22. Cobb

CHAPTER 22

COBB

N ow that it was clear that Hannah wasn't going to stop, it was time to ask for some help. The lawyer had said he was going to get an investigator on it and he was the one she'd sent me to. Now it was time to see if there was anything more she could do.

After all, as the acting owner of the Knights, she likely had a relationship of some kind with Doug Johnson, the owner of my former team and Hannah's father. Maybe she could knock some sense into them.

Which was how I found myself at my parents' house bright and early. I had to get this shit taken care of before I had to be at the park for warmup. I was starting today.

I didn't knock before I went into their house. We never did even once we'd all moved out.

Mom and Dad were both at the dining table eating their breakfast when she looked up and saw me headed their way.

"This is an unexpected surprise," Mom said as she set her coffee cup on the table.

Dad looked up from his phone and frowned. Totally expected. "Do I know you?" he asked, likely because I hadn't seen him since I'd been back. Now, it hadn't been that long and he'd been out of town, but he'd still bust my balls over it.

"I think you were there when I was born," I told him. "Unless you pussed out and waited in the waiting room."

Mom snorted. "He was there."

Dad had played out of Kalamazoo when I'd been born, so there wouldn't have been an excuse to miss the birth, especially since I'd been born in the off season. All of us had been.

"Ah, yes. The fourth person I saw come out of your mother."

I cringed. "There had to be a better way to say that."

Mom shook her head and patted the table with her hand. Something she did when she wanted us to sit down. I pulled out the chair across from her, which left Dad at the head of the table. "What's going on? It's unusual for you to be here this early and on a day you start."

"I met with Hannah Johnson yesterday at Manning's office."

Mom took a breath, probably steeling herself for what was to come, but Dad grunted.

"I told all of you boys that women are just going to get you into trouble." His phone hit the table harder than it needed to.

Yeah. He had said that. Our entire lives. If it were up to that man, each of his sons would just find a woman to fuck when we needed a release and move on from there. No attachments and always wear a condom so we didn't end up in the very situation I was in.

Not to mention the stories that were out there about what he'd been like when he was young and played. That would've been before he'd met my mother. Or rather before they'd been a thing. Whatever.

"You've made your opinion clear." I lightly tapped my fingers on the table. Dad didn't make me nervous, but I was anxious to get this whole mess taken care of. "In this case, you'll be happy to know that I didn't fuck her."

Dad winced. "There had to be a better way to say that."

I snorted. Dad had the biggest potty mouth of any of us except maybe Camden, which was saying something. He just didn't like any of us to use it around my mother. For whatever reason, no matter how shitty of a dad he was, he seemed to really love my mother.

"Well," I told him, "I didn't. And trust me, we all heard the wrap it before you tap it talks our entire fucking lives. I don't take chances."

Dad shrugged. "That's not one hundred percent."

"It's not." I fucking hated telling him he was right. "But you know what is? The fact that I never touched her."

Mom sighed and shook her head. She might've been used to this kind of back and forth with us, but that didn't mean she liked it. "What do you need, sweetheart?"

I sat up straighter and wet my lips. "You know Doug Johnson, right?"

"I know him. We have a cordial relationship."

"Can you talk to him? Get him to figure his daughter out so she'll leave me alone?" I asked. Mom's mouth opened like she was going to answer and I wasn't going to like it, so I kept talking. "Listen, she said she thinks her dad will disown her if he finds out who the real father is."

"She said that?" Dad asked. "She said you're not the father? Did anyone hear that?"

"No." I shook my head. "It was a stipulation of the meeting. She wanted us to be alone, probably for that reason."

Dad grunted again.

"Anyway…" I focused back on Mom. "This isn't going well otherwise. She's not going to stop. Pretty sure she's going to start talking to the press, which affects all of us."

"If you'd let me answer a second ago, I would've told you that of course I'll help you. I'll reach out to him today and see what we can figure out." She took a drink of her coffee.

"Thank you." It was like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders.

"He's not an easy man to contend with. I don't have an issue, but I can see where his daughter would have more problems. That doesn't excuse what she's doing to you. I should have an answer later today."

"Thanks, Mom."

I was about to get up and head back home when Mom asked, "How is Monroe? That's her name, right? The woman you're seeing?" And my stomach tightened again. All of my muscles tensed. "It's not easy to keep a secret in this family, Cobb. You know that."

And I sighed. "I'm not sure. She was supposed to be there for that meeting—she wasn't going in. She never showed up."

Mom's brows slammed down. "Is she OK? Did something happen?"

"I don't know," I told her honestly, even though my father was sitting right there and would have an opinion about it. "I didn't talk to her after. I had to throw my session. Then the game. Then I went to Brooks's house, had a bit too much to drink, and my phone died."

"You didn't drive home, did you, Cobb?"

"Of course not. I stayed there. I'm on my way home to pack my bag now."

"So call her now."

"It's early," I told her. "I don't know. She stood me up. Maybe we don't have what I thought we did."

Mom's eyes widened. "So it's getting serious?"

"I thought it was."

"Big mistake," Dad said, which was totally expected. "You're in your prime. There's no reason to get caught up with some woman."

Mom rolled her eyes. "You don't even know her."

"I don't have to," he countered. "Now is not the time for any of this. Look at Silas with the Kincaid girl. He's been torn up over her for years."

"He felt guilty," I told him. "Like he was responsible for her brother's death."

"I know that," he snapped. "Which was ridiculous and it might've held him back. Now, Urban with…"

I sighed. "Everly."

"Right. Bringing women in now is a big mistake. Take after Brooks and wait until you're done with baseball. It doesn't last forever."

"Well," I said as I pushed up from the chair. "Some of us can't help who we love, Dad. It's called being human. I understand that might not be your thing, but the rest of us kind of prefer it. Whether I'm with Monroe or not, baseball is my job—not my life."

"It needs to be your life if you want to succeed."

I'd already started walking toward the door. "I think we're all doing pretty well already."

Then I shut the door behind me because I didn't want to hear another word he had to say.

All of us had a slightly different way of dealing with our father. Brooks was picky with when he was going to argue and when he wasn't. Silas only responded when he absolutely had to. Urban used avoiding the man to begin with. I normally just walked out when he was getting to be too much and my trigger on that was quick.

Camden, on the other hand, argued every fucking thing with man. I admired that but at the same time knew it was a waste.

When I got back to my apartment, after plugging my dead phone in, I realized I'd left my bag at the park. It was fine, though annoying. I had another one and was actively packing it when there was a knock at my door.

Standing on the other side was Monroe. Her strawberry hair was down in wild waves and she was wearing jean shorts, a Knights T-shirt, and tennis shoes. She looked perfect for a game. It wasn't until she'd cleared her throat that I realized I hadn't said a word to let her in. So I stepped back so she could enter.

Monroe had her arms folded under her breasts and honestly, I wanted to drag her to the floor and sink into her right where we were.

"Hey," I finally said.

"Hi." She turned to me and wet her bottom lip. I leaned my ass against the back of my couch and rested my hands beside me.

She waited. When I didn't say anything she sighed. "I guess in the interest of full disclosure I should tell you that I used the key you gave me yesterday and came here. You weren't here."

"That's fine." It was, after all, the reason that I'd given her the key. "I didn't come home last night. Actually, I wasn't here anytime after I left for the meeting."

Monroe sighed and nodded her head. "Didn't you want to know why I didn't meet you?"

"Of course I did," I snapped. "But after the meeting, I had to get to the park. I had to throw my bull pen session, then another one yesterday, because I'm starting today."

"And after?"

"I went to Brooks's, had too much to drink because I was pissed, then slept there."

"And this morning?"

I furrowed my brows. "I went to talk to my mom. Then I came here. Why do you want to know every single thing I did?" I wasn't accusing her of anything. It was just weird because Monroe had never asked for this much detail.

She shook her head and looked away. "Weren't you at all curious why I didn't meet you?"

"Obviously. Honestly, I assumed that the conversation the night before was too much and you didn't want to deal with it." I sighed. "Yesterday, I had a lot of shit to deal with. I had to throw. There was team shit. I had to recover from a hangover. Do you know how long it's been since I had a hangover? I felt like garbage yesterday."

"You know what they say when you assume," she muttered then took a deep breath. "No. I don't know how long it's been since you had a hangover. But I was arrested two days ago, Cobb. So I couldn't meet you because I was in jail all of the day. The cop broke my phone. You didn't answer when I called."

"What?" I stood to my full height, mentally kicking my own ass. I'd gotten so lost in dealing with my own shit that I'd almost forgotten that she had her own. "Arrested for what?"

She threw her hands in the air. "Apparently, I destroyed some private property, even though I was at Papa's shop then was stopped on my way home. When I had to time to do it, no idea."

"Hang on." I closed the distance between us. "We need to talk about this. Do you want a drink?"

She shook her head, then I led her over to the couch so we could both sit down. I turned with one leg on the cushion so that I'd be facing her. She did the same thing.

"So, back up," I told her. "You were arrested."

"Yes. I was on my way home to change to meet you and was stopped. Then I was arrested because I destroyed some private property."

"Whose?"

She scowled at me. "Whose do you think? Ex-dickhead."

My stomach burned with anger. This fucker was going way too far. I ran a hand down my face. "I'm going to have kill him."

She snorted. "I'd help dispose of the body, but no. You don't. It's handled, but I spent the entire day in a damn holding cell. Dad got me out of it and is pretty sure he's putting an end to things." She sighed. "The cop who arrested me is his cousin. That cousin's dad is the deputy mayor." I groaned. "So Dad had a chat with the deputy mayor."

"So you're good? Are you all right?"

"I am, but I was kind of curious why the man I thought was my boyfriend wasn't worried when I didn't show up."

Well, fuck me. I was the asshole here. "I got caught up in my own shit. Made some assumptions…" I groaned. "Like I said, I was fucked up yesterday."

She eyed me cautiously. "I think I made some assumptions of my own that were wrong."

Pushing my fingers into her hair, I cupped her cheek. "You weren't wrong. At least if you're talking about me being yours. I am. I was… tied up all day the day of the meeting and all fucked up yesterday. It's not an excuse, but that's what happened. My phone died the night I was at Brooks'. Charged it once I got to the field but you know I don't keep it on me when I throw."

"Yeah, what's that about? I thought none of you drank much."

"We don't… It wasn't a normal thing." I traced my thumb over her cheekbone. "Tell me what happened."

I set my hand on her back to rub small circles while she told me everything that had happened with her arrest and after.

"I tried calling you an embarrassing number of times," she finally said.

"There's no such thing. Fuck, I'm sorry, Monroe. I let my anger get the best of me."

She gave me a small nod, but I wasn't sure that was an acceptance. "Now tell me about your meeting. All the details."

So I did. Every single thing about that meeting, Monroe now knew.

"You walked away? Leaving her there?"

I nodded, but the way Monroe swallowed didn't sit right with me. "Wait. Did you think I was going to leave with her? The woman trying to control my life?'"

She looked away quickly. "Of course not."

Slowly, I brought her face back toward me so that I could see her. "Monroe?"

She sighed. "No. Not really. I mean maybe there was a tiny split second of doubt which isn't at all like me, but not now."

"I wouldn't cheat on you, Monroe. I've never cheated on anyone in my life."

Her shoulders slumped. "It was my self-doubt. Not anything about you. I think…" She sighed. "I think that whole thing I said about not bothering with jealousy was because I never had anyone I cared about enough to be jealous. I don't like it. It doesn't feel good even if it's only a teeny tiny bit." She pushed her index finger and thumb close together to where only daylight could fit through to illustrate how much jealousy she'd felt.

Releasing my leg, I turned my body so that I was sitting normally, then reached over and brought her onto my lap facing me. I wrapped my arms around her and brought her mouth to mine. I wanted this kiss to convey everything I felt about her. Maybe it was too soon to tell her that I loved her, but I fucking did. That was why her not showing up yesterday had cut so deeply.

All of this was my fault. I called her right away but she didn't answer. Now I knew it was because she was in jail but at the time, I figured she just didn't want to talk to me and I wasn't about to force the woman to do anything she didn't want. No matter how pissed I'd been, I shouldn't have let it make my decisions for me.

The way she held on to my shoulders, her hips slightly moving, had me as hard as a rock and though I didn't want to, I had to bring the kiss to an end.

"If I cheated on you, Monroe, I'd lose you and I never want to lose you."

She looked up at me with those beautiful, blue eyes. "So we're together."

"We already decided that."

Her teeth sunk into her bottom lip, then she let it go. "I need it to be clear."

"We're together," I told her. "I'm so fucking yours until the day you tell me you don't want me to be."

"That day won't come," she whispered.

"Perfect."

Then I claimed her lips again.

Monroe slipped her hands under my shirt, making me groan.

If I could have, I would've taken her right then. I supposed there was always later.