Page 27 of Bad Ruck

"I might have," I said carefully. "I've been encouraging them to be nicer to each other. The other guys have as well. Jay and Frost in particular. Dallas and Ramsey have had a hand in it too, though."

Finding Dallas in the change area the way they had seemed to have flipped a switch with them. Some people bonded over a mutual appreciation for cake. Others bonded over finding a devastated teammate who'd just killed a woman. Whatever it took.

Doctor Stuart's eyebrows rose. "Unless I'm mistaken, I count six."

"That's right," I said lightly. "They care about me and some of them care about each other. It's complicated, but we're making it work."

"Huh, how about that," he said softly. "Well, if the guys play better for it, then it has to be a good thing."

"If they play worse because of it, we can both get in line to kick their asses." I smiled. "After they're done kicking each other's."

Doctor Stuart chuckled. "I can picture that, yes. They're passionate about the team. They wouldn't let much get in their way. And now they have a pretty woman to keep them in line, they'll do even better."

"Not the whole team," I said dryly.

"Just the single ones," he said slowly.

"Not even all the single ones," I protested. "I left a few for the other women in the world." Six was enough for me. I had no interest in adding to that number. Not unless it was a puppy or a kitten. Maybe one of each for each guy.

"As long as it doesn't impact your work either," Doctor Stuart said. "Then I wish you all the best." He gave me a meaningful look, like he'd be the first to step in and tell me if I wasn't doing what I should be doing. Of course he would; he was my supervisor. I wouldn't want him to see me doing the wrong thing and let it slide for any reason. That was a really good way to get into bad habits, and I didn't need that. It wasn't good for me and it wasn't good for the team.

"I won't let it do that," I assured him. "Thank you for your support. Other people might think it's…weird." Not that I gave two hoots what other people thought. I didn't care how they chose to live their lives.

"I'll be completely honest with you, I've seen many weird things in my day," he said. "This doesn't even make the top ten. If I was a younger man, I might look into all of this myself. I'm sure my wife would love five more boyfriends." He smiled softly.

Clearly her and her needs were important to him. That was sweet. The world needed more men like that.

"You're never too old to have extra boyfriends," I said.

I sensed he and his wife were in for an interesting conversation when he got home. Whether it led to anything or not was another story. There was certainly nothing wrong with considering it. As long as everyone was happy and communicated with each other, then they should go for it.

"That sounds like a bumper sticker," he said. "One would certainly raise some eyebrows."

"I'll look into having those made," I said jokingly.

After Frost had Team Awesomest bumper stickers printed. Hopefully he was joking about that. I didn't want to get out of work after a long day, to find my car covered in them. I could picture him doing just that. Bright, glittery stickers all over my vehicle. Of course, he'd cover everyone else's cars with them too.

I made a note to keep a close eye on him so he didn't pull a prank like that. Stickers weren't good for the paint on cars, as far as I knew.

Doctor Stuart chuckled and bent over his laptop to get to work.

I watched the coastline disappear before I did the same.

Chapter Eleven

Chelsea

"Where are we going?"

As soon as the game finished, Ramsey bundled me into a car and started driving out of Auckland. When none of the guys objected, except to give Ramsey warning looks, I assumed they must have worked something out beforehand.

I didn't know how I felt about them going behind my back, but if they trusted him to take me wherever we were going, I'd roll with it.

Admittedly, Storm looked less than impressed and Dallas slightly strained, but they let me go anyway. After Storm quietly growled to Ramsey that he better fucking look after me or he'd have him to answer to.

"You'll see." Ramsey had a stubborn set to his jaw that clearly said there was no point in pushing, he wasn't going to tell me a thing until he was ready.

What was it with these men? And why did I like it so much?

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