18. Cobb

CHAPTER 18

COBB

M onroe's body was still pressed into my side when I opened my eyes the next morning. I ran a hand over her hip then squeezed her to me. Last time, she'd bolted sometime before I'd gotten up, so having her here with me was new. Then again, we were in her apartment. Where the hell would she go?

Suddenly, that warm body next to me moved, sliding her bare leg against mine and wrapping her arm around my stomach.

"Good morning," her sleepy voice said as she looked up at me.

"Morning." I leaned down and kissed the top of her head.

Before either of us could say anything else, someone or something started to knock. Monroe furrowed her brows while I went on high alert.

The outside door was too far for anyone to be knocking on and us hear it. This was on the inside door.

"It must be one of my dads." She pushed the blanket off her. She was wearing my T-shirt as she hurried to the door. "Hey," she answered.

As soon as she'd hurried out, I began to get dressed. If her dads were going to be in here, I shouldn't be wearing only my boxer briefs. Even if they were aware that she had a sex life, they probably didn't want to see it.

"Just wanted to check on you before I leave for work," her dad said. I tried to remember which one's voice that was, but I'd met them so briefly after the game that it was impossible.

"I'm fine, Papa." That would be Chris, as he'd been introduced to me yesterday.

"You sure?"

"I'm sure."

"Want me to stay and talk about it? I don't have to go right in."

"No." That was when I went out to the living room without a shirt on. Hey, she still had it on and I wasn't about to hide in the bedroom like I was sixteen years old. Monroe glanced back at me then to her dad again. "We can talk later."

Chris eyed me and the message was received. Don't fuck my daughter over. It was good he sent the message, especially since I didn't plan to.

"We will talk later," he responded.

Then she shut the door.

"Sorry about that." She played with the hem of my shirt.

"Not a problem," I told her. "At least they care about you, but it seems like they take a step back to let you run your life."

"They do." She slowly walked toward me. "For the most part. I still get a lecture here or there, but otherwise, it's good. They don't interfere unless they think I'm going to get hurt."

I ran my tongue over my bottom lip. "So you'll be having a conversation with them later." She nodded. Of course she would be. After all, they probably knew about my situation now.

"Can I use your toothbrush?" I asked her because before I'd kiss her the way I wanted to, I'd brush the morning breath away.

She scrunched her face in disgust. "No. That's disgusting."

I chuckled. "You had my dick in your mouth last night and my face in your pussy, but you won't let me use your toothbrush?"

Her cheeks flamed. "That's different. I have extras under the sink."

With another laugh, I went to the bathroom to brush my damn teeth. Instead of throwing the toothbrush away, I put it next to hers on the shelf. Chances were, I'd need it again.

When I came out, Monroe was in the pajamas she'd been wearing last night when I'd gotten here and my T-shirt was folded neatly and sitting on the corner of the island. I'd put it on, but not yet because from what I could see, Monroe thoroughly appreciated me not wearing it.

"So…" She drew the word out as she handed me a cup of coffee. Sugar, creamer, and a flavored creamer were sitting on the counter between us.

"Come here," I told her as I patted the stool beside me. Once she'd climbed up, I was reminded of what had happened the last time we'd been sitting here. No time for that today. She was careful not to touch the countertop, which made me laugh. "I came out after you went to sleep and cleaned it. Won't be sticky."

Then she set her arm on it and her cup down. "Well… ice cream did kind of get everywhere and we didn't even put it away."

"I did," I told her. "Well, I threw it away because it was pretty melted."

She pushed her bottom lip out. "Such a waste of good ice cream."

"We'll get more," I promised. "And you'll never be able to convince me that it was a waste."

For the second time that morning, her cheeks blushed.

"Now," I continued, "you want to know about my baby mama drama."

Her face grew more serious. Gone was the small smile that had appeared when I'd told her she would never convince me that the way we'd used the ice cream last night had been a waste. She'd been remembering just like I had been.

"You don't have to tell me." But she was looking into her coffee and not at me. "I shouldn't have let it upset me."

"No. You should have." I gently pulled her chin so she'd have to turn in her seat and face me. "I should've told you. I just thought it'd make me sound fucking awful. But I didn't lie when I told you that I don't have any baby mama drama. Not really."

"But your brother said—"

A flame ignited in my chest, hot and immediately angry. "Which brother?" Even to me, that tone sounded dangerous. I wasn't going to literally kill my brother, but other than that, I could imagine maiming him right now. I just needed to know which one to imagine.

"It doesn't matter." She averted her eyes again.

"Monroe, it matters to me. One of my brothers talked out of turn and I'd like to know which one."

She sighed and bit her lips together before saying, "Urban, but I think he thought I knew. He wasn't, like, tattling on you. When Camden asked where you were he said you had baby mama drama to take care of. I think he was just comfortable."

"Yeah." Fucking Urban. "Too fucking comfortable. I get why he said it, but… never mind. You don't need to worry about it. I'll talk to him later.

"Was he lying?" Her blue eyes looked hopeful as she looked up at me.

I grabbed each side of the stool and yanked to bring her closer to me. She was between my legs as close as she could get when I set my hands on the tops of her thighs and rubbed.

"He wasn't lying, exactly," I explained. "It's just not fully accurate." I blew out a breath as she waited. "I met this woman, the daughter of the New York team's owner." She bit her lips together and waited. "Anyway, she wanted to hook up, I didn't. I was gentle and honestly, I didn't know she was the owner's daughter. Anyway, a month later, she says she's pregnant with my kid. There's no possibility because I never touched her. But it pissed her dad off."

"I bet. Was that how you ended up here?"

I nodded. "He didn't want me there anymore because he thought I'd knocked his daughter up and wasn't living up to my end of the deal." I sighed. "If the press hears about this, it won't be pretty for me. Plenty of professional athletes have baby mamas they don't acknowledge. I wouldn't do that, but they don't know. Anyway, it's bad press for the team, for my family… for you."

Her eyes widened and she sat up straight. "Me? Why me?"

After tucking a piece of hair behind her ear, I said, "If you're with me, it will affect you. You'll have to hear about it and see it. We don't necessarily get paparazzi following us, but it'll be in every interview I do and it'll be a non-stop headache. It'll look like I cheated on you. Your friends and dads will asked you about it. I could go on."

She furrowed her brows, "But I didn't know you then."

"They won't care. So far, she's proven she is actually pregnant and the timeline is right for that kid to be mine, but until I had sex with you, it'd been months. I didn't touch her."

Monroe cupped my cheek then ran her hand down the side of my neck until it reached my shoulder. "I believe you."

"You do?"

She shrugged. "Yeah. Why would you lie? It's not like I even knew you then." She wet her lips quickly. "I do wish you'd told me before your brother blabbed it to me, but you didn't owe me that."

"Yes, I did."

"We were friends."

I narrowed my eyes together and cocked my head to the side. "Do you honestly think we were ever just friends?" She took a breath and parted her lips. "Brooks told me that I was fucked the day you danced in the rain at my parents' house."

"He did?" Her grin was wide.

I nodded. "Sure did. We were only fooling ourselves and no one else."

Monroe bit into her bottom lip, which had me far too focused on her mouth. "I guess that's probably true." Our gazes met and held for several seconds before Monroe looked away shyly. Shy wasn't a word I ever would've used to describe her before now. "Do you want breakfast?"

That was when I had to pull back. "Yes, but I should probably go." She pushed her bottom lip out to pout, so I leaned over and pulled it between my teeth. "I have to shower and do a few things before getting to the park."

"Fine." She had the tone of being fake angry or put out or something, but the curve of her lips told me she wasn't serious.

"Come to the game tonight," I told her. "I'll have a ticket at will call. You'll have to sit with Camden and Amity, most likely."

"That's fine." She swung her legs around then hopped off the stool. "I should probably shower first, too. I'm all sticky." I snorted and she rolled her eyes. "From the ice cream."

"Oh, I know."

I cupped her face between my large hands and leaned down to kiss her. The longer my mouth worked against hers, the more I wanted to walk her right back into her bedroom. But there wasn't time.

Damn it.

"I'll see you later," she whispered breathlessly once I'd finally brought our kiss to an end.

"Yes, you will."

I put my shirt back on and pushed my feet into my shoes. After kissing her two more times, I forced myself to leave her apartment.

Didn't stop me from thinking about her the rest of the day.

That is, until I found Urban at the ballpark. He was walking in the same time as me.

"What the fuck were you thinking?" I asked him. We each had a bag over our shoulders as we did every day that we came here.

"What are you talking about?"

Urban and I were about the same height. He was a bit bulkier than I was, muscle wise, but not much. And all of my brothers and I looked alike. Sure, we styled our hair differently, but it was the same color, as were our eyes.

"Yesterday after the game? ‘Baby mama drama'? Are you fucking serious?"

He cringed before entering the park. "Yeah, sorry about that."

"‘Sorry about that'?" I asked. "That's it?"

He stopped and turned to me. "I don't really know what else you want me to say. How the fuck was I supposed to know that Monroe didn't know about that? You two have been inseparable since you met. I know you're ‘ just friends '"—the fucker used air quotes on that—"but I assumed you'd told her. I'm sorry."

"Her dads were there," I countered as I folded my arms over my chest. "Did you think about that?"

"Not really." At least he was honest. "It just came out and I am sorry about that. If it makes you feel better, Camden did hit me."

I snorted then got walking again. "It does make me feel better."

"Is Monroe pissed?"

"She was. I made sure she wasn't anymore."

His laughter echoed down the hall. "Fucking finally. You fucked her into not being mad at you? That's a skill, man."

I shook my head at him. "That's not what I meant. I explained it to her this morning. She's not mad."

He stopped walking again. "You're telling me you didn't fuck her?"

Anger boiled in my stomach. I didn't like him talking about her like that. "Fuck off. Would you like me talking about Everly like that? Urban, did you fuck her yesterday? Do you fuck her out of being mad at you? That's bullshit."

He shrugged and started walking. "You have a point, but yeah, I did and yes, I do."

I'd arrived here today irritated at my brother. Now, we were both laughing like fucking fifteen-year-olds.

During the down time before the game… before all the shit got put away thirty minutes before the start, I called the lawyer back. He'd called when I'd been throwing my bullpen session and if I waited, I wouldn't be able to talk to him today.

"I want this to be over," I told him once the greetings were out of the way. "I don't want me or anyone else to have to deal with this. What can I do?" Mostly, I didn't want anything ugly touching Monroe.

"I know you do. You just have to be patient."

I liked this guy, but fuck, was this moving slowly.

"What the fuck does she want from me? Other than saying that kid is mine?"

He sighed and went silent for too long. Clearly, I wasn't going to like this. "She did ask for a face-to-face meeting with you. I rejected it because it didn't seem like something you'd want to do."

"I don't want to see her."

"Right. I knew that. That does seem to be a sticking point for her. She says she won't consider the paternity test without seeing you first. And actually, I got a call from her lawyer yesterday that she's setting up some interviews."

"Fuck." I pulled the phone away from my ear and fought everything inside me telling me to throw it. "So she's going to ruin my reputation? Or try to? Why? I don't even know her. She doesn't know me. Yet everyone's going to believe her."

"They usually do," he said and at least he was being nice about it. "Now, I did find out, through less official channels, that you seem to be the first player to turn her down."

"What?"

"She's a bit of a cleat chaser. Isn't that what they're called?"

I sighed. "Yeah."

"Anyway, you said no . She's angry about that. But she's unwilling to have any further conversation until she meets with you. We'll have to wait it out at least another few weeks so that she's far enough along to do a paternity test. Now, she isn't asking for anything, so it's going to be hard to compel, but we'll work on it."

Fuck this woman. I was the first to turn her down? That couldn't be right. But why would that trigger this?

Talk about not understanding women…

"Let me talk to my girl," I told him. "I don't want to do anything that will make her uncomfortable. If she's cool with it, I'll meet her."

"I do think that will move this along. She's used to getting her way." He was clearly talking about Hannah. "Letting her win a little might make her feel like she's in control again and she'll drop this."

"Yeah. I'll let you know."

"You can text me anytime tonight," he said. "She's willing to fly in next day, so we could get this done tomorrow if you decide to."

Now that was appealing. Having this behind me so I could focus on Monroe was exactly what I wanted.

She was at the game sitting with my sister and Urban's woman. Thankfully, my sister had given her the pass that she could wear around her neck to get down to the clubhouse after the game. I'd made sure that had been taken care of after my conversation with Urban this afternoon.

Monroe was waiting for me after the game. I slipped my hand in hers and walked away from everyone.

"Your place or mine tonight?" I asked, though realistically, we weren't going to be spending every night together.

"Actually, I'm going to Papa's shop early tomorrow morning, so you might want to stay home alone."

"Never."

She snorted. "No, really. I can't keep interrupting your schedule, right?"

"What are you going in for?"

"He wants to show me this piece he just made. He tried something new and it worked, so he wants to show it off. Dad's going too. Took some time off in the morning. But I can see you after. Like for lunch."

I brought us to a stop before we left the building. After quickly glancing around, I saw a room that no one was likely in and slipped in there with her.

"I talked to my lawyer today," I told her, then I explained the entire conversation. Including the fact that Hannah wanted a face-to-face meeting. "I won't do it if it makes you uncomfortable."

She furrowed her brows. "Why would I be uncomfortable?"

I shrugged. "I'd be meeting a woman who says she's pregnant with my kid. I'm not sure how it will go."

Monroe gave me a sweet smile. "I'm not worried, Cobb. You should know that I don't do jealous. I don't worry about people cheating on me. If someone's going to cheat on me, then they're going to cheat. Me worrying about it won't change that, so why bother?"

I grabbed her with a hand on each hip and pulled her toward me. "I'd never cheat on you."

"I didn't think you would because I don't worry about it. Just know that if you ever did, there are no second chances when it comes to that."

"I won't need a second chance."

"Then what's there to worry about?" she asked. That, I didn't have an answer to. "You should do it, though. Figure out why she's pinning this on you. Want me to come with you?"

Oh, I didn't know if that was a good idea and Monroe must've seen it because she snickered.

"I didn't mean into the actual meeting. I could wait out in the hall or somewhere else. Just for moral support."

I sighed. "Fine. I'll take the meeting. The lawyer said she'd come in tomorrow."

"Must be nice to be able to afford last-minute travel plans like that," she said. Though I was fairly certain her dads would've been able to without an issue.

"What's to afford? Daddy has a private plane."

"Ah. Yes. That does make it easier."

I kissed the top of her head and pulled her into my arms. "And yes, come with me. I don't want to be alone with her, so maybe we can leave the door open or something. Just knowing you're there will be perfect."