Changing Lines (Bellevue Bullies Book 5) Read online

  I nod quickly, sitting up so that my elbows hit my knees. I hold her hand, swirling my index finger along the palm of her hand. “I know I said you should stay here, but really, I only have to go for a little bit. A week at most. I gotta go sign papers and shit. Meet my coach, some of the players. I can even look at some houses while I’m there. The second she goes into labor, I’ll come back home—”

  She gives me a look. “This isn’t our home.”

  I lean my head into hers. “Claire, my home is where you are.”

  Her lips tip up again as she kisses my top lip. “Same here.”

  I don’t move away from her as I say, “Jace, Avery, and the kids will be close.”

  She shoots me a blank look. “They’re in Fort Lauderdale. We’ll be in Tampa.”

  “Close. Kinda. It will be good for the baby. You wanted him to grow up with family,” I remind her, and I’m rewarded with another small smile. She’s not happy, but at least she’s not upset anymore. “We’ll be sorta close to Nashville where the rest of the family is.”

  “Sorta.”

  I squeeze her hand in mine. “It’s going to be okay. We’ll win this like we do everything else.”

  She nods. “I’m scared what Tristan will say.”

  I can’t let her know that I am too. I lean back, pull out my phone, and dial Tristan’s number on speaker. When her raspy voice fills the line, Claire looks down at our hands.

  “Hey!”

  “Hey there. What are you up to?”

  She scoffs. “Currently doing squats to evict your kid. He’s stubborn, FYI.”

  “Great. He’ll take after his mom.” I tease, and Claire grins. “Listen, I’ve got some news.”

  “Good or bad?”

  I shrug with a small grimace. “In between?”

  “Oh, well, let me sit down, then,” she says, and since she is about to pop, I can literally hear her lowering herself onto the couch. “Tell Claire she isn’t missing anything with this crap. Being pregnant is for the birds.”

  The look on my wife’s face says otherwise. “You’re on speaker. She’s here.”

  “Oh,” Tristan says slowly. “So, this isn’t good.”

  “I don’t know. It’s a hit, I think.”

  “A hit?”

  “Yeah, like when a defensemen knocks you into the boards—”

  “Jude, you told me you were gonna send me Hockey for Dummies. I’m still waiting for my copy.”

  I grin as Claire laughs softly. “I’ll get it for you.”

  “Good, but get on with it. Rip it off like a Band-Aid.”

  Our gazes lock, and tears well up in Claire’s eyes once more. “I got traded to Tampa Bay. With their embarrassing loss to a wild card team after winning sixty-two regular season games, they need yours truly to switch things up.” I’m rambling. I know I am, but I’m terrified.

  “Traded? So, what? Like, you guys will move away?”

  “Yeah,” I answer, closing my eyes and pinching the bridge of my nose. “I’m not sure when, but before the start of the season.”

  She pauses. “Oh.”

  “Yeah, it’s sudden, I know.”

  “Yeah, it is.” She exhales heavily. “So, are you saying you don’t want the baby?”

  “No!” Claire shouts. “We want him. We so want him, Tristan. It’s not that at all.”

  “Oh. That’s good ’cause I really don’t know what I would have done.”

  She laughs, but Claire and I don’t. “But it means that unless you want to move with us, you wouldn’t be around the baby much. Unlike what we promised,” I say, and I’m nervous how she’s gonna react.

  “Oh.”

  “You can still visit,” Claire insists. “And you’ll still be Auntie T.”

  Tristan doesn’t answer right away, and I find that I’m holding my breath. “About that…” Tristan starts. “I don’t know… I don’t think I want him to know about me.”

  “What? No, that’s not right,” I say quickly. “He will know about you.”

  “But I don’t want him to resent me,” she says, and I can hear the emotion in her tone. “Like I hate my dad for running out on me.”

  “Yes, but you’re not running out on him. You’re giving him a better life than what you can give right now.” Claire looks at me, tears streaming down her face. “You’re giving us a gift we can never repay. Please let us tell him you did that for him and for us,” I stress.

  “We don’t want to lose contact with you, Tristan,” Claire says softly. “You’re a part of our family.”

  We’re met with silence, and my stomach turns over. I know, for someone else, this is the ideal situation, but I don’t want that for our baby. He’ll be ours, but he will know about Tristan. How she made our dreams come true. “I want him to know how strong, how smart, and how selfless you are, Tristan. Seriously. Don’t take that away from us. From him.”

  “I don’t want him to hate me,” she whispers.

  “He won’t. He’ll love you just as we do,” I promise. “Honestly.”

  “Okay,” she finally says after a moment. “I’m terrified, guys. This shit is legit crazy.”

  I laugh as Claire cries out. “Amen, sister, but we’re in this together.”

  “Thank God. I couldn’t do this without you two.”

  And we couldn’t without her.

  New Beginnings

  Jude

  “So, what did you think of everyone?”

  I walk through Claire’s and my potential kitchen before glancing back at my baby brother, Jace. On my shoulders is my nephew Jamieson. He looks like a carbon copy of Jace—nothing like Avery, but then, neither does Ashlyn. Avery jokes she was just a carrier, and it’s true, the Sinclair genes are strong. Dawson looks a lot like Baylor, but at the same time, Louis is Jayden made over. Even my twin nephews, Max and Ryder, look like Lucy. Thankfully, Benji got one kid out of the four. Charlotte is a girly little version of her dad. Thinking of everyone makes me miss them. Good thing we’ll all be together soon to celebrate my son.

  Wow. My son. I’m going to have a son.

  A grin covers my face as Jamieson holds on to my forehead, resting his head on mine. Every time I see the kid, he does this. “First impressions were good. They were excited to have me.”

  Jace looks through the pantry. When I told him I had been traded, he offered to drive up from Fort Lauderdale to help me look at places. Avery and Ashlyn are off in Nashville for some singing benefit, so it was perfect timing for Jace. He was bored, and Jamieson missed me. I missed the little bugger too. Maybe my brother a bit also.

  “J,” Jamieson says. “Why don’t you move in with us?”

  I laugh as I tap his hands on my head. He’s been calling me J since he could talk. Don’t know why, but I find it endearing. “I gotta live in Tampa, buddy. You can come visit Claire and me whenever you want.”

  I don’t have to see him to know he’s smiling. “And the new baby?”

  “And the new baby,” I say proudly.

  Jace glances back at me. No longer is he the young, snot-nosed kid; Jace is a man now. A family man. He loves his wife and kids and works his ass off to make them happy. While most hockey players post Instagrams of themselves doing lavish things, my brother is at swim lessons with Jamieson and violin concerts with Ashlyn. I didn’t know how much I would enjoy watching him grow. I’m proud of him. If I’m honest, I’m also a wee bit jealous. “Have you guys decided on a name? Avery and Lucy are getting pissed. They can’t get anything monogrammed without a name.”

  I laugh. I know this. They both text Claire daily. “We want to wait to see him first. Though, Claire likes Phillip River.”

  He smiles. “After two men who didn’t even raise you two. That says something about them.”

  “They’re the best.”

  He laughs hard. “Phillip punched you!”

  I grin. “I deserved it. I was a jackass.”

  “Ooh, J, you said ass.”

  I scoff. “So did you.�€