Delayed Call Read online

  Vaughn was thankful he would be home soon because he needed to comfort Dawn. She blamed herself for his glucose since she had been the one feeding Rodney cake left and right. Plus, Vaughn wanted to help Brie, be there for her because he was sure she wouldn’t be able to handle leaving Rodney at his house after everything, even if it was all he wanted. Rodney was tired of being with people; he wanted to be in his own home, by himself, and Vaughn couldn’t blame the guy. Brie hovered like crazy over him.

  Vaughn loved how much she cared for everyone.

  And he couldn’t wait to see her. But first, he had to get through this practice.

  Why they were having practice when they had just gotten home was beyond him. Apparently, Coach didn’t want to have one tomorrow, give the boys time to rest before their home game tomorrow night, but Vaughn wished it were the other way around. He wanted to go to the hospital, see Brie, and then go fall face first in his bed. Yawning loudly on the other side of the ice, he watched as the third line went, running the play Coach had called out. Vaughn wasn’t the only one ready to fall out, but they all pushed hard, working on their three-on-three because they hadn’t won an overtime yet. They were sucking at them, and it was driving everyone crazy.

  Vaughn, most of all.

  They couldn’t fucking close, and that had to change. If they couldn’t win in sixty minutes, they needed to with the extra five. They needed the wins if they wanted the Cup, and that was everyone’s main goal. They were number two in the league. They were doing well, but the damn overtimes were getting them. It was really pissing Vaughn off and he wanted to shake some of his teammates, but they won as a team and they lost as a team. They were doing their best, and so was he.

  As the practice came to an end, Vaughn was the first to the circle for the end of practice talk, but Coach didn’t come to the circle. Instead, he stood behind the bench and looked out at his team that was scattered across the ice. When Vaughn noticed Elli standing there, his heart dropped a bit. What the hell was going on?

  “Boss lady has something to say before we end practice.”

  She was holding something, and Vaughn scooted closer to Jensen to see as she beamed out at them. “First, I want to say how proud I am of this team and how much I love every single one of you. You are all my family, and I care for you and your own families. I feel it in my bones. This is our year. The cup is coming home to Nashville, and I can’t wait.” Everyone tapped their sticks to the ice, cheering loudly and filling the empty arena. With a grin on her face, she held her hands up. “But before all that, we need to do a little something that I, for one, am I very excited about.” Clearing her throat, she looked up at them and said, “Benji, will you come here, please?”

  Benji looked a little out of place as he glanced around, confused. “Me?”

  “You.”

  He skated toward her, but out of the corner of Vaughn’s eye, he saw Jayden covertly helping his sister Lucy to the middle of the ice. Leaning into Jensen, he asked, “What’s going on?”

  “I don’t know,” Jensen said as he looked back to Benji as Elli handed a large poster-sized package to him.

  “I am very honored and blessed to be the one to present this to you.”

  Benji smiled as he laid his gloves down and then his stick before taking it from Elli. “What is it?”

  “Just open it,” Elli said, looking as if she was going to cry.

  “Am I being fired?” Benji asked, tearing the paper as everyone chuckled and Vaughn smiled, but Elli didn’t answer. When Benji had it unwrapped, he saw it was a picture of him with Lucy, his wife, and their daughter, Angie, behind them. Even from where Vaughn was standing, he could see that Angie was holding a sign that said, “You’re going to be a daddy, AGAIN!”

  Vaughn also caught the moment that Benji saw it. His lips pressed together as he placed his hand to his heart. “Is this real?”

  Elli was full out crying as she nodded, pointing to the middle of the ice. Benji turned, and Lucy was there, a huge grin on her face as the tears started down her cheeks. “You’re pregnant?”

  “I am.”

  Benji was across the ice before Vaughn could even suck in his next breath. As Benji took Lucy in his arms, picking her up off the ground, his mouth crashed to hers as their tears mingled together. When the tapping started on the ice, Benji pulled back, laughing as he shook his head, and she wiped his tears. “Don’t judge me for crying, you assholes, I’m-I’m-I can’t. I can’t believe this,” he called out, and everyone just started cheering, sticks tapping to the ice louder as Lucy and Benji embraced once more.

  Vaughn, though, he couldn’t move.

  He was stunned in place as he fought for his next breath.

  He wanted that.

  But could he have it?

  After a very long afternoon celebrating Lucy and Benji’s news with the team and their families, Vaughn finally made it home to take a shower. He had wanted to go by the hospital, but Brie said she would come home that night so they could see each other since the doctors were in seeing Rodney. He was thankful because he missed his dog and he wanted his shower. He would have showered at the arena, but he was out of soap there and he was weird about the way he smelled. He liked his soap, and he didn’t care that Jensen called him a weirdo.

  When he opened the door to his apartment, Tricksie jumped up into his arms, and he laughed as he held her close. “My sweet girl! How in the world did you jump like that? You amaze me! Did you miss Daddy? Daddy missed you.”

  Tricksie barked happily as she kissed him all over his face, her little body wriggling as he carried her into the apartment while Jensen shut the door. As he fell back on the couch, cuddling his dog, a smile sat on his lips. Now, all he had to do was see Brie and things would be good. Real good. The afternoon was still weighing heavy on his soul. He couldn’t shake the euphoric looks on Benji’s and Lucy’s faces. He hadn’t thought he wanted kids yet or to hear that the person he loved was pregnant, but he found he did. With Brie. Not now, but one day soon, which made him smile. He used to think he didn’t want anything like that, but Brie changed all that.

  She’d changed him.

  “Did Wells just text you?” Jensen asked, just as Vaughn’s phone vibrated in his pocket.

  “I think so,” he said before pulling his phone out, though it was hard with Tricksie jumping and licking him. Looking at his phone, his brows pulled together. “He wants to talk to us?”

  “Yeah,” Jensen groaned, shaking his head. “I bet that dude asked him to marry him.”

  “Shit, I bet so,” he said as he hit Wells’s number and put it on speaker phone.

  When Wells’s voice rang over the phone, Vaughn couldn’t help it, he smiled. “Guys! Big news!”

  “What’s up?” Vaughn asked as Jensen sat on the table.

  “Need some best men?” Jensen asked

  Wells laughed loudly. “How’d you know?”

  Vaughn laughed. “You texted us, ‘Big news, get your suits ready.’ We aren’t dumb.”

  “Yeah, guess I gave it away. But he asked! Last night. We’re getting married as soon as possible, and you’ll need to be there.”

  “Give us a date, and we’ll be there,” Jensen said, a smile pulling at his lips. “We’re happy for you, dude.”

  “Yeah, man, this is awesome.”

  “Thanks, I’m so damn happy.”

  “That’s all that matters.”

  “Okay, gotta call Wren, but I wanted to call you guys first.”

  Vaughn scoffed. “You called us before your sister?”

  Wells laughed. “I did, she’s gonna kill me.”

  “She is,” Jensen chuckled. “I love you, dude.”

  “I do too, more than him, so I should be the first best man,” Vaughn teased, and Jensen rolled his eyes as Wells laughed out.

  “I love you both equally, and you’ll both stand beside me.”

  “I’m closer, though, right? I’m hotter.”

  That had all of them laughing, but