36. Chapter 36
Total shit show
Even though this is just an exhibition game, the Brewers locker room is in complete hyped-up mode.
“You ready for this?” Baylor Ward asks me, tossing an arm across my shoulders.
“I was born ready,” I tell him with a cocky smirk.
He laughs and smacks me on the back. “Hey, you’re still coming to dinner with us after the game tonight, right?”
“With you and your family?”
“Well, me and my wife and older sister. My younger siblings are at the game, but they have college shit to do afterward, and my father is taking Aiden home.” Then he sweetens the deal. “The steakhouse has an amazing chef.”
“Yeah, that sounds good. I need to check with my mom and make sure she doesn’t need help getting Gramps home, but it should be fine.”
“Nice wine list too, though…” He lowers his voice conspiratorially. “I probably won’t drink since Holly can’t have any. We haven’t really shared this with anyone beside our immediate families, but she’s pregnant. It’s early, still in the first trimester.” His wide grin lights up his face.
“Congrats, man,” I tell him, genuinely happy for my friend.
“Let’s go out for warm-ups,” Coach hollers from the door, and we all head that way.
Ten minutes later, I take the ice for the first time as a Brewers player. It’s exhilarating, the atmosphere electric in the arena .
“Gotta go say hi to my wife and baby,” Baylor says. “They’re over there in the front row.” He gestures with a thumb over his shoulder.
Before I can look, Gibby slides up beside me and screams, “Swaaaain! Let’s do our thing, chicken wing.” The guy is a fucking maniac, but I love the hell out of him.
The goalie and I resurrect the handshake routine we used to do in our college days. It’s complicated, involving hand slaps, a chest thump, and some utterly ridiculous footwork where Gibby pretends to fall and I “save” him.
The crowd is laughing by the time we’re done. I spin around, noticing Baylor headed my way with a goofy smile on his face. Guess seeing his wife and kid is what gets him going before a game.
I look to the front row. I still haven’t met Baylor’s wife, though I did meet Aiden that one day. I spot the little guy, and I’m about to wave at him when my eyes fall on the woman holding him.
She has golden hair plaited into two long braids beneath a navy-blue Brewers beanie. The jersey she wears has Baylor’s number on it and fits loosely on her slim frame. I take in all that a split second before I meet her eyes.
Aqua ones that I recognize instantly.
Because I’d stared adoringly into those gorgeous orbs while I made love to her during our last night together two months ago.
My dream girl.
My lips whisper the words as a thrill runs down my spine. But the thrill is short-lived and replaced by cold dread when I realize…
I fucked Baylor’s wife. Oh my fucking god . I fucked my teammate and friend’s wife!
“Swain! Why you standing there like you’ve got a hockey stick up your ass?” Coach’s rebuke has me jerking around, away from the woman I could spend all night staring at.
No! She’s not yours, Reno. She never was.
I join my team for warm-ups, though internally, I’m freaking the fuck out. Especially when I remember what Baylor told me in the locker room a few minutes ago.
Juliette is pregnant. In her first trimester. It’s August now, so that lines up with when we were on the island together. Is the baby mine? Fucking hell, this is a nightmare.
Could she have lied about being on birth control? Maybe they were having trouble conceiving, and she decided to sleep with some sucker she met on vacation to get knocked up. But…
My mind is a tornado, swirling around uncontrollably.
Why did she choose me? I’m white. Juliette is white.
Baylor is Black, though I suspect he’s mixed because he’s not extremely dark-skinned.
Why wouldn’t she have found someone who looked more like her husband so the baby might have a chance of looking like him?
Jesus, Juliette. What the hell were you…
Wait. Wait, wait, wait. Baylor said his wife is named… Molly? No, that’s not it. Holly! Not Juliette.
Fuck me, maybe she lied about that too.
No, she wouldn’t do that. I know her. I spent three weeks with her. She’s good and honest and sweet. She’s my dream girl.
She’s not yours , the annoying little voice in my head reminds me. But even though this is a total shit show, even though it’s wrong, I still wish she were.
I somehow manage to make it through pre-game, though mostly through pure muscle memory. I forced my eyes away from the stands every time I was tempted to look at her—which was about every two seconds because she looked as beautiful as I remember.
Stop. It. Asshole .
A body plops down on the bench beside me, and I know who it is without even looking. Guilt threatens to eat me alive.
“Dude, why the fuck were you staring at Juliette?” Baylor's voice is harsh, and I do my best not to cringe. This is so fucked up, and I still have no idea who the woman I’m in love with actually is.
“Ju-Juli-what?” I stammer, attempting to play dumb.
I’m staring at the wall behind him, but his glare is so compelling, my eyes finally turn to face his fierce ones. Yeah, he’s pissed.
“Juliette,” he repeats. “The blonde that was holding Aiden.”
Unable to come up with a viable excuse, I’m saved when Gibby sits on the other side of me and laughs raucously. “Dude, never mess with Baylor’s sister. He’ll fuck you up.”
His… sister ?
My spine feels like it’s melting, and I almost slump to the floor in relief when it hits me. Though sleeping with a teammate’s sister is a very bad idea, it’s not as bad as sleeping with his wife, for fuck’s sake.
“Sorry,” I tell him. “I didn’t know that was your sister.”
Baylor’s face relaxes a little, and he points at his face. “What? You don’t see the family resemblance?”
I’m finally able to huff out a laugh. “You’re not exactly twins.”
“Nah, we’re half siblings. We share a mother.”
Juliette’s story about her family comes back to me, and the pieces begin to make sense.
Her mom and biological father married and had her.
Then her mom married another man and had a child—who’s apparently Baylor.
When she came back years later, she married Juliette’s bio dad again and had two more children.
That also accounts for Baylor and Juliette’s differing last names.
“I apologize again for staring. I saw her holding your son, and I was trying to figure out who she was. Didn’t mean any disrespect.”
Though I disrespected the shit out of your sister when she was on her knees for me and I was attempting to fuck her esophagus.
And have mercy on my soul because I want to do it again.
We beat Oklahoma handily, and though it was an exhibition game and wouldn’t count toward our season, it still felt really good. Next year, we’ll play on their home ice for a charity of their choice.
Knowing Juliette was in the stands, I played my heart out. The other team didn’t even score a goal on us.
As soon as I step out of the locker room, I spot Ma and Gramps standing against the wall. My grandfather reaches me first and pulls me into a hug, resting his hand on the back of my shower-damp head.
“My boy. I’m so proud of you.”
I close my eyes and hug him back, amazed as always at how strong he still is. Physically anyway. That’s what makes his disease so difficult to understand. He’s a big, hardy man on the outside, but his mental status is slowly fading away.
“I’m so glad you were able to come, Gramps.”
“I told everyone around us you were my grandson.” He wiggles his gray eyebrows. “They were mighty impressed. I got two phone numbers.”
My mother swats his arm playfully. “Oh, Arlo, hush. You did not.”
The old man chuckles wickedly, and I love seeing him joke around. “Well, I could have. I bet Reno would make a good… what’s it called? A bird man?”
It takes me second to figure out what he’s trying to say. “I think you mean wingman.”
He snaps his fingers and points. “Yeah, that’s the ticket. Wingman. Even though you’re a rookie, I’ll bet the ladies still love you.”
Ma and I catch each other’s eyes, and she winces slightly at his blunder .
“Gramps,” I say gently, “I’m not a rookie anymore, remember? I’ve been in the league for a while.” More than a decade.
“Ohhh, yeah. I just forgot for a second.” He puts on a good front and nods slowly, but I can see the confusion starting to set in.
“Need me to take him?” I whisper to my mother when we embrace.
“No, honey. Arlo and I will be fine. Home is only about thirty minutes away, and traffic should have cleared out by now.”
“All right. I’ll have my phone on me if you need anything. I’m just having dinner with a teammate.” And his sister, who I happen to be in love with.
When I walk with Ma and Gramps to the exit so I can make sure they get safely to their car, one of the security guards, Barney, stops us.
“Mr. Swain, there are a couple hundred people outside this door, waiting for players to come out. You’ll probably want to go out the players’ exit in the back.”
I rub my forehead in frustration. “This is my mother and grandfather. Her car is in lot two, and I need to make sure they get there okay.”
“Allow me,” the burly man says, shooing me away. “Unless you want to be here all night.”
I do not, in fact, want to be here all night. I generally love greeting fans, but I’ve got a shit-ton on my mind tonight, namely figuring out how the hell I’ve ended up in the same town as the woman I’ve been thinking about constantly.
When he senses my hesitation, Barney pats my arm. “We do this all the time, sir. I’ll personally see that they get to their car safely.”
“We’ll be fine, Reno,” Ma assures.
Barney adds, “If you go to transportation services next week, they can give you a special pass so your family can park in the players’ lot. As you know, it’s gated and under constant guard.”
I thank the man and then hug Ma and Gramps one more time before heading back to the locker room area of the arena.
And back to Juliette.