Page 8 of Bliss

“How old is he?”

“Thirty-nine, forty on his birthday in a few weeks,” Heavenleigh answered, her attention on her phone. I glanced at her screen and swallowed a groan. Of course she was Googling him. “He’s an only child. Raised by his maternal grandmother, who was Turkish, which he supposedly speaks fluently. And… Oh.”

“What?” Nevaeh and Arella asked together, their voices harmonizing.

Heavenleigh turned her head to look directly at me. “He was an assistant coach at your college, while you were attending. Your senior year, that’s when he left and took the head coaching job in North Carolina.”

“Really?” I feigned surprise. “Huh. That’s cool.”

“Bliss.” All three of my sisters gave me the look, the same one our mom gave us when she was done with our bullshit.

“Uh-oh, it feels like Truly needs a diaper change. Come on, precious baby girl. Let’s get you a dry tushy.” I stood, holding her securely against me, and bent to grab the diaper bag from the stroller parked off to the side so it was out of the way. “Be back in a few.”

“She thinks she’s going to get out of discussing this,” Nevaeh predicted.

“Maybe we should put it on hold until she’s ready to talk about it,” Heavenleigh reasoned just before I was out of earshot, reminding me why she was my favorite sister.

Noah

Sitting at the table, I attempted to pay attention to the four teammates I was hoping would help make the new transitions easier. Evan was the youngest player on the team, while Xaden Newton was the oldest at forty-two. Xaden was also the captain, and I was aware he had been one of the few people to attempt to keep the morale up during the previous coach’s dictatorship.

Evan and Xaden were the primary reasons for this luncheon, while the other two players were present more to avoid anyone crying that I was playing favorites. Rumor was, Xaden was considering retirement, but he was hoping for another shot at a championship before he made anything final. He already had three, all from previous teams, during his twenty-year career. I was hoping to give him that chance before he hung it up.

What I really wanted to accomplish, though, was to convince Xaden to mentor Evan. The younger player had what it took to become captain. Bonus points if Xaden could steer Evan away from the one person who could potentially ruin his career, if not his entire life, Caprice Knight.

After watching Evan with the young woman the previous night, I had no doubts that if he didn’t distance himself from her, he was risking both.

While the others scanned the menu, my gaze kept drifting over to the table full of dark-haired women with the same blue-gray eyes. Seeing Bliss hadn’t surprised me. I’d chosen this particular restaurant on this specific day and time for a reason, and that reason was her.

It wasn’t that I’d been stalking my gorgeous ex. I simply made it my business to know her day-to-day schedule. Down to the minute. That was not stalking. It was studying to ensure I had all the information needed to make the best plays in order to win her back.

Seeing her with a baby in her arms, though, that threw me. That tiny little infant, dressed in a pink dress, with her thick, dark hair in two itty-bitty pigtails, and those blue-gray eyes so like her aunt’s, was a gut punch. That kid could have been Bliss’s.

She could have been ours if I hadn’t fucked it all up.

When Bliss walked by my table, I felt my heart lift into my throat as I got a better look at the baby in her arms. Bliss’s attention was trained on her niece, talking softly to her, causing the infant to giggle and coo.

“Bliss?” Xaden called her name. She turned her head and gave him a smile as he stood.

Stepping forward, he bent his six-eleven body down to hug her against his side without disturbing the baby. “Xaden, hey! How are you?”

He kissed her cheek, causing her to smile. Jealousy burned through me. That smile belonged to me. She shouldn’t bestow it on anyone else, least of all another man.

“Better now that I got to see you, pretty girl.” The nickname caused something similar to melancholy to cross her face, her eyes softening as her smile brightened. “Shaya was just talking about you the other night. I’ve been meaning to call. How about dinner one night soon? Just the three of us.”

From my notes on my players’ families, I knew Shaya was Xaden’s daughter. Neither of them had been at the party the night before. Shaya was about to start UCLA in the fall, and Xaden wasn’t known for partying much. He’d much rather spend all his free time with his daughter. He was a single father, having raised Shaya completely on his own, and she appeared to be his entire world outside of basketball.

“I would love that,” Bliss said with a smile that got brighter. “Any night works for me. Just text me when and where. Or have Shaya. I’ve missed her the last few weeks.”

“My parents took her to Paris as a graduation present. I missed her like crazy the entire time she was gone. Thankfully, she’s staying home and not living on campus when school starts. I don’t think I could handle it if she did.”

Evan got slowly to his feet, stepping up beside his cousin. His aquamarine eyes skimmed from her to Xaden then back to the baby. “Bliss, you hang out with my captain?”

“Oh, that’s right. Bliss is your cousin or something. I keep forgetting.” Xaden shifted, putting his hand on her shoulder. A hand that I was suddenly envisioning breaking, one metacarpal at a time. “Bliss and I are on a few of the same charities. We’ve been friends for a few years now. She even mentors my Shaya.”

“Really?” He gave her a searching look. “You never mentioned it.”

“I wasn’t aware I had to give you a list of my friends.” The baby began to complain, and Bliss readjusted her. Soothing her, she bounced her a few times playfully before rubbing her back. “Sorry, this little one needs a quick change. Great seeing you, Xaden.”