“I talk to both you and Mac but neither of you listen! It’s like talking to a blow-up doll.”
“You should know,” Kade grumbled, rubbing his arm.
Quinn’s fist shot out again but Kade stepped back and the fist plowed through air. Kade sent Quinn a mocking glance. “Too slow, bro.”
Quinn picked up his beer bottle, sipped and after lowering it he spoke again. “You concentrating, dude?”
“Yeah.” Kade leaned against the kitchen counter and crossed his legs. “Speak.”
“Your dad is having an exhibition in a couple of weeks, downtown.”
So? His father was a well-respected artist and frequently held exhibitions in the city. James didn’t invite him to any and Kade didn’t attend. It worked for both of them. “Not interested.”
“The exhibition is called ‘Retrospective Regrets.’”
Kade didn’t give a crap. His father wasn’t part of his life, hadn’t been part of his life for a long, long time. And he liked it that way.
“I just thought you might like to tell him he’s going to be a grandfather.”
He hadn’t wanted a son so Kade doubted he’d be interested in a grandchild. But maybe he should give James the benefit of the doubt? Maybe he’d changed. Kade cursed at the hope that flickered.
“I’ll think about it.”
Quinn knew better than to push. He just shrugged and lifted his beer bottle in Brodie’s direction. “What are you going to do about her? Are you going to marry her, live with her, demand joint custody?”
Kade wished he knew. “I definitely want joint custody, everything else is up in the air.” He rested his beer bottle against his forehead and sighed. “It’s all craziness.”
“Well, I suggest you figure out what you are before the news of your impending fatherhood hits the papers. If you don’t know they’ll decide for you.”
Because the media’s focus had been on his dates and the future of the team, so far he and Brodie had managed to dodge that bullet, but Kade wasn’t under any illusions they’d keep the baby a secret indefinitely.
Quinn grinned. “On the plus side, my BASE jumping and having to talk myself out of being arrested aren’t quite so bad when you measure them against the fact that another Maverick-teer is going to become a father, barely a month after Mac.”
Kade would cross that burning bridge when he came to it. And talking about daredevil stunts... “Talking of, are you insane? You could’ve been killed!”
“Only if my chute didn’t open,” Quinn cheerfully agreed. “Then I would’ve made a dent in the concrete. Splat!”
Kade sent Brodie an anxious look, grateful she hadn’t heard Quinn’s cavalier attitude toward death. “Not funny, Rayne.” Kade stopped, whirled around and slapped his hand on Quinn’s hard chest. He scowled at his best friend. “Brodie lost everyone she loved in one accident. Don’t you dare be glib about death, yours or anyone else’s, around her! Got it?”
Quinn rubbed the spot on his chest. “Jeez, okay! Got it.”
Kade walked away and Quinn scowled at the ceiling.
“I’m running out of friends to play with,” he muttered.
* * *
Later in the week, after a night long on pleasure and short on sleep, Brodie stood at the center island in Kade’s kitchen, and scowled at her daily calendar on her tablet screen. Her schedule was utterly insane and she would be rushing from one appointment to another, all with men looking for a happily-ever-after. Didn’t they realize the closer and the more perfect the relationship, the more pain they could expect to feel if the relationship went south? The end always hurt the most when the connection felt the best. Argh...she normally never thought about how her clients progressed after she matched them. Damn this situation with Kade for making her so introspective!
Kade, on his way up from the gym, walked past her to the sink and filled a glass with water. He whistled when he caught a glimpse of her schedule. “And I thought I had a hectic day ahead.”
“Crazy, isn’t it?” Brodie sipped her coffee and scowled at the screen. “I won’t take all these men on as clients, some I’ll be able to help and some I’ll discard because, well, they’ll be idiots.”
Kade rested the glass on his folded arm. “Why matchmaking, Brodie? Why earn your living from something you don’t believe in?”
Why would he think that? “But I do believe in it. I do believe people function best when they are in healthy, stable, supportive relationships. Being alone sucks.”
“But you avoid relationships. You are alone,” Kade pointed out.