I hadn't seen Danny in a few days, and he wouldn't return my call. It was driving me nuts. I finally decided to call my brother as I drove out to Danny's place. I had to see him. I didn't care what kind of fool I looked like.
"Terra. How are you? You holding up okay?" My brother sounded far too concerned for a normal Thursday afternoon.
"Yeah. I'm worried about Danny. Have you heard from him in the last two days? We have a game on Saturday that he's supposed to pitch." I rolled the window up and tried to not sound as fucked up as I was.
"I'm not sure if he's going to be there. I talked to him yesterday and he lost his dad Tuesday night really late.
I swerved to the side of the road as the air was sucked from the car. "What? Lost his dad where?"
"His dad died at the hospital."
"Oh, my God." I put the car in park as a million emotions raped my insides. "Why didn't he call me?"
"He's pretty fucked up about it right now, Ter. You know he and his father were close. Just like you and Daddy were."
I leaned back and closed my eyes as tears burned me. "I should have known. I would have gone to the hospital with him. He needed me, Lance. Why didn't he call?"
"He's a hard shell to crack, Sis. You know this. You've been trying for years. Just go to him and help him out. I'll be flying in later tomorrow."
"Do you know what the arrangements are?"
"Not really. I would assume they're having a small family gathering this weekend. His dad wanted to be cremated, so there isn't really going to be a funeral."
I pulled back on the road, driving even faster than before. "Just because you're cremated doesn't mean you don't have a funeral."
"I realize that, but he and his mom aren't interested. After losing Jannie, I think they both swore they would do a simple celebration of life for everyone else in the family."
I could understand that. "I'm going to try and find him. I'll call you later."
"Sounds good. I'll grab a cab at the airport. Dad's house still ours?"
"Yeah. I kept the staff and stuff, but I rarely go out there. I'm sure they'll be happy to see someone."
"Okay. Be safe and good luck. He's pretty fucking broken."
"Thanks, Lance. See you soon." I dropped the call and tossed the phone in my passenger seat as I turned a corner a little too fast and almost hit an oncoming car. I screamed and hit the breaks. "Slow the fuck down, Terra. No one needs another tragedy in their lives. Period."
After catching my breath, I pulled back onto the road and concentrated on slowing my racing heart as I made my way over to Danny's house.
I was sure he'd had plenty of memories of other women in his bed to suffice for a lifetime. I parked in front of the house, grateful to see his bike and his truck in the driveway. I took a shaky breath and got out of the car. The last time I'd seen him a few days before, we'd been in the middle of a full-on fight. I didn't want to upset him in the middle of his grief, but there was no damn way I was standing on the sidelines while he was hurting.
Reaching up with a shaky hand, I knocked on the door and held my breath.
A cute little blond with Jannie's big eyes and innocent face opened the door. "Hi. Do you have our pizza?"
I smiled and knelt. "I don't, but I can surely order you one if you're hungry."
She tilted her head to the side and reached out to touch my cheek with her tiny hand. "I know you."
"Do you?" I glanced up as Danny jogged to the door in a pair of shorts and nothing else.
"Lyndsay! What did I tell you about answering the door, Peanut? Someone could snatch you up." He scooped her up and held her tightly as he opened the door further. "Terra."
"I do know her!" Lyndsay slid down the front of her daddy and moved to me, hugging my legs and looking up at me. "Mimi said you were going to be the queen in my daddy's castle."
"I like the sound of that." I picked her up and put her on my hip, feeling almost too comfortable with her. "Can I come in for a few minutes?"
"Yeah. I'd like that." He moved back and closed the door behind us. "Lyndsay. Go grab your new teddy bear that Mimi got you and come show Miss Terra, okay?"
I put her down and smiled as she took a shallow breath and looked up at me as if I were something special. "You’re so much prettier out of the pictures."
"Peanut. Go do what I said." Danny reached out and ran his hand down my forearm to grip my hand tightly. "I'm so fucking sorry for what happened on Tuesday."
"Danny." I moved closer but didn't slip into his arms like I wanted to. "I just heard about your dad."
"I don't know what to say about that." He looked so tired, so beaten by life. "I left the game after getting in that fight with you and Paul and-" His voice broke as his face crumbled.
"Baby." I closed the gap between us and pulled him into my arms as he wrapped me in an almost too-tight hug. "I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere, okay?"
"My mom is so fucked up right now. She's not even talking, Ter." He pressed his face against my neck.
I held him as his large body shook against me. "She'll get better. We'll help her too, okay?" I kissed the side of his face as Lyndsay walked around the corner holding a little teddy bear.
Her eyes were red and tears were streaking down her cheeks. "What's wrong with my daddy?"
"He's just tired, sweetheart. Go sit on the couch for me, and I'll put him to bed and make us something delicious to snack on while we play with your dolls, okay?" I smiled and offered her every ounce of calm I had.
"Okay." She walked over and wrapped her arms around Danny, leaning in to kiss his leg. "Get some sleep, daddy. I'll spend some time with Terra. We need to do some girl things, okay?"
He chuckled and moved back to wipe his eyes. "I like the sound of that." He leaned over and kissed the top of her head before standing back up and touching my cheek. "Thanks for coming. I certainly don't deserve you being here."
"Hush." I pulled his hand down and gripped it tightly before turning and leading him down a long hallway to his bedroom.
"The last one at the end." He moved behind me slowly, his breathing labored. "I thought losing Jannie was the worst thing I could suffer, but I'm not so sure that's true anymore, Ter."
"We're going to get through this." I waited until he stepped into the room to close the door. It was decorated in dark blues and silvers. It reminded me of the harbor, Danny's favorite place to go on date nights when we were kids.
"Are we?" He reached for me and pulled me close to him. "Stay with me tonight. Please? I don't want to sleep alone."
"Then I'll stay." I ran my hands up his back and held him against my chest. "Get some sleep now and I'll take care of your Peanut."
He leaned in and brushed his nose against mine. "Did you know that even though I'm a horrible asshole from hell that I love you so much? That you're all I think about, Ter? Did you know?"
"I do now," I whispered and cupped his face as I moved in for a long, loving kiss. The feeling of his body against mine, his pain becoming mine, our hearts reaching for the others was simply right. No matter what was or would be, he belonged to me and me to him.
We would figure things out. No matter how long it took or how hard it was.
He kissed me again and turned, walking to the bed. "Thank you for being you."
"No problem." I walked to the door, wanting to turn around and watch him strip off his shorts, but it wasn't the right time for lust. It was all about love. I opened the door and stopped, needing him to know.
"You okay?" He whispered from the darkness.
"I am now." I glanced over my shoulder. "I love you too. I always have."
He chuckled. "How could you not? I played hard to get and you fell for it."
My turn to laugh. "Get some rest, baby. I'll be here when you get up."
All the shit from the last week was gone. Obliterated in a moment. We didn't have to cling to the should have's and would have's and should have done's. He was broken and I was too. Maybe together we coul
d rediscover ourselves and find healing.
Something told me that was the new path we were on.
I couldn't wait to take the next step.
29
Daniel
One Week Later
"Thank you for being there for me, Ter." I ran my hands down her arms as we stood in front of one of the private jets the club owned. "You fed me and my baby girl, loved on us, cleaned up after us. What can I do to pay you back?"
"Make love to me again?" She moved closer, her eyes filled with desire. "I need to feel you against me."
"Inside of you?" I closed the gap and slipped my hand into her hair as I pulled her down for a long, hot kiss. The sounds of the other players oohing and ahhing were almost too much. I nipped at her lips and moved back. "Come on my flight with me."
"No. I need to talk with Joe about a few things." She ran her hand down my chest and cupped my dick, hiding her tight grip on me with her body. "But this is mine tonight."
"Baby. That's yours every night." I leaned in to taste her one more time before turning and walking to the players’ plane. Fucking her in the middle of the air would have been a serious treat, but it simply wasn't meant to be. I needed her as much as she needed me for sure. After the last two days of moving around like a zombie, the intensity of a long fuck with my girl was in order.
"Hey man. You dating the boss lady now?" Rodriguez motioned for me to come sit by him.
"She's always been mine, man. You didn't know?" I sat down and buckled up. Jeremy walked onto the plane next, surprising me a little. "Hey, man. They let riff-raff like you in here?"
"Fuck yeah. About damn time too." He sat down across the aisle from me. "I was starting to lose my celebrity status and shit. I was actually having to try with women. I didn't spend all those years playing ball and busting my ass to have to come up with a pickup line." He sat down and smiled over at us. "Hey. I'm sorry to hear about your dad, Danny."
"Thanks, man." I glanced around as the guys took turns giving their condolences to me over my dad's death. It was still painful as fuck, and I probably shouldn't have been leaving town, but the family gathering was over, and my mom was visiting her sister in Oregon with Lyndsay. It was a good time to get back with the team and try and pull my life back together.
"So, you and Terra have been a thing since back in the day?" Rodriguez asked.
"Oh yeah. She was my first girlfriend."
"And your first lover?" Jeremy wagged his eyebrows and let out a cat-call.
Everyone laughed and joined in the fun. I nodded, letting them think what they wanted to. In my mind, the memory had been re-grafted to include her. She was everything to me and should have been my first. That was good enough.
"Take a picture of the man on the mound tonight, folks. It's hot and heavy and he's not even breaking a sweat." The announcer's voice was loud over the speakers in Oakland, but I loved it.
The pitcher’s mound was where I'd lived most of my life. It's where I sorted out my mistakes and found the best parts of myself. Not smiling in front of a camera or pretending to be the cocky asshole I'd become over the years thanks to the life I'd lived. It was just me and the ball. The way life was meant to be for a simple guy like me.
I reared back and put the ball into Gary's glove, putting the third batter in the bottom of the eighth down. We were going to win the game if I had anything to do about it.
The crowd in the stands grew silent as I walked back to the dugout.
"Great job, McAdams. You in for one more tonight, or are you ready for us to bring in the relief pitcher?" Joe patted my back and reached over like he was going to call down to the bullpen to get Jeremy up and ready.
"Give me a second to think about it." I moved down into the dugout and put my glove up before standing near the opening on the far left. I'd put a lot of batters down and been given more accolades than I could remember. A smile touched my lips as my mind went back to the first night Terra and I found the courage to sneak into the baseball field after it closed.
"Your dad is going to fucking kill us, you wild thing." I reached for her hand as she took off toward the crimson dirt.
"No. He'll understand." She spun around and jerked my hand, pulling me close to her. "Kiss me."
"Yes, ma'am." I leaned down and closed my eyes as she stepped up and kissed me instead. The girl was so fucking forward, and yet I loved it. It made me feel alive like I was the only guy in the world she saw.
"You know one day you're going to play in a place like this." She leaned back a little as her long red hair billowed in the wind around us.
I clasped my hands together as I held her, my arm wrapped tightly around her waist. "And where will you be, baby?"
"Up there." She pointed to the owners’ box and laughed. "Serving drinks and flirting with the rich guys."
"The old rich guys." I pulled her back up and kissed her again. We couldn't have been more then fifteen. "You like old guy balls? Pretty nasty, Ter. Even for you."
"Maybe?" She smiled and the world seemed brighter.
I released her and pretended to gag as she jogged toward the pitcher’s mound and got into position. "Do you think you'll ever grow tired of me? Like, find someone with bigger boobs or maybe a prettier smile?"
She was so unsure of herself, but I made it my job to remind her of what I saw in her, not the fucked up lies she told herself. "No, baby. There's no one for me but you."
She yelped as I pulled her back into my arms and we stumbled, rolling onto the soft green grass. I positioned myself between her legs and leaned down to kiss her again.
"Are you sure about that?" She pushed at my chest, denying me the warmth of her lips.
"I'm an ass-man." I wagged my eyebrows. "Keep that ass and we'll always be in business."
"Daniel?" Joe moved up behind me. "We've got one more batter and we're at the top of the ninth."
"Send in Jeremy. He needs a redeeming moment." I glanced over at our head coach and smiled. "I've already got mine."
"I would agree with that." He patted me on the back and picked up the phone, calling down to the bullpen and telling Rick to send in a relief pitcher. I dropped down on the bench and leaned back, taking in the moment.
Terra and I were going to be fine, and before I knew it, we'd be married. I'd make sure to take things as slow as she wanted me to up to an extent. Lyndsay needed a brother or a sister, and I was ready for another baby in my life.
I stood back up as Jeremy jogged out to the mound. He put the first two batters down, no problem. Paul Thompson was up last. He glanced over at me in the dugout and gave me a look.
I just smiled. I had nothing left to do or say where the bastard was concerned. He didn't end up with my girl, and he was shit out of chances. I wasn't letting her go again. Not ever.
It felt good knowing that I didn't have a damn thing left to prove to him or anyone else.
I could simply be me. For the first time in a long time.
30
Terra
"Dude. Danny. Thank you so much for letting me take that last round." Jeremy bobbed around on his feet as Danny and I sat with Joe in the hotel restaurant later that night. It was late, and I was beat beyond belief, but I wasn't going to miss the opportunity to have dinner with Joe.
"Anytime, man." Danny reached out and popped the guy in the stomach. "Now, take your wild ass on and let us old people eat dinner with Terra."
"Good save," I mumbled and gave Joe a grin. "He wanted to call me old too."
"I think you're right." Joe winked.
"Hey. I'm right fucking here. Jeez." Danny turned and smiled at me. "What did you and Joe catch up on during the flight over here?"
I glanced over at my father's oldest friend. "I think you can tell Danny about it."
"It's highly confidential." Joe leaned back in his chair and picked up his glass of wine. "But I seriously think the HGH is being administered by Alan."
"Danes?" Danny's voice rose. "No way. He's been with us as long as you
have, Joe."
Joe motioned for him to pipe down a little. I reached over and slid my hand along Danny's thigh, squeezing softly. "There's a lot of evidence pointing to him, baby."
"Wow." Danny reached up and ran his fingers through his dark hair. "That's a shocker for sure."
"Well, keep it to yourself. We're not done with the investigation, but another guy was popped for HGH last week while you were going through your family's loss. We traced it back and realized that Alan was helping the guys with various supplements.
"Fuck that." Danny shook his head.
"We'll figure it out and take care of it." I stood and stretched. "I'm headed to bed. I can barely keep my eyes open."
"Let me walk you to your room." Danny stood up and extended his hand to Joe. "Thanks for giving me another chance, Coach."
"Thanks for apologizing and being the kind of man your father would be proud of. I know Martin thought you hung the moon and stars at night too." He stood and smiled at me. "You two take care of each other. Life's too hard to have strife."
I nodded. "And the night ends when the wise man speaks." I waved and walked toward the elevator with Danny beside me.
"I thought it was when the fat lady sings."
"I like to be original." I got into the elevator and reached for him. "Are you just walking me to my room?"
"That's the start of the plan." He leaned against me and licked my lips. "I'm thinking we have some ground to make up. I haven't heard you moan since the night you gave yourself over to me."
"I know. It's a shame. I don't have my virginity to entice you anymore." I ran my hands down his sides and stifled the need to grind against him. He was everything I wanted in my life and my bed.
"Baby, you don't need anything to entice me with but your sexy body and that seductive voice." He leaned in and rolled his hips as he kissed me, running his thick erection down my center.
"God, that feels good," I mumbled against his lips.
"That's nothing. Wait until I get you naked, Ter." He moved back as the door opened and reached for my hand, pulling me out with him. "And to think I almost fucked things up with you."
Captain Hotness: A Single Father Bad Boy Novel Page 45
