Page 64 of Phantom
She hadn’t complained once in the year since we had moved to Germany. She met Caid, and the two became peas in a pod almost instantly. Though Tess and I connected in almost every possible way, she and Caid leaned toward being a little dorky and bonded over things that I didn’t understand. Caid taught us German, and he was probably right when he said that Tess was doing better than I was. After years of needed laser focus, when I was finally able to relax in Germany, my attention span got incredibly short.
“Like a chair?” Caid asked.
“Yeah.” Tess and Caid’s conversation, the beginning of which I missed, brought me back from my thoughts. “A chair would be good, or maybe even a chest. Like a little toy chest?”
“I can do that,” Caid responded and then gasped. “I can make a little bunny chest! The belly can open and close and be the door for the toys, and it can be a giant white rabbit!”
“That sounds amazing!” Tess yelped. She looked up at me. “Doesn’t it?”
“It really does,” I said. “Uh, you guys talk about that. I’ll be right back.”
I kissed Tess on the cheek and walked out of the room. I grabbed my phone off the dining room table and walked over to the small table with a drawer in it that sat by the front door. I opened the drawer and pulled out my old cell phone and wasn’t shocked that it didn’t turn on when I pressed the power button. I dug out a charger to plug it into, then walked to the opposite end of the apartment, where Caid’s room was. I plugged my old phone in, and when it was charged enough, I powered it on. I left it on long enough to get a phone number from my contacts, then I powered it off again, even unplugging it for good measure.
After picking up my new phone and navigating to where I could make an outgoing call, I dialed the number I just got from my old phone and pressed the greencallbutton. I patiently waited while it rang, and when a voice answered on the other line, I couldn’t keep from smiling.
“Hello? Tess?”
“Almost,” I replied with a chuckle.
“CJ!” Nick said. “How the hell are ya, man?”
“I’m good, Nicky. Started up a company with my brother. Got a nice apartment out here in Stuttgart. It’s going well.” We were, of course, in Munich, but old habits die hard. “How are things there? You guys recovering okay?”
“Recovering?” Nick said. “Oh! After the attack, you mean? Hell yeah, we’re recovering! Thanks to your advice, they didn’t know what hit them. I missed the chance to take Luther out, but once he saw that we’d stiffed everyone else he brought, he wised up and ran. I imagine he’ll retaliate at some point.”
“He will,” I warned. “Luther is viciously vengeful. Keep your eyes open.”
“That’s the only way I live,” Nick replied. “We’ve got allies, too. We’re good.”
“How are things now that Taylor’s gone?” I asked.
Nick let out a long sigh. “I know he had a few issues, a fewbigissues, but it’s never easy for a parent to bury their kid.”
“I’m sorry, Squared.”
“Nah. Thinking back, I made more than one mistake. All of a sudden, I saw this future for Tess and the club, and I think I went a little crazy.”
“A little?”
He chuckled. “Hey, pipe down. You went there with me, boy.”
“You’re not wrong.”
“How’s my baby girl?”
“She’s good! She’s…” I took a deep breath, knowing the weight of what I was about to tell him. “She’s pregnant.”
There was no response for a really long time. I might have thought Nick hung up if it weren’t for the breathing on the other end—catching in spurts, almost like he may have been fighting to hold back tears.
“Nick?”
“She’s pregnant?” he said. “How far along?”
“Eight months.”
He whistled. “Wow. Poppin’ any day. Now, tell me you’re gonna to do right by her, CJ. I really don’t want to have to hunt you down.”
“She was engaged before it happened,” I responded. “Uh, sorry. We’re not married yet, though.”
