Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 73136 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73136 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Simeon avoided the family drama with a grace the opposite of my big bulky ass in a china shop. He inclined his head, reassuring grin in place, and trooped back down the now water-covered stairs. I only slipped once. Thankfully. The last thing I needed was to have my time off the field extended because I’d broken my leg sprinting down a slippery staircase.
“What the fuck was that about?”
Cringing, Simeon peered out into the rain. Cascades were falling across the street in sheets so condensed it was hard to see through it all.
“There’s a lot of bad blood between them two. No abuse to the child, but their relationship?” Simeon shook his head back and forth. “No good. There was cheating and manipulation. I think they both brought in personal things during the custody fight, maybe even Judd being bisexual and him bringing up her drinking.”
“Yikes. Hot mess.”
“Yes indeed. And now Brayden’s caught in the middle.”
“Heh. Well, fuck.” I pushed the door open, instantly letting in droplets of water and the roar of the storm. “I guess we’re all up in it now, so let’s go find them both and make sure they’re safe.”
“You sure?” Simeon eyeballed the weather outside with a skepticism. “If anyone knew we were doing this, we’d be deep in it.”
“Oh well. Gallivanting in a tropical depression isn’t listed as a restricted activity on my Predators contract, but abandoning a damn kid and his mom in a bad storm is sure as hell restricted in my own personal one. Let’s do this.”
I stepped outside into the mess, and yet again Simeon caught me with one of those discreet touches. Just enough of a brush of his hand against mine as we stepped out onto the flooding sidewalk for me to know he was really feeling me right now. It lifted me up off the ground and propelled me forward, because I’d been feeling him for months and hadn’t even known it.
The search came up short, but the strength of the first few bands of the storm began to wane. It seemed backwards to me since the eye was apparently approaching, but I had no idea if it was set to hit here or if it was going to miss us completely and land somewhere else. Either way, not having to fight my way through the downpour lessened my anxiety a few degrees.
After a solid forty-five minutes of wandering the neighborhood, we backtracked towards the Center and stood on the corner in front of the diner where we’d shared our first meal.
“Did you text him?”
Simeon nodded, hunched over his phone beneath the diner’s awning. “Brayden’s still not home and no one’s seen him.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah.” Simeon shoved his phone into his pocket. He stood there with his hands balled up and his hazel eyes sweeping over the streets as they’d done countless times in the past near-hour. “Goddamn it. I wish I knew where they’d gone. Do you think we should call the police?”
I blanched at the idea. “No. Come on, now. He’s with his mom. She probably took him somewhere out of the rain.”
“I know, I know,” he growled. “I don’t mean call the police on her, but the wind was so strong. What if something happened on the pier?”
“Something like what?”
“Like—” he broke off, struggling. “Like the wind . . .”
The sentence choked off, and I knew he was picturing something terrible. Something he couldn’t even bring himself to say. There were shadows gathering over him that I’d never seen before.
“Simeon, it will be okay.”
He shook his head back and forth, emotion clogging his voice shut. Where I was concerned, he was starting to seem terrified. I stepped forward, closing the gap between us, and yanked him into a hug. He froze at first but then melted against me and pressed his wet face into the crook of my arm and shoulder.
“He’s fine,” I whispered in his ear. “They’re both fine. We had our eyes on him not even five minutes before the storm got really bad.”
“I know, but I can’t stop picturing the worst. What if we’re too late?”
He gripped me tighter, fingers digging in so hard he was likely breaking capillaries. I didn’t mind. I’d felt worse.
I brushed my hand over his soaked hair and kissed the side of his neck. I hadn’t thought twice about it until he jerked away, wide-eyed.
“We’re outside.”
“I don’t give a fuck,” I said harshly. “How else am I supposed to get you to crawl out of your brain?”
Simeon’s lips parted but no sound came out. Instead, he searched my eyes with an intensity that both startled and turned me on. Even soaking-wet in the middle of the street, in the middle of a damn monster storm, I wanted him so bad. And now that I’d accepted it, it was easy to identify the heat and the twisting in my gut.