Chapter 18 – Kirby
eighteen
Kirby
I follow Jaxon into his house, my heart speeding up just a touch when I know I’m going to see her again.
This afternoon, when I picked up Jaxon to go out to off-ice training, I looked for her SUV and saw she wasn’t there.
My mind wondered where the fuck she was and what she was doing.
But I didn’t dare ask. Then when I got here and Jaxon asked me if I wanted to come in to say hello to baby Jagger, I jumped at the chance.
“Hey,” Jaxon says, walking into the family room.
He goes straight to Ariella and bends to kiss her lips, as I make it into the room and spot her in the middle of the couch.
She smiles at Jaxon and then her head turns just a touch, as I watch Jagger standing on her thighs, bouncing up and down.
Her smile fades as she sees me. “Kirby,” Jaxon calls my name and I look over to him, “you remember Lexi.”
I grin, then turn back to look at Lexi, who looks like she’s in the middle of the street with a car coming straight for her. “I do,” I confirm. “We met at the baby shower.” Not sure what she told them, so I play it safe, for her.
“We did.” She nods and then looks at Jagger before getting up and holding him on her hip.
She’s wearing a pair of cream-colored linen baggy pants with three brown buttons down the front and a white cropped tank top that falls in the middle of her stomach, but shows off her defined abs.
This is the first time I’ve seen her dressed in something that shows off her figure and I, for one, love it.
“Do you want your daddy?” She smiles down at Jagger, who just gives her a gummy smile.
“Hey there, big guy,” Jaxon coos, taking him from her and kissing his cheek.
“Did you have fun with Auntie Lexi?” He looks at Jagger as if he’s going to answer him.
“Want to go see your uncle Kirby?” he asks him as I stand here, wanting to get closer to Lexi.
“I wouldn’t want to either,” he tells him, making all of us laugh, “but he said he missed you.”
I chuckle and reach out my hands for him.
He looks at me and then my hands before turning back to look at Jaxon and then back at me.
“He’s not as scary as he seems.” Jaxon tries to encourage him.
But he turns back and smacks Jaxon’s chest. “He seems to only like three people.” Jaxon tries to make me feel better. “Lexi is his favorite.”
She isn’t only his favorite, my mouth almost says, but I bite my tongue. “That’s only because she takes him in her bed and cuddles with him instead of letting him cry in his crib,” Ariella says.
“I’m moving out soon,” she states, shocking me but I try to not show it on my face, “and I’m not going to have any Jagger cuddles.” She rubs his back gently and he plunges toward her and she catches him laughing.
“Am I your favorite?” she asks him, blowing bubbles in his neck.
This is a side of Lexi I’ve never seen before.
I’ve never seen her this carefree. I’ve seen her let loose before, a little bit, but not like this.
Not the way she is with Jagger, and as I stand here, I find myself jealous of a twenty-pound baby who has no teeth.
“You want something to drink?” Jaxon takes off his baseball hat and tosses it on the couch before heading into the kitchen.
“I’ll have a water,” I tell him and Ariella follows him into the kitchen.
“Fancy seeing you here,” I remark softly as I walk to Lexi, who looks up at me and tries to hide her smile.
“Well, considering I live here, it’s not that surprising,” she says, looking down at Jagger. “Be careful of this one.” She looks up at me as she whispers in his ear, “He’s very sneaky, and whatever you do, don’t fall for his dares.” I can’t help but throw my head back and laugh.
I hold up my index finger and Jagger reaches out to grip it in his fist as he moves it up and down. “I’m not as bad as she says I am.” I look at her. “She’s just mad she can’t say no to me.”
“Oh, I can say no to you.” She rolls her eyes.
“We were just about to eat dinner,” Ariella interjects. “Kirby, you want to join us?”
I stare into her eyes. “Sure,” I reply, then turn to her. “Never a third without a second, I guess.”
“Who says I’m staying for dinner?” she retorts, and now I’m the one who looks like a deer in the headlights. “I could have a date.”
The minute she says those words, I feel my whole body turn almost to stone. “Do you?”
“Obviously”—she looks at Jagger—“I burn up the town.” She then turns to me and chuckles. “Especially when someone, who shall remain nameless”—she looks at Jagger—“keeps me up most of the night.”
I don’t ask her anything else because Ariella comes into the room and Jagger whines for her. She comes over and grabs Jagger from Lexi. “I’ll go and set the table,” Lexi says, walking away from me and up the steps toward the kitchen.
“What can I do to help?” I offer, following her into the kitchen.
“You can sit down.” She looks over her shoulder and I cock my hip against the island.
“It’s four plates, I can handle it.” She turns to reach for said plates and my eyes can’t help but roam down to her ass.
“I have no doubt you can handle anything.” I fold my arms over my chest. “Just trying to help.”
“You can help by taking your ugly face to the table,” Jaxon teases, “and leaving her alone.”
Lexi and I both let out a little laugh as I wait for her to turn around and then grab the plates in her hands. “You can get the cutlery while I do this.”
“Do not play tug-of-war with my plates,” Ariella warns, walking into the kitchen.
Lexi looks like she wants to murder me, but she lets go of the plates before turning and going to get the cutlery.
I turn and head to the table that has four chairs on each side and one at each end.
“Do you guys ever have ten people over for dinner?” I put one plate next to the other and then two more across from them.
“Yes,” Ariella confirms, “my family is huge. Well, our family is huge,” she says of Lexi, “and they are always dropping in.”
Jaxon comes to the table, putting down a platter of salmon and then placing the platter of veggies beside it. “This looks so good,” I say of the roasted veggies that are placed neatly next to each other. Red and yellow peppers, next to asparagus, and then Brussels sprouts at the end.
“It’s all Lexi,” Ariella praises and I look up at Lexi, who is placing the forks and knives by each place setting. “Another thing we are going to miss when she moves out.”
“You guys are more than welcome to come over to my house every single day.” She looks at Ariella, who is putting Jagger in his highchair.
“All of us?” my mouth says before I can take it back.
She looks up, biting her lower lip. “Most of you.” She puts her head to the side and we all laugh.
I sit down in the chair in front of Ariella and wait for Lexi to sit beside me, as Jaxon puts bottles of water on the table in the middle.
He pulls out the chair next to Ariella, as Lexi pulls out the chair beside me.
“Dig in,” Jaxon urges. Lexi grabs the platter of veggies, putting some on her plate before handing it to me.
“So where are you moving to?” I ask her and she shrugs.
“It’s still up for debate,” she says, grabbing the platter of salmon and taking a piece with two pieces of lemon on it, before handing it to me.
“We went to see three houses.” I try not to fixate on the we.
Who the fuck is we? “I liked the first one but it’s, again, over my budget.
” She pours herself some water. “Like almost double.”
“Your parents want to help,” Ariella says. “Let them.”
“My mother is going to lowball an offer and see what they say,” she mentions and I look at Jaxon.
“Her mother is a real estate agent,” he fills me in and I just nod my head.
“It’s nice and the nicest, but is it worth the money?” She takes a bite of her salmon. “I had the big-ass house. I’m not sure I want that again.”
“You can have a big-ass house and make it comfy.” I take my own bite of my salmon and she just looks at me.
The rest of the night’s conversation is light as we discuss the upcoming away schedule. We leave tomorrow for three days and I’m already dreading it.
“That was perfect,” I praise once I get up and grab her plate to take it into the kitchen.
“It really was,” Jaxon says. “Are you sure you have to move out?”
“I’ve never lived alone,” she admits. “It is time.”
“Ohhh,” Ariella says as she takes Jagger in her arms, “we should do a round of never have I ever.” Jaxon groans while I try not to laugh, as I place the plates in the dishwasher before going back and taking my spot. Ariella now has a cover hiding the fact that she’s nursing. “Lexi, you go first.”
She leans back in her chair. “I don’t know, never have I ever”—she looks up at the ceiling, then looks back at us—“gotten a speeding ticket.”
I roll my eyes. “Stop taking the easy way out,” I tell her. “You always do that.” I catch my words right as they leave my mouth, but no one calls me on it. But I do see Jaxon and Ariella share a look with each other.
“Fine,” she huffs, raising her eyebrows. “Never have I ever had a one-night stand.” She smirks at me.
“I have,” I answer her and she rolls her eyes to the side. “I was young.”
“Whatever,” she dismisses me, looking over at Ariella and see her mouth hangs open.
“You?” She points to her.
“Have you met Jagger?” She points to her son in her arms. “The definition of a one-night stand gone wrong.”
“Not wrong,” Jaxon retorts, “gone off the rails.”
“Whatever it’s called,” Ariella says, “I have.”
“Okay, Jaxon,” Lexi calls him.
“Never have I ever,” he starts, “wanted to play this game.” The bark of laughter fills the room. “Never have I ever gone on a blind date.”
“I have,” I say, “and then I never went on another again.”
“Oh, I want to hear more,” Ariella states and Lexi sits up and puts her elbow on the table, and then holds her neck with her hand as she listens to the story.
“I think I was twenty-two, I don’t remember how old I was,” I explain, trying to remember the little details, “went out. We were having a great time until her husband showed up at the table. She was not twenty-three like she said she was but instead thirty-five, and trying to convince her husband to have an open relationship.” I hold up my hands. “I vowed to never do that again.”
“So no to open relationships?” Lexi asks me and I think even she’s shocked that she asked me the question.
“It’s a fuck no to open relationships.” I stare into her eyes for longer than I should, my hands aching to cup her cheeks before kissing her.
“Okay, Ariella.” Jaxon breaks the moment between us.
“Never have I ever…” She thinks for a second. “…had sex in a movie theater.”
Lexi snorts out while Jaxon gasps and whips his head to look at her. “What is wrong with you?”
“I’m just saying I have never, have you?”
“No,” he answers her like it’s the most ridiculous thing he’s ever answered.
“I have not,” Lexi adds and all eyes are on me.
“No, I have never.”
“Okay, your turn,” Lexi says to me.
“Never have I ever ridden a roller coaster,” I admit to them and her hand drops from her neck.
“What?” she asks me, shocked, and the smile fills her face. “What do you mean, you’ve never ridden a roller coaster?”
“I don’t think it’s anything I need to do,” I declare and I hear Jaxon snort-laugh from his side of the table. “Do you know if you are stuck up there, it’s like hard to get out?”
“Why would you be stuck up there?” He shakes his head.
“Mechanical issues.” Both my hands go up. “It’s more common than you think.”
“I have never been to an amusement park and seen one get stuck,” Ariella says.
“Well, count yourself lucky,” I mumble.
“That is so random,” Lexi notes, “and so unlike you.” She smirks and then turns back, her face to the table. “Roller coasters,” she repeats.
“You are all welcome. Now it’s going to show up on your algorithm and then you can message me and thank me for opening your eyes.” I lean back in my chair and fold my arms to the side, placing my hands at the back of my neck. “Back to you, Jaxon.”
We laugh through the never have I ever until I see Lexi yawn more than twice. “I should get going.” I stand up. “As much as I want to hear about all the places Jaxon has had sex in, I’m going to head home and try to wash my brain.”
“We should do this again,” Ariella suggests. “It was so much fun.”
“Was it?” Lexi asks her and then she laughs. “I can’t believe none of you have gone skinny-dipping.” She shakes her head. “Especially you.” She points to Jaxon.
“Why me?” He points to himself, insulted.
“What about the Mr. I Played Strip Poker before?” He points over to me as we make our way to the front door.
I reach for the handle before turning to look at the three of them.
Jaxon is standing next to Ariella with his hand on her shoulder and pulling her to him.
“This stays here.” I motion with my hand and wish she could walk me out to my truck so I can kiss her. “Lexi,” I say her name and she looks up at me, and I wonder if she was maybe perhaps thinking the same thing. “Good luck with the house hunting.”
“Thank you,” she says. “Fingers crossed I can pick something.”
I hold up my hand and walk out into the warm night. The soft breeze runs through me as I get into my SUV. I pull out of the driveway before I do something stupid like go back and ask her to take a walk on the beach, or literally anything that would prolong us spending time together.
I get home and toss my keys on the island in the kitchen as Jefferson comes in and jumps up on one of the stools. “Hey,” I say, walking over to her and rubbing her neck, “how was your night?”
I pull out my phone and text her before I chicken out.
Me:
Have you thought about the job offer?
I press send and then look at Jefferson. “I might have a friend who might come over and see me,” I tell her, smiling.
My phone beeps and I see that it’s her.
Lexi:
I have…
Me:
What does that … mean?
Lexi:
I think you want to give me the job because you feel sorry for me.
I snort and my fingers fly over the keyboard, and before I can even contemplate what I said, I press send.
Me:
Trust me, I feel a lot of things for you but sorry isn’t one of them.
“That was too forward.” I look at Jefferson, who jumps onto the island and stretches her two front paws before turning and walking away. I walk upstairs to my bedroom, and she still hasn’t answered me. I pick up the phone and text her one more time before shutting my phone off.
Me:
I dare you to do it.