff’s deputy?” She turns towards me with a frown. “What’s the difference?”
“They’re basically the same thing. I work for the county, where a police officer works for a specific town. Around here, I don’t leave this town unless there’s an issue in another town and they need help.”
“Ah, ok. That makes sense. Is it because the town is so tiny?”
“Yeah. That’s why we only have one officer on duty at a time.”
“Dang, I don’t think Dad’s going to be upset if she’s hanging out with a cop.” Cody shrugs. “You’ll have to come up with something else to get back at Soph.”
“Oh, I will. And I have plenty of time to plan something amazing. After all, she’s eight hours away and her room is sitting empty.” A devilish grin spreads across his lips as his hand moves closer to the screen. “Night, sis. I hope you have a great vacation.”
He ends the call and Sophia freezes. She’s staring at the screen with wide eyes for a full ten seconds before she’s scrambling and waiting for someone else to answer another video call.
“Hey, princess.” A big man who looks like he could break me in half answers almost immediately. “How are you?”
“Daddy, I need you to install a lock on my door and make sure Jax can’t get in my room.”
“I’m on it. What is the little shit doing this time?”
He gets up immediately and goes into the garage. He starts rifling through a bin and within thirty seconds he has everything he needs to change out her doorknob.
He doesn’t seem upset or surprised by the call. He’s not even annoyed. He’s happily dropping whatever he was doing to help her and he didn’t even want to know why first.
“Well, this is Brad Pecker. I made friends with him and we were talking. I found out he’s a Pythons’ fan and has Cody’s jersey.”
“So, you called Jax to rub it in his face and he’s planning on messing with you.” He nods his head like it’s completely expected. “It’s nice to meet you, Brad. I hope you’re taking care of my little girl.”
“I am, sir.”
“You’re an officer with Colt, right?”
“That’s right.” I frown, unsure of how he knows this, but I don’t really care. Anything that keeps me in his good graces sounds great to me.
“Good. Do you carry at all times?”
“Yes, sir.”
“That’s great. If that fucker, Jimmy, comes near them, don’t hesitate to shoot him. The world would be a better place without men like him in it. Alright, princess. Your bedroom is secure, but I can’t promise he won’t pick the lock.”
He puts his tools away, then settles onto the couch. A beautiful woman lays her head on his chest and smiles at the screen. She could be Sophia’s twin.
“Hey, Mom.”
“Hi, sweetie. How’s your trip?”
“Great. This is Pecker. He brought me to the cutest bakery.”
“You know the way to my daughter’s heart, Pecker.” She grins.
“I'm trying, ma’am.”
“Aw, look at how cute and respectful he is,” she gushes. “That’s a first. Normally I get called bro or dude.” She rolls her eyes. “I heard you were messing with Jax.”
“How’d you hear that?” Sophia frowns.
“Because he called me and asked me to convince Dad not to put a lock on your door.” She laughs. “He knew you’d call and knew Dad would do whatever his princess asked without hesitation.”
“What’d you say?”
“I told him I wouldn’t be able to stop him. Jax encouraged me to get naked to distract him.” She laughs even harder.
“Well, that would’ve worked. We have an empty house and a few more hours before we need to go to bed.” Sophia’s dad smirks and wiggles his eyebrows.
When he smiles, he doesn’t look nearly as terrifying as he did before. He almost looks approachable.
“On that note, I'm hanging up. I don’t need to see you making out or moaning when he kisses your neck.” She fake gags.
“Love you, princess.”
“Love you both!”
“Be safe. It was nice to meet you, Pecker.”
“You too.”
We wave as she ends the call and drops her phone on the table. She’s quiet for a few moments, then she glances up at me.
“Well, you’ve officially met everyone in my family other than Charlie and Wyatt.”
“Is Wyatt a professional sports player too?” I roll my eyes, joking around with her.
“He’s the catcher for the Pit Bulls,” she sighs.
I blink at her, trying to figure out if she’s screwing with me. She has to be, right? There’s no way…
“Wait… Your brother-in-law is Wyatt Everson?”
“Yup.” She scrolls through her phone and shows me a photo of Wyatt and another woman who looks identical to her. “This is him and my sister. Do you have his jersey too?”
“Nah, I have Cord Powell’s jersey. Now, I kinda wish I did though.”
“Ugh, I want to call Wyatt and rub that in his face so badly, but if he and Jax join forces, I’ll never be able to go home again. We could call Cord though. He’d love it”
“You don’t need to call anyone else.” I chuckle. “I want to spend time with you, not talking to my favorite sports players.”
“You’d rather hang out with me than talk to them? Are you crazy?” She frowns at me like I'm insane.
I slip my arm behind her head and twist to face her a little bit more. I want to make sure she understands how I feel.
“Sweetheart, I didn’t ask you out because I thought you could introduce me to someone famous.”
“Really?” she whispers.
“I'm assuming you’ve been treated pretty crappy by guys in the past. You were probably used for your connections to Jax, Cody, Wyatt, and whatever other pros you know. But I'm not doing that. I just want to spend time with you. If I never meet any of them, or never get my jerseys signed, I wouldn’t care. Actually, I almost don’t want to, just to prove I'm here because of you, not them.”
I lean in a press a soft kiss to her forehead. I wish I could make her see how amazing I think she is, but that’s going to take time. I'll have to prove it to her.
“You’re hot,” she whispers.
“What?” I pull away, chuckling.
“The verdict after stalking your social media page is that you’re hot and have a very nice body,” she mumbles under her breath.
“Thank you? Why do you seem upset by that?” I can’t wipe the smile off my face no matter how hard I try to.
“Because it doesn’t matter,” she sighs, making my brows tug together.