Chapter Forty-Nine
Corey
The morning after the wolf social experiment from hell, Corey picked up Riley to take him to Molly’s yoga studio. She had no idea what kind of mood he would be in when he got in the car. She was really hoping he would just be his normal awesome Riley self and that she wouldn’t have to spend the whole drive trying to bring him out of a funk. He was waiting for her when she pulled up to his dorm building with a smile on his face, which was a good sign. Riley tended to wear his emotions on his sleeve. “Hey, kiddo, how was your night?”
“Uh, it was great actually. Lots of fun.” He kept his eyes on his phone.
“What did y’all do? Did you guys go into town?” She glanced over at him; he was still engrossed in his phone. “Riley, you want to join me here?”
He looked up. “Did you say something?”
She laughed. “I asked what y’all did last night. Are you texting someone? What’s so important on your phone?”
“Sorry.” He put it in his lap. “We went into town. Hit a field party, local kids.”
“Y’all have field parties in Colorado? I thought that was a Southern thing.”
“You think everything is a Southern thing. But I’m almost positive that you can have field parties anywhere there is an empty field. And we do have fields here in Colorado.” He smirked but looked down at his phone again.
“Oh okay, so you got jokes today. Good. I thought you were going to be an irritating surly teenager after what happened with Baze last night.” She turned down Main Street.
That made him put down his phone again. He leaned his head back against the passenger seat. “It did kind of freak me out. I mean, it doesn’t freak me out that I can feel her grow stronger or that I’m protective over her. Why wouldn’t I be protective over a tiny little baby that I can feel in my heart, right? It’s the fact that Coach Carter had to point it out in front of Dom and all the other coaches. It’s embarrassing, and I don’t want Dom, I mean Coach Hardy, to think I’m trying to like, take his job or something.”
“Baze was wrong for doing that in front of everyone. But Dom isn’t upset, buddy. Not at all. If anything, I think he is a little envious that you get to feel the baby growing. I’m the mom, I carry her, for sure, I’ll feel her getting bigger and stronger…. Now it turns out you get to too. I think he might feel a little left out. But Dom is in no way, shape, or form mad at you. We love you, kiddo.” Corey reached over and messed up Riley’s floppy red hair.
“Okay good. What about Coach Byrne?”
“What about him?”
“He’s mad that I’m here helping Ms. Molly and he isn’t?” Riley shoved his phone in his pocket.
Corey raised an eyebrow. “You planning on hitting on Molly?”
Riley chuckled. “No.”
“Then we should be good.” She smiled. She loved hearing that kid laugh. “Now about that field party?”
“What about it?” He tried to seem relaxed and unfazed by her question, but he was failing. His shoulders were tensed up to his ears.
“Why was it so great? Did you meet a girl?” Corey put the car in park and turned her full attention to Riley.
“Uh, it was just a fun party. Jace came and he did so well. You would have been so proud of him. He was social and he joked around and—”
“Let me stop you right there. While I am thrilled that Jace had a good time, I’m not stupid. I know you are trying to distract me, which leads me to believe that you did, in fact, meet a girl.” His silence was the only answer she needed. “Riley. I don’t know what the lines are here. I am your guidance counselor, but I love you like a little brother. You need to make sure that you are careful, because—”
He closed his eyes, trying to hide from this conversation. “Corey, I am begging you to stop talking. I get what you are trying to say. And everything is…fine. Okay? I’m good.”
Corey nodded. “Okay. I trust you.” Kind of. She was going to have to get one of the guys to have a little chat with Riley. She just needed to figure out which one would handle it the best. Sometimes it seemed that they had the same maturity level as the kids they coached. She followed him out of the car and into the studio where Molly was waiting for them.
“Hey, guys.” Molly smiled warmly when she saw them walk in. “Riley, thank you so much for doing this for me, you’re the best.”
“No problem, Ms. Molly. Are those the paintings over there?” He pointed to a stack of frames against the wall.
“Yes, and the ladder is over in that hallway.” She pointed to the opposite wall. “And I marked with tape where I want them hung. Okay?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Riley grabbed the ladder and headed over to the paintings.
Molly turned to Corey. “You want to run next door and grab some tea?”
“Oh yeah, that sounds perfect.” She called over to Riley, “Hey, kiddo, we’re going to go next door and get something to drink. You want anything?”
His eyes darted from Corey to the door then back again. “I mean this shouldn’t take long, I’ll come with you guys if you give me just a second.”
Corey frowned at him. “I will be fine. I am literally going to be on the other side of this wall. Now, what would you like to drink?” The panicked look on Riley’s face was tragic. Either Dom had the poor guy thinking she was his responsibility, or he really was that protective over the baby.
Riley huffed out a sigh. “I’ll take an iced tea, no sugar. And you should drink some water.”
Corey shook her head dramatically. “Iced tea without sugar is a crime.” She let the bossy water command slide. He was actually right about that. Dehydration had been causing some killer headaches lately.
When they were seated at a small table by the window with drinks in hand and Corey was devouring a chocolate croissant, Molly finally spoke up. “So, Riley is pretty protective, huh?”
Corey chuckled nervously. She’d never be able to explain the truth to Molly, and that made her somewhat sad. “He’s not the only one, such is my life.”
“Speaking of the men in your life, how is your gorgeous fiancé?”
“He is doing well, thank you for asking. He is feeling a bit too lord of the jungle and male since he knocked me up.” Corey smiled into her sugar-filled iced tea, waiting on Molly’s reaction.
“You’re pregnant? Congratulations. That is so amazing. Was this planned?”
“Did I plan on being pregnant in the middle of a murder investigation? No. Dom on the other hand? I’m pretty sure he’s been trying to get me pregnant from day one.” She popped the last bite of her croissant in her mouth and looked longingly at the bakery display case, already wanting a second.
Molly laughed. “So I take it he’s excited about the baby then?”
Corey grinned. “Excited is an understatement. Actually all the guys are pretty over the moon about the baby.”
Molly’s grin faded slightly at the mention of the rest of the crew. “So, how’s Keller doing?”
Corey felt for her friend; she knew the girl had it bad for Keller. And no matter how hard she tried to get him to stop, he’d been avoiding Molly for a couple weeks now. “He’s good. Super busy with baseball season and getting everything ready for the feds. They are due in town next week.” She didn’t know what else to say. She knew making excuses for him was lame. But she wanted to spare some of Molly’s feelings. Rejection hurt, no matter which way you sliced it.
“I get it, I know he isn’t into me and that’s okay. It’s just,” she shrugged, “I thought he was. I should take Linc up on his offer. He is jaw-dropping hot and he must be mind-blowing in bed. He’s slept with every girl who works at Moon Bar and they would all jump at a chance to go again.” Molly wiggled her eyebrows at Corey, trying to lighten the mood.
Corey sighed sadly. “You and I both know that even though Linc is, let’s face it, gorgeous AF, he doesn’t do anything for you. If he did, you would have slept with him by now.” Corey didn’t mention that the fact that Linc’s super-special wolf powers couldn’t get Molly in his bed brought up a lot of suspicions in Corey’s book. And Dom’s.
Molly’s shoulders slumped. “Ugh. Why doesn’t he do anything for me? It’s so frustrating. The guy that propositions me daily doesn’t turn me on, but the guy who doesn’t want anything to do with me makes my knees weak. Typical girl, I guess. Always lusting after what you can’t have.”
“Look, give Keller a little more time. Please. Don’t write him off just yet. Sleeping with Linc just to get Keller out of your head is a bad idea.” Not to mention a dangerous idea. Corey was almost positive Keller would kill Linc if he slept with Molly.
“I wouldn’t do that. I couldn’t even if I wanted to. It just feels wrong to even think about…” Molly’s words drifted off when Riley walked in, head down, thumbs flying over his phone’s keyboard.
“Riley.” Corey called him over to them, annoyed to see his damn phone out again. Was this what being a parent was like? “I swear to everything holy if you don’t put that phone away, I will smash it into a million pieces.” Yep, sounded like a parent to her.
“Sorry.” He shoved it in his pocket and sat down at the little table. “All finished, Ms. Molly. Do you want to go check it out and see if you want me to do anything different?”
“Nah, I’m sure it’s fine. And I have a class that should start trickling in any second.” She pulled some cash out of her tiny yoga pants pocket to pay Riley.
He held up his hands. “No, ma’am, you don’t need to pay me.”
“Of course I do, take the cash, Riley.” She shoved her hand forward.
“Um, well, Coach Byrne already paid me.” Riley glanced from Corey to Molly, his expression slightly weary.
“What? Why the hell did he pay you? How did he even know I asked you to do this for me? Egotistical, confusing asshole.” Molly shook her head and shoved the cash in Riley’s hand. “Please take the money. I asked you to help me, I want to pay you.”
Riley dropped the cash on the table and scrubbed his hands down his face, taking a deep breath. “I can’t take the money, Coach Byrne specifically told me not to. I’m sorry, he may be an egotistical asshole, but he’s pretty much the boss of me. He’s my coach, he’s my… I just can’t take the money, Ms. Molly, please don’t get me in trouble.”
Corey laughed quietly. Poor Riley, caught between a pissed-off woman and a hard place. She knew what he was trying to say without saying too much. Riley was low ranked in this little makeshift family they had created. He was a wolf, and all the coaches were his alphas. Plus, Keller could make him run bases ’til the cows came home. “Molly, it’s a win-win for you. You aren’t out any money, you got the art hung, and Keller paid Riley to do something we both know he would have rather come over here and done himself.”
Molly shook her head, irritated. “Fine. Riley, thank you so much for your help. Corey, congrats again on the baby. I’m so happy for you guys. Call me later?”
Corey got up, hugging her one and only girlfriend. “Yes, ma’am.” Once Molly was out the door Corey whipped around and grabbed Riley’s phone out of his hands. “What did I tell you about this damn phone?”
“Corey. Please do not smash my phone. I am begging you.”
The pleading look on his face was comical. “Okay, but I keep it with me until we get home and you finish all your weekend homework.”
Riley pursed his lips, contemplating. “Deal. But we get to have Greek for dinner.”
“Deal. Greek for dinner.” Corey stashed his phone in her purse as they walked out to the car.