Chapter 33
“I’ve been saying that the place could use a mascot. And look! The customers love him,” Eli babbles from behind the counter.
He’s staring out the open door with this ridiculous smile on his face, watching as Bodi sits at the foot of a teenage girl. His tail is thumping so loud I can hear it inside the busy café. The girl’s petting furiously behind his droopy ears, and her giggle carries on the breeze.
On the first day, I was dead set on keeping him in the office while I was working.
It only took two hours for him to change my mind.
Instead of being this crazy, ill-mannered puppy who barrels through the tables and steals the pastries like I expected, he’s been an angel.
The perfect example of a well-trained pet.
Sure, he’s been fed his fair share of treats, and there have been times when his nose has gotten a bit too close to the edge of a table.
I’ve yet to hear about him stealing any food or pissing on the floor, though.
He greets every customer either with a leg rub or a kiss on the hand and seems to read their energy well enough to know when someone isn’t in the mood for puppy love.
In all honesty, I think he’s brought in even more customers just from being here. That’s something I will never admit to Beck.
“He’s not our mascot,” I mutter.
Callie slips past me with a tower of plates in her hands. “Everyone still loves him. If you keep him, can we get him a little apron?”
“You want to get a dog an apron?”
Eli claps loudly. “Yes! And a tiny visor that we can pin between his ears.”
“Stop. Do you think Beck would say yes?” Callie asks.
I interrupt them before they get any more torture ideas. “We’re not dressing him up. He’s a dog, not a baby.”
“Imagine if you and Beck have babies! You can dress it up in Blank Page merch. Oh, my God! What if you got a tiny baseball jersey with Blank Page on the front and Rourke on the back? My ovaries are gonna explode,” Callie gushes, shaking her head furiously as she shoulders the kitchen door open.
The moment it’s open, Ruthie sticks an arm out to hold it. She peeks out at us, her eyes bright with humour as they cling to me.
“What is this I hear about babies?”
My face burns with the heat of a thousand suns as I hastily spin on my heels and busy myself with the cooler in front of me. The icy blast of air doesn’t even slightly help. Only the tips of my fingers find any relief once I readjust all of the orange juices.
“Oh, just that Beck and Quinn would have the cutest ones. I mean, with her red hair and his face? Come on,” Callie explains, smirking at me.
She knows damn well that there won’t be any babies.
Out of everyone here, she’s the only one who didn’t buy the whole fake dating thing when Ruthie announced it like she was declaring some royal marriage.
This is a humiliation ritual, point-blank, but I have no intention of letting her get away with it that easily.
“Are you saying all I have going for me is my hair?” I ask, letting my face fall.
Her eyes widen a bit. “No. That’s not what I meant.”
“No, it’s fine. I’m the frog in this relationship. I get it. At least I have nice hair.”
“That’s not what I meant!”
“I think what she was trying to say is that you have beautiful hair. It’s rare, right? Like, special?” Eli rushes out, slightly panicked.
Special? Rare? Barf.
I wave my hand flippantly. “It’s fine. You don’t have to try to make me feel better.”
“Oh, knock it off, Quinn. Give them a break before poor Eli starts sobbing into that Frappuccino,” Ruthie scolds, releasing the door. It swings shut while she joins me at the cooler and gives my cheek a rough pinch.
Her laundry detergent is strong on her clothes this morning, and I inhale it greedily, needing it to settle me.
Eli frowns at her comments. “I wasn’t going to sob!”
“Could have fooled me.” Ruthie releases me and pats the sore skin, as if trying to soothe it. “You’re sharing a dog with the man, and you think you’re not going to get married and have a boatload of kids?”
“We’re not sharing Bodi. He’s Beck’s dog, not mine. I’m just watching him while he’s away. And I don’t want kids.”
Which isn’t new information to anyone. I have too many things to do with my life to even consider having a baby.
I’m already twenty-nine, and I’m not getting any younger.
If I haven’t changed my mind yet, then I don’t know if I ever will.
If anyone could . . . it would be Beck and his beautiful genes.
Not that I’d suddenly yearn to give birth. Especially given the size of the guy.
Fuck, I can’t imagine how big his baby would be.
And why am I even thinking about his potential baby? If I were going to decide to be a mom, it wouldn’t be to Beck’s kid. Jesus, Quinn, start using your head.
Embarrassment pulses through my gut as I desperately try to focus on something else. I’d already raised my sister as a daughter when I was only a kid myself. Surely that was more than enough for me.
“At least let me get him a cute bandana or something. He needs to wear some sort of Blank Page swag if he’s going to be here,” Callie suggests.
I meet her eyes and nod appreciatively at the save. “Go for it.”
“I’m heading out, but I wanted to give Bodi a treat first,” Ruthie says.
“What kind of treat?”
She huffs. “The good kind. I know what dogs can and can’t have.”
“I know. But if Beck comes home and his dog’s gained ten pounds, I’m going to send him to you.”
“Good. I’d love to get to know him a bit more.”
Without waiting for an answer, she slips past me to the outside tables.
They’re cluttered today with the sun high and the wind low.
Bodi’s moved on from the teen girl and is now lying on his back on the concrete, tanning his belly.
His tongue is hanging out of his mouth, and his tail is swiping back and forth.
I lean against the doorframe and watch as he notices Ruthie and immediately rolls. On his feet, he pushes his nose into her open hand and snatches the small cookie she brought him. My brows shoot up when I realize that was an actual dog treat and not just scraps she brought from the kitchen.
Turning away, I ignore the way Callie’s watching me and make my way to the office. Once I get inside, I laugh at the giant glass jar on the coffee table that’s overflowing with dog treats. It wasn’t there yesterday, and I didn’t notice it this morning, but there it is. And that’s not all.
The deep blue dog bed I got him on my way in yesterday has been draped in thick, fuzzy blankets. A stuffed giraffe is tucked in the corner beside a rubber stick thing. There’s even a new set of shiny aluminum bowls in a wooden stand by the couch.
It looks like he’s here to stay, not just to visit for a few days while his real owner is gone.
And for some reason, that doesn’t bother me as much as it should. Instead, I’m more upset thinking about having to say goodbye to him eventually.
To both of them.
My phone rings the moment I step off the elevator.
Bodi walks like a perfect gentleman at my side, the tags on his collar chiming every few steps. I swap his leash to my other hand and answer the call without needing to look at the caller ID.
“Hey. How was the game?”
“You didn’t watch?”
“I was working,” I say with a slight smile.
Maybe I had the game up in the office and checked the score a few times on my phone. So what?
“At least tell me you saw the score.”
“I did. Congratulations, Closer.”
I input the code at the front door and then shove it open. Bodi tugs on his leash, and I tuck my phone into my shoulder before unclipping him.
Beck’s chuckle tickles my ear. “Thanks, gorgeous. How was work? Did Bodi behave, or am I going to need to grovel on his behalf?”
“He was a perfect boy. His behaviour is better than yours, actually.”
“I’m not above being jealous of my dog.”
I toe off my shoes and lock the door behind me. “I didn’t think that you would be.”
“If you’re going to be mean to me, at least do it while telling me about your day.”
“Are you that hard up already?”
“Already? I was the minute I left the house without you. You should see my balls. They look like giant blueberries,” he groans.
“Poor baby. I’m sure Kellan would step out to give you some time to fix that if you asked.”
“I’m not going to ask my best friend to leave so I can jack off, baby. I’m waiting until I get home.”
I roll my lip between my teeth for a second. “That’s nice.”
“Are you going to do the same, or am I going to spend the next seven days thinking about you getting yourself off while I’m not there to help?”
My blood heats to a boil as I follow Bodi’s running form through the condo. He jumps onto the couch and starts digging at the cushion before curling into a ball.
“We’re not having phone sex right now, Beckett.”
“Oooh, pulling out the full name, are we? Am I in trouble?”
A giggle escapes me before I can trap it. And hell, it feels good. “Do you want to be?”
“Well, I do like when you get all sassy with me. But right now, I actually will come in my pants if you scold me. I mean it, I’m too on edge.”
“Already? Sheesh.”
“I’ve had all day to think about you. What else did you expect? I can still feel how tight your pussy was around my fingers, and the way you made this soft, mewling noise when I curled them—”
“Okay, enough,” I bark, blazing between my legs. “Behave, or I’m hanging up.”
“Fine, fine. I just miss you. I’m allowed to say that, yeah?”
“Since when have you only said things that you’re allowed to?”
“Fair point. Well, then I definitely miss you. Are you sure you don’t want to fly down to watch a game?”
“I’m still catching up with work. Plus, I’m watching Bodi. I meant it when I said we weren’t just going to dump him off with your parents.”
“Alright, but next time, you’re coming to watch. And you’re going to wear my jersey,” he barters.
“I didn’t know we were opening up a discussion.”
“We’re not. You need my jersey, anyway, and coming to an away game is a completely different experience than being at Summit. You’ll need to cheer even louder for me to drown out the boos.”
My frown is instant. “You get booed when you’re not at home?”
“Of course I do. I’m the guy every team knows will shut you down. If you aren’t winning by the ninth, then you’ve already lost.”
“That doesn’t bother you?”
“No. I like it.”
I sit on the couch beside Bodi and tip my head back, staring at the high ceiling. “You’re one special guy.”
“It’s an athlete thing. Knowing you’re that intimidating? It’s electric. It gets my blood pumping and makes me want to prove them right.”
“I’ve never understood athletes,” I say tightly.
“Never liked them either, have you?”
“No.”
“The guys I was friends with back then aren’t good examples. There are really, really bad ones out there who make it impossible for the rest of us to look respectable, but the ones I surround myself with are nothing like them.”
“I know.”
And I do. One of the biggest revelations I’ve had these last few weeks is that my experience with Beck and his friends in high school couldn’t be further from the ones I’ve had in the present.
His best friends are kind and welcoming, although far better-looking than I was hoping. And Beck is the most different.
I used to see him as some egotistical jerk with little care for those who don’t paw at him in awe, and now I see his open heart, his kindness, and the fierce desire to take care of those he loves.
He lives a laid-back life, but that doesn’t make him lazy or unserious.
There’s a depth to him that I wasn’t expecting, and fuck, I’m a sucker for it. For him.
There’s no denying it anymore. I like Beck, and not just in some friendly, yeah, let’s hang out and have a beer kind of way. It’s far more serious than that.
I think I might even miss him more than he misses me, and it’s only been two days.
“You mean it?” he asks, voice low.
“You’re not the guy I thought you were, Beck.”
A pause. “No, I’m not.”
“I took a few pictures of Bodi today. I’ll send them after we hang up. Callie ordered him a Blank Page bandana to wear and mentioned getting a fence built for around the patio just in case he sees a bird or something,” I say, changing the subject before I wind up begging him to come home.
He clears his throat. “Yeah, please do. I can do that once I’m back. It’s a good idea.”
“Alright, well, I should probably let you go. Beauty sleep and all.” I inwardly scold myself for being so awkward.
“That’s the one thing I actually don’t need, believe it or not.”
I snort. “Yeah, you would say that.”
Bodi’s ears lift when we both hear the sound of the keypad on the door start beeping, like it does when you put the code in. I touch his back, feeling it vibrate as he starts to growl.
“Hey, I’ll call you back in a few minutes,” I tell him, already standing.
The front desk is really picky about who they let into the building, so I’m more nervous than worried when I quickly end the call and make my way to the door. I’m still a few feet away when it swings open.
Bodi tears past me, his growl disappearing when he sees the visitor, recognizing her. Me, though? I freeze on the spot because the woman who just stepped into Beck’s place with the comfortability of someone who’s done the same thing a thousand times?
That’s his mother.