by Teague, AS
Aiden Shaw was so much more than a position on a team that would replace him once he got too old or slow to be worth their money.
“Shit,” Brooke breathed. “That’s deep.”
I bit my lip and frowned. “So, naturally, I made a smart-ass remark and then kissed the shit out of him. Well, I started the kiss, then he kissed the shit out of me and I almost suffocated in the electricity between us.”
Brooke’s eyes sparkled. “And then what?”
“Shamefully, I ran the hell away. It was so much emotion coming from a man whom I’d never known to be that intense. I mean, you know our history as well as anyone. We’ve always had this cosmic pull between us. We’ve swapped secrets for years. I’ve told him stuff that no one else knows.”
Her brows shot up.
“Even you. I’ve told him things even you don’t know. I dunno. He’s always just felt… God, I don’t know the word to describe it.”
“Right?” she piped up.
“Yeah.” I nodded. “Yeah. He’s just always felt right. For years now, he’s just felt right.”
The moment when Griff realized that Brooke was the one for him had come out of nowhere. The rest of us had always seen their bond, their friendship that was so much more than that, but neither of them had. But now, it made sense.
The moment of clarity for me was exactly what Griff had said it was like for him. Like those stupid movies with the cartoon characters who get a brilliant idea, the lightbulb lit up over my head.
“So, now what?” Brooke breathed.
I didn’t freaking know. I shrugged. “Aiden’s got bigger things to worry about right now.”
She frowned. “You think he’ll ever play again?”
“He says he will, but his injury says otherwise. Either way, I’m not going to tell him that he won’t. Even if his chances of getting back on the field are slim, the hope that he will is what’s pushing him right now. Sometimes with injuries like that, it’s mind over matter anyway.”
Brooke bit her lip and nodded sadly. “Griff’s been so worried about him. You know Aiden. He’s a lot of talk, keeps telling Griff and the guys that he’s fine, not to worry about him, etc. But Griff says that he hasn’t participated in their team call since his injury.”
“I can only imagine how painful it is to listen to the guys talk about their games while he’s laid up in a hospital bed.” Neither of us said anything for a long moment, we just stared, our eyes a mirror of sadness for Aiden.
Finally, Brooke cleared her throat and said, “Tell me about the kiss.” She dropped her voice to a conspiritory whisper and grinned. “And don’t leave out any of the details.”
Thankful for the slight change of subject, I pushed my hair out of my face and angled my body close to my phone so that I could drop my voice. “If it were possible to come from a kiss, I would have if we had kept going. I’ve kissed Aiden before, but this was different. There was a desperation, on both of our parts, that lit my body damn near on fire. It was like that moment and that kiss was the only reason the Earth was even spinning.”
Her eyes lit. “And you stopped because?”
“Because it was like I needed his lips to go on living. It scared me. I’ve never needed anyone.”
Her brow arched. “Ahem?”
“Other than you, of course. His mouth though… I needed his lips on mine more than I needed food in my stomach. I needed his hands in my hair more than I needed shelter to sleep in at night. Brooke, if you’d told me in that very moment that I had to choose between kissing him forever or never sleeping again, I would have without hesitation chosen his mouth.”
“That’s how it was with Griff, you know. That night in the hotel.”
That night in the hotel for Griff and Brooke had been what changed everything between them. I wasn’t sure that I was ready for everything to change between Aiden and me. I wasn’t sure I was ready for anything to change. My life, although sometimes lonely, was great the way it was. And Aiden’s life, well, his life was complicated.
“I’ve gotta go,” I told Brooke. “Please tell Allie to FaceTime me tomorrow though. I miss her so much.”
“We miss you so much.” Brooke blew a kiss to me, and then we disconnected the call and I stood to get ready for bed.
I knew that telling Brooke about the kiss with Aiden would help me figure things out. And it had. I was going to find a way to make things work with him. No more missed opportunities for us.
Chapter Nineteen
Aiden
For the first time since I’d been carted off of the field, I didn’t go to sleep the night after Mel kissed me the cynical, angry man that I’d become the moment that defender’s shoulder pads had taken out my knee.
I wasn’t the same man I’d been before the snap, and who the hell knew if I would ever get back to him again? To quote one of my favorite movies, ‘The odds were not in my favor.’
But the pill that I’d been trying to choke down since my new reality was a little less bitter. I couldn’t decide if I was mortified that I’d let the admission of what my injury really felt to me slip. Or if I was glad that I’d finally told someone. And happy that the someone I’d told was Melanie.
Either way, what was said was said, and unless Mel had been drunk or high or had suddenly started having short-term memory loss, there was no way I could take it back. It was almost liberating to know that I couldn’t undo what had been done.
I’d slept soundly, again for the first time in a while, but this morning, I was stiff and I grunted as I turned to my side in the bed, pain shooting through my leg and immediately coursing throughout the rest of my body. Dr. Reed hadn’t been very optimistic about my recovery time, instead choosing to be conservative in giving me any estimations, but even without the promise that I would be walking unassisted again soon, I still felt like it had been long enough. I’d known many guys who had torn ligaments or broken bones, and none of them had taken over two weeks to even get up on their own. Of course, none of those guys had torn every ligament and broken both bones at once, but that wasn’t the point. I should be able to at least be able to take a piss by myself at this point.
I was fucking tired of needing someone to help me use the bathroom. I was over eating half of my meals in this uncomfortable bed. I missed my king-sized feather pillowtop, my massive shower with two heads and jets that created a waterfall effect, my man room that held all my trophies. I was just ready for everything to be back to normal.
There was a light knock at my door, and when I murmured for whoever it was to come in, Sandy stuck her head in, her face set in a deep frown.
“Aiden, honey, Shay’s here with the boys.” She glanced back over her shoulder, Shay’s name like a curse on her lips.
I’d been expecting Mel and her bag of torture devices, not Shay. But as much as I didn’t have the energy for Shay, I was desperate to see my boys. It had been two weeks too long.
“She wanted to talk to you for a minute. I told her I would have to check with you to see if you were up to seeing her.”
I did not want to talk to Shay. If it were up to me, I would never talk to her again. But I did want to see the boys. “Thanks, Sandy. I––”
Before I had the chance to say another word, the door flew open and Shay in all of her glory pranced into the room, dressed like it was ten p.m. and she was on her way to the club, a scowl painting her face. “Of course, he wants to talk to me, Sarah!” she snapped as she pushed past Sandy.
“You know that my name is Sandy,” she reminded Shay through clenched teeth.
She threw a callous wave in Sandy’s direction as she sauntered over to the side of my bed, the disgust on her face morphing into a saccharine-sweet smile. “Aiden, shug…” she purred.
The sound of my name on her lips made my stomach turn, the nausea only growing when she ran a fingertip up my bare forearm. I snatched my arm away and peered around her to where my sweet housekeeper still stood in the doorway, her irritated gaze trained on Shay.
I knew without a doubt that she was wishing she could actually shoot daggers from her eyes.
“Sandy, do you mind getting the boys a snack?” I wasn’t dying to be alone with Shay, but that was going to be the only way I could quickly get rid of her.
Shay looked over her shoulder and shot Sandy a smirk that I didn’t miss and said, “Yeah, they haven’t had breakfast. Why don’t you go whip them something up?”
I checked my phone. “It’s almost eleven. Why haven’t you fed them?”
She rolled her eyes. “They’re fine!”
Sandy shot Shay one last glance and then slipped through the door. I could hear her cheerful voice calling my sons’ names and I could hardly stand the fact that they were in my kitchen down the hall while I was trapped in this makeshift bedroom with their mother.
As soon as the door clicked shut, Shay dropped onto the edge of my bed, her ass bumping my injured leg. “Ow! Fuck, Shay!”
She had the nerve to roll her eyes and wave a hand in my face. “Sorry about that. But, really, Aiden, you can give up the pretense.”
“I can give up the what?”
She huffed and then pulled a compact out of her clutch and checked her makeup. “You can quit faking. I know you’re fine.”
I blinked. Then I blinked again. Maybe I was having a nightmare. “Faking?”
She snapped the compact closed and dropped it back into her purse and then pressed her lips together and gave me a once-over. “Aiden, shug… I don’t know what you think you’re going to accomplish with this stunt, but, honey, really. You need to get back to playing.” She lifted a shoulder and then stood. “You’ve got bills to pay.”
“Do you think that I would be lying in this fucking bed by choice?” I managed to grind out through clenched teeth.
She pranced around the bed on heels that had to have been made for a stripper and then bought with my money and leaned over the rail. Her chest, which was amply fake, again purchased with my money, was directly in my line of sight. “I think that you were starting to lose some of your popularity and maybe even worried about losing your starting position to the younger guy they drafted. So maybe you needed to do something to get the fans and team back on your side.”
Shay had always been manipulative, and she’d always known that the best ammo she had were her assets and her words. When we were kids in high school, I’d been dumb and unable to see past her assets. In college, I’d started to see her for who she really was, but anytime I’d start to pull away, she’d turn on the waterworks and guilt me into staying with her.
She never let me forget that she followed me to Oklahoma so we could be together. And she’d spent years cheering me on and encouraging me to work harder, even if that encouragement came in the form of lies and half-truths. It was only after I’d caught her cheating on me that I’d realized she wasn’t the type of person I wanted to spend my life with.
By then, however, it was, of course, too late. And now, here she was, insinuating that I was faking an injury for attention, like I was the one who needed the attention. Yet another reason that I was sick of this bed. I was trapped here, listening to her spew bullshit without any way to get her out of my house. Nevertheless, I’d heard enough.
“I think you need to leave.” It was only an act of God that my voice remained even.
“Aw, come on, honey. You know I’m messing with you. What can I do for you?” That fake toothy smile that she was famous for wielding to her advantage flashed again, and I swallowed against the bile in the back of my throat. I’d long ago absolved myself of any guilt I had about not seeing her for what she really was, but accusing me of getting injured on purpose, or worse, faking the injury, was a new low, even for her.
“You can bring the boys’ bags inside and leave, that’s what you can do for me.”
She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. “You know that it’s my weekend.”
“Yeah, but I haven’t seen them in two fucking weeks!”
“Don’t you dare take that tone with me, Aiden Shaw!”
When Mel said my full name, my cock sprang to life and begged her to do it again. When Shay did it, I wanted to vomit at the way my skin crawled.
“You are in my damn house. You’ll listen to whatever tone I give you.” It had been a long time since I’d stooped to her level, but dammit, I was hurting and all I needed right now was to spend some time with my guys without her pretending to give a shit about me.
She spun on her hooker heel and began to stomp to the door. “You know, I think I’ll take my kids and go if we aren’t welcome here. If this is your house.”
There had been very few times when I’d let her push me to the brink of wanting to hit something, a wall or a body bag, but when she did, I always beat myself up afterward. It was what she wanted, to still wield some control over me when she knew good and well that she didn’t have a leg to stand on. Ironic that it was me who was missing the leg at the moment.
I pushed forward and seethed, “If you take those boys, you will regret it.”
“You threatening me?” Her brow was cocked like she was hoping I was. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if she was somehow recording this conversation. I had to get my shit together.
I lay back against my pillows and squeezed my eyes shut, willing my breathing to resume its normal pace, my heart rate to go down when I heard the bedroom door come open.
“Aiden?” Mel’s voice was like a breath of fresh air, and my lids flew open.
“Who the fuck are you?” Shay sneered.
Mel stepped into the room and arched an eyebrow, giving Shay a pointed once-over, her gaze moving up and down Shay’s shorter length slowly. “I’m Melanie.”
“Well, Melanie,” Shay spat, “I’m––”
“I know who you are. You’re Shay, Aiden’s ex. The mother of his children. High school and college sweetheart.” Mel gave her another once-over, and I worked to suppress the grin that was threatening to break through my lips. “I almost didn’t recognize you. You’ve changed a lot since you were last photographed on Aiden’s arm.”
Shay’s mouth fell open and she clamped her jaw shut, sputtering before she finally managed to spit, “Aiden and I are in the middle of something. If you’ll excuse us.”
Mel shook her head, her wild hair flying. “Ya know, I don’t think I will.” She glanced to where I lay in the bed and hooked a thumb at the door. “Aiden, you need me to leave?”
“Nope. As a matter of fact, Shay was just going to get the boys’ stuff and then she was leaving.”
Shay pivoted slowly, her incredulous glare trained on me. “It’s not your weekend,” she said through clenched teeth.
I sat up again and leaned forward, the air between us crackling with tension. “Get their stuff and leave. I’ll make sure they are home by the time the weekend is over.”
“Oh, yeah?” she chirped. “You couldn’t be bothered to come get them, but now you suddenly want them for the weekend?”
I gestured to my leg that was very obviously bandaged and in a brace. “I can’t walk! How the hell was I supposed to come pick them up? Hell, I was in a hospital in another state for a week!”
“What about when you came home?” Shay cut her eyes at Mel. “You obviously had better things to do with your time than spend it with your children.”
Mel’s mouth fell open and my stomach flipped. “I cannot believe you right now,” I hissed. “Fuck that. I can believe it; I just don’t want to. I called you three fucking times last week! You never answered. I called Landon. He told you twice that I was trying to reach you! How dare you accuse me of not wanting to see my boys!”
My chest was heaving, and I was dangerously close to completely losing it. My pure rage must have been written all over my face, because Mel stepped into Shay’s space. “I’m his physical therapist. I’m here to help Aiden get better. Something that you obviously don’t really care about. Even if I was more than that, it is none of your business what he does on his own time
. You said yourself that it was your weekend. Yet”—she waved—“here you are, pawning your kids off on their father. And why is that? Because you know that he would never tell you no. So, quit trying to guilt-trip him and go do whatever it was you obviously already had planned.”
Shay spun and sputtered, “Are you going to let her talk to me like that?”
I wasn’t surprised at all that Mel had put Shay in her place, but it still felt damn good to see the woman standing up for me. I lifted a shoulder in a half-shrug. “I don’t let Mel do anything.”
Shay marched to the door and slung it open before glancing over her shoulder and hissing, “Have them home by six on Sunday night.”
I didn’t have a chance to reply before she stalked through the open doorway and down the hall. She didn’t even bother to tell our boys goodbye; she just slammed the front door closed behind her.
Mel turned to where I lay in bed and quipped, “Well, she was lovely. How are you today?”
Chapter Twenty
Mel
I could not believe the nerve of that woman. The stories I’d heard had always painted her as the wicked witch of the west, but meeting her face-to-face and seeing firsthand how manipulative and shallow she was shocked me. I worried that I crossed a line with what I’d said, but the way she’d looked at him, that bitchy smile on her face as she slung mud at him, flipped a switch inside me and I couldn’t stop myself. Aiden didn’t need my protection—he was more than capable of taking care of himself—but that didn’t change the fact that I’d heard enough of her crap.
I crossed over to his bedside. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
His eyes widened. “You kidding me? That was the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.”
“I’m sorry?”
He pushed up on an elbow and grabbed my hand in his, bringing it to his lips. They grazed my fingertips, and a thrill rushed down my spine. “Maybe it’s wrong of me, but watching you put her in her place was a fuckin’ turn-on.” He shook his head. “I’ve been taking her shit for years. When I finally had enough and ended things with her, she turned up pregnant, and then I was forced to put up with her for the rest of my life.”