CHAPTER 23 DANNY
When we get back to my place, we eat a quick lunch before we start the process of finding a moving company. I’d love to do it all myself, but with this wrist, I just can’t.
And so we find a place that’ll do it on short notice—for the right price, of course. They’ll be here in two days to pack up this entire house and move it to the new house. And rather than worry about furniture, we hire an interior designer who’s going to fill it with all the things we want after taking a quick inventory of our likes and dislikes, most of which happen to be on the same page.
I call the medical staff to get on the schedule for tomorrow, and I call Troy to let him know I’m in town and I’m meeting with the team doctors. He tells me he’ll be there, and knowing I have his support means a whole lot.
Like Alexis has Gregory, I have Troy, and having someone who cares about our well-being in that paternal position means a whole hell of a lot given the ups and downs we’ve had with our own fathers.
And then we call our friends. Cooper and Gabby are free, and so are Rush and Anna, so we invite them over to our place for dinner.
Rush and Anna show up first, and Anna is absolutely beaming when she walks in.
She can’t contain her excitement as she throws her hand out before she even greets us to show us the ring Rush gave her for Christmas in person rather than over a video chat.
“Congratulations!” Alexis squeals, and I give Rush a bro hug while the ladies squeal together and embrace.
I hug my sister next, and I murmur close to her, “You’re good?”
“Never been better,” she murmurs back, and I truly believe her.
Holy shit, this thing has certainly progressed while I’ve been tied up doing my own thing with Lex. “Where are the kids?” I ask.
“With Rush’s mom,” Anna says.
“So it’s a whole family thing already?”
“We’re here together, aren’t we?” she points out.
I grin. “Never thought I’d see the day I’d be okay with a teammate marrying my sister, but here we are.”
“Here we are,” she agrees.
Cooper and Gabby arrive as we’re standing in the foyer talking, and more hugs and congratulatory wishes are issued as Anna and Rush tell them their big news.
“Have you picked a date yet?” Alexis asks as we make our way into the kitchen as a big group, and if I had to guess who out of the three of us men here would be getting married first, I wouldn’t have ever put myself at the top of the list.
Yet here we are.
“We’re in no rush,” Anna says, glancing over at Rush with a smirk. “My divorce has only been finalized for like five minutes, but we’re looking at next year in the off-season. Maybe around Christmastime.”
“So I was first, Cooper’s next a month from now, and then you’re up a year from now?” I ask.
“Sounds about right,” Cooper says. “And we had the first kid, so someone else is up next.”
Laughs are issued all around, but my sister corrects him. “I actually have two, so I think Danny and Alexis are next.”
My face blanches as Alexis shrugs, and Cooper and Rush both laugh nearly hysterical laughs at the look on my face.
“No harm in trying, right?” Alexis deadpans.
“Like…right now?” I say dumbly.
“Maybe after everyone leaves.”
I lean in toward her. “Definitely after everyone leaves.”
My sister rolls her eyes.
Dinner arrives and we sit around the table laughing and eating, and we talk about playing poker, but I need both hands for that, so we opt for charades instead.
There’s drinks and laughter, and there’s even a little help with packing up a box or two before our friends head home.
And then I make good on that promise from earlier.
I meet with the team doctor the next morning, and he confirms it’s a clean break. No nerve damage, no ligament damage. Thank God. So it really is just a waiting game on the progress to let the bone heal. He fits me for a splint and sends me on my way, instructing me to restrict movement as much as possible to allow for healing.
We close on the new place and get our keys on New Year’s Eve, and we head over to our house, where I fuck my wife on the kitchen counter before we pop a bottle of champagne and celebrate the many blessings that have come our way over the last year.
What a year it’s been.
Meeting Alexis Bodega.
Falling in love.
Winning the World Series.
Getting married.
And now…this.
This happiness. This bliss. This feeling like together, we can conquer anything that comes our way.
Her dad threatened to ruin me, and he even tried to make me believe the threat by outing our marriage and my injury in the same statement.
But it didn’t touch what we have.
The only way he could ever really ruin me is if he somehow made Alexis believe his lies about me, but her faith in me is strong, and what we have is unbreakable.
My dad threatened to ruin me, too—to ruin us. But he didn’t come close to touching us, either, despite his best efforts.
We had the right people on our side at the right time, and for that, I’ll be forever grateful.
But most of all, I’m grateful for Alexis Bodega. The future may hold more storms—stronger ones than the ones we’ve already weathered, even. But if those didn’t break us apart, the future ones won’t, either.
If anything, they’ll push us closer together. They’ll force us to cling to one another, and I for one will never let go.
We don’t get to move into the new place just yet because we have to head back to Los Angeles for Alexis to resume filming on Wednesday. But the next time we come back to Vegas, we’ll be staying in our new home.
I can’t wait.
As we approach the exit we need to take to head toward her dad’s place, I glance over at her. “Don’t you need to be in the right lane?”
“Oh…shit,” she murmurs as we fly by the exit.
Do I sense…sarcasm in her tone?
“Listen up, backseat driver,” she says. “Why don’t you let me worry about where I need to be?”
I chuckle. “Yes ma’am.”
She drives another few miles before she starts to merge over to the right, and eventually she takes an exit toward Hollywood Hills. She winds through some side streets up toward a gated community, and she punches in the gate code. We navigate a couple minutes through the neighborhood until she parks the car in the driveway of a mansion on the hillside.
Gregory stands in the driveway…with my mother.
I glance over at Alexis. “What did you do?”
Her eyes twinkle a little. “Remember how I said I hid a few accounts from my dad?”
I nod slowly.
“Well, I hid enough to afford this place. Welcome home.”
My jaw slackens. “Has anyone ever told you how incredible you are?”
“Not in the last hour.”
“Well, you’re pretty fucking incredible, Alexis Bodega,” I breathe.
“As are you, my dear husband.” She grins at me, and it’s the smile that’s an immediate signal to my cock.
But since my mother is here, I put the skids on that idea.
For now.