Olly, who has deemed himself honorary uncle, offers to grab the baby’s diaper bag from the SUV.
When I enter Ben’s room, I look around, wondering if I’m missing some important detail about why my room was trashed. And then it hits me.
“Janelle’s stuff is gone.” I say it so quietly, no one hears me. I check the closet before I repeat myself, and then Ben’s at my side. “Didn’t Janelle leave some of her things here when we went to the lake?”
“A bag or two. Some girlie crap. I don’t know what all was in there, but yeah.”
It didn’t make any sense for her to rent a room at the motel the whole time we were at the cabin, so she stashed her things in Ben’s room before we left.
And now they’re gone.
I look at him. “I didn’t give her a key to the house. Did you?”
“Of course not.” His eyes clench shut. “Fuck. Fuck!”
Lily starts to wake up, but Johnny shocks the hell out of me and starts swaying side to side while he hums some song. If I weren’t so upset over my bedroom, I’d grab my phone and take a video of him being adorable.
Olly runs in with the giant diaper bag we took on the trip. “What’s wrong?”
“Janelle’s crap is gone,” Ben grits out.
We all look at each other, but no one says it. Until Johnny shakes his head. “So she broke into your house, took her crap, and shit all over yours. Damn, girl.”
I bite my lower lip, loathing the anxiety rising up in me again. “It might’ve been Cal. I trashed his laptop and all of his books that night.”
That thunderous look in Ben’s eyes returns. “If he did this, I’m gonna kick his ass. He has it coming anyway.”
“Dude,” Johnny says as he pats Lily on her butt. “Don’t get kicked off the team before the season even starts. And hey, it could’ve been Destiny—she was fuming when we threw her shit on the lawn. So let’s not get our panties in a twist before we know who the real culprit is.”
We all stare at him.
“What? I like to watch NCIS and Criminal Minds sometimes.”
“He’s right,” I say. “We shouldn’t jump to conclusions.”
Johnny scratches his head. “But she did take her shit, so... yeah, my bet is Janelle.”
Holy crap, Johnny can talk me in circles.
Ben grabs his phone and punches at the screen.
“Who are you calling?”
“Rivera. He should know what happened. He can advise us on how to proceed.”
Rivera’s going to tell me to file an official police report with someone in our jurisdiction. I already know this.
Ben says as much when he gets off the call, but explains that Rivera will add these details to his notes on Janelle’s case.
By the time we’re done talking to the Charming PD officer a few hours later, I’m so tired, I can barely see straight.
Did Janelle break into my house and destroy my bedroom?
Did she really leave her kid behind without a word?
These are the thoughts that plague me as I fall asleep on Ben’s bed.
31
BEN
Lily’s chest rises and falls as she sleeps in her crib.
“We’re gonna find out what happened to your mom, peanut,” I whisper.
I tuck a blanket around her before I turn back to the other person in my bedroom. It feels weird to call this my room since I really just moved in.
And I’ve never had Sienna in this bed before.
Her slender figure wrapped in my blankets does something to me. I like having her in my bed. Hell, I love it.
I strip out of my clothes but leave on my boxer briefs before I slide in next to her and spoon her from behind.
She sighs and wiggles closer, and I smile.
After everything that happened today, we weren’t ready to deal with the destruction in her bedroom. I’ll help her clean tomorrow.
Plus, I want her in my bed while I’m here.
I frown as I consider how much she’s come to mean to me. I’ve never had sleepovers with a woman. Even when I was dating Janelle. We were in high school, so we had to sneak around to have sex. By the time I got to college, I was only interested in a quick fuck, not an overnight stay with anyone.
Somehow, this woman in my arms has changed everything. I don’t know when or even how it happened.
One minute we were buddies and singing to classic rock on the radio, and the next, she’d tunneled her way into my heart.
I bury my nose in her soft hair.
The craziest part is the fact we haven’t gone all the way yet. Not that I’m not dying to. The erection in my briefs can attest to this. But I don’t want the first time we have sex to be marred with missing exes and break-ins.
It occurs to me that we haven’t even done anything nice. Winston never took her out to dinner or really socialized, probably because he was trying to keep all his hookups separate.
What a dick.
Which means the first chance I get, I’m taking her out.
I’m still thinking about sweet, beautiful Sienna the next morning when I reach the team’s gym.
Training camp starts Monday, which means I have this three-day weekend to gear up mentally and work out the cobwebs. I trained like a motherfucker all summer, so I shouldn’t be behind, but I can definitely feel the effects of the last several days weighing on me.
Janelle is probably yanking my chain again. That’s what her taking off from the cabin is about. I don’t let myself consider the alternatives because my thoughts go dark fast, and I have to hope for the best. That she’s fine. I’d rather think she’s off somewhere laughing about me being a dumbass than something bad having happened to her.
Sienna’s been teaching me that. She says I have to focus on what I want to happen instead of what I don’t, because negative energy breeds negativity. Since I need all the sunshine I can get these days, I’ve been taking her advice to heart.
I step up on the treadmill next to Olly and warm up with a jog. Despite how horrible yesterday was, waking up with Sienna put me in a great mood.
“That good, huh?” Olly asks with a smirk on his face.
“You’d better not be asking me about sex with Sienna right now.”
He makes a face. “No, dickhead. I would never disrespect her like that. I just meant things are going well for the two of you.”
A mental reel of my naked roommate-slash-girlfriend runs through my mind. That blowjob she gave me under the covers early this morning. How we had to be silent so we didn’t wake up the peanut. How Sienna came hard against my mouth, gripping my hair tightly.
My girl is hot as fuck.
Olly laughs. “I might not have asked you about sex, but that’s where your head went just now.”
Jesus, he knows me well.
I try to remain serious, but my face breaks out into a smile. I change the subject, though, because I’ll never share those details with anyone.
That’s one thing I can’t abide, men who dish about the women they’re with. Maybe it’s because I have a sister and my two younger cousins, who, for all intents and purposes, are like my little sisters. But to me, that’s the height of douchebaggery, blabbing about a woman sexually.