70. Calvin
CALVIN
“Sienna?” I whisper, but when I get nothing but heavy breathing in response, my suspicions are confirmed.
She’s fallen asleep, and I’m still inside her.
Happiness and contentment wrap around me, and I hold her even tighter.
I wish we could stay like this forever.
But as much as I want to stay in this bubble, I know we can’t. The outside world waits. Life is right outside this building, and before we’re ready, we’re going to have to step back into it.
The internet is a buzz of gossip about the woman who seems to have stolen my heart.
Thankfully, no one discovered where I disappeared to for the holidays.
I’ll do whatever I can to keep Sienna and her family out of the media, but I already know it won’t be easy.
Everyone is going to have something to say.
The bunnies will want to tear her down, and the kind of comments I know are already online about her make me feel sick.
Jealousy really is the devil.
I want to protect her with everything I am, but I already know I’m going to fail. I just have to hope she knows I’ll try my hardest.
She sleeps for about thirty minutes. I’m aware of the exact moment she wakes up. Her breath catches, and she sits up so quickly, my semi slips from her.
She blinks at me as sleep fades and she comes back to the here and now.
“I fell asleep,” she whispers.
“Yeah, darlin’, you did.”
She drops her forehead to my chest and groans.
“I’m sorry.”
“Hey,” I say, tucking my fingers under her chin and tipping her head up again so she can look at me. “Nothing to be sorry about.”
“I was meant to be giving you your gift.”
“You mean riding me until I lost my mind wasn’t my gift?” I tease.
She shakes her head before climbing off me, mumbling about going to clean up.
I watch her round ass as she walks toward her bedroom, and it’s not until she’s disappeared that I pull my own pants up and make my way to her kitchen to make coffee.
When she reappears, I’ve got two steaming mugs of coffee sitting before me on the counter, and she’s carrying a box.
Excitement tingles in my stomach at the thought of her getting me something.
“It’s not much. It’s not like…a diamond necklace or anything,” she says shyly.
“I’m sure it’s perfect.”
Her cheeks heat, and my curiosity only grows.
“Is it a sex toy?” I ask.
“What?” She balks. “No. No, it’s not.”
“Damn. Well, we definitely need to get you some more of them for us to play with,” I say, taking the wrapped box from her and setting it on the counter. It’s kinda heavy, and despite wanting to shake it, I manage to stop myself.
Sienna watches me, anxiously chewing on her nail as I rip into the paper and open the box.
Inside, there are smaller wrapped gifts.
I pull the first one out and rip the paper off.
I find a framed photo of the guys and me from an event a few months before my injury.
A smile pulls at my lips. That was a great night.
I open the next one and find a framed image of us after our championship win last year. We’re all exhausted and sweaty, but we’re so fucking happy. A pang of grief hits me that I’m not going to feel that incredible adrenaline rush of a win this season.
I keep going, opening two more images of me with the guys, only these include their girls as well.
“Your family,” Sienna breathes, stepping a little closer to me after I’ve laid the four of them on her kitchen island. “Family isn’t always blood. Sometimes it’s the one you make for yourself, and you don’t have any pictures of them in your apartment.”
“I love them. And you’re right. These guys choose me, even when I’m a little bit broken.”
“They’ll always choose you. That’s what a real family does.”
My heart swells in my chest as I gaze into her eyes.
“There are four more,” she says, nodding to the half-empty box.
The gifts that are left are the exact same size and shape as the ones I’ve already opened, so I think I know what they are. The question is, what images do they hold?
I find out the second I rip into the first one and discover one of the pictures that was inside Sienna’s scrapbook.
It’s the two of us lying in a field, grass surrounding us and wide smiles on our young faces.
The next one is another from our two weeks together that summer.
And then the final two are more recent. One is a selfie from one evening when we were hanging out on Sienna’s couch, and the final one is us dancing together in the club only last week.
I wasn’t aware that anyone took anything, but I’m so glad they did.
We’re gazing at each other with the kind of intensity you only see between two people who are deeply in love.
A lump crawls up my throat as I stare at us. Sienna shuffles beside me, and I turn to look up at her.
“Do you like them?” she asks anxiously.
“Darlin’,” I rasp, pushing to my feet and taking her face in my hands. “I love them. Almost as much as I love you.”
Her smile is blinding.
“I can’t wait to find them a home in my apartment.”
I hate that Sienna has to go back to work the next day, but it gives me a chance to catch up with the guys.
We meet for breakfast before heading back to Rett’s.
Bea is at work with Sienna, and Hailee is working, Freya is with her parents, and Casey and Sutton are having a girls’ day, so it’s just the guys—just like it used to be, only better.
I can’t really explain why. Something shifted when Kodie and Linc found their girls.
I didn’t like it back then. Life as I knew it was changing.
Then, Handsy fell for Freya’s charm, leaving me with newly traded Rett as my wingman, and then he crumbled to Bea’s charm.
But I couldn’t be too annoyed with that one, because without Bea, there would be no Sienna, and I can’t imagine what life would be like without her.
“Oh, you motherfucker,” Hayden bellows when Rett kills him instead of Cole and Linc, who are on the opposing team. “Do you even know how to play this game?”
“That would be a no,” Linc teases happily. “We all know that Bea is better. You’d have thought Rett would have learned something by now. Did you know he gets Xbox lessons from his girl?”
“Shut the fuck up, asshole,” Rett grunts.
Today is their last day before training resumes.
They’ve got their first game the day after tomorrow, and they’re making the most of their freedom.
They’re sitting pretty at the top of the division, but we all know everything can change after the holiday break.
The trade deadline will be upon us before we know it, then they’ll be heading into the playoffs.
I’m excited for them, but also frustrated to have to watch it from the bench. Shit could be worse, though.
“Anyone heard anything from Nash?” Handsy asks, earning himself a scowl from Kodie—not that he notices; his focus is solely on the screen, trying to take advantage of Rett’s uselessness to claim the W.
“Why the fuck would we have heard from that asshole?” Kodie grunts.
“I dunno. I was just asking,” Handsy says.
“Did he go home for the holidays?” Hayden asks.
No one has the answer to that, and I hate that it stirs concern within me.
I want to hate Cooper Nash because he single-handedly ruined my season before it had barely started. But I’ve gotta admit, I kinda feel sorry for the guy.
He’s been ripped away from a team I can only assume he thought he’d be at for life, and he’s been dumped in with us, a team that hasn’t exactly welcomed him with open arms.
“Sutton asked Casey if she can call her Mom on Christmas day,” Kodie suddenly blurts.
“Aw, that’s so cute,” Hayden gushes.
“I assume Casey agreed?” Linc asks.
“Once she stopped crying, yeah. Coach is now Gramps, too.”
“Is that a nickname for all to use or …” A round of snickers erupts at Handsy's question.
“He kinda suits Gramps, don’t you think?” Rett teases.
“He’ll fucking murder us if we call him that,” Hayden points out. “And I don’t know about you guys, but I’d like to stay alive a little longer.”
“Same,” I agree. “I haven’t had anywhere near enough time with Sienna yet.”
“Who’d have thought it,” Linc mutters. “Killer is a romantic.”
“Fuck off,” I scoff.
“Do you know what he bought Sienna for Christmas?”
“An engagement ring?” Handsy asks, deadly seriously.
“If I didn’t think she’d freak out at how soon it was, I would have.”
“Fucking hell.” Kodie groans. “Are you all going to ask before I do? You all know I found my girl first, right?”
“Dude, that’s entirely on you. You could have asked more than a year ago if you wanted to marry her.”
“I do want to marry her.”
“So where’s the ring?” Linc demands.
Kodie’s mouth opens to say something, but he quickly shuts it again.
“Oh fuck—you’ve got it, haven’t you?” Hayden asks.
“Maybe,” Kodie hedges.
“So…what’s the plan?” Handsy demands.
“Like fuck am I telling you lot. You can find out with everyone else…online.”
“Brutal,” Rett hisses.
“You’re gonna do it soon, right? You know she’s ready for it,” Hayden says.
“I’m not saying anything. So, what did you get Sienna for Christmas?”
I explain the necklace that symbolizes our history.
“I still can’t believe you’re a cowboy.” Handsy laughs.
“I’m not a fucking cowboy,” I scoff.
“Do you, or have you ever, owned a pair of cowboy boots?” Linc asks.
“Um…”
“And can you ride a horse?” Rett adds.
“Neither of those makes me a cowboy. I grew up on a ranch; it’s expected that—”
“You be a cowboy?” Kodie pipes up, happily joining in as long as the spotlight is off him.
“You’re all just jealous,” I state, folding my arms over my chest. “As soon as Darcy clears me, I’m taking you all out for lessons.”
“Coach will shit a brick if you put us all on horses,” Rett points out.
“Then shut the fuck up about me being a cowboy. The only kind of riding I’m interested in these days is with Sienna.”
Everyone hoots and hollers, each of them offering their agreement.
I look around at each of the guys with wide smiles and laughter filling the room, and I think about what Sienna said as I looked at those photos I unwrapped yesterday.
Family really is what you make it, and I couldn’t have done better than these guys.