11. Deacon
“Slow down, brother. So now she’s going to give you full custody of Kennedy?” Ripley kicks his legs up on my balcony and pops the top open on his beer. I wasn’t expecting him when he knocked on my door earlier tonight, but I probably should have been surprised he managed to wait a few days before he showed up here. “I mean, I’m kinda surprised Isla wasn’t more of a bitch about it.”
I lean against the railing and look over at the harbor. Definitely gonna miss this view. “She’s not a bitch, Rip. She’s trying to do what’s right for Kennedy. We all are. It’s just not easy.” Anxiety is a bitch, and my poor kid has been dealing with it her whole life.
The fucker chokes on his beer. “If she was doing what’s best for Kennedy, she wouldn’t be going to Japan.”
“You know it’s not that simple,” I argue, but he mimes like he’s jerking off.
He was never a big Isla fan.
“Remind me why the hell you came back from Jersey?” I ask as I flick my beer cap at him.
“Beer’s better in Boston. And I couldn’t let you say goodbye to this place alone. We had some good times here.”
“You mean before you got traded to Nashville,” I goad him, knowing he fucking hates his new team.
“Listen, asshole. I’m a free agent as of a month ago. I can go anywhere I want if the offer’s right, and coming back to Boston is top on my list of wants.” He looks at me over his beer. “Now tell me what’s top on your list of wants.”
I turn around and lean against the wrought iron, leaving the city and the bay at my back. “What do I want? Well, Doctor Phil, let’s talk about what I want.”
Fuck... it’s been so fucking long since I’ve let myself really think about what I want, I’m not even sure where to start.
“I want Kennedy to be happy. I want to make sure she’s taken care of and happy. I want my daughter to not be in a constant state of stress and anxiety that has her closing in on herself, shrinking her world until it’s just her in a room, alone.” My jaw clenches at the thought of that happening again. Because it wasn’t all that long ago that my little girl had a breakdown when she had to switch schools, and I never want to see that happen to her again.
“I want Isla to trust me with Kennedy. Fuck... I want to trust myself with her. I want to trust that I’m making the right decisions for her. And how the hell am I supposed to do that when I’m going to be away from her for half a season?” I crack my neck, my frustration growing higher and higher until it’s at a boiling point. “I don’t know how I’m gonna do it, man. How am I gonna leave her?”
“Okay, breathe, brother. Don’t go stroking out on me. We’ll find you one of those nannies everybody has. Maybe we can get a hot one, and she can take care of Kennedy and you.” He laughs like a fucking perv. “Seriously though, you’re going to need help with my goddaughter, and it’s going to have to be someone she’s comfortable with and someone who’s going to stick around, so you’re minimizing the change she’s dealing with as much as possible. Bonus points if she’s hot.”
“I’m not screwing any nanny, dipshit,” I argue, and a vision of Brynlee plays in my mind from my last night in Kroydon Hills.
“Well, now you’re thinking of something that doesn’t involve your kid. Because that face isn’t PG, dude.”
I finally laugh because seriously, only a good friend can go there.
“Did you meet a girl?” he teases, like a teenager.
“What the fuck are you? A high school girl?”
“Is she why you blew me off at the bar last week?” Rip digs in like a dog with a bone. “I sense a story here. Seriously, Deacon, man, it’s like I’m psychotic.”
I drop down into the seat across from him and shove his feet off my goddamn table. “It’s psychic, shithead.”
“That’s not a no though.”
Ripley is one of those guys I met in the minors when I was a teenager. We were both placed with the same family in Canada one year, and I haven’t been able to get rid of him since. At least that’s what I like to tell him. In reality, he’s the closest thing to a brother I’ve ever had. And shithead or not, he’s been there for me through it all. My marriage, my divorce, the birth of my daughter. He was there when my dreams of playing pro blew up in my face, and the fucker flew halfway across the damn country to watch my first game as the head coach at Boston University. He acts like an idiot, but it’s an act... I think.
“I wouldn’t say I met her as much as we bumped into each other for the first time in years.” And fuck, just thinking of her makes me wish I was in Kroydon Hills instead of Boston. “I knew her when we were kids. She was younger than me, though, and her dad told me to stay away.”
“And you listened? What the fuck, man? Since when can an old man scare you away from something you want?”
I finish my beer, then set it on the table and pull two more out of the box at our feet. I wait to hand him his until he empties his bottle, then lean back. “Since her old man is Cade St. James.”
“No shit... The Saint? I saw him fight once in a charity thing when I was in high school. It was him and Hudson Kingston. They raised a ton of money for some foundation. Dude was probably forty years old, and that motherfucker was still jacked. Damn... I’d have stayed away too.” He leans forward and grins a cocky fucking grin. “What changed now? You think you can take him?”
My body shakes with a silent laugh. “No. It was just... I don’t know, man. There’s something about this girl. She’s... I can’t put it into words. There’s something there. Something I can’t stop thinking about.”
“I bet she’s pretty, right?” He lifts his eyebrows and waits for an answer.
“She’s incredible,” I tell him, unwilling to share anything else. Not when it comes to Brynlee.
“Better add her to the list then,” Rip tells me. His chest puffs up, proud of himself for thinking of it.
And he’s right. Brynlee St. James is at the top of the list of things I want for myself.
Deacon
How’s the countdown to unemployment going?
Brynlee
Ha ha ha. Very funny. I have a new job lined up.
Deacon
Did you talk to your dad?
Brynlee
I did. I’ll start for him once I’m done with the Revolution.
Deacon
And you’re sure you want to leave?
Brynlee
I wish it had happened differently, but, I’m sure. How are your loose ends? All tied up?
Deacon
Not yet. I got my place listed with a realtor and already had a few people come through. Ripley stopped by the other night to say goodbye to the old place. But I have a few more things to take care of with the university before I’m done there.
Brynlee
How are things with Isla and Kennedy?
Deacon
Not a conversation I feel like having over text.
I hit the FaceTime option and wait for Brynn to answer, but when she does, I wish I’d done it sooner. Her strawberry hair is piled high in a bun on top of her head, and bubbles cover her body. Her phone must be resting on something because she’s got a glass of wine in one hand, and she’s not holding the phone with the other.
“You didn’t tell me you were naked, red.” My voice is thick with want already. It only takes a split-second with this woman.
Her lips curve up behind her glass of red wine. “Sorry, Coach. I was unaware I had to tell you I was soaking in a tub while I was texting with you.”
“I mean, you don’t have to, but it definitely makes the texting more interesting,” I tell her before I lean back against my headboard. “What were you doing before I called?”
“Reading . . .” she answers coyly.
The blush that just rose up those pale cheeks tells a different story. “Reading what?”
“Grace and Everly’s aunt writes steamy romances. I just downloaded her newest book.”
“Steamy, huh?” I tease, wanting to know more. “Tell me about it.”
“Deacon—”
“Brynlee, I’m trying to get to know you. I told you what I read before bed. Now it’s your turn.”
She sips her wine and hides behind her glass. “It’s about a football player falling in love with an heiress.”
“You into football players, St. James?” Even saying that turns my fucking stomach. Apparently, when it comes to Brynlee, I’m a greedy son of a bitch, because I don’t even want some Fabio wanna-be to be her type.
“Not since a certain hockey coach caught my attention. Does it make me sound needy if I say I miss you? I mean, what the hell? I didn’t see you for a decade. How can I miss you? That sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it?” she stammers in that adorable way she does when she gets nervous, and yeah, it probably shouldn’t, but it makes my dick hard.
“Hey, now. You’re talking to the guy who asked you to come to Boston with him. None of this really makes sense. But it doesn’t need to if it feels right to us.” I’ve done the relationship that made perfect sense before and ended up divorced. Just because something sounds good on paper doesn’t mean it’s good.
She puts her glass down out of my line of sight and leans back against some pillowy-looking thing as a strand of long hair spills down by her face. “I like that you’re in this with me, Deacon. I like that you’re man enough—confident enough—that you don’t make me feel stupid for saying something like that.”
“I’ll be back soon, Brynn, and when I get back, I’ll show you just how much I can make it feel right.” I lick my bottom lip, fucking hungry for her. “Where’s your hand, Brynlee?”
Her sexy little smile tips up on one side. “Wherever you want it to be, Deacon.”
“I want you to play with your clit, red. Circle it with your fingers, but don’t touch. Not yet.”
She moans softly as her hand moves under the bubbles. “I’d rather it was your hand.”
Fuck me.
I want all her orgasms.
“Soon, baby. Until then, you’re going to have to listen to me.” I fist my own cock under my shorts and enjoy the way my little redhead blushes so fucking easily. “I want you to trace that pretty pussy, baby. Just drag one finger up and down.”
“More, Deacon...” she whispers with her eyes locked on mine. Her other hand comes up out of the water and squeezes her breast that’s playing peak-a-boo with the bubbles. Her pale pink nipple peeks through, making my mouth water at the idea that there’s so much I’m not seeing. But my God, what I am seeing is fucking beautiful.
“Show me how you fuck yourself, baby. Show me what you’d want me to do if I was there,” I order her. And damn... what a sight. She arches her back while the bubbles slosh around her, the flicker of candlelight illuminating her gorgeous, flushed face.
“I need you, Deacon,” she whimpers.
“Soon, red. I’ll be back soon. And when I get back, I’m going to worship your perfect body all night long. I’m going to fuck you for hours without letting you come. And when I finally do, you’re going to soak my fucking sheets. You’re going to feel me between your legs for fucking days, beautiful. Now come, Brynlee.”
The prettiest goddamn moan leaves her pursed lips as her eyes flutter closed, and fuck my life... Who gives a shit that I just came in my boxers like a damn teenager? I could die a happy man—right now, right here. With the picture of Brynlee St. James’s face the last damn thing I ever see.
Brynlee
Lindy
Are we allowed to acknowledge the fact that Everly is pregnant yet?
Gracie
I mean she told me.
Brynlee
She didn’t tell me, but I guessed a few weeks ago.
Everly
How did you guess?
Brynlee
You’re kidding, right?
Lindy
Hello, coffee snob... you’re drinking decaf. Dead giveaway.
Kenzie
Are you kidding me!!! One of us is a licensed ob-gyn, and I have to find out you’re pregnant from a group text message? You guys seriously suck.
Lindy
We love you, Kenz. I’m sure we’ll still be having babies when you’re done with your residency.
Everly
You go right ahead, Lindy. I think Cross and I may stop at three. We’ll be outnumbered.
Lindy
You say that now, but you like his dick way too much to stop so soon.
Kenzie
Birth control, Lindy. Let me know if you need some.
Everly
His dick is really pretty. It has the perfect curve.
Lindy
I love Easton’s dick. It’s definitely my favorite toy. Big and thick...
Kenzie
Please, God. Stop. A sister just doesn’t need to know.
Lindy
I’m just doing it to drive you nutty, Kenz. You know you’d miss it if I didn’t.
Everly
I’m calling it now. I’m stopping at three.
Gracie
Mom and Dad always said they had enough for a football team.
Everly
Yup and all the boys play hockey.
Brynlee
It is a far superior sport.
Lindy
Don’t let Callen hear you say that.
Gracie
She’d have to be talking to Callen or Maddox for him to hear that.
Everly
You’re still not talking to them?
Brynlee
Nope. Maddox is a big fat jerk.
Kenzie
Oh no. The language. I mean... jerk? That’s pretty bad, Brynnie.
Brynlee
Shut up. I’m not over it yet.
Lindy
Do you mean the boys haven’t even come over to raid the fridge? They did that daily.
Gracie
I mean, Nixon is in and out every day, and Killian sneaks in and raids the fridge. But he makes sure Brynlee isn’t home.
Brynlee
You traitor. You let my brother eat our food! He stole my room.
Gracie
He’s like a cute little stray dog, Brynn. Don’t make me kick the dog.
Lindy
OMG. Did you guys hear that Lenny’s dog’s puppies are old enough to find homes?
Everly
Wait . . . Lenny is still breeding bulldogs?
Lindy
Yes! I swear instead of a cat lady, she’s going to be a dog lady. And you know Bash can’t tell her no.
Everly
I may have to work on Cross to get a puppy.
Kenzie
Cross gave you a baby. Focus on one thing at a time.
I close out of our text messages and call my aunt.
I think it’s time for a puppy.