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“Oh, yeah. Good work.” I knew Damon cared about that kind of shit, but it never really registered for me. I was good at what I did. Really good. He might’ve thought the world would end if I took a year away from the game or even two. I knew as long as I could throw the stitches off a baseball, it wouldn’t matter. I could walk onto any team in the country’s practice and throw a screamer in front of their radar gun. That was all it would take to bring everything roaring back.
It was part of the reason I wasn’t about to let something like money come between me and Ben. He was the most important thing. Ben was the thing that was time sensitive. Precious. The one thing in my life that couldn’t be repaired if it broke. And ever since Ally left, he was all I had, and I was all he had.
That was the fucking team worth sacrificing everything for if I had to. Not some baseball club.
“How’s it coming with the nanny, by the way?” Damon asked, stirring me from my thoughts.
I looked toward the elevator. “She’s keeping Ben alive.”
“Don’t bullshit me, Jack. I know how overprotective you are. You’ve probably got binders written up on her by now. Besides, I saw the way you two were at dinner. I’ve seen this story before, and—”
“I’ll stop you there, because you haven’t. Yes, I’m keeping a close eye on her. Ben is everything to me. I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure he’s safe and happy. If you’re trying to imply there’s something personal between Nola and I, your judgment is off.”
Damon laughed softly. “That’s one thing you’ll learn about me, Jack. I built what I built because my judgment is rarely off. But it’s not my business to tell you what you already know. I’ll let you get back to it. Oh, and make sure you give the babysitter a nice tip when you get back home.”
He hung up the phone. I clenched my teeth, glaring at nothing in particular.
I was in a foul mood when I stepped inside my apartment, but Ben softened it by rushing up to show me his sketchbook. It was hard to stay pissed when I saw how excited he was for me to see what he’d worked on for the day.
I was flipping through his book, complimenting his pictures when I realized I hadn’t seen Griff or Nola. “Where is everyone?”
Ben pointed toward the living room. “Fell asleep.”
I scooped Ben up, hoping I’d draw a laugh from him but only getting his stoic, serious little expression as he let me carry him along like an artistically inclined suitcase.
I found Griff passed out with his arms and legs spread like a bomb had gone off and he’d crash landed on the rug. His belly was rising and falling, so he didn’t appear to be dead, which was a plus.
Nola was on the couch with her arms wrapped tight around one of my pillows. Her mouth was squished up to the side and a spot of drool glistened on her lips. While I was staring at her in disbelief, her small body shook with a monster of a snore that seemed to claw itself from some unseen depths in her chest.
I flinched back, then set Ben down.
“She keeps making that noise,” he said. “Is she okay?”
“Yeah,” I said, trying to find the willpower to be irritated with her for falling asleep on the job. I couldn’t really manage it, though. I knew when I was watching Ben, he was more than capable of waking me from a nap or coming to get me if he wanted help. I also knew she hadn’t quit her job at the restaurant yet, even though she was trying to hide that from me. I imagined she was hardly getting any sleep as it was.
I gave the couch a little kick, then had to smile when it drew the loudest snore yet from Nola. She jerked upright, as if the sound of her own snoring had frightened her. When she sat up, one of her braids stood out from the side of her head from where it had been folded underneath her.
She blinked a few times, then covered her breasts and yelped.
I frowned. She was fully clothed, which she seemed to realize as she let her hands down.
“Oh, God. I’m so sorry Mr. Kerrigan.”
Mr. Kerrigan? When had she started calling me that? “You’re allowed to take naps. It’s fine.”
“No. I shouldn’t be—” she rubbed her eyes vigorously, then seemed to be searching for something as she looked around the couch. She stopped next to Griff. She poked him with her toe, which made him let out a bite sized version of the monstrous snores she’d been unleashing a few seconds ago. She let out a relieved sigh. “I’m sorry. They play so well together I’m honestly useless most of the time. I was listening to them play and I must’ve dozed off.”
