Chapter Ten

The next morning, Trevor didn’t wake until 10 am. Judging by the silence from downstairs, Gabrielle and Nick were clearly still in bed. It was a Sunday, and Trevor was looking forward to spending the day indoors, Gabrielle sorting through her haul from the Halloween party, and the two of them sitting around and watching shit on TV.

Trevor didn’t know what Nick would be doing with his time but given how much he had drunk the night before, he doubted he would be surfacing anytime soon. Nick had offered to be the designated driver for the ride home, but Trevor waved him off; though he liked the occasional drink, he was still trying to keep away from more alcohol than was necessary, especially around his daughter. He had been more than happy to spend the party with Gabrielle and the kids – all of whom had bonded so well, Trevor didn’t know why he had been worried about Gabrielle not making friends. 

Haddy’s kids, Brooklyn and London – and Trevor had tried not to give him shit for naming his kids after locations, mostly because they were pretty great names – were four and seven respectively, and while London was a little too old to be playing with a three-year-old, she had seemed happy to walk around with Gabrielle and watch over her. Brooklyn had held her hand most of the time, and though Gabrielle had pretended to be put off by it, she had demanded Trevor allow her to go over to Brooklyn’s house and play with him one day.

Nick had been smirking with pride, telling Trevor half-drunk that he was glad his advice had worked, admitting that he had no idea how Gabrielle should make friends, only that he wanted her to have some. Trevor thought over that as he made his way downstairs, not used to Nick being anything less than confident in his skills as a nanny. They hadn’t talked about why Nick had chosen to nanny as a career, mostly because Trevor didn’t think it was his business. Nick doubting how seriously Gabrielle took everything he said was ridiculous, and Trevor made a mental note to talk to him about it at some point.

Turning on the coffee maker, Trevor leaned against the island and thumbed through his phone. Rubbing at his hair, Trevor scanned the photos that had been taken the night before, a few of Gabrielle and Trevor, more of Gabrielle with the other kids, some of Gabrielle and Nick, and a few of Gabrielle, Nick, and Trevor. The last ones had been taken by Jetty, and at the time, Trevor had been enjoying himself too much to worry about it. Now, looking at the dumb expression on his face, the fondness on Nick’s as he stared down at Gabrielle, and one looking right at Trevor, had Trevor wondering what the hell he was doing.

It was obvious to anyone who was staring at him – and Jetty had been – that Trevor had obvious feelings for Nick, and Trevor was sure if he sent the pictures to his mom, she would say the same thing. It was stupid to be so obvious, and his heart ached at the thought that if Nick looked hard enough and saw it, he would run. Trevor wasn’t scared that Nick would blab about Trevor’s preferences to the world, he wouldn’t do that to Gabrielle, but he could be worried that a distance would grow between himself and Nick, and Gabrielle would suffer for it. Neither outcome was desirable, but Trevor found it even harder to envision a world in which Nick reciprocated the growing attraction and wanted to act on it.

He’s your nanny.

The voice sounded suspiciously like his mother, and though Trevor did his best to ignore it, he couldn’t, not when the evidence was in his face every day. Before he could think better of it, he decided to send some of the pictures to the family group chat, which was already full of messages. His sisters were asking for pictures of Gabrielle in her costume and Trevor could never refuse them. He included the ones with himself and Nick on a whim. He could always claim it was an accident later. 

There was the sound of a door closing upstairs, and Trevor slipped out into the hall, hearing the patter of Gabrielle’s feet as she made her way down the stairs.

“Morning, baby,” Trevor said, leaning against the banister.

“Hi, Daddy.” Gabrielle was trailing her toy octopus behind her, tentacles sliding against the ground. Trevor was glad they had such a diligent cleaning lady, despite Nick’s protests that it should have been his job, but he was tossing the octopus in the machine when Gabrielle was preoccupied.

Clutching at Trevor’s hand, Gabrielle followed him into the kitchen, sucking on her thumb, and leaning against Trevor’s hip.

“What do you want for breakfast?” Trevor asked, hoisting her up into her chair.

“Candy?” Gabrielle said, with a hopeful tilt of her mouth.

“Nice try, kiddo,” Trevor said, with a laugh. “I don’t think so.”

Pouting, Gabrielle flopped over, resting her head on the tray. Trevor sighed, resigning himself to wiping it down before he put her food there, and set about making her some toast. He’d have the cereal ready if she decided she didn’t want toast. It paid to be prepared.

“I thought we could count your candy this morning,” Trevor offered, which had the benefit of perking Gabrielle up. “Then we could watch movies?”

“Yes,” Gabrielle said, throwing up her arms. She was still leaning against the back of the chair, like the effort of holding her head up was too much, but she was smiling toothily. “Is Mr. Nick awake?”

“We’re not bothering Mr. Nick today,” Trevor told her seriously, “Unless he wants to be bothered, okay?”

The pout was still there, and she opened her mouth as if she was going to protest. Trevor held her gaze, eyebrows furrowed, and she sighed dramatically. “Fine, Daddy.”

Trevor snorted and poured himself a generous mug of coffee. He had a feeling he was going to need it.

Thankfully, by the time Nick finally surfaced from his room, Trevor and Gabrielle were two movies in, candy spread out on the table in front of Gabrielle in piles. She had a system that Trevor had no hope of following, and he was impressed that none of the candy was opened yet.

“I have to wait for lunch,” Gabrielle was saying. “Daddy, you always say I can’t have candy until I’ve had lunch.”

“Smart kid,” Nick said from the doorway, leaning against the doorjamb.

“Mr. Nick!” Gabrielle said, jumping to her feet. She reached for Nick’s hand, dragging him over to the couch, and talking a mile a minute about all the candy she had been given and what she wanted to do with it. Nick looked overwhelmed by the rush of information, but Trevor didn’t feel sympathy for him. He was probably still mostly hungover.

“Nice sleep?” Trevor asked when Gabrielle paused for breath.

Nick rubbed at his forehead, unimpressed. “I’m never drinking again.”

“That would be silly,” Gabrielle said, folding her legs beneath her as she leaned on the coffee table, sorting the chocolate from the sweet candy. “If you didn’t drink again, you’d dehythingy and die.”

Trevor hoped that Gabrielle didn’t get her dramatic flair from him. He liked to think he was at least a little stoic.

“I meant,” Nick started, and then paused. Trevor smirked, gesturing at Gabrielle with a go-ahead motion, knowing Nick wasn’t about to talk to Gabrielle about alcohol and the dangers inherent within it. “You’re right, Gabrielle. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.” Gabrielle gave him a bright smile. “At least now you won’t be silly and not drink.”

“True,” Nick said, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“I hope your headache doesn’t last long,” Trevor said, a shit-eating grin on his face. “When you offered to be the sober ride, I didn’t think the alternative was this.”

Nick winced. “Neither did I. Your teammates are incorrigible. They seemed intent on getting me drunk.”

“You did loosen up quite a bit,” Trevor said, amused.

“You did some funny dancing,” Gabrielle put in. “Something Uncle Jetty called a grind.”

Trevor smothered a laugh, forcing himself to remember that he was a father and shouldn’t find this funny. “Please forget you know what a grind looks like, Gabrielle.”

“Yes, Daddy.” No three-year-old should ever sound like that. Trevor was sure his daughter was actually eighteen and masquerading as a toddler.

Nick looked vaguely horrified at the news, and Trevor smothered a smile behind his hand, figuring he’d been outwardly laughing at Nick since he’d entered the room and should probably cut him a break.

“You were very good at it,” Trevor offered.

That didn’t seem to help Nick, because he groaned, tipping his head back against the couch. “I hope there was no video.”

“Probably not,” Trevor said, though he was sure a couple of the guys had their phones out. Thankfully the team press had left the room before Nick did any kind of dancing, so there wasn’t anything official. Trevor had a feeling he would have been going to bat for Nick with the front office if there had been.

Nick stared at him, eyes narrowed, but either he was still too hungover to challenge him, or he believed Trevor’s expression because he blew out a breath and closed his eyes.

“Daddy,” Gabrielle said.

The movie had finished playing and Trevor sighed, getting to his feet and stretching, working the kinks out of his back. “What are we gonna watch now?”

“Um, one of those.” Gabrielle leaned across the table and pointed to a stack of DVDs that Trevor had watched several hundred times before. He rolled his eyes and picked one in the stack.

Looking back over his shoulder, trying to find the remote on the table, and caught Nick staring at him. Meeting his eyes, Nick flushed and looked away, staring instead at the coffee table. Trevor’s fingers fumbled for the remote, feeling a prickle on the back of his neck. He’d had the look directed at him before, usually in the middle of a club, when he was trying to pick up.

It was hard not to read into it. Nick was hungover. It didn’t have to mean anything. When he pushed himself to his feet and turned around, having to hitch up his sweatpants, Nick’s eyes were still on him, closing quickly as Trevor looked at him. Trevor rubbed at his jaw, running a hand over Gabrielle’s hair as he sat back down on the couch.

Gabrielle grabbed a handful of candy – one of the piles – and grabbed a hold of her octopus, clambering onto the couch, wedged between Trevor and Nick. “Would you like some candy, Mr. Nick?”

Nick looked a little green around the gills and shook his head. “No, thank you, Miss. Gabrielle. I think I’ll wait till later to eat something.”

Unconcerned, Gabrielle handed one of the candy bars to Trevor. It was one of his favorites, and his lips quirked up at the thought of his daughter knowing what his favorite candy was.

“Here you go, Daddy. You like these.”

Dropping it into his lap, Gabrielle made sure the octopus was settled on her lap, both Nick and Trevor sharing a grin at the attention she paid to the comfort of her stuffed toy, and then settled down to watch the movie, picking up one of the candy bars.

Trevor would have to steal a couple while she wasn’t looking. She was pushing her luck with the amount in the pile and he didn’t want to have her appetite ruined when it came to dinner.

Wrapping an arm around Gabrielle’s shoulders, Trevor kissed the top of her head, and let out a soft, pleasant hum. The afternoon stretched out ahead of them; Trevor and Gabrielle cuddling on the couch, and Nick at the other end, probably popping a few more painkillers, but happy to hang out with Gabrielle and Trevor yet again on his day off.

Trevor could get used to it.