Page 198 of Steeling Her
I turn my head to the side and see Taylor giggling with the four teammates. Two of them are on the sunbeds that are laid out with her in the middle. She’s enjoying the boys’s attention, and I can’t help the smile forming on my lips as I watch her grin at all four of them. Chris is doting over her like always as he stares down at her with complete and total love.
The only thing I can think of is this:God help the poor boy that ever breaks her heart.
I chuckle to myself, knowing she’ll be a looker when she’s older. Chris will have her trained in the confidence department. He will tell that girl every day of her life how loved she is, how beautiful she is, and how special she is to him.
“Alright, let’s see how the food is lookin’.” My dad lifts the hood of the barbecue back to check and see how the food is coming along. “My, my, doesn’t that smell delicious now?” He inhales the aroma that envelopes the area. He lifts each of the pieces onto a platter so that Austin can start cutting it up for people to take.
“How’s it doin’?” Danielle appears beside him and checks over his shoulder.
“Cooked to perfection, if I do say so myself,” my dad replies smugly.
“Well, at least you know if you’re ever fired as the head coach, you could become a chef,” she teases him back and pats him on his shoulder.
He chuckles loudly back at her and tries a bone from the ribs that is covered in tender meat and barbecue sauce. “Who have you been talkin’ to? Coach Amberson?” he jokes.
Coach Amberson is the head coach of the Packers and constantly criticizes my dad’s coaching techniques. He’s a bitter old man and whenever they met at the Super Bowl, he lets his mouth run a little too much. Basically, he wants my dad out and he wants in.
“Just got off the phone with him there. He said you’re looking tired and haggard too.” She grins knowingly back. My dad has taken a very strong liking to Danielle ever since we all became a family. He was wary at first due to the fact that my brother was famous and only went for girls who wanted him for the money and fame. Danielle was different, but she had to prove it to him for him to accept that that wasn’t what she was after.
When they first told my parents that she was pregnant, they weren’t pleased at all because that is what can happen to professional athletes. They get “trapped” by women when they become pregnant, and that’s what my dad thought was going to happen to Chris.
She really likes my brother. She’s been with him through thick and thin for the past five years and I don’t think she’s going to ever walk away from him. She loves him and their daughter, you can see that from a mile away. She’s an adoring mother and partner.
“Poaching my own family, I see,” he mutters, lifting the last lump of meat onto the platter. “He hits below the belt anyway. Typical tactic on his part.” He winks, making her laugh before getting the plates ready for us.
“Will you help me with the food?” She grasps onto my upper arm and softly asks me for help.
“Sure.” I practically bounce out of the chair. I follow after her in silence as I see Haley joining us to help out with the food for the kids. Realistically, the two of them want to be filled in on everything.
I remove the fries from the upper oven while Danielle removes the chicken pieces from the lower oven. We allow them to cool as we take the Kool-Aid from the refrigerator for the kids and place it out on the table. I help them out and pour some of the liquid into little cups for them to take as a few keep asking me for some. I don’t mind helping out with kids, I love being around them. They’re like a ball of energy and are so innocent.
After I finish doing that, I return to the kitchen where the girls are. I offer to help make the salad and take some of the pre-made salads from the refrigerator and place them into bowls for people to take as they please when all of the food has been laid out for everyone.
“How are you doing?” Danielle stands next to me, looking gorgeous in her bikini with a towel wrapped neatly around her hips.
“Fine,” I answer, simply trying to focus on the task.
“Carter, hey, just stop for a moment—”
“I’m fine, Danielle, just drop it,” I snap back and then immediately feel guilty about it. “I’m sorry,” I apologize. I’ve been so annoyed by Ted and Nick’s explosive fight that I had to stop that I keep taking it out on the wrong people.
“It’s okay, Carter.” She smiles gently, understanding why I snapped.
“I just don’t want them to fight. Not in front of Taylor, not on her birthday, you know?” I tell her. I feel embarrassed because that wasn’t needed. It was uncalled for.
She agrees with me while she cuts up the tomatoes for the salad.
“We shouldn’t have done that. I wasn’t thinking. I’m sorry to have done that in front of her. On her birthday too.” I whip my head around to the voice that made me drop the spoon I was using to scoop out the salad. “I didn’t mean to scare you.” Nick bends down and picks up the spoon I dropped. “I just wanted to apologize. To all of you. I shouldn’t have said what I said. I didn’t mean to upset you, or Taylor.” I can see the genuine guilt in his green eyes, one that makes me appreciate that it was a rush of emotions that led him to snap at Ted even though it was me that couldn’t help herself. Those tattoos look so real.
As I stare at him in the kitchen with us, my eyes drift down to his left peck.
C.S.
VI. XXII. MCMXCIV.
If I read it correctly, those are my initials and . . . I can only guess that the line underneath is the Roman numeral form for my date of birth or the day we met. Either way, he knows that, that is something just between the two of us and nobody else, unless you know the date and how to read Roman numerals.
I have a couple of questions about the tattoo; why didn’t he remove them? Did he purposely get them when we broke up?
