I raise my brows at her. “You want me to give you all the details?”
Her cheeks get rosy. “I’ll leave that to your brothers.” She glares at me. “She’s okay, though, right?”
“She’s fine.” I reach out to scrub her hair but she ducks and avoids me. Sky is getting way too good at this being-a-Reed thing.
“And you? Are you all right?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Just checking.”
We step into the outer office and the receptionist motions us into a room where my coach, some PR people, the general manager, and the team lawyer are all waiting. I’m suddenly a little intimidated.
“How’s the leg?” Coach asks.
“Getting better,” I say. “I’m anxious to get this thing off and get back to playing.”
He smiles at me and nods. “We want the same thing you do. But we have some things to discuss.” He motions the team lawyer and the PR people forward, and a man shows me all the news clippings and false accusations that have been floating around. There are a lot more than I even knew about.
The lawyer takes out a pen and a piece of paper. “What happened the night you got arrested?”
“I went to meet my brother and one of his friends at Bounce, and two of our good friends happened to be there.” I point to the picture. “The men in question didn’t approve of their relationship, and my friends were being harassed by them. We told the bullies to cool it, and they started swinging. That’s all it was. We were defending ourselves.”
Sky says, “Sam is aware of the consequences of his actions, and since he already has a solid presence in the community, we feel like dealing with this publicly has been punishment enough.”
The lawyer sits back. “We’ll decide what’s punishment enough.”
Sky continues like he didn’t say a word. She lays photos on the desk. I’ve never even seen these. “These are some of the causes Sam’s already involved in.” She points to them one by one. “Raising money for the homeless shelters in the city.” She points to another. “Assisting with the youth program at the juvenile detention center.” She throws about ten more onto the table. “I’ve already leaked these to the media. We should see the outlets start to pick them up in the next day or two.” She sits back and crosses her legs. “So as you can see, gentlemen, Sam is and will continue to be an upstanding member of the community.” She blinks her eyes at me, prompting me to contribute.
“I plan to continue to serve the community, and hopefully we can put this whole mess behind us. I sincerely regret any problems my actions caused for the organization, my teammates, and my coaches.”
Sky smiles at me and winks.
The lawyer looks wolfishly at her. I think he realizes he’s just been bested. “There’s another matter,” he says. He shoves a picture of Amanda toward me. “A child?”
Sky’s eyes jerk to meet mine.
“It’s not mine,” I rush to say.
“Are you certain?” the lawyer asks.
“I believe I’d know if I had sex with her, sir. Recently, I mean. Our relationship has been over for months. That baby is not mine.”
“You’ll be asked to take a paternity test.”
“Gladly.”
The man scribbles in his notebook. “Do you currently have a girlfriend, Sam?” he asks.
“I don’t believe—” Sky starts.
But I cut her off. “Yes, I do.”
“What’s her name?” He taps his pen against his notepad.
I look at Sky. She nods.
“Her name is Peck Vasquez.”
“How long have you been dating?”
Since last night. “A few months.” Well, that’s true if you count the time we spent together before. And there hasn’t been anyone else for me since the day I met her.
“You’ll want to be seen with her in public to mitigate the damage caused by Amanda’s allegations.”
“Not a problem.” I’d go anywhere with Peck.
Suddenly, he stands up and sticks out his hand. I take it and give it a shake. “It was nice meeting you.” He looks at Sky. “Mrs. Reed, I’ll send over a list of suggested actions for your review.”
Sky nods and he leaves the room. The coach claps me on the shoulder. “We’ll need for you to see the team doctor. He’s waiting for you in the training room. We look forward to having you back out on the field as soon as possible.”
He looks down at his watch, curses softly, makes his excuses and leaves with the PR people, all of whom are going to send notes to Sky about further positive actions.
When the room is empty, I look at her and grin. “You totally rocked that,” I tell her.
She shrugs. “All in a day’s work.” But she’s grinning too. “I can’t believe they didn’t even fine you.”
“Well, when you think about it, I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Do you need me to go with you to see the trainer?” she asks as she packs up her things.
“I can handle it,” I tell her. “Thanks for making it all work out.”
“Matt helped me with it,” she says sheepishly.
“You two make one hell of a team.”
She laughs. “I know.” She kisses me on the cheek and leaves. I sit back and scrub a hand down my face. That could have gone so differently.
I go and meet with the trainer. The best part of the day—getting a walking boot so I can ditch the crutches. I step gingerly onto my foot. It’s not completely comfortable, but I’ll get used to it. Anything would be better than the crutches. The trainer gives me a schedule for physical therapy, and I have to start weight training with my arms and upper body right away. Football is a demanding sport. I want to be in shape when I go back onto the field, so I don’t complain a bit.
I go home with thoughts of Peck on my mind. A celebration is in order, so I stop and buy things to cook for dinner, and the right ingredients for dessert. I love having someone to cook for. I like taking care of her. And I can’t wait to see her again.
Peck
A paper clip bounces off the side of my head, and I jump. Wren waves at me from across the room. “Earth to Peck,” she chants. She throws up her hands in question. “What is up with you?”
“She’s thinking about Sam Reed’s dick,” Fin says over a laugh. I throw the paperclip at her and she lifts her hands to deflect it.
“I was n-not thinking about Sam’s dick,” I mumble. I might have been thinking about his tongue. Or maybe his fingers. But I wasn’t thinking about his dick—not until Fin mentioned it, at least.
“Hey,” I whisper to Fin. “Have you ever slept w-with a guy who has a piercing?”
“Sam has his dick pierced?” she says really loudly. She cups a hand around her ear like she’s a little old lady with an ear trumpet for better hearing. “Did I hear you right?”
“Would you shut up?” I grumble. But I’m laughing too. I can’t help it.
We’re at the recording studio so that we can record some new vocals for one of the songs on our upcoming album. They weren’t quite perfect. We’re waiting for the guy who runs the board to get here.
My sisters were spread out around the room, but now they all head in my direction.
“So Sam is pierced, huh?” Wren asks. She grins. “Figures you would get the good Reed.”
“She got the last Reed left,” Lark pretends to grumble.
“I think they’re all pierced, so it’s a moot point.” Fin grins and waggles her brows.
“How would you know?” Wren pretends to be offended by the fact that Fin might know something the rest of us don’t.
“Emily told me.” She shrugs. “But it does suck that you got the last Reed.”
“There’s still Seth,” Fin reminds us all.
“True,” Wren says. “And he’s hot. Even though he’s not a blond.” He’s like the opposite of blond, with his swarthy good looks. I’m pretty sure his mom was half black and half white, and his dad was Latino, so he has a mass of dark,
silky, curly hair and eyes the color of fall. He’s handsome, and on top of all that, he’s funny and charming. And hot. “He’s too young, though.”
“He’s the same age you are,” I remind Wren.
“He seems so much younger,” Wren replies.
“So about that piercing…” Fin says. She laughs and rubs her hands together like she’s chafing them. “Tell us more.”
Heat creeps up my cheeks. “I don’t know anything about a piercing.” I’m a bad liar, and they all know it.
“You slept with him,” Fin says, deadpan.
“Well…” I hedge.
“Oh, shut the fuck up,” Wren breathes. “You did Sam Reed?”
“No, I didn’t do him.” I let my voice drop down really low. “He kind of did me.”
All my sisters’ eyebrows rise and their mouths fall open. Fin points rather obscenely toward her crotch. “He took it downtown? Ate at the Y? Had a box lunch?”
I don’t answer, but the heat on my face must tell the story well, because Fin slaps her thighs and starts to laugh.
“I knew that boy would be good. Can I have him when you’re finished with him?”
“I’m not going to f-finish with him.” I pick up a stapler and pretend to fix it, even though I’m pretty sure there’s nothing wrong with it.
“So, how was it?” Fin asks.
“Good,” I squeak.
Fin is the one who has all the one-nighters, and she’s not afraid to talk about sex in any way, shape, or form. Star is the prude, and she’s glaring at us from across the room with a frown on her face. I pull Fin to the side so only she can hear me.
“So, tell me what you do with it,” I whisper.
“Do with what? It’s a dick. You plant it. You water it. You watch it grow. Maybe not in that order.”
“I know what to do with a dick. But what do you do with a piercing?”
“Let it pleasure you. That’s about it.” She steals my bag of popcorn and pops a piece into her mouth.
“So you don’t, like, have to do anything with it?”
“Nope. You might lick around it or something. But even that’s not necessary. It’s for aesthetics more than anything. And the naughty factor.” She narrows her eyes. “So, did you get off?”
“Um…yep. Quickly.” I blow out a breath. Really quickly. “Mad skills.”
“And how did you feel after?”
“What do you mean?”
“Did you feel used? Pressured? Pushed? Uncomfortable?”
“God, no. He was really sweet.” I smile at the thought of how he touched me. Softly, but firmly. Reverently. Respectfully.
“Then what’s your problem?”
“What makes you think I have a problem?”
Her left brow rises. “Because you always have problems in the sack. Although I’m still not sure why.”
Fin is just about the opposite of me. She’s short and blonde and fun-sized. Emilio used to call her Snickers and joked that he could put her in his pocket.
“I would kill for a body like yours,” Fin says.
We always want what we don’t have, don’t we? Fin is perfect to me, and yet even she would change her body.
“So, let’s talk about sex,” she says. “Is there anything you want to know? Talk to me, kiddo.”
I laugh. “I think I’m okay. Just never had a piercing before. Wasn’t sure what to do with it.”
“You really like him.” She doesn’t ask it as a question. It’s just a statement.
“Yeah, I do.”
“What about what happened at the hospital? The night he professed his undying love for you and then asked some hooch to marry him.”
“He was on pain meds.” Should I tell her? Hell, I need to tell someone. “The hooch came to see him last night. She’s pregnant.”
“Who’s pregnant?” Star calls from across the room.
I lay my head back and groan. “Good grief,” I say. Then I tell them all what happened last night, with the girl showing up and the ceiling falling in.
“Well, that’s a fine way to get a woman into your bed,” Star says over a sniff. “Have a ceiling drop on her. That seems like overkill, though.”
“Do you want me to get a hotel room with you tonight?” Lark asks. “I’d do that for you.”
I know she would, but I kind of want to go back to Sam’s. I like the way this feels, and I really want to see where it’s going to go. “I’m okay with Sam.”
“Bow-chick-a-wow-wow,” Fin sings out. “I want details about that piercing.”
The owner of the studio we’re using comes into the room. Star claps her hands together like a teacher. “We really need to get back to work, ladies,” she says.
When the others trickle off, Star turns to me. “You’re being smart, right?”
I nod. As smart as I can be.
“Use a condom. Those Reed men breed like rabbits.” Then she walks into the booth with the others and we get set up to record some vocals.
Rabbits. Little Reeds. I have to say, that’s not an entirely bad thought.
Sam
It’s really nice walking on both feet for a change. My leg is still a bit sore, and I know I’m hobbling a little, but just about anything would be better than crutches.
I walk into the tattoo shop and am surprised to find that three of my brothers are there. They usually space it out so that they don’t all have to work at the same time. Since they expanded the shop, added more stations, and hired a few more artists, the place is busy all the time. That probably has something to do with the reality TV show about us, but still.
Logan sets his machine to the side. Nice, he signs, pointing to my leg.
“I know, right?” I sit down in a chair with wheels and spin it around in a slow circle. “It’s a lot less heavy.”
Paul picks up the schedule clipboard. “You’re not working today, are you?” He sets the clipboard to the side.
I shake my head. “Pete called and said he wanted to have a family meeting. Told me to meet him here.”
“Oh, fuck,” Paul swears. “What did he do now?”
I shrug. No telling with Pete.
“Everything go okay with the team this morning?” Matt asks, but he’s grinning, so I’m sure that Sky already told him what happened.
“Your wife is amazing,” I tell him with a smile.
“I know,” he brags. “You should see her in the sack.”
“Eww,” Logan says.
All my brothers sign while they talk so Logan doesn’t miss anything. It’s habit. He doesn’t catch everything reading lips, so we all learned to sign early on. It’s second nature to us.
Paul throws a rag at Matt. “Dude, don’t talk shit about my sister-in-law.”
Matt laughs and throws it back at him.
The door opens and Pete walks in. He jams his hands in his jeans pockets and rocks back and forth from his heels to his toes. “Do you guys have time to talk?” he asks.
Paul gets up and waves a hand toward the back of the shop. There’s an office in the rear of the shop and we go there when we want privacy. It’s the only place in the building with no cameras.
Paul closes the door once we’re all inside. He turns to Pete. “Let me guess. Reagan’s pregnant and you’re scared shitless,” he deadpans.
All the blood drains from Pete’s face. “What? Reagan’s pregnant?” He looks at each of us in turn.
“Oh, fuck,” Paul says. “You didn’t know.”
“How the fuck did you know and I didn’t?” Pete says, his voice rising.
“We didn’t know,” Matt says. “He was just guessing, because all of us, aside from Sam, came to him when we had one on the way.” Matt glares at Paul. “Why did you have to go and ruin it?”
“Hell, I thought everyone knew. She’s been sick for the past week.”
“Bad shrimp,” Pete says.
“Bad shrimp wouldn’t make her throw up every morning,” Logan chimes in. He can speak when he wants to. “She�
�s knocked up.”
Pete sinks down in a chair like his legs have turned to noodles.
Logan raises his hand. “When I suspected Em was pregnant and I came to spill my guts to Paul, it was because Em’s boobs were getting bigger.”
“Sky’s did too,” Matt chimes in.
Paul nods. “Same here.”
Pete looks around the room. “Reagan’s boobs are bigger, and she’s sick every morning. And afternoon. Hell, even in the evening.” He smiles, and I imagine I can see stars floating in the air around his head. “I’m going to be a dad?”
“Sorry we ruined the surprise. We’ve had bets going for a whole week to find out if you’d realize it before Reagan does.” Matt shrugs.
“One of you could have told me!” Pete cries. But he’s grinning like a damn fool. He points around the room at each of us. “So, which of you bet Reagan would know first?”
I raise my hand. I figured she’s the one with the uterus, so she’d realize it before Pete did.
“You lost, little brother,” Paul says. He walks by me and squeezes my shoulder.
“Doesn’t count if you tell him,” I complain.
Paul wraps his beefy arm around Pete’s head and gives him a noogie. Pete’s still in la-la land though, so he doesn’t even struggle.
“Stop and get a test on the way home,” Matt tells him.
“Okay.” Pete’s still star-struck.
“Wait,” I say. “If you didn’t want to tell us Reagan’s pregnant, what did you call me here for?”
Pete throws up his hands. “Hell, I can’t remember.” He stares into space for a minute with a goofy grin on his face, until he suddenly slaps his thigh. “Oh, I remember now.” He winces. “I have this man from the correctional facility…” He waits, watching our faces. But if we had a nickel for every time Pete says this, we’d be rich men.
“What does he need?” Paul asks.
“He needs a job.”
“Violent crime?” Paul asks.
“Gang-related.”
“Is he out?” Matt wants to know.
Pete nods. “He’s all the way out. But now he’s having trouble finding a job. This guy has so much potential. I don’t want to see him get lost in the system.”
“How old?”
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