One Baby Daddy (Dating by Numbers #3)(81)
“And what happens when he’s at an away game and something happens with the baby or you go into labor? At least if you’re here you have me, Tucker, Logan, and Racer to count on.”
“Don’t worry.” I add, “I won’t be alone.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
HAYDEN
Exhausted, sore as fuck, and barely able to walk up the stairs in front of me, I take a second to collect myself.
Adalyn chose a time to move out here when I was out of town. I begged her to reconsider another time when I had a home stretch, but she insisted upon getting started at her job as soon as her two weeks’ notice was up at the hospital. She didn’t want to skip a beat in paychecks. She made that quite known. And when I offered to help cover some of her costs, she nearly bit my head off. I blamed it on the hormones not because she wanted nothing to do with me.
This is the first night I will actually get to visit her, check up on her, and make sure she’s doing okay, that she’s fitting in at her job. Which honestly, I already know she is because I’ve been checking up on her through Chris. Would it have been better if I went straight to the source? Of course, but she barely texts me back when I text her and forget about phone calls, those go unanswered. I’m desperate, and Chris was my only source of information, and according to him, the staff adores her and she’s quickly become friends with everyone. That doesn’t surprise me. She’s passionate and dedicated in everything she does. It’s hard not to like Adalyn. I’m just wondering why she’s so adamant about keeping me at an arm’s length.
Gripping the bouquet of flowers tightly in my hand, I hold the handrail that leads up to her second floor apartment and take one step at a time, my muscles screaming at me with every step. Goddamn, I don’t think I’ve been this sore in a long time, but when I’m not on the ice or in the training room, I’m practicing with the boys, putting in extra time, learning the plays, and driving puck after puck into Chris.
At first, the extra time put a target on my back, like I was trying to show up everyone, but they get it now. They’re observing what level of commitment it takes to be on a team like the Brawlers.
If only my muscles would get the idea.
When I reach the top of the stairs, I take a left and head to the end of the outside hallway and the corner apartment. Adalyn thinks she got a steal when it came to this apartment when in reality, I pay half her rent without her knowledge, making it an irresistible place to live. It’s two blocks from my apartment, in a good area, and has two bedrooms, one for the baby, one for her. Hopefully though, she won’t have to use the second bedroom because I’m bound and determined to win her back. Despite the circumstances of when and how I saw her in Binghamton again, and how she barely spoke to me while I was there and since, I knew why I’d struggled so much in California. She had become my best friend. She’d become someone I thought of first to talk about my day. And when I was so suddenly cut off from that, my heart ached. It was why nothing could have happened with Noely. My heart has an Adalyn-sized hole, and only she can heal that.
There is no denying she still has feelings for me. I saw it in her bedroom when we talked about the baby. She’s holding back though, and I need to work out why and correct it. We’re having a child together. There is no other option.
I have time. I have plenty of time because I’ll be damned if Adalyn isn’t mine.
I fucking love her. I loved her before I knew about the baby, and I love her more now that she’s carrying my child.
I knew the minute she caught me snooping in Racer’s house she would change my life, and she did. There is no turning back because life without Adalyn is a life I don’t want to live.
Standing outside her apartment, I take a deep breath and give the door a knock. I quickly adjust the baseball cap on my head and make sure my shirt is righted just in time for the door to open.
With a big smile, I look up to a very familiar set of eyes.
Just as quickly as I plastered the smile on my face, it is quickly washed away.
“What the fuck are you doing here?”
Gripping the edge of the door, a shit-eating grin on his face, Logan chuckles to himself. “Good to see you too, Hayden. Glad to see you have your anger under control.”
Stepping in closer, I ask again, “What are you doing here?”
“Oh, did Adalyn not tell you?” He shakes his head. “Must have slipped her mind. Pregnancy brain and all.” Thumbing to the apartment behind him, he says, “I live here with Adalyn. I moved here as well, wanting to make sure she had someone to rely on, someone to take care of her.”
Never have I felt such boiling rage take over every vein, muscle, and bone in my body. Searing white-hot anger rips through me and the urge to swiftly punch Logan in the face is so goddamn real I have to take a step back in fear of what I might do.
“Who is it?” Adalyn asks, coming up behind Logan. When she sees me, her eyes widen and her mouth parts open. “Oh, Hayden. You’re back from your road trip.”
Grinding my teeth together, I speak through my anger. “Adalyn, a moment. Alone.”
Stepping past Logan, she nods and directs me toward the courtyard. Staring Logan down for longer than I should, I follow Adalyn down the back steps and into the courtyard. Behind my tumultuous rage, I can appreciate the bags under Adalyn’s eyes have become softer and she’s looking like she has some color in her face.