Chapter 41
Forty-One
Tedi
This is going to be so much harder than I thought. Especially since I’m around Tweetie the majority of my day since I still have to center the social media campaign around him.
I’m in the airport, waiting to board the plane. We’re running behind since there’s snow in Philadelphia, and we’ve been delayed for about an hour.
My brother’s name flashes on my phone screen, so I get up and walk away from all the players. “Hey, Toby,” I answer.
“Aunt Tedi!”
“Mason? Shouldn’t you be getting ready for school?”
“Daddy’s making me breakfast. Are you coming here?” The excitement in his voice warms my heart.
I asked if I could stay back one more day to spend it with my family and fly back the day after tomorrow, rather than with the team. Coach Buford said he was fine with whatever. I don’t really ask Bud anything if I can avoid it. Thankfully, he never travels with us.
“I’m coming. Just waiting for the weather to clear up by you, then my plane is going to take off.”
“Will you come to my school?” he asks.
“Buddy, we talked about this,” Toby says in the background.
“I’ll try. If this plane takes off, I’m there,” I say.
“What about Tweetie?” Mason is in first grade, so he’s too young to remember Tweetie and me as a couple, but it’s been talked about enough around him that he’s aware we had a relationship.
I lean against the wall and search out the man in question. He’s sprawled out on one of the seats with his friends, talking and laughing. As if he can feel my gaze on him, he looks up, and our gazes collide. A slow smile tips the corners of his mouth.
Damn, I’m in so much trouble.
I quickly turn my back to him. “Oh, Mason, they have to get to the arena, and then they take a nap and then they play again. I’m sorry.”
“After the game! Daddy said we’re going, and I can miss school tomorrow.”
I hate upsetting him. “They fly out right away. But you have me.”
“Oh.”
Toby laughs in the background. “Aunt Tedi is way more fun than Tweetie, trust me.”
I cringe. I haven’t brought my family up to speed on Tweetie, and they probably still hate him. Which would make it uncomfortable if I brought Tweetie to dinner tonight. I can just imagine my two brothers and dad with crossed arms, glaring all night.
“I told all my friends that I knew him and the other Falcons. Kyler said I was lying and said I was making up stories to be cool.”
I close my eyes, hating to hear my poor nephew upset. “What’s Kyler’s last name?” I ask, the protective aunt coming out.
“Tedi,” my brother sighs with a warning in his voice.
Whatever.
“Watson,” Mason answers like the good kid he is.
I rack my brain for how I can make this up to him. “I’ll tell you what. I’ll try to get some autographs, okay? And you can show those off.”
“Anyone can get autographs.”
“Hey, Mason, let’s thank Aunt Tedi. That’s a big ask. Now eat your breakfast.”
“I’m sorry…”
“Hey,” Toby gets on the phone. “Don’t worry about him. This Kyler is a real asshole. So are his parents.”
“I wish I could help, but I don’t think my bosses would appreciate me taking the team to a school instead of them resting before their game.”
“Don’t sweat it. You know he’ll be really excited to see you when you come. So…”
“Oh god, I don’t want to know.” I find a corner to tuck myself into, really hoping my brother isn’t about to give me bad news. There’s always that so and a long pause right before he tells me something bad.
“Do I have to remind you that you’re the older sister? You should be calling me with these things.”
“It’s not my fault someone messed with our birth order personalities.”
It’s a running joke that Toby is more like a firstborn and I’m more like the middle child. The only thing that worked out is that Theo is definitely the baby. If only by five minutes.
“Dad’s got a girlfriend.”
“Oh my god. You scared me. Good for him. What’s she like?”
I’ve wanted my dad to find someone and be happy for years, but he struggled after my mom left. Raised us and spent the rest of his time keeping his business afloat. By the time we were all out of the house, Toby had Mason and needed help with babysitting. Dad’s never taken any time for himself.
He blows out a breath. “She’s okay. A little overbearing, always trying to give me advice on Mason. Like because I’m a single dad, I don’t know what I’m doing. But she seems to make Dad happy. She’s an artist.”
“Sweet. Is she going to be at dinner?”
A big body presses against me from behind, and I look over my shoulder to see Tweetie. My eyes widen, and I step away, turning around and pushing him out of the small alcove I’m in. He laughs and doesn’t allow me to move him. The big brute.
“Nah, Dad told her that you don’t like new people.”
“He did not!” I keep giving Tweetie the death glare. He just laughs.
“He did. So it sucks for you. You can’t meet her.”
“I’ll change that.”
Tweetie tilts his head toward the waiting area and does a plane motion.
“Hey, Toby, we’re boarding, so I gotta go. I’ll call you when I land and get to the hotel. You’re picking me up, right?”
“Of course, I love taking the day off and being your chauffeur.”
Tweetie still hasn’t left, and I feel as though I’m half in and half out of this conversation with my brother.
“Please tell Mason I’m sorry again. I’ll find some way of making it up to him.”
Toby says something I don’t catch because Tweetie has moved me into a corner, his big body blocking my way. His head is beside my neck as he inhales, then moans.
“What are you doing?” Toby asks.
“Sorry. Gotta go. Love you.” I click End and push at Tweetie’s chest.
He chuckles, stepping back a bit. “Hey, you never said I couldn’t smell you.”
“You’re a beast.”
A wicked grin crosses his face. “One kiss.” He holds up his finger.
“Do I need to remind you of all the people out there? One being your coach, who I don’t think would be too happy about me screwing one of his players. Oh my god, I just realized I’m actually everything I was afraid to hire. I’ve done exactly what I tell all my employees not to do.”
“They’ll understand.” He inhales again and sighs. “I’m irresistible. You didn’t stand a chance.”
I shake my head, but I can’t fight the smile on my face. God, this man. “You’re sitting with your friends on the plane.”
His eyebrows draw down, and he pouts. “Nope. We have social media things to talk about.”
“No, we don’t.” I push him, and he stumbles back, still laughing.
“Half the trip I sit with you,” he says, but I shake my head. “Counteroffer?” he whispers in my ear and steps in line with me as I walk us back into the terminal.
“You have fifteen minutes, and we use it to discuss an idea I have.”
His head falls back. “I’ll take what I can get. So… who is Mason, and why are you sorry?”
It’s a reminder that although I feel as if no time has passed between us, it has. He doesn’t even know that Toby had a kid.
“Mason is my nephew. Toby’s son.”
He blinks a couple times, seeming to realize the same thing I just did. “And you’re sorry for?”
“I don’t want to tell you because if I do, you’re going to try to make something work.” I eye him. “Mostly to get in my pants.”
“Hey now, I’ve been respectable. Now what is it?”
“Nothing, but do you think you and maybe the rest of the Trifecta and Conor could sign some merch when we get to the hotel?”
He quirks his eyebrow and nods. “Of course. For Mason?”
I nod, not about to tell him about the little shit named Kyler who made my hit list a few minutes ago.
“No problem. The guys won’t care either. Mason will be at the game tonight, right?”
I nod and grab my bag, seeing the players lining up to get on the plane.
Tweetie walks over to his bag, and we fall in line as we walk toward the gate. I really hope people assume we’re talking business, because I don’t want news about us to get out until I can tell my boss, which I’m not about to do until I’m certain I’m prepared to give up this opportunity for Tweetie.
His hand falls to my lower back, and I circle around and give him a death glare, earning a laugh as always.
I don’t have it in me to complain about how much he wants to touch me, and he’s crazy if he thinks it’s not just as hard for me not to take him into that bathroom and fuck his brains out.