Vegas Aces: The Wide Receiver Complete Series

CHAPTER 24 TRISTAN

Tessa puts her phone on speaker after it dings with a new voicemail.

“Hey Tessa, it’s Tiffany,” the voicemail says. “I was really hoping you’d pick up, but I understand why you didn’t. I just wanted to apologize. My behavior was…out of line. I’m sorry for hurting you. I’m sorry about the JustFans profile. I started seeing this new guy and he’s really helped me open my eyes to my pattern of lying.” She lets out a long exhale. “And by new guy , I mean a therapist. Anyway, Christian made me see how much jealousy I actually held against you. But that doesn’t excuse my reaction. I won’t call anymore. In fact, I’m thinking about moving out of town. Brandi offered me a place to stay with her in Vegas, so I might take her up on that. Okay, that’s all I needed to say. Um…bye.”

Moving to Las Vegas ? Is she fucking with us right now?

And… Christian ? As in…rhymes with Tristan ?

What the ever-loving mother fuck is wrong with this chick?

Tessa exhales with audible frustration. “Oh for fuck’s sake.”

“What?” I ask.

“She’s seriously moving to Vegas? I thought I’d be able to escape her when we moved there!”

I start massaging her shoulders. What a strange few minutes it’s been. “It’ll be fine, Tess. It’s a big city.”

“So big you ran into Brandi and Savannah everywhere you went,” she mutters.

“Pure coincidence,” I say, trying to sound convincing. I’m certain I fail. “But also, it would seem they were in search of me. They were going to find me no matter what.” I pause, and then I exhale. “Oh! That reminds me. Travis told me Brandi was kicked out of Coax.”

“Coax?”

“The club ,” I say meaningfully.

She nods with recognition. “Oh? Why?”

I lift a shoulder. “The JustFans thing. She broke the NDA when she told Tiffany how she knew me, and that was enough for Victor to send her packing.”

“Oh shit,” Tessa says. “Brandi isn’t going to be happy about that.”

“Probably not,” I agree. “But she’s not our problem anymore.”

“Have you heard anything about Savannah?” she asks.

I shake my head. “Not really. She pled guilty at the arraignment hoping to get a lesser sentence. Richard said she’s on house arrest until her sentencing.”

“Can you imagine her on house arrest?” Tessa asks.

I shrug. “About as much as I can imagine her in prison, which will undoubtedly come next.”

“How does that make you feel?”

I think about that question for a second as I sigh. “It makes me feel hopeful that one more criminal will be off the streets and behind bars where she belongs.” I try to remember the good times with her, but they were awfully limited before her true colors rang out bright and true.

The baby wakes, and it’s feeding time again. She’s already gotten into a routine, and while we’re both running on empty after only getting two-hour shifts of sleep at a time, we’ve taken to giving each other breaks. I’ll take back-to-back late-night feedings so Tessa can get a little extra sleep one night, and she’ll take the next night to let me sleep.

And so go our days. I get my tests done for the bone marrow match, and it takes a few days until we confirm I am indeed a match. The baby is a little over two weeks old when I head to the hospital in Chicago on a Monday morning to donate my bone marrow. I could have done it in Davenport, but then it would have had to be transported. This way, fewer people are in contact with the product and Logan can get started sooner.

Tessa has been in contact with Logan’s parents but only to let them know I’m a match and to let them know when my surgery is scheduled. They’re very grateful but admitted they don’t know how to handle any of this.

We remain patient as we allow them to suffer through this with their son. If they want us involved, we’ve agreed we will be there in a heartbeat.

My parents come with me to Chicago since I told Tessa to stay with the baby.

They put me under regional anesthesia rather than general at Aidan’s recommendation, and it’s weird that my body feels numb but I’m awake as they extract my bone marrow with a hollow needle driven into the back of my pelvic bone. After about ninety minutes, I’m taken to a recovery room. My hips are a little sore, but the doctors decide not to keep me overnight.

I head home a little worse for the wear but in good shape overall, and I keep my focus on the why. This will be much worse for little Logan, and if he can be tough and take the pain, so can I.

I just wish I could hold his hand during it. I wish Tessa could offer him cherry suckers and a whole truckload of superhero stickers. Because if anyone’s a true superhero, it’s the little boy who’s about to undergo a bone marrow transplant.

Everything seems to happen in a whirlwind after that. My recovery is minor, and I’m back to normal after a few days. Tessa takes care of me and the baby, her true nature as a nurse emerging as she’s tough on me when it comes to resting, eating, and hydrating.

I can’t help but think she could put those skills to use for me when I’m in season, too. She helped get my bum hamstring back in working order, and I can see her being a great help to me as I face the weekly pains that come with being slammed into the grass by a two-hundred-fifty-pound cornerback.

I’m ready for our life in Vegas to begin. We’ve been packing up what we want, and after talking to Kate, we decided to buy one of the spec homes that had most of what we wanted. It was at a stage where we were able to add to it, so we’ll still have two casitas and all the bells and whistles, plus Tessa was beyond thrilled that she got to pick out the flooring, countertops, and cabinets.

Although to be honest, I’m not sure if she was more excited about the house or the fact that she was discussing countertops with Jack Freaking Dalton’s wife —in her words, of course.

We’re driving since Tessa informs me we shouldn’t fly with the baby until she’s had her two month vaccinations, and we’re planning to leave in a few days. It’s a twenty-three hour drive that we’re breaking up into a three-day road trip that will culminate at Luke and Ellie’s house since our place won’t be ready until November.

The baby is sleeping, which newborns seem to do an awful lot, Tessa is ordering things online to be delivered to Luke’s place so we’ll be all set up once we arrive, and I’m laying on the couch watching Sports Center when I hear Tessa’s phone start to ring.

“It’s Miranda,” she says softly.

I click off the television and rush over toward her.

“Hello?” she answers, putting it on speaker so I can hear, too.

“Hi, Tessa. It’s Miranda. I just wanted to let you know the transfusion went well. He’s recovering, and there’s a long road, but I’m already seeing him back to his old self.”

“Oh, thank God,” Tessa murmurs. I squeeze her hand.

“I…uh, we wanted to invite you to come see him. He’s a real champ, but he was so scared going in, and I just know his favorite nurse will make him feel all better,” she says. “And I’m sure he’d love to meet the hero who donated his bone marrow to help save him.”

My eyes meet hers, and I nod maybe a little too enthusiastically.

“We’ve got a long recovery here at Children’s. He’ll be here another few weeks, so anytime you can drop by…” She trails off.

Tessa clears her throat. “We’d love to come by.” She looks at me and shrugs, and I nod as if we’re having some silent conversation. “We can come by tomorrow if that works.”

“That sounds good,” she says softly, and her tone makes me think she’s not really sure how good it sounds even though this feels like the right thing to do. “Thank you. And we…um, we’re not ready to tell him about the adoption.”

“Of course,” Tessa says softly. “Whenever you’re ready.”

They end the call, and Tessa falls into my arms as the realization seems to hit us both at the same time.

We’re going to meet our son tomorrow…together.