Mother Faker

As luck would have it, all four women in the brownstone are on their period. At the same time. Something about the moon, according to Dylan.

Regardless of the reason, emotions were running high, and I couldn’t, in good conscience, leave my wife, who was clearly in pain, to look after all three kids while I went to a baseball game with the boys. Well, at least I couldn’t leave her with all the kids. So I offered to take Huck and Bear—though Bear said she’d rather stay home and work on an art project she was close to finishing—and because I’m not a complete dickhead, I also invited Kai and Liam.

Liam tried to play it cool, but he lived in New York until recently and was a huge Metros fan. Saying no to box seats to watch his favorite team play just to spite me and stay home with four whiney women? He may not be my biggest fan, but he’s got a healthy sense of self-preservation.

Shay was against the idea at first, but in the end, Dylan reminded her that it would be good for Kai to have some male bonding time. Although that didn’t stop Shay from providing me a long list of food he was not allowed to have. Not a single item on the list of suggested foods was available at the stadium, but I’ll keep that to myself.

With a mouthful of hotdog—definitely not on the approved list—he grins at me.

Yeah, I gave the kid a hot dog, so sue me.

While Liam is seated at the front of the box, watching with fierce attention, my focus is on the little guy on my lap, who is, of course, wearing a navy-blue tutu with his Boston Revs jersey.

“How’s the raccoon?” Gavin asks between bites of his hot dog.

Finn’s smile is blinding. “Junior is great! Bossman had the mens with the hats make him a room, and now he watches me from inside and smiles all day.”

That’s not quite how it happened. First, the vet came and informed us that Junior is, in fact, female. Then he told us she’s pregnant.

There was a lot of screaming from Medusa and concerned rambling from Shay, but Dylan and Liv reminded them that this is what they do—they take care of mothers. I’m not sure what the hell they were talking about. All I know is that, somehow, that meant we needed to find a safe space for Junior to gestate. Since she’s a fan of the chimney, the vet suggested putting a metal gate up so we can still feed and monitor her, but so she doesn’t come out. He then gave Junior her rabies shots while Finn told her how brave she was for not crying.

It was all a big to do, and in the end, it means that in a few short weeks, more little raccoons will be living within our walls.

Fucking fantastic.

Gavin tries to bite back his grin but fails. “Oh yeah? It’s getting awfully crowded in that house, hmm?”

Huck shakes his head. “No, we loves having Bossman, and he loves us, right?” The kid looks up at me with his mom’s brown eyes, and I fucking melt.

I ruffle his hair. “Sure do, Huck. The guys are getting outnumbered, though. We gotta stick together.”

“Holy shit!” Liam yells.

We all shoot up and crane our necks just as Cortney Miller from the New York Metros hits a grand slam in my fucking stadium.

“God dammit.”

Beside me, Miller’s brother, Jamie, hoots and claps.

“Ooh, good thing the twins are nots here,” Finn says, scrunching his nose. “That’d be too many dollars, Bossman.”

I sigh and drop back into my seat. “Don’t tell the moms.”

With a bobblehead nod, Finn jumps off my lap and dashes for Liam. “Heys, it’s Thor!” he yells, pulling on Liam’s arm and pointing to Miller, who’s running the bases.

Liam is unamused, but those words instantly have my brain firing on all cylinders.

A baseball player who looks like Thor.

A catcher who knows how to calm his pitcher down.

A player who can hit the goddamn ball.

Fuck, I’m a genius.

It’s late when we get home from the game, and Liv is snuggled in bed with Addie.

“Hey, how’d it go?” she asks, pushing up on one arm.

I lift Addie from the mattress and kiss her head, taking a moment to soak her in before placing her in the crib. My next kiss belongs to the woman who is not so slowly unraveling my entire life.

Not a single thing about my new life is familiar or comfortable, and I can’t say I miss a thing about my old lifestyle.

“Game was great. We won, even after Miller’s grand slam.”

Liv yawns. “I saw. Boys good for you?”

Unbuttoning my jersey, I shuffle to the closet, keeping my voice low so as not to wake Addie. “They were great. Don’t tell Shay, but Kai had two hot dogs. He declared it the best day ever when Brooks and Aiden showed up to hang out with us.”

I toss my jeans and jersey into the hamper we share and snag a pair of mesh shorts to wear to bed. After Raccoongate, Liv insisted I stay in her room. Just in case the raccoon finds her way into the closet again.

It’s not fucking happening, since I paid the contractors an extra ten grand to raccoon-proof this house, but I took her up on her offer anyway. The opportunity to hold Liv all night is too great to pass up.

I can pretend to be scared if it keeps me in her bed. Hell, I’ll run around the house in my boxers, screeching like a girl again just to sell it.

“How are you feeling?” The bed dips as I slide in beside her and pull her into my arms.

She nuzzles me like she needs me as much as I need her, and it makes my dick harden. Not that he’s getting any attention tonight. Even without Little One in the room, we’ve got her damn period to contend with.

“Better now.” She sighs, brushing her lips against my chest.

I couldn’t agree more. Everything’s better when we’re together.

Life inside the brownstone was looking up. The contractor closed off Addie’s room and added a door. I’d given Liv strict instructions not to snoop since I wanted to be there when she saw the finished product. I made the fucking trade of a lifetime—one that would improve both my professional and personal life if I had anything to say about it. And I was one day away from date night with my favorite person.

First, though, I had to survive my regular Thursday night gig.

“What day are we going to the hockey game?” Kai asks for the tenth time since he saw my brothers on Tuesday. They made the mistake of offering to get him on the ice if we came to a game.

A mistake only because there is no way in hell Shayla will say yes. I’ve asked her three times, and she keeps saying she’ll look at her schedule and get back to me. Problem is, the season is coming to a close—unless they keep winning. No one in Boston would be sad about that.

Blowing out a breath, I give the kid the honest truth. “I’m trying, Iceman.”

He sighs and frowns at the door the moms disappeared through for their weekly evening in. I’m not sure what the hell they do in the basement, and I’m just crazy enough about Liv to want to find out.

“Hey,” I whisper, motioning for Kai to come closer. “Any idea what they do down there?”

He shrugs and heads for the dining room, where Liam is setting up the pizzas we ordered.

“I’ve been studying your latest acquisition,” Twin A says. I really should learn their names.

“Oh yeah?” I arch a brow.

“Yes. Statistics would say it was the dumbest trade ever made.”

“The fuck?” I mutter.

Before either of the twins can get a word out, I hold out my phone. The smaller of the two, Twin B, grabs it, smiles, and makes quick work transferring the funds.

“I was saying,” the other one continues, lifting her chin, “offering up your catcher and four future draft picks is statistically idiotic.”

I turn to Liam, who’s stepped back into the room carrying two paper plates full of pizza. “Bet you don’t think it was dumb.”

Liam scowls. “You stole our best player.”

“Cortney Miller was not your best player,” I scoff. “He’s thirty-five; he’s got two seasons left at best.”

“See, told you it was dumb.” Twin A clears her throat. “I’ve come up with a list of catchers who would be better selections. Perhaps we could go over them?”

Ah fuck, I should just ask. “What’s your name again?”

She frowns. “You seriously don’t know our names?”

I wave between the two of them. “I know one of you is Collette and one of you is Phoebe. Is there like a mark somewhere I can use to tell you apart? Or, I know, how about we just put a C on one of you, then I’ll be able to tell you apart?”

As if they’re mirror images, their jaws drop identically.

“I’m kidding.” I scoff out a laugh.

I’m not, but the second the words left my mouth, I realized how ridiculous they were. My balls shriveled a little just imagining Medusa’s reaction to my suggestion.

Liam hands out the pizza slices, and we go through a round of questions. Tonight’s discussion is apparently all about my bad decisions as the owner of the Revs—never mind that we’re doing pretty well this season. I allow them to drone on and entertain each question they throw my way until they get bored and ask if they can turn on a movie. I get them all settled, then make a loop around the room, picking up plates and napkins. I’m still cleaning up in the kitchen when Winnie comes in holding a flyer.

Drying my hands off, I turn to her. “Hey, Bear. What’s that?”

She sighs and drops her focus to her feet. “Oh, nothing.”

“Show me.” I take two steps closer and crouch in front of her.

With another deep sigh, she presses the paper into my hands.

“An art show at school?” I take a minute to scan the flyer. “This is exciting. Why don’t you seem happy about it?”

“We’ll be at Dad’s that weekend.” Her voice is so small it’s hard to hear her. The defeat in it chips away at my heart.

“Maybe your mom and I can still come. Let me check the calendar.” I slip out my phone and immediately note that we’ve got a problem. A big ducking problem. Pasting on a smile, I look up at Winnie. “Putting it on the calendar now.”

She eyes me from beneath her lashes. “You don’t have to come.”

“Are you going to be there?”

She rolls her eyes and smiles. “Well, yeah.”

“Then I want to come. Just got to move a few things around, but don’t you worry, little Bear, I’ve got this.”

I’m so surprised when she throws her arms around me I almost teeter over on my ass. Once she disappears into the living room, I stand and pull up my Messages app. I’ve got a promise to keep.

I need you to move the premiere to Boston.

Jay: Um, I’m going to need more information than that.

My kid has an art show.

Jay: Your kid?

I squeeze the phone tight to keep myself from throwing it across the room.

Liv’s daughter. Her dad is a complete waste who never shows up for anything. I don’t want to let her down, but I want to be there for Sienna too.

Jay: Shoulda led with that. I’ll talk to Cat and Sienna. Consider it done.

Thanks, man.

With a firm nod to myself, I slide my phone into my pocket again. I’m so in over my goddamn head I can’t see what’s up or down anymore.

“Oh shit!”

I laugh at the curse echoing from the other room, suddenly reenergized. “That’ll be a thousand dollars.” Sauntering into the living room, I hold out my phone. My smile falls and my stomach drops the moment I clock the scissors in Twin A’s—okay, I seriously have no idea how to tell them apart—hand.

“What the duck did you do?” I grip my neck with both hands and run them over my head as if, somehow, I can hide from this.

Liv is going to kill me.