“I can’t find Marcus,” Christine said, on the verge of tears. “He’s been out of control lately, angry at the world. I’m afraid he’s drinking again.”
I shoved my fingers through my hair, hating that I was right about the drinking. My brothers and I hadn’t turned to liquor when our sister had died. But we had gotten into one too many fights, to the point that Kody had ended up in a coma.
Lacey hugged Christine. “I’m so sorry. Have you checked with the Ashford police?”
Christine nodded. “They don’t have any record of him, and it’s too soon to file a missing person’s report.” She broke down in tears. “I just don’t know how to help him. He stopped seeing his psychiatrist.”
Fuck. The morning had started off with mind-blowing sex, but as the minutes ticked by, the day was going to shit.
“Kade will help look for Marcus,” Lacey said, giving me her puppy-dog look. “Right, honey?” Her tone could melt butter.
What was I saying? Her tone was melting me in every possible way.
“Of course,” I said, gritting my teeth as I silently shouted cuss words in my head.
She ushered Christine into the kitchen.
And just like that, I was back to wrangling in a teenager if I could find him.
“Lacey, can we talk a second?” I asked.
She backtracked while Christine went ahead of her.
When we were alone, Lacey planted her hands on my chest. “We can talk later. Right now, go find Marcus.”
A growl barreled out of my chest. How the hell would I find the boy? The cops didn’t have any record of him.
Chapter 4
Kade
Ten minutes later, I was in my truck on my way to Sloane’s house. I figured I would start there. Christine had checked with Sloane, but my gut was telling me the girl was covering for Marcus. I didn’t know her that well, but she and Marcus had been tied at the hip since she’d shown up at the beginning of his freshman year, which was about ten months ago.
As I turned out of my driveway, my phone rang. Kody’s name flashed across the dashboard.
“Bro, you better get down to the club.”
I laughed, mainly out of frustration. If anyone knew not to bother me during Lacey’s time at home, it was Kody. So something major must have happened. “Did someone break in?”
“Um… You could say that.”
I rolled my window down to let in fresh morning air, even though humidity was thick. “Did you call the cops?”
Kody hissed out a breath. “I don’t think we should. But you may want to call Christine.”
I stopped at the crossroads outside the Maxwell estate, shaking my head at no one. “Marcus?”
“How did you know?”
“I’ll tell you when I get there.” I ended the call then banged on the steering wheel.
The boy was probably going to be the death of me.
I pressed on the gas a little too hard, as I turned left toward Ashford. Within fifteen minutes, I was walking into The Cave and to a scene that had my stomach in knots and my hands balled into fists at my sides.
Kody led me over to the stage, pointing at a sight that would make Christine croak.
Marcus was passed out with not one, not two, but three bottles of hard liquor next to him.
Kody set his blue gaze on me. “I didn’t want to wake him.”
Fuck that.
My feet pounded a little too hard on the wood floor before climbing up on stage. I was surprised the boy hadn’t drowned in his own puke because his gray T-shirt was soaked in it.
I squatted down and slapped him on the face, not hard, but enough to jar him awake. “Marcus.”
The boy didn’t move. The only saving grace was that I could see his chest moving.
I tapped his face a bit harder. “Man, wake up.”
Groaning, he swatted at me. “Go away.”
I slid the bottles of liquor out of the way. “Kody, can you get some water?”
“I have something better than that,” Kody said as he walked away.
“Marcus, get your ass up,” I commanded in a tone that was scary even to me.
He groaned.
I seriously needed to rethink my position on kids and a big family. If Marcus’s rebellious nature was any indication of what I had in store, then maybe Lacey should play ball until she was forty.
My heart went out to Christine even though I wasn’t in the mood to deal with Marcus. The woman was a young widow with eight kids, and five of them were teenagers. Whoa!
Kody returned with a bucket in his hand.
I popped to my feet to get out of the way of what was about to happen.
Kody stood over Marcus and emptied the bucket of crushed ice on top of him.
Like lightning, Marcus sat straight up. His blue eyes were wide. His mouth was hanging open, and he was seething with a look that could kill Kody in an instant.
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Get your ass up,” I commanded harshly.
He threw me the middle finger as his eyes surveyed me then Kody. “Fuck off.”
Kody went to grab Marcus by the collar, but I held up my hand.
“Kody, can you call the cops and let them know we’ve had a break-in?”
Tough love was how my old man had taught us. When the triplets had gotten out of hand, especially when Kross and Kody had retaliated against one of our enemies in high school, he’d sent the triplets off to a private school.
Kody whipped out his cell phone, his blue eyes dancing with pleasure.
Marcus, on the other hand, glared daggers at me.
Bending over, I got in his face. “Don’t fuck with me. I’m in a bad mood this morning.”
“Yeah,” Kody said into his phone. “I would like to report a break-in.”
Marcus shot to his feet, stumbling as he tried to get the phone out of Kody’s hand. Kody was quicker, moving away as he bobbed his head at whoever was on the other end of the line.
“Please don’t call the cops,” Marcus whined, losing that bad-boy attitude.
I gripped his arm and practically dragged him off the stage and to a chair. “Sit.”
He did as he was told. “You can’t call the cops,” he pleaded.
“Maybe a jail cell would do you some good.” I didn’t believe it would, but scaring him straight might work, just like it had when Sloane had hit his brother Maiken with her car. After that had happened, Marcus was a new person.
I dragged a chair next to him and nodded at Kody.
He lowered his phone and strutted over to the bar. “Let me know if you need me to redial.”
Marcus shot to his feet. “No!”
“Sit down,” I said in a harsh tone.
The day was becoming a clusterfuck. I wanted to pummel the kid. I had a lot of patience, but I was at the end of my rope. He’d given me a lot of lip when he lived with me, but I’d always bitten my tongue, hoping that it was just a short phase of depression over the death of his dad.
I shoved my hands through my hair. “What happened to you? Why are you drinking again? And you’re going to work off the liquor you drank.”
Marcus winced as though I were screaming at him. “Life happened.”
I pulled out my phone and called Lacey.
“Are you seriously calling the cops?” His tone dripped with fear.
He should be frightened.
I lifted a shoulder. “Maybe.”
Kody returned with a glass of tomato juice. “Drink this.”
Marcus grabbed the glass and downed the juice.
Lacey answered. “Did you find him?”
“He’s at The Cave,” I said. “Let Christine know I’ll drop him at her house.”
“Okay,” Lacey said before she hung up.
I pocketed my phone. “Your mom is worried out of her mind.”
His body slumped in the chair as he pulled on strands of his brown hair. Then he started crying. “I don’t want her to see me like this.”
I b
riefly closed my eyes, wishing I could restart the day or go back two hours when I was making love to my wife, not once, but twice. The kid needed serious help, and as much as I could talk to him and give him advice, I didn’t think anything I said would resonate with him. Nevertheless, I said in a soft voice, “Talk to me, Marcus.” As moody as I was and as mad as I was with him, my heart broke for what he was going through.
I didn’t think this drunken escapade had anything to do with the death of his father.
He wiped his eyes with his fingers. “Sloane broke up with me.”
Silence filled the club except for Kody mulling around behind the bar.
I sighed as I rested my elbows on my knees. “That sucks. Did she give you a reason?”
“She’s moving. Something about long-distance relationships don’t work. Why does everyone leave me?”
Man, I couldn’t answer that. But I could feel his pain as if I were reliving the day the paramedics had wheeled Karen’s dead body out of our garage. I’d felt angry, sad, empty, and lost, like I’d fallen down a black hole into nothing, and the pain had only intensified.
“Drinking isn’t the way to cope,” I said. “I might have an idea.”
I found Kross’s name in my contacts and tapped on the number.
A muscle jumped along Marcus’s jaw. “Seriously, are you calling the cops?”
Standing, I flicked my head toward the back of the club. “Go get yourself cleaned up. There’s a bathroom in my office.”
Marcus hesitated until I said, “Hey, bro,” into the phone. Then he was on his feet, walking away.
“What’s up?” Kross asked. “Everything okay?”
“Peachy.”
“Oh no. Did Lacey not come home?” he asked.
“She did. But I need your help. Can you head home and spend some time with Marcus in the boxing ring? I think showing him some moves might help him channel his aggression a little.” Kross was still boxing professionally, but he was also teaching at a gym in Boston.
“I can this weekend,” he said. “What did he do now?”
I chuckled. “What doesn’t Marcus do?” I asked the question more to myself.
“Good point. Hey, man, I was going to call you. I heard something last night and wasn’t sure if it was true. Is Lacey moving up into Triple-A?”
I twitched. “What?” My brain suddenly felt like someone had slapped it from one side of my skull to the other. “Where did you hear that?” So that was the reason Tara had called.
“A couple of players from the Pawtucket Sox were in the gym last night. I overheard them dropping Lacey’s name around about Triple-A. They left before I could ask them any questions.”
Fuck me.
“I got to run.” I had a wife to corner.
Chapter 5
Lacey
I was sitting at a table in the back corner of the cafeteria at the local hospital, waiting for Becca. I hadn’t seen my best friend in, like, forever. She was a nurse in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, or NICU as it was called.
After Kade texted me that he would be a couple of hours with Marcus, I had some time to catch up with my BFF.
I texted Becca: I’m here.
A young boy about five with brown curls and bright blue eyes ran up to a table near me and climbed onto a chair. As the boy smiled at me, I couldn’t help but think of what my kids would look like. Would they have brown hair and green eyes like me or resemble Kade with his to-die-for copper eyes?
The boy’s dad rushed up behind him with a tray of food. “Wyatt, that table is dirty. Let’s sit at this one.” The man, who appeared tired and had dark circles marring his brown eyes, set the food down on a clean table in front of me.
Wyatt bounced over to his dad. “I want ketchup.”
The dad transferred the food from the tray to the table then proceeded to open a ketchup packet for his son.
I watched him dote on the boy and wondered why the man was in the hospital in the first place. Did something happen to his wife? Was she in an accident? Or maybe she was having a baby.
The latter thought made me shiver slightly as I remembered the hardness to Kade’s tone when he’d said, “Tara is your agent, which means she’s calling you because she has an opportunity for you.” I knew what he was thinking—kids.
I’d promised him when my contract was up that we would start our family. Granted, I still had one year left before any notion of getting pregnant was practical. But I’d never thought that a Triple-A team would come knocking.
It wasn’t because of my performance. I was a great pitcher. It was the industry and being a female in an all-male arena. Prior to signing me with the Sea Dogs, Tara had worked her tail off to find a team interested in me. Most of the organizations she’d spoken with had been leery of signing a female. So when the Sea Dogs bit, I had jumped on the opportunity.
Regardless, I didn’t want to spend the short amount of time during this break arguing with Kade over contracts, careers, and kids. But it was inevitable.
Dread sat heavy in my stomach at the thought of how the conversation between Kade and me would play out. Yet excitement wiggled its way in. The Iowa Cubs had sent Tara an email that morning, asking when she would be able to discuss me. After our conversation the night before, Tara hadn’t expected to hear from them until well after the All-Star break.
Things were happening too fast. I needed to talk to Kade before she made any deals, though.
Someone tapped on the table before the sound of a chair dragging along the floor resonated.
I blinked to find my BFF with her head angled and worry in her dark eyes. “Are you okay?”
I popped up and threw my arms around Becca. “You look fantastic.” She was dressed in pink scrubs. Her dark hair was styled in one of those French pull-through braids that I’d seen on a waitress recently. Her makeup was flawless, and her nose ring glinted in the lights of the cafeteria. She seemed to be in her element working at the hospital.
She squeezed me hard. “I miss you.”
We embraced for a long second, then I eased away. “When did you get the piercing?” I pointed at her nose.
Smiling, she swept her gaze over me. “A couple of months ago. Talk about looking great. I wish I was as toned as you.” She gripped my biceps. “Work out much?” She snickered.
I rolled my eyes, returning to my seat. “All part of the game.”
She sat in the chair opposite me. “Please tell me that you and Kade are all right.”
I reared back. “What makes you think we’re not?” I shouldn’t have been surprised she could sense something was up since she was my best friend.
She twirled her finger around my eyes. “Girl, I see it. Something is bugging you. And as much as I love you and want to see you, you should be home with that sexy husband of yours.”
“He’s dealing with Marcus at the moment. And can’t I see my best friend?”
She laced her fingers together on the table. “Tell me what’s going on. Wait. Let me guess.” She licked her red lips, studying me. “You have a glow about you. So your marriage is fine, which I guess means you had monkey sex this morning.”
I glanced around the cafeteria, hoping no one had heard her, especially the little boy behind Becca. Nevertheless, I blushed hard, only because someone had to be listening. Sure enough, I locked eyes with an older couple two tables over who were looking at us.
Leaning over the table, I said, “Just let the entire room know.”
She laughed loudly. “Do you know what goes on in this hospital?” She waggled her eyebrows.
I held up my hand. “Don’t want to know.”
“So if you and Kade are fine, then what is it? Unless you’re pregnant.” She sat back in her chair. “That’s the only thing that could make you freak out because of your career.”
I took in a breath. “If I am, I might have to sue the IUD company.” I’d switched from the pill to an IUD over a year ago and only because the bloating and occasional nausea ha
d become too much.
She leaned in. “IUDs are not one hundred percent preventive. You know that, right?”
I wasn’t naive to that tidbit. “I’m not pregnant.”
“Then what?”
I felt selfish that the little time we had would be spent with her listening to my problems.
That’s what friends are for.
Still, I wanted to hear all about her job, her sex life, and all those things friends shared with one another.
“Let’s talk about you,” I said.
She reached over and grabbed my hand. “Dish about what’s on your mind. We can talk about me over a drink before you leave. Right now, I’m here for you.”
I swallowed thickly as Wyatt complained that he didn’t have enough ketchup on his hot dog.
“A Triple-A team is interested in me.”
Her lips parted. “Shut up! That’s fantastic.” She angled her head. “Kade doesn’t know. And let me guess—he’s not going to be happy.”
I bobbed my head. She knew how bad Kade wanted kids and that he wanted them now.
“We agreed to get pregnant when my contract was up next year. If talks go well, though, then I could be playing for another five years.” I twirled strands of my long hair around my fingers, a nervous habit of mine. “I want baseball and kids, but I don’t think I can have both, or at least do both. Teams will shy away from me if they know I want to take a year off and start a family. And if I do take a year off, my gut is telling me I won’t get back into baseball. Not because of me, but because teams aren’t going to take a brand-new mom or one that could be having kids for the next few years. And Kade wants a baseball team full of them.”
She captured a nail in between her lips. “I’m all for you breaking barriers into a man’s sport.”
“But?” I asked.
She leaned in. “You’re not getting younger, Lacey. The sooner you start your family, the faster you can return to baseball while you’re still young.”
A nervous laugh escaped my lips. “But how can I get pregnant if I sign up for another five years?” It wasn’t a question for her to answer. “It’s not like I can play with a big belly in the way. And no organization would even consider me if I’m thinking of getting pregnant.”
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