Indy squeezes my leg. “It’s okay for the important things in your life to change, you know?”
Stevie nods. “And it’s okay to change directions even when you’ve spent your entire life headed on a one-way street.”
“It’s not that simple. This is everything I’ve ever worked for. Everyone in my industry knows my name. I’ve won awards that people strive their entire lives to achieve, and I’m only twenty-five. People don’t just walk away from that kind of a career.”
“They do if they don’t love it anymore. If they love something or someone else more.” That’s Kennedy who speaks up, and to say I’m shocked that she’s suggesting I leave my job is an understatement. Kennedy is all about her career. She doesn’t even hang out with the team because she’s worried it’ll tarnish her reputation or that the boys won’t take her seriously.
Rio comes back into the room with whatever is left of the tequila, which isn’t much, handing Stevie another water.
“I don’t know what I’m doing,” I drunkenly admit. “Everything is so messy. I was just taking a break from work, and now I’m head over heels for Max and I’m having the best sex of my life with his dad.”
“There we go!” Stevie sits up straighter. “That’s what we want to hear. After we saw you two together at dinner, we knew this was going to happen. Give us the details. It’s good?”
“It’s so good.”
“I knew it. I told you!” Indy points at Stevie. “You’ve seen Kai’s hands.”
“The hands are a tell,” I agree.
“Goddammit.” Rio shakes his head. “It’s official. I’m the last one.”
“I don’t know what I’m doing. Who fucks the single dad of the kid they’re nannying for?”
Stevie pops her shoulders nonchalantly. “I fucked a hockey player on the team I was working for.”
Indy points to Stevie. “I fucked her brother.”
“I’m not fucking anyone,” Rio sighs.
Kennedy takes a long drag of her cocktail. “My ex-fiancé is fucking my stepsister.”
As if a record scratched, the whole room freezes in silence, all eyes on her.
“Okay, you win,” Stevie says. “But you should probably expand on that.”
Kennedy holds up the bottle of tequila before taking another swig. “My ex-fiancé ended our engagement because I wouldn’t quit my job after last season. His ego was too fragile for his partner to be traveling with a bunch of male athletes, so he called it off. Then in a turn of events, right before this season started, I found out his new girlfriend is my stepsister. And just last month, I learned via a picture of a ring on Instagram that they’re now engaged.”
What the actual fuck? I’m attempting to school my expression, but I’m too drunk to keep my jaw from hanging slack.
“Oh!” She laughs with a dark edge, not showing any sign of weakness. “I’m not done. Said engagement ring was the one I had picked out, but not the one I was proposed to with. However, he did trade in mine for my stepsister’s, and now I get to spend every family holiday with the two of them for the rest of my life.” She raises her cocktail glass in a cheers.
Kennedy isn’t hurt, but she is pissed. I can see it in the way she tells the story. She’s tiny in stature, but quite frightening when she’s mad.
“Damn.” Indy stands from the ground. “I think we need more alcohol after that.”
Rio clears his throat. “You know, if you need help moving on—”
“Rio,” Stevie scolds with a laugh. “No.”
“I’m just saying, Kennedy, take it from me, in this group you don’t want to be the only single one the way I am. We could help each other out here.”
“Isn’t Isaiah part of this group?” she asks. “He’s single.”
I lift my brow mischievously. “Right. He is.”
“Oh, no. Absolutely not. Don’t look at her like that.” Rio points between Kennedy and me. “If Isaiah, of all people, settles down before me . . . It’s not going to happen. You two. Stop giving each other ideas.”
“Don’t worry, Rio,” Kennedy cuts in. “I wouldn’t even give up my career for my fiancé. The last thing I’m going to do is throw it away over Isaiah fucking Rhodes.”
Stevie yawns again, rolling herself off the couch. The poor girl has been a champ tonight, hanging out with us while sober and exhausted. “This pregnant lady needs to get to bed. That was fun, and Kennedy it was great to meet you. Ind, I’m taking a guest room!”
“Okay!” she shouts from the kitchen. “See you in the morning.” Indy makes her way back into the living room. “Rio, you’re staying, yeah?”
“Yes! And I’m sleeping in Ryan Shay’s bed.”
“No, you’re not.” She turns to Kennedy and me. “I have two more guest rooms. You can each have one.”
My drunk brain does not want to shut up tonight. “I think I want to go back to Kai’s. I don’t have too many nights left, and I want to spend them at his house.”
“Wow, okay.” Indy’s eyes widen. “That was way too fucking cute.”
I’ve never been one to like the word cute, especially when it’s directed at me, but there’s just something about that Clark Kent lookalike that has me feeling like a marshmallow these days.
“Kennedy?” I ask. “He has a guest room.”
One that I’ve been staying in, but drunk me doesn’t want to sleep anywhere other than Kai’s bed.
“I’m fine with that. Ace is probably the only player I’m cool with seeing outside of work.”
Unfortunately, it’s late, I know Max is sleeping, and I don’t know if Kai would be able to pick us up without waking him.
With a buzz in my head and a drunken smile on my lips, I pull out my phone.
Me: Hi.
He responds immediately.
Baseball Daddy: Hi, Mills.
Me: I miss you.
Baseball Daddy: Are you drunk?
Me: If I say yes will you still take advantage of me later?
Baseball Daddy: Nope.
Me: Then I’m stone-cold sober, and I want to come home, but neither Kennedy nor I can drive.
Baseball Daddy: . . . because you’re drunk.
Me: Nope.
Baseball Daddy: I’ll come pick you up.
Me: What about Max?
Baseball Daddy: Isaiah is sleeping over. He can stay with him.
Me: Okay!
Baseball Daddy. Okay. See you in ten.
Me: Are you mad at me? You seem mad at me.
Baseball Daddy: Why would I be mad at you?
Me: I don’t know, but you’re putting a period mark after every sentence.
Baseball Daddy: I always use period marks. Would you rather me use an exclamation point instead?
Me: Maybe! Let’s see. Give it a try.
Baseball Daddy: Isaiah is staying with Max! I’ll be there in ten minutes! Kennedy can crash at my house if she wants!
Me: Jesus. I get it. Stop yelling.
Baseball Daddy: I hate you.
Me: You don’t hate me.
Baseball Daddy: You’re right. It’s just about the opposite of that. Stop texting me. I need to start driving.
If I was a little more sober, that text might freak me out, but drunk and loose Miller doesn’t mind it one bit.
Chapter 31
Kai
After knocking on Ryan and Indy’s door, Rio is the one to answer.
“I thought this was a girls’ night?”
He pops his shoulders. “It is.”
“Are Ryan and Zee out of town?”
“Yeah, they’re in Indiana for the night, picking up a crib that Zee’s dad saved for him.”
Following Rio inside, I find a very drunk and very goofy Miller lying on the ground of the living room, laughing with Indy and Kennedy.
I lean my shoulder on the doorway. “Stone-cold sober, huh?”
She finds me and that smile on her lips only grows. “You’re so hot.”
“Okay,” I laugh. “Let’s get your drunk ass home.” Bending down, I scoop her up and hoist her over my shoulder. “Ind, I’m blaming this on you!”
“That’s fine! Miller, let’s do it again.”
Miller lifts her head from my back and points at her. “Yes!”
“Ken, you okay to walk?”
Rio steps up. “Because if not, I can help with that.”
“Rio, I love you, man, but Kennedy would eat you alive.”