Chapter 25
TWENTY-FIVE
“Are you sure about this?”
If I chewed my thumbnail any longer, it’d bleed, but my hands refused to stop shaking.
I looked around the room for anything I might have missed.
Despite me cleaning for the better part of the week, the room still felt too cluttered; every time I searched the corners, a new bundle of dust seemed to appear.
My nose scrunched as I perused the living room again.
Shit, was that another stain on the carpet?
At this point, it’d probably be easier to throw the damn thing out.
I reached down, scrubbing it with a towel, when a hand rested on my back. “You have nothing to worry about, Kins.”
My spine ached as I straightened. God, all this cleaning was not for the weak, especially when Anna was determined to pull out every one of her toys from the toy box.
The minute I put them all back, she’d just dump them all over the floor, ruining my hard work.
I frowned at Jace, who looked far too at ease for my liking.
“Of course I do. Your friends are all coming here, and I—”
My voice trailed off; I wasn’t sure how to finish my sentence.
Inviting some of Jace’s teammates over to meet Anna seemed like a good idea at the time, but now that it was actually happening, my nerves were all over the place.
These guys had multi-million dollar contracts, most living in high-end apartments and sprawling homes like Cam and Hadley. And my home….it would never compare.
Jace reached over and took the towel from my hand. When I glared at him, he just smiled, shooting me that infuriating grin that made me melt down to my toes. He took my hand in his, gripping it. “We don’t have to do this.”
My eyes blinked wider. “They’re already on their way over.”
“Like I care about that,” Jace said. “If it’s too soon…” He cleared his throat. “We can wait until you’re ready.”
Who knew when I’d ever be ready? The past month had been a blur, an abrupt shift in my life since Anna was born.
From the day she came home from the hospital, it had been her and me, just the two of us.
But now, there was Jace to consider. He was over here all the time and spent every free moment with Anna.
We’d gone over to his apartment last week on his day off, and he practically beamed when he showed me the area he’d set up for her.
A top of the line crib, all her favorite toys. Everything she could ever need.
And it made me want to bolt out the door.
Shaking off his hand, I took a step away from him. Space. We needed space between us. Busing myself by folding Anna’s laundry, I said, “It’s fine. They’re going to meet her eventually. I don’t want to lie to Hadley and Victoria anymore.”
Not that they asked. While Hadley practically had to bite her lip every time she saw me, Victoria had given me more grace than I deserved.
While she witnessed everything that happened between Jace and me, she hadn’t said a word, instead giving us time to sort out our situation before other people became involved.
When Jace first mentioned having people come over to meet her, he insinuated it would be his family.
Instead, he wanted to bring over some of his team members, especially Damien Ramos.
Their friendship was a bit of a mystery, but from what little Jace shared, they seemed close.
Why did he want them to meet Anna before his family? Was he embarrassed of us?
Glancing around the room again, all the flaws stood out to me.
God, was this what Jace saw when he came over?
He’d never mentioned it, but he’d grown up with a lot of money.
His dad was a Hall of Fame baseball player, so his ceilings probably didn’t have water marks or furniture picked up from the local thrift store.
The doorbell rang, and I stood up straighter, tucking the last of the laundry back into the basket. I picked it up and walked over to the bedroom. “Do you mind grabbing that? I’m going to put this away and get Anna moving.”
Jace stared at me, his hands flexing on his hips, reading all my insecurities as if I’d written on my skin.
But when the doorbell rang out again, he shook his head, walking away from the living room without another word.
I pushed a breath through my lips as I walked into the bedroom and dropped the basket on the bed.
Anna was already awake, playing with her pajama-clad feet.
When I peeked over the edge of her crib, she smiled up at me, and some of my anxiety melted away.
This was for her. I might keep my circle small, but she deserved to have people to rally around her.
If Jace trusted his team—cared about them—I needed to give them a chance.
Pulling Anna out of her crib, I kissed her forehead. “What do you say, kiddo? Ready to meet everyone?”
“It’s fu—freaking uncanny,” Damien said as he cuddled Anna in his tattooed arms. “Who knew you’d look so cute as a girl, Lyons.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Jace deadpanned, but his smile brightened as Anna reached out for him. As soon as she was back in his arms, he dropped a kiss on her hair. “But I can’t take any credit for her cuteness. That’s all Kinsley.”
My cheeks heated from my spot in the kitchen before I turned to face the group of women gathered around me. Hadley rolled her lips, tucking her smirk behind her glass of lemonade. “So…” she eventually asked. “How are things going between you and Jace?”
My brow furrowed. “You mean with him and Anna?” I stole another glance over my shoulder. “It’s been going really well. He’s a natural with her.”
“Yeah,” Brianna, Damien’s girlfriend, agreed. “Never thought I’d see Jace as a dad, but Anna has him wrapped around her finger.”
“She really does.”
“As happy as I am to hear that, that is not what I asked.” Hadley smirked at me. “How is it going between you and Jace?”
“Me and Jace?” My voice betrayed me, going up too many octaves to be truthful. I shook my head, “We’re just getting to know each other.”
It was strange, sharing the most important person in my life with someone I hardly knew.
But with every day, Jace pulled back a little more of the curtain, letting me into his world.
I’d even call us friends. But there was a current underneath it, something I didn’t want to face just yet.
No matter how much I tried to ignore it, Jace had crawled under my skin.
When he left last week for another round of away games, I missed him terribly.
Missed his scent in the apartment, missed his silly faces when he tried to make Anna laugh, missed how he’d find little ways to touch me, as if trying to remind himself all of this was real.
Hadley bumped me with her elbow. “Oh, I’m not buying that at all. You’ve barely taken your eyes off him all afternoon. You’re pining, my friend. Hard.”
Oh, God. Was I? Brianna must have read the panic on my face, because she glared at Hadley. “Don’t tease her.”
“I’m sorry,” Hadley said. “It’s just…” She shook her head. “When I first met Jace, I hated him. Thought he was such an asshole. But then, after everything happened…”
After Jace got cut from the team. I slammed my mouth shut, not sure how much they knew about Jace’s past, about his stint in rehab and his continued treatment. Jace had trusted me with his secrets, and I wasn’t about to betray him.
“When Damien got hurt last year, he cut all of us out,” Brianna said.
“Even you?” I asked.
“Especially me.” She shook her head. Jace had shared a little about what happened with Damien.
He had been in rough shape after his injury, but the psychological damage was almost worse than the physical.
“Jace pulled him out of that darkness.” Brianna toyed with her fingers, stealing a glance at her boyfriend across the room.
A warmth spread across her features, the look so full of love, it made my heart warm.
“I’ll never be able to pay him back for that. ”
“He’s different,” Hadley added. “With Anna, but with you too. He keeps looking over here, checking in to make sure you’re okay. He even texted all the guys to make sure they’re on their best behavior so they don’t scare you away.”
“Why?” I asked.
Brianna shrugged. “You’re going to have to ask him.”