Page 82 of Wicked Player

At first, I felt guilty for buying such a large house, but the backyard with a basketball and tennis court, pool, and a fitness gym over the disconnected extra garage sold me. I’d lived my whole life in a minuscule three-bedroom home with a bedroom that barely fit a twin bed. I hadn’t been built for a twin bed since I was fourteen.

So when I got traded here, I found the space I wanted. My only requirement was somewhere I felt free. Someplace quiet. Someplace that felt like home and the backyard was a killer. I could be active or relax, host parties or shoot a ball well after the sunset, which I did often. It was lonely sometimes in such a large house, but I wasn’t often alone. A lot of the guys hung out at my place when we got together in the offseason.

Hopefully after today, Elizabeth would be spending a lot of time here.

I dug through my drawers and pulled out a gray T-shirt and a pair of pajama pants I rarely wore.

“I have a shirt for you,” I said, walking out of the closet. She was sitting at the foot of my bed and the mere vision of her froze my feet to their spot on the carpet.

She had one leg lifted in the air as she rolled one of her thigh-highs down her leg. Which meant… she had on a garter belt.Fuck me.

Her other stocking was set nicely next to her, giving me a hundred ideas.

I willed my dick to settle, the blood to go to the correct brain for once, and tossed the shirt to her. “You can wear that to sleep in if you’d like.”

Then I tore my eyes away from her body, so perfectly sexy at the edge of the bed like so many nights at Velvet and put my back to her. “I’m going to change in the restroom. You can use it when I’m done.”

I left her there, looking enthralling and beautiful, a slightly stunned expression on her face at my sudden bluntness. But that couldn’t be helped. Her anywhere on a bed looking so cute and sleepy could be the end of me.

* * *

I woketo a tiny body wrapped in my arms, the sunlight finally peeking through the clouds and shining in my bedroom. After Elizabeth used the restroom, she crawled into bed and without asking, without waiting, but assuming correctly, she curled her body into mine. I’d wrapped my arms around her and she covered my hand on her stomach with hers.

I’d kissed her temple, thanked her again for coming home with me, and on a yawn I’d been fighting for what felt like hours, I closed my eyes.

It was the exact ending I needed to a horribly shitty week.

Now, my phone was vibrating on my nightstand. Without wanting to wake Elizabeth, whose soft little sounds told me she was still sleeping, I slid my arms out from beneath her and reached for my phone.

“Hey Ma,” I said, my voice was gravelly from sleep and stress. I put my feet on the floor and sat up, scrubbing a hand down my face. “What’s going on?”

“How’d it go today, honey?”

Only my mom could call me honey and get away with it. Then again, she’d changed my diapers and wiped my ass, a fact she reminded me of whenever I got sassy.

The question brought back an onslaught of emotion through the day. Seeing Penny. The damn small casket. Brandon’s tiny face—now sporting a healthy hue thanks to the mortician. It seemed even more unnatural than his pale skin had when he was alive.

“It was…it sucked.” I settled on the truth. “Really sucked, Ma.”

A warm hand pressed to my back and the bed shifted. Without looking back, I held onto Elizabeth’s hand as it slid over my shoulder. The bed shook as she moved closer and then her knees were at my hips, her cheek on my shoulder and both of her arms were wrapped around my chest.

Goddamn. I’d royally screwed up with this girl and she didn’t hesitate for a single second to comfort me.

“I’d like to give Penny a call in a few days,” she said on the other end. “Think that’d be okay?”

I had no idea. But my mom had the sweetness in her to heal the most angry and ugly wounds. “I know her parents are here for awhile, but I’m sure she’d like to talk to you.”

“Good. Good.” I could see her. Sitting in her living room, dragging a pearl across a simple gold chain, chewing her lip. Nervous and sad, so aching for someone in pain it went against her nature to not be here in person. “I’ll do that then.”

“It’s all good, Ma. Penny would like to hear from you. And if anyone can help her, it’s you.”

“Well,” she sniffed and I could tell she was crying. My mom’s heart broke when people around her hurt. It’s what made her such a good pastor’s wife. My dad for years said he couldn’t do his job without her and it didn’t take a genius to figure out why. She knew what people needed whether in pain or joy and had the strength to give it to them regardless of the cost to her. “You don’t need to make me cry by being so sweet.”

“I’ll try not to be sweet then.” I laughed softly. At my shoulder, Elizabeth’s curved into a smile. “I gotta go though, Ma, I’ve got things to take care of today.”

Like finding the strength to mend something I’d broken.

“Oh. Okay. Your father and I will be there Saturday. Is that still okay?”

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