Page 53 of Pickled
“Yo, Giddy.” Ace snapped his fingers in front of my face.
Blinking, my brother came into focus.
“Where were you just now?” He tucked the phone into the pocket of his jeans.
I took a spoon I’d set on the counter for Ace and dug into the apple crisp. Since the hit, I hadn’t had much of an appetite, but the second that savory and sweet combination hit my tongue, I was ravenous. After two more spoonfuls, as big as I could get on an appropriate-sized utensil, were shoved into my mouth, I tore a paper towel off the roll and wiped my mouth. “Damn, that’s good.”
“Like I said, she’s a keeper.” Ace grabbed the wooden spoon.
I shook my head and took the spoon from him, tossing it into the kitchen sink. “You’re going to keep that all for yourself? I thought the ‘my body is a temple’ Gideon Bailey doesn’t eat sugar, except for the honey in his tea.”
“Here.” I handed him a spoon from the drawer. “I can’t believe Goldie goes out in public with you.”
Ace stuck out his pinkie and took the smallest scoop of the dessert. “Better?”
“Much,” I chuckled. “What did Goldie want?”
“Oh.” Ace took a normal-sized bite and swallowed. “She was checking in on you. Her dad stayed down here for a couple of days. She wants me to take him out for dinner.”
I raised my brows. “What’s it like having your father-in-law as your coach?”
He shrugged. “I guess it’s cool. When he’s on the ice, he’s the coach. When he’s off, he’s my father-in-law. It’s an unspoken thing, and I think it’s working out fine. He’s a lot less stressed-out with only one Bailey Brother on the team.”
My lips narrowed involuntarily. The feud between me and Ace had almost ruined the entire season for the Toronto Tigers. “I wish I could go back in time…” My voice trailed off. The misunderstanding had not only ruined our friendship for a year, but it had also ruined an almost perfect setup—the two of us on the same team together.
Ace put his hand on my arm. “I didn’t mean it like that. Like Goldie says, everything works out for a reason. You’re here, the star of the Barracuda, sporting a tan that would make Laird Hamilton jealous, and getting care packages from your neighbor. Oh.” He held up his finger. “Goldie wanted to know if you two have come to your senses yet.”
“What the hell does that mean?” I took the spoon from Ace and put both of them in the dishwasher. The two of us could’ve easily demolished that tray of food, but like Ace said, I didn’t really eat sugar. That and part of me wanted to savor the dish, to come down in the middle of the night with Piper in our underwear and stand in the light of the refrigerator, feeding each other a midnight snack. My cock pulsed as I imagined her lips on thespoon. She would shut her eyes and make the cutest little moan when she tasted it.
“It means… Fuck, I don’t know.” Ace laughed.
“It means I should make a house call and thank her for this.” I patted the cooler. “I need to return her mail anyway.”
There it was. I had two excuses to stroll up the long laneway to Piper’s house. Ace looked at his raggedy watch. “I’m going to meet Coach for dinner. I’ll call you when I’m back. One of us needs to wake you up every hour tonight, although maybe we should call the doctor and see if you can just stay up all night doing other… stuff.”
I highly doubted an all-night sex marathon was part of my rehab plan, but I had to admit, it sounded like a good idea. The throb in my dick thought so too. “Grow up, Acer. I’m going to deliver some mail and thank my neighbor for being neighborly. I’ll see you when you get back from babysitting your father-in-law.”
Ace laughed. “Well, you go fulfill your neighborly duties”—he used air quotes—“and I’ll meet you back here. Can I take the—”
I held up my hand. “No. You can take the SUV.”
Ace groaned and proceeded to stomp his foot like a toddler. “But the Escalade isn’t a convertible, and it’s Florida, Gideon. Florida.”
“Fine,” I said.
Ace blinked. “What?”
“Fine,” I repeated. “I trust you, brother. Take the Porsche, but let me get the mail out of it first.” I dodged C.C. as I took the keysfrom the hook and tossed them to Ace. He snatched them out of the air. “Go ahead, I’ll meet you in the garage.”
Ace put on his sunglasses and disappeared into the garage without asking any questions. “You’re just returning her mail,” I whispered to myself, but that didn’t stop me from swiping on some fresh deodorant—and grabbing an entire box of condoms from my nightstand. My heart hammered in my chest, and blood whooshed in my ears. I steadied myself on the handrail until the ocean sound in my brain quieted. Brushing it off as excitement, I tucked the box of Magnum condoms into my backpack, grabbed the mail from the car, and zipped it inside as Ace gunned the engine a couple of times before putting the car into reverse.
“Easy.” I grimaced as I walked into the sunlight.
“Gideon, are… you okay?”
I leaned into the car and opened the glove box, pulling out a spare pair of sunglasses. “I’m fine. I just need these.”
His eyes followed my every move as I put on the sunglasses. “Gideon. Do you have a headache?”
