Harmless (Pier 70 Book 4)

by Nicole Edwards

  Great.

  He glanced over at the room where Cassie was still sitting, and he had to wonder what could possibly be bad enough that the doctor would call a family member down in the middle of the night. He understood if they wanted someone to pick her up, but this didn’t seem as though he’d been summoned as her personal taxi.

  Knowing he wasn’t going to get out of this conversation with the doctor, Roan nodded at the nurse, then turned to go back in with his sister.

  Might as well get this over with.

  An hour and fifteen minutes later, Roan wished he’d never been woken up.

  “She’s what?” He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

  While trying to avoid an all-out brawl with Cassie, Roan had been patiently waiting for the doctor to stop by. The nurse had informed him that she would be there as soon as she could. At four o’clock in the fucking morning, Roan wasn’t sure what was keeping the woman away so long, but he’d been doing his best imitation of a good guy and drawing on every ounce of patience he possessed.

  Only now, his patience had dissipated when the doctor told him that his twenty-nine-year-old, heroin-addicted sister was pregnant.

  Fucking pregnant.

  He peered over at her. Cassie had managed to fall into a fitful sleep after her last tantrum.

  “We need to do an ultrasound to see how far along she is, but by my estimation, she’s probably in her fourth month. Maybe further along if the baby’s small.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means she needs to get help. If she plans for this baby to live, she can’t continue on … the way that she is. As it is, she told us there was no way she could be pregnant, which is the only reason X-rays were done. She’s going to have to see a specialist who can measure the baby and follow its progress until birth.”

  X-rays? They had exposed the baby to radiation?

  “Holy fuck. How can she be pregnant? How does she not know?” Roan wasn’t sure why he was asking the doctor these questions.

  “A lot of women show very few signs of pregnancy early on. If she isn’t expecting it, she may not see the signs. She’s not showing. It’s still early yet. She’s small, so it’s possible she won’t show for another month even. Maybe longer. Because of the drugs, it’s possible the baby isn’t developing appropriately, which means—”

  “That makes no sense. A woman can’t be pregnant and not know it.”

  The doctor gave him a look that asked him how he happened to know this since he definitely was swinging a penis between his legs. And okay, fine. Maybe Roan didn’t know that for sure, but seriously. This was Cassie. How did she not know?

  “Roan,” the doctor began, her voice still calm, still gentle, “it’s obvious she has a problem. A very serious problem.”

  Roan pulled off his hat and brushed his hands through his hair. “I know that.”

  “Do you know when the last time she used was?”

  He shook his head. If he had to guess, it was only a couple of hours ago.

  The woman sounded even more sympathetic when she said, “It’s important that she understand that everything she puts in her body is hurting this baby.”

  He nodded. What the hell was he supposed to do about this? Was he supposed to move in with her? Hover over her? Make her do the right thing?

  Shit.

  Unfortunately, he really didn’t see any other way.

  Liam jerked in his arms, startling himself. Putting the empty bottle down, Roan shifted him to his shoulder and patted his back. Several minutes later, when Liam was once again dry and full, Roan put him back in the crib and headed for the kitchen. He cleaned out the bottle and set it in the dish drainer to dry.

  He needed to sleep, but the stress was getting to him. He knew that was the reason he continued to dream about Cassie. While he wanted to call Seg, to hear his voice again, he knew he needed to stop that nonsense before he did something stupid. He had enough on his plate right now. If there was any hope that he could live a stress-free life, he needed to figure out how this worked for him and Liam. That meant he didn’t have time to work anyone else into the equation.

  No matter how much he wished he had someone to lean on right now.

  Seven

  “HELL NO. I’M SERIOUS,” LOCKE stated adamantly. “If there was some chick I wanted … like, really wanted … I’d make sure she knew it.”

  Seg stared at their backup goalie. At twenty-three, Josh Locke wasn’t much different than the rest of them had been at that age. Hotshots in the NHL, they’d all thought they knew every damn thing. Locke was no exception.

  “What if it wasn’t that simple?” Patrick Benne questioned, clearly playing devil’s advocate on this particular topic.

  Benne was a newcomer to the team this year. He’d seamlessly transitioned right into the thick of it, too. Everyone liked to give him shit—something about cowboys and Canadian ranches—but the guy had no problem dishing it right back out, which made everyone like him. They were a close-knit group, even if they harassed each other ruthlessly. Right now, Benne was their star on the ice—a left winger who was proving to be one of their strongest forwards.

  “How could it not be that simple?” Locke countered. “I want her. I let her know. Simple.”

  “What if she’s married?”

  “That’s stupid,” Locke said, frowning. “I don’t want a married chick.”

  “You say that now,” Benne continued. “Say she’s super-hot, super-smart, and her husband’s a dick.”

  “Married’s married, dude,” Locke said, lifting his beer to his lips. “Not interested.”

  “Okay, say she’s got a kid,” Benne pushed. “Not married, but she’s got a kid.”

  “Hell yeah,” Mattias Valeri chimed in. “Look at Kaufman’s sister. Single mom. Fucking smoking-hot.”

  All eyes moved to Mattias. Seg peered around, praying like hell that Kaufman wasn’t within ear shot. The guy wouldn’t hesitate to take Mattias to the ground for saying that about his sister. Worse than that, Seg hoped Kingston hadn’t overheard either. Hell, it was obvious the goalie was all sorts of hung up on the woman. Mt. Rushmore would likely pummel the guy for looking at her.

  “Kids don’t scare me,” Locke said, although he had that same not interested look in his eye.

  “Does that go for everyone else?” Benne questioned. “You’d do a chick with a kid?”

  For whatever reason, Benne looked right at him. Seg lifted his beer, opting for a nonverbal no comment on that one. It wasn’t the kid thing he had an issue with. It was the chick thing. At the moment, he was so caught up in his thoughts of Roan, Seg wasn’t even sure a woman could make his dick hard again.

  Which scared the shit out of him.

  It wasn’t a secret that Seg had been one of the biggest players on the team. Hell, he remembered a few occasions when he’d had more than one woman in his bed at a time. Sure, it generally involved copious amounts of alcohol. But he’d been looking for something to scratch that particular itch. The problem had been that he hadn’t known what that itch even was.

  Until Roan.

  What freaked him out the most was that the one night he’d spent with Roan had sated him in ways he’d never imagined. And yeah, it had left him wanting more.

  With Roan.

  Seg had battled those desires for as long as possible. He’d simply been hoping that the next woman in his bed would be the one who made him feel whole, complete. That never happened. And now he knew why.

  He was gay.

  Not bisexual, not bi-curious. He was gay with a capital G.

  And he could admit it to himself. However, it was a secret he would have to keep to himself for as long as he hoped to play in the NHL. He could only imagine how freaked his teammates would be if they ever found out.

  Damn. Seg remembered a few years ago when a football player came out publicly. He couldn’t remember who it was, which likely meant the guy had faded from the limelight, sidelined indefinitely, n
ever to be heard from again.

  That was the way shit worked in professional sports.

  Thankfully, there weren’t many men in his past who could come forward with that sort of accusation. The two that could were from so long ago, and those nights were nothing more than fuzzy memories obliterated mostly by all the alcohol. Hell, Seg hardly remembered them; surely his partners at the time didn’t either.

  Except Roan.

  Seg remembered every single minute of that night.

  And he knew Roan did, too.

  Damn it. He wanted to see the man.

  As it was, it had been five days since he’d heard from Roan, and every time his phone chirped, he lost a year off his life. Roan had promised to call him again. The anticipation was going to be the death of him.

  “No issue with kids,” Mattias noted. “But that’s tricky. Can’t simply throw some MILF a bang, you know? Not cool.”

  “Sure you can,” Benne stated. “Nothing to say that sex means commitment. What? You think they don’t have needs, too?”

  Seg knew this conversation could go on for hours. There were times these guys got into arguments over the stupidest shit. Of course, he’d been known to chime in quite often. But not tonight. They’d already been at the Penalty Box for two hours, and he was ready to call it a night. They had the entire weekend off before they headed out of town on Monday morning for their next game.

  If he left now, he could scrounge up dinner and veg on the couch while watching … something … for the next few hours. Yep, that was what he would do.

  “I think I’m going to head out,” he told the others before pushing to his feet. If he left soon, he could miss the influx of puck bunnies that would likely flood the place in the very near future.

  “Cool. See ya, Seg.”

  “Later, Seg.”

  He made a quick trip to the bar to close out his tab before getting in his Range Rover and heading home. He’d been in his house all of five minutes when his cell phone rang.

  A quick glance at his screen and Seg felt a jolt in his chest. If Roan kept this up, there was a chance that Seg wasn’t going to live to see thirty.

  “Hey,” he greeted as he headed to the refrigerator to see what he could make for dinner. “You called.”

  There wasn’t a response, so Seg immediately thought he’d lost the connection. Sometimes he didn’t get calls inside the house. He glanced at the screen. Nope, not disconnected. It was still counting the seconds. He put the phone back to his ear. “Roan? You there?”

  A sigh was the only response, but Seg knew he was going to say something.

  “That dinner invitation still open?”

  It was a good thing he didn’t have a beer in his hand because he would’ve been cleaning glass up off the floor. “Uh … yeah … it’s still open,” he assured Roan.

  “Can I come over?”

  Seg swallowed hard, then counted to ten, not wanting to sound too eager. “Sure. When?”

  “Right now,” Roan stated.

  Seg was about to tell him that he’d see him soon, but the doorbell rang.

  “That’s me,” Roan said. “I’m standing on your front porch. I’m gonna hang up now.”

  The call disconnected, but Seg kept the phone to his ear as he wandered back to the foyer and stared at his front door. Holy shit. He felt his heart slam against his ribs. It pounded harder than when he ran a ten-minute mile during warmups. He had to remind himself to breathe. Not to mention, he had to tell himself he’d look like a little bitch if he went to the door all eager and excited. That wasn’t cool.

  But shit.

  Roan Gregory was at his front door.

  Holy fuck.

  ROAN DIDN’T KNOW WHAT THE hell he was doing standing on Colton Seguine’s front porch, but here he was. He’d gone into work for a few hours today, bringing Liam with him because they were both tired of being cooped up in the house. It had been one of those days when nothing anyone did or said could keep Liam from screaming like a banshee. Roan figured he could pass on the good cheer at the marina, share some of the love with Dare and Cam.

  It was true, Dare had a way with kids. The guy was a damn miracle worker in the way he made a face and all the fussiness seemed to fade away. Liam was under the guy’s spell, that was for sure. Unfortunately, Dare didn’t have that same magic when it came to Roan’s mood, and he’d been strung tight. Even when the others had Liam cooing and grinning, Roan hadn’t been able to let go of the tension in his shoulders.

  Apparently, everyone noticed, because they gave him a wide berth. Luckily, for the sake of Roan’s sanity, Cam had offered to take Liam for the night. This time, Roan hadn’t been able to refuse. So, after work they had gone home, and Roan had packed up everything Liam would need and plenty of stuff he probably wouldn’t. By the time he was heading over to Cam’s, Liam was once again in rare form. Only then, Roan felt bad leaving him, and he’d told his friend as much. Cam had rolled his eyes and practically thrown Roan out, telling him they wanted to spend the evening doting on the baby and that he should go find something interesting to do.

  “Go see a movie,” Cam had suggested.

  “Yes,” Gannon had agreed. “But have dinner first. Dinner, then a movie.”

  Cam had then added, “And while you’re at it, find some hot guy to do those things with.”

  And that was how Roan ended up on Seg’s porch, staring at the front door, wondering why the man wasn’t opening it.

  Shit. What if Seg had someone over? What if he didn’t want Roan to come inside?

  Damn it. He hadn’t thought about that. Hell, he hadn’t thought about anything except jumping in his truck and hightailing it to Austin as fast as he could.

  The door slowly opened, and Roan held his breath.

  Damn.

  The guy looked as good as he remembered. Better even. He was wearing a white T-shirt that stretched across his chest, dark jeans that showed off his powerful legs. Yum. And his eyes… Those sparkling blue-gray eyes twinkled with what he hoped was approval.

  Seg stared at him for a minute; still, Roan didn’t breathe. Much. Only through his nose. Silently.

  “Come in,” Seg finally said, pulling the door open wider and stepping out of the way.

  All the memories from that one night he’d been here came flooding back. How he’d followed Seg from the bar, how he’d argued with himself over whether he would stay or go. How he’d refused the beer and been hell-bent on getting Seg naked.

  But that was a different time.

  “I should’ve called first,” Roan told him as he stepped inside. “You know, before I just showed up at your door.” Roan turned to face Seg. “I didn’t mean to interrupt. If you have company or—” Roan stopped talking when he realized Seg was still staring at him, slowly moving closer.

  The heat he saw in those brilliant blue eyes had his hands clenching into fists. He had to hold himself back. If he looked nervous, Seg obviously didn’t notice, because he took another step closer, their eyes still locked together. It was as though time stood still while this crazy sexual energy swirled around them, gaining intensity with every passing second.

  Seg stopped when they were face-to-face.

  Oh, fuck. The guy smelled so damn good. Too good.

  Without touching him in any way, Seg tilted his head and leaned in. Roan wondered if he expected him to pull back. He sure as hell hoped not, because the only thing he could do was let himself be kissed. And when Seg’s tongue thrust into his mouth, Roan grabbed him, jerking him closer, backing up until he slammed into the wall. And still, their mouths remained fused together.

  “Fuck,” Seg mumbled, his arms coming around him. “Goddamn, Roan. Do you know how fucking long I’ve wanted to do that again?”

  Oh, Roan knew, but he didn’t speak. He couldn’t. He pulled Seg’s mouth back down to his while Seg started yanking Roan’s shirt up. Roan was ready and willing, but when he pulled back to help him out, Seg was the one who stopped.

  �
�Shit.” He sounded breathless. “We can’t do this.” Seg chuckled. “Not yet anyway.”

  They definitely could, but again, Roan didn’t speak. Hell, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to find his voice.

  “Dinner. That’s why you came here.”

  Roan grinned. “Right. Dinner.”

  Food was the absolute last thing on his mind right now.

  Seg’s eyebrows lowered slightly. “Unless that’s code for something?”

  “No,” Roan admitted, taking a deep breath and trying to get himself under control. “It’s not. Dinner’s good.”

  “Okay. Well, this was kind of short notice so…” Seg glanced at the kitchen, then back at Roan. “Pizza okay? It’ll take about half an hour to get here.”

  “Pizza’s perfect.”

  Roan certainly didn’t mind waiting.

  And who knew what they could do in half an hour.

  Eight

  SEG WAS GLAD HE’D MANAGED not to maul Roan in his foyer. It had been a close call there for a minute. From the second he laid eyes on the man, he’d wanted nothing more than to strip them both and slide into the warmth of Roan’s body, clinging to him, taking everything the man was willing to give him.

  The only thing that had stopped him was fear. Fear that tomorrow would come and Roan would be gone and it would be another year before he managed to bump into him again, by sheer luck.

  No, Seg didn’t want that.

  He wanted more than that.

  And the only way to make that happen was to put the brakes on. For a little while, at least.

  By the time the pizza had arrived, they’d been settled on the couches in his living room and managed small talk. Roan had asked about the season, Seg had told him preseason had been shit, but the season was off to a good start. Seg’s contract had been renewed, and he would likely be with the Arrows until he retired. Not a bad thing. The team was better this year than last. Management was making some changes, focusing on the issues they’d seen last year.

  They’d continued to talk about the marina where Roan worked while they ate pizza at the breakfast bar. Turned out, Roan was one of the owners of the marina. They were more than a decade in and he loved it. When Seg had attempted to ask about Roan’s sister, he’d shrugged off the subject.