Vegas Aces: The Wide Receiver Complete Series

CHAPTER 19 TRISTAN

She did an incredible job. I take a minute to walk down Main Street, admiring all the things we talked about as they came to fruition because of Tessa’s incessant work.

How do you thank someone for taking an idea you had in your head and making the entire thing come to life?

The set-up is just about complete. The vendors are all in their booths, volunteers are in place, and crafters are setting out their products to sell today. I see the bounce houses across Main Street near the park, and behind me I see the huge “beer garden” the Fallon Tavern put out with barricades in front of their restaurant. The street is closed with traffic rerouted on the frontage road around town, the deejay is already pumping music down the boulevard, and the weather is perfect at a brisk fifty-nine degrees. With the sun shining, it feels warmer than that, but a calm and cool breeze keeps any of us from overheating.

All in all, it’s perfect. We’re ready to go.

I see my girl walking down the other side of the street as she checks in with each of the crafters to ensure everyone has everything they need. Her hand is on her belly as she smiles at whatever Mrs. Sullivan is saying to her, and a swell of love rushes through my chest.

“What are you staring at, motha-fucka?”

I jump at the sound of Travis’s voice behind me, but I turn and grin as I see my buddies walking toward me.

They look beyond out of place here.

A lean wide receiver, golden tan from whatever vacation he just came back from. A bulky cornerback with chocolate skin who looks too big for our tiny, cobblestoned streets. A tight end who stands taller than the rest of the group, another wide receiver with lighter hair and lighter eyes than the rest. And a retired wide receiver who I’m frankly surprised to see here today—with his wife, my publicist, on his arm.

Travis, Patrick, Austin, Cory, and Luke.

Five guys who are salt of the Earth kind of people, men I can rely on, men who are more than just teammates. Men who are friends, men with whom I share a bond that will last forever.

I nod over toward Tessa. “My girl.”

Travis’s eyes dart over toward the girl in question, and they widen when he sees her pregnant belly. “Whoa. You made quick work of that.” He moves in for a handshake and a one-armed hug where he pounds me on the back, and I do the same back to him.

I shrug, leaving out the details by not saying anything at all. I glance at Ellie, who’s jaw is slightly dropped open as her brows knit together.

“She’s gorgeous,” Ellie says instead of asking the question I know she wants to ask. I’m sure her publicist brain is working overtime at how we’re going to explain this one, but it’s all fine. The baby is mine. That’s all anybody needs to know. How she became mine and whether we’re related by blood is nobody’s business but ours.

“So does this mean no more Thursday night crew?” Austin asks, giving me the same handshake-hug Travis did.

I laugh at the sheer look of disappointment on his face. “I will always have a place for my Thursday night crew.”

“Jaxon and Deon send their apologies they couldn’t make it,” Patrick says, coming in next. “Both are out of town.”

“No worries,” I say, and Patrick and I grab hands in a half handshake, half high-five as we bring it in for another one-armed hug. “I’m glad you assholes made it.”

Cory’s next, then Luke, and I give Ellie a regular hug last.

“Thank you all for coming. Now get your asses to the volunteer tent and get your assignments,” I joke, and they all laugh.

“You’re not giving us the special treatment?” Cory asks.

“Happy to,” I say with a nod, and I lead them over to Tessa.

Her jaw drops open when she sees who’s with me. “Oh my God,” she murmurs. “You said you’d get some Aces players to come by, but this is…this is…”

I clear my throat as her eyes zero in on Luke. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He’s good looking. Women love him.

He’s also happily married and he has kids.

“I know. He’s not even a player anymore.” I roll my eyes. “I swear I didn’t invite him.”

Luke and Ellie both laugh, and Ellie speaks up first. “I hope you don’t mind that we crashed your event with these other guys. I’m Ellie, Tristan’s publicist.” She sticks out her hand, and Tessa shakes it, and something about the contact between the women feels monumental. It’s my two worlds colliding together—two worlds I never thought had the ability to collide together, and yet it’s happening.

It feels big. Important.

“Oh, so nice to meet you!” Tessa says, pulling Ellie in for a hug. “Thank you so much for all you did to help us with this festival.”

“What can I do to help?” she asks, ignoring the fact that Tessa is pregnant…for now, anyway.

Tessa looks around, takes a deep breath as she pulls herself together, then starts firing off directives, and suddenly everyone is moving in different directions. She pairs everyone off so Ellie and Luke are volunteering in the beer garden first, Patrick and Cory are in the dunk tank, and Austin and Travis are hanging by the auction tables to push higher bids and interest. They’ll rotate throughout the day, and I’ll be there to check on everybody, too.

The gates are set to officially open in two minutes, and I swing by the beer garden first to make sure Ellie and Luke are okay.

“Everything okay over here?” I ask.

They both nod. “This will be fun,” Luke says, holding up a plastic cup of beer he already got for himself.

Ellie rolls her eyes and jabs a finger toward her husband. “For him. I’ll be busy taking photos to post to your social media. I also had Leah set up a site to collect additional donations. We’ll push that with each post, and it’ll close tonight.”

“You are amazing,” I say.

“Isn’t she?” Luke asks.

She shrugs good-naturedly and leans in. “Now tell me more about Tessa. Is this serious between you two?”

I’m about to answer when I hear Ellie murmur darkly, “What the hell is she doing here?”

I turn my gaze in the direction she’s looking, but I don’t need to see who it is to guess who she’s talking about.

“Some desperate attempt to get me back, I think,” I murmur back.

Ellie sighs. “It’s like no matter where we go, we can’t escape my husband’s exes.”

Luke grins sardonically and holds up his beer. “Need one?”

“Maybe something stronger than that,” I say.

Savannah spots me and crosses the street to us. “Well would you look at this? Both my ex-husbands in one place. You two should start a club.”

“We did,” Luke says with a sneer. “We call it the gratitude club and we each give thanks every day that we finally got you to sign those papers.”

I can’t help a snort-laugh at that. Our split is fresh and new, but there’s a whole lot of truth to what he just said. “What are you doing here, Savannah?” I ask, cutting to the chase.

“Just checking out this amazing fundraiser you and your little girlfriend put together. I was thinking of doing a piece on foundations of current players and thought this might be a great place to start my research,” she lies.

I only say she lies because I know her well enough to know she’s spouting pure bullshit.

She’s either here to spy on me or to intimidate Tessa. She’s here in some desperate attempt to win me back, maybe. She’s here for some reason she’s choosing not to disclose, and I don’t like a single thing about that.

“I’d be happy to fill you in on the foundation along with several other players and their foundations when we’re back in Vegas,” Ellie offers. “Feel free to make an appointment with my secretary.”

“I’ll just do my own research, thanks,” Savannah says without bothering to even look at Ellie. Her eyes are on Tessa, actually, and it makes my skin crawl.

I take a step closer to Savannah so she knows that I know exactly where she’s looking.

“Stay the fuck away from her,” I murmur.

“Or what?” she asks, and she reminds me of a toddler throwing a tantrum for attention. She’ll do anything to get the attention of whoever she wants, and she doesn’t seem to care whether it’s positive or negative attention.

I don’t have an answer, but just as I open my mouth to spout something out, a gust of wind blows through, knocking down half of Mrs. Beatty’s display of knitted caps. I bolt over to help her, leaving Savannah behind even though I’m sure it’s a mistake.

It wasn’t just Mrs. Beatty’s display that was knocked over. A few other booths need help setting back up, and we find some extra clips to keep everything clamped down. I search around for Tessa, but the event has officially started and people are starting to mill around.

I get a weird feeling in my stomach that Savannah is up to something, and I don’t like it at all.

I just need to find Tessa to warn her.