Chapter 30
THIRTY
MASE
I swing the door to the mansion open, and I’m stunned to find Reed standing on the doorstep. “What the?”
“You appeared severely distressed when I spoke to you last,” he explains, pushing into the house.
“Hi.” Gia nods and follows him inside, with a baby carrier housing little Jax.
“Dad, can I bring the soccer ball inside too?” Bryce chimes.
“Jesus, I hate fucking soccer so much,” he mumbles, stepping past me.
I’m not surprised by his comments; Reed gives us all a weekly rundown of how bad the team he coaches for his adopted son is.
Last week, an elderly woman hit him in the face with her purse because he made her grandson cry.
When I asked him what he did to deserve it, he said he told the kid he’d be better at something like chess.
He even went as far as purchasing the kid a chess set in the hopes that it would encourage him to leave the team.
According to Reed, this kid goes and collects his lunch from his grandmother midway through the game and sits in the middle of the soccer field to eat it, expecting the game to stop for him, or better yet, for players to play around him.
So I can appreciate where my friend’s misguided suggestion came from, he just needs to work on his execution.
I turn to see Bryce placing their family dog in a … “Is that a stroller?”
“It is. Apparently, the dog I purchased is indeed broken,” Reed adds from over my shoulder as he wafts his hand in Bryce’s direction.
A laugh rumbles from deep inside me. “What did you do to it?”
“He took her to the vet clinic, and they said that Bubbles is struggling to keep up with our demanding lifestyle,” Bryce informs me, grinning from ear to ear. “Right, Dad?”
“Right.” Reed nods.
“So, you bought her a stroller?” I quiz.
“She’s almost …” Reed makes a slicing gesture across his throat as if to explain the dog is dying.
“Oh shit. Really?” I know how much Bubbles means to Bryce, and given the kid lost his biological father, I can appreciate why Reed is being cautious.
Another car pulls up behind their family SUV, and I make a mental note of the fact I’m going to need all this shit soon too, but I can’t deny I’m buzzing about it. It’s everything I’ve ever wanted, and Summer’s the added bonus.
Shaw practically leaps out of his car, and his daughter, Eleanor, scrambles from the car seat in record time.
“Is Ree-Reed here? Bubblesss?” she squeals.
Shaw winces. “She means, Reed.”
“I gathered.” I smile down at her bouncing on the balls of her feet. Her cute little tutu is multicolored, and she has matching ribbons in her pigtails. “He’s inside. Why don’t you go find him?” I tell her, and she barges past me and into the house.
“Reee! I wove him.”
I grin, imagining Eleanor tormenting Reed with her obsession with him. It drives him insane, but only adds to our entertainment.
The car door slams, and Shaw’s wife, Emi, heads my way with their baby boy, Casper, in her arms.
Having my friends and their families here to meet Summer fills me with pride. This will be me soon with our little family too, and I can’t fucking wait to get Summer back home to New Jersey to start our lives together.
Half an hour later, I’m sitting outside with my friends, nursing a beer while Summer entertains Gia and Emi inside. Bryce and Eleanor run around the garden with Bubbles following after them, looking like she’s far from end-of-life care.
“So let me get this straight, there’s no emergency?” Reed asks, and I scrub a hand over my head and shift on my feet.
“There was a little panic.”
“Panic?” He rears back.
“You called me in the middle of the night, frantic.” He leans closer to me. “I was fucking my wife at the time.”
I grimace at the thought of him and Gia going at it. “Thanks for the visual,” I quip. “I admit I was a little overwhelmed.”
“Overwhelmed?” Reed repeats slowly, like a goddamn parrot.
“Yes, Reed, overwhelmed. I just found out my goddamn stepsister is pregnant, and she was telling me the baby was mine. Can you appreciate why I was overwhelmed?”
Shaw grins and leans back on the outdoor couch, watching our interaction with amusement in his eyes. It’s probably the most entertainment he’s had recently, especially with a brother-in-law like Luca Varros, a Mafia capo who happens to be certifiably insane. According to Shaw.
“Overwhelmed is having thirty kids scream your name all at once while you’re trying to give them the logistics of a professional soccer game.
Overwhelmed is having those thirty kids’ parents give their insights into that game despite knowing fuck-all about the rules and regulations. Overwhelmed is—”
I hold my hand up and cut him off. “I get the point.”
“Since when are there thirty kids in a soccer game?” Shaw asks.
Reed’s attention slices to our friend, his stare filled with venom. “Since I became head coach.”
Shaw scrunches up his nose. “Meh, Mase could bring in a bigger crowd than you, and how the hell did a kids’ soccer game become labeled as professional? Isn’t it classed as pee-wee or something?”
Reed’s spine straightens. “I’m producing prospective professional soccer players. It’s a big thing in Europe.” He waves his hand around the garden.
Shaw and I burst into fits of laughter that have Reed scowling in our direction.
“Ree-Ree, I need you!” Eleanor squeals, making my ears ring with her high-pitched voice.
“Oh please, God no. Shaw?” Reed questions, with panic coating his face. The poor guy’s chest is already heaving. How the hell a cute-as-fuck little three-year-old can have this effect on him, I’ll never understand.
“Eleanor, stop!” Shaw’s firm voice stops Eleanor in her tracks. “Go back inside to mamma.” He points in the direction of the house.
Her bottom lip quivers, and I step forward and kneel to her level. “Eleanor, honey. Your mamma needs help with Bubbles. Can you go inside and take care of her? She’s a little sick and needs to rest.”
Shaw’s eyes dart to Reed’s, and he mouths, Sick?
“Okay, Mase.” She nods and steels her shoulders, her bottom lip still quivering and making her look all the more adorable.
“That’s a big girl. There’s ice cream in the freezer. Tell your mamma.”
“I will!” She runs off toward the mansion with an excited squeal, and you wouldn’t know that seconds ago she was having a meltdown.
“Thank fuck. My child social battery has died.” Reed drops down on the couch dramatically, then grabs his beer and proceeds to chug it, making my lip twitch.
Reed rolls his head toward me. “I can’t stay here tonight; you realize that, don’t you?”
I search his face. Why the hell would I want him to stay here?
“I booked us the house next door. It has been cleaned to my specification. They filled the refrigerator with my organic shit, and I don’t have to endure Eleanor for the rest of the night,” Reed says, uncaring that her father is right next to him.
“Now that we know you’re okay, I’m going to book us a hotel near Disney.” Shaw smiles broadly.
Reed shudders. “Better you than me.”
“Well”—I shift in my chair—“I was going to ask you guys to help me with something.”
They both sit forward, eyes narrowed, and I sit straighter, explaining my plan.
We’ve spent the last hour discussing what I have planned for Summer, and now I’m on to my next plan.
“So you know I went looking at potential property to expand STORM Enterprises?” I tell the guys.
“Not more work. Not yet,” Reed grumbles.
I give him a swift kick. “Shut the fuck up and listen.”
“Go on,” Shaw says, eyeing me closely. The excitement is already sparking in his eyes; he always did love a challenge.
“Well, I didn’t find anything. But Trav here”—I slap Trav’s shoulder—“has the perfect business idea, along with a location.” Shaw glances at the kid, and I can see what he’s thinking.
He’s already dismissing him. Well, screw that.
Everyone deserves a chance, and my protective streak has come out for him tenfold.
Besides, this kid has potential in waves.
“I’ve looked his plan over, and I’m telling you now, we’re going to be interested. ” I squeeze Trav’s shoulder with pride.
“Who else is going to work over here? Because I’m not moving to Los Angeles; I have a soccer club to run.” Reed crosses his arms over his chest, and I swear he’s pouting.
“What about Isaac?”
Reed takes notice when I mention his brother and sits up. “You’d give him a chance? A job?”
I shrug. “Sure. You said he’s doing better.”
The guy has had addiction problems for a long time, then he made a huge mistake that landed him in prison, but the guy has been through hell to prove himself. He just needs the chance. Maybe this could be it.
Reed stares back at me with a look of awe on his face. His Adam’s apple slides down his throat before he clears it. “Thank you, man. That means a lot.” I give him a firm nod.
“We need a couple of other guys. They need to be trustworthy,” Shaw tacks on.
Reed nods. “I’m sure Owen knows someone.”
“There’s Todd too. Tate has been desperate to help him along,” I add, referring to Tate’s brother-in-law.
Tate’s wife, Ava, and her brother grew up in foster care.
Tate didn’t know it at the time, but when he had a one-night stand with her, she was actually in the care of his parents at a summer event they host for foster kids.
I can’t imagine how he felt knowing he slept with one of them.
It wasn’t until she became an intern at our company that they became reacquainted.
Tate spent years pining after her—so much so, he tattooed his cock with her name.
“Well, I think it’s a great idea. When you come home, why not arrange for Trav to come out and we can discuss it more?” Shaw suggests.
Hope sparks in Trav’s eyes, and I smile back at him broadly; his excitement is contagious. “I’m going to see where Summer is,” he announces, then heads inside with a broad smile on his face, and I imagine he’s about to fill her in on my plan for his future.
Bubbles waddles past us toward the house, her tongue hanging precariously close to the floor, and Shaw turns to face Reed. “What’s wrong with the dog exactly?” His tone is etched in concern.
“Bubbles is dying.” Reed sighs.
Shaw pouts. “That’s kind of sad. Eleanor will be devastated.”
Reed rolls his eyes at Shaw’s words. “The vet said she’s exhausted and struggling to keep up.” He sighs. “That’s why her tongue is hanging out all the time.”
I snort. “That and the shit Eleanor feeds her.”
Shaw throws me a death glare. “I spoke to her about that. She hasn’t done it since the day she pushed her down the slide.”
“Dude, she was feeding her fucking fish from Oscar O’Connell’s aquarium.
” I laugh as I remember the day Shaw was dragged along to a Mafia family function at the O’Connell’s estate and Eleanor was caught feeding Oscar’s fish to the dog.
Turns out, Oscar loves those fish as much as his own kid. It almost ended in a bloodbath. Again.
“If we weren’t stuck with the damn thing for weeks, we wouldn’t have had to take her with us. It’s like we have shared custody of the dog, but nobody bothered to ask if I wanted it in the first place.” He moans like a petulant child.
“Well, excuse me for having to recover from being shot,” Reed grumbles. “I was at death’s fucking door.”
“Pfft. I’ve been shot numerous times, and I don’t take so long to recover,” Shaw fires back, and Reed opens his mouth to respond. “Let me guess, you’re allergic to bullets too, huh?” Shaw states. We all know how many allergies Reed claims to have.
Trav makes his way toward us, and Reed’s eyebrows furrow. “Why the hell does he look like he wants to eat me?”
I take another drink of my beer and smile, refraining from saying, He probably does.
“Summer ordered pizzas,” Trav declares, and his eyes drift over Reed before he drops down beside me.
“Hell yes. Summer’s pussy is getting licked real good tonight.” I smile, and everyone falls silent, making me acutely aware that I said my thoughts aloud.
Reed sits up to face me. “Holy shit. You’re actually starting to live.”
“Because I eat pussy?”
“Exactly.” Reed points his beer bottle in my direction, but in a weird way, it makes sense.
For years, I sat on the sidelines, wishing I could participate in my friends’ banter, their worldly experiences.
But I was trapped in a loveless, sexless marriage I was struggling to navigate, determined to conform. I never want that again.
“Is thirsty Thursday back on?” Shaw’s eyes gleam with intrigue, referring to a bet my friends had about who could get the most blowjobs every Thursday in a row. “We can call it thirsty Thursday remastered,” he jokes.
“I’m sure Tate will be thrilled to participate in a game that involves his sister sucking cock,” Reed deadpans, referring to the fact that Tate and Owen’s sister Laya are married.
“You know. This shit with Summer has made me realize something.” I sit forward, and the guys hang off my every word. “There’s no way in hell I’m ever getting married again,” I breathe out with a heavy exhale.
A whimpering sound has my attention drawn to the side, and my stomach twists when Summer’s devastated face comes into view.
She clears her throat and wrings her hands in front of her.
“I’m sorry to bother you, but the pizza has arrived.
” Then she turns and walks away, leaving the memory of her devastation etched in my brain.
“Sum?” I jump up from the couch, wanting nothing more but to pull her into my arms and tell her I’m sorry and I didn’t mean it, but I can’t find the words. Besides, I promised never to lie to her.
“Dick move,” Trav grumbles and shoulder checks me on his way by.
Shaw slaps me on the back. “I always fuck up. Just got to learn how to grovel, man.”
“Use your tongue and tell her you want more babies,” Reed tacks on before rushing past Shaw to no doubt grab the first piece of pizza. The weird fucker insists on eating before anyone else touches the food, and he even uses a knife and fork to eat it.