Chapter 17
CHAPTER
SEVENTEEN
DAMON
TRAINING CAMP - TWO MONTHS LATER
“Ican’t believe you didn’t bring your game console. You always bring it. What the hell?” Cooper pouts in the chair next to me in the lounge after another long day of training camp.
“I came straight from Adeline’s house.” I shrug.
That might not have been my wisest decision, but I just couldn’t leave them. Even now, I’ve been here for two weeks, and I’m desperate to hold Clover again. But I keep that fact to myself, not wanting to give the guys anything to bust my balls about.
“Last I checked, either of you two could go out and buy another one,” Miles says, lowering his reading glasses as if he’s schooling us.
“That’s a waste of money,” Cooper says. “And this one has diapers and formula to buy.”
Jackass.
“Bryce is coming this weekend,” Miles says. “You should invite Adeline. Bryce really wants to meet her—officially.”
“So does Ellery. Not to mention, we want to meet Clover. Tell me your brother isn’t going to be her godfather?” Cooper puts his legs up on the table and tosses the playbook next to his feet. I’d hate to be the fucking quarterback.
“I don’t even know if we’re having godparents. Do you think you’d be the godfather if we were?” I ask Cooper.
“I’m happy being the honorary uncle,” Miles says. “I’ve got my nephew now, and I’m his godfather.”
I’d be happy with either of them being Clover’s godfather or honorary uncle, but I haven’t talked to Adeline about any of that yet.
“Let’s get back to when Adeline’s coming downtown.” Cooper’s shit-eating grin is annoying.
That’s a long day for Clover, or if she spends the night, it’s a lot of shit to pack for one night, and I haven’t gotten anything set up for Clover at my place yet. I FaceTime them every night, and that’s enough for the time being.
“There’s too much press around here. Plus, the fans are all up in my business. I’m getting enough questions about the two of them. I don’t want to expose either of them to that.” I miss the little bubble we had at Adeline’s.
“What are your plans for the season?” Miles asks. “Maybe you should talk to Jones or Miller, they’re new dads.”
“Oh, you could all join a club.” Cooper laughs.
“I wish I had my game console just so you’d shut you the fuck up.” I leave the room, sliding by some other players coming in.
I’m about to head to my room when Ronnie Michaels, our GM, whistles and waves me down the hall. Great.
I follow him into his office here at Halas Hall, where training camp takes place, and he sits on the couch.
The man never wears shoes and always has on funky socks.
These socks have a dog’s face on them. He catches me looking and wiggles his toes.
“My kids got them for me. They’re our dog’s face.
Wife got the dog in the divorce, so they thought I’d miss seeing him. ”
I nod. “Nice of them.”
“Listen, Siska, I’ve been meaning to talk to you.
As your general manager, I feel as if it’s my duty to provide you some guidance on this new life path you’re on.
You got a woman pregnant from a one-night stand…
you’re not the first in the league, and you’re not gonna be the last. But this whole hiding-out thing isn’t going to work.
The more you hide, the more the press and everyone else wants to find out. ”
“I’m not hiding. Adeline just doesn’t live in the city, and the press doesn’t come out to where she is. The town itself, surprisingly, has enough respect for us that we’re rarely photographed.”
Being in Adeline’s small town was nice. At first, me being there was a novelty, but even before I came to training camp, we’d take walks with Clover, and people would wave hello and carry on their way.
Sure, there was always the one guy or kid who asked me about the league, or the nosy person who wanted to see Clover, but that was far and few between.
“Family day is this weekend, and I think you should consider inviting them.”
PR does a great job of arranging games and things for the kids, but this is not the year for me to bring her. Clover will come in maybe two years.
“Yeah, Clover is basically a newborn still. I’m not asking Adeline to do that. And honestly, I couldn’t give a shit what the press wants.”
Ronnie stares at me for an uncomfortable minute. “Okay, it was just a suggestion. Are you going to stay out in no man’s land forever or return to the land of the living?”
“Boy, I can’t imagine why you’re divorced,” I say, instantly regretting talking to him like that.
Rumor is Ronnie’s wife wanted to move out to the suburbs for the kids, and he didn’t. It was one of many reasons why they got divorced. But my frustration has nothing to do with him, so I shouldn’t take it out on him either.
“You never even married your baby mama, so I don’t want to hear it. You have no idea what marriage is.” He laughs, then starts telling me some story.
I zone out. There was a time when I thought marriage would be for me. A time when my mind roamed to imagining a woman in white walking down the aisle to me. But that was a long time ago.
I enjoy Adeline. We’re almost like best friends.
Huh. Maybe the whole Ellery and Cooper thing makes more sense now. Then again, it’s the way Cooper looks at Ellery as though she’s his fucking world. Yeah, Adeline and I are rocking this whole living together-slash-co-parenting thing, but I can’t let her become my whole world.
“She was sucking me off, and bam, I was cool being divorced.”
I’m fairly sure I missed the point Ronnie was trying to make with his story, but no matter. Now all I can think of is how nice it would be to have my cock sucked. But the idea of going out to find some woman to hook up with doesn’t hold any appeal to me.
Now if it were Adeline… I’ve been kind of hoping she’d be up for messing around again once she got cleared by the doctor, but thus far, she’s indicated no interest in repeating what we did right before she delivered.
“Thanks for sharing. Oh, and we appreciate the team basket. Flowers were beautiful.” Adeline had wanted me to thank them.
“You’re welcome, but your baby mama already sent a thank you card three weeks ago. She’s a good one. Don’t fuck it up.”
“I can’t. We’re not a couple.” I stand from the couch.
“All right, here’s my last piece of advice.
The season is hard, as you know. You’re traveling, you’re training, you’re practicing.
There isn’t a lot of free time. If you really want to be close to your daughter, find a way to get her down here.
With your schedule during the season, you can’t be commuting out there with the cows. ”
“Thanks, funny man.” I walk to the door.
“Plus, I’ve been told you should have done more training in the offseason. Your conditioning wasn’t up to snuff. You’re lucky your GM is such a nice guy and understands you just had your first baby.” He winks.
Disappointment washes over me. I did what I could before Adeline was born, but afterward, I just couldn’t do as much as I wanted. Well, I guess I could have, but that would have meant not being there to support Adeline and my newborn daughter.
“Thanks, Ronnie.” I knock on the door frame as a goodbye and leave.
His words haunt me as I walk to my room. I’m due to review film in an hour, so I figure I’ll sneak in a FaceTime call to Adeline before I do that.
Adeline’s face lights up the screen. “Hey! Oh wait, it’s not me you want to see.”
She puts the phone in front of Clover, and damn, my heart skips a beat as soon as her adorable face comes on the screen. I love her so much it hurts. Like a literal ache in my chest.
“Hey, girlie.”
I smile wide at her, and Clover smiles back.
I don’t care what anyone says, it’s not gas.
Then she wiggles on the blanket Adeline has set on the carpet underneath her.
Adeline’s fingers tiptoe up her chest, and Clover makes that sweet cooing sound I love so much.
My chest squeezes because I’m not there.
What is wrong with me? Football has always been my life.
Number one, never questioned. Sure, I love my parents and my family, well maybe not Ollie as much—he has some growing up to do—but I’ve always wanted to be playing, always put it above anything and anyone else, and now this eleven-pound beauty owns me.
“Hey, do you think we can talk when I get back? Maybe you could come down to the apartment?” I ask.
“You want me to return to the scene of the crime?” She laughs and turns the camera to face her, as if I didn’t know she’s joking. “Why?”
“I figure it’s about time you officially meet my friends, and I’ll have to stay there more. I’ll send a car for you.”
“I can drive. Are you okay?” She frowns. “You seem… different.”
“Just tired. Camp really works me hard, especially since I slacked a little during offseason.” I smack on my best convincing smile, but I’d be lying if I said that what Ronnie said hasn’t gotten my mind twisted up. That, and being away from the two of them.
“Okay, just give me the time and day. Not like I have a lot of plans for the rest of the summer. I did want to talk to you about what we’re going to do when school starts up again though. Probably time to start adulting.”
I laugh. “Fuck, I’ve done more adulting in the last six months than any other time in my life.”
She shakes her head. “You wanna wait for tonight or do it now?”
“Let’s do it now. There’s no one here, and I don’t want to listen to their shit if they find out what I do every night.”
She makes a tsk sound. “Damon, it’s sweet. Do you know how many women’s ovaries would explode if they could watch you do it?”
I only care about one woman’s, but I can’t tell her that. “Yeah, yeah.”
“Let me get her ready.” She puts down the phone, and I dig into my suitcase to grab what I need on my end.
“Okay, Daddy’s here again.”
Clover’s face comes into view again, and now she’s in her bouncy seat, eyes wide open.
“Ready?” I open the book. “I love Daddy…”
I read the entire book while Adeline is nice enough to turn the pages on her end. It’s something I asked if she’d be willing to do before I left. Of course, Adeline’s such a rockstar, she agreed without hesitation.
“Good night, baby girl. I love you so much.” I blow her a kiss. “Thanks, Adeline.”
“Of course. I’ll read ‘I Love Mommy’ twice tonight.” She laughs. “It’ll be a race to see which she says first, daddy or mommy?”
“Oh, you want to make a wager?” I waggle my eyebrows.
She laughs. “Nah, I saw it the minute you held her. A million hearts were breaking all over the country—a female finally owned Damon Siska’s heart.”
She’s exactly right. But I was pretty fond of Clover’s mom too. I’ll keep that part to myself though.