Page 26 of Catching the Captain

“What the fuck?” I throw my arms up. “Do I get a say since I’m paying rent?”

“They didn’t think it would be a problem since we have an extra bedroom.”

I can’t really argue about her parents wanting to help out their son, especially since they’re the property owners.

I set my coffee mug down on the small glass table next to my chair. “When is this all happening?”

“Next week.” She winces.

“Fuck. Fuck. Fucking shit.” I flail my arms and legs like a child having a temper tantrum, and one of my flip flops flies off. Goddammit. Nothing like adding insult to injury. Rising, I stomp over to put my flip flop back on, then stomp back to my chair. “Serena, I don’t want to share a house with my ex-boyfriend, even if he is your brother. What am I going to do?”

“Rori, I’m so sorry about this. I’m hoping it’ll be a temporary thing. I doubt he’s going to want to live with his little sister and ex any more than we want him here.”

“You’re right. Maybe he’ll find his own place once he’s here.” The situation might not be quite as hopeless as I originally thought.

“I’ll tell Mal to keep to his room as much as possible,” she says.

“That’s not the answer for either of you. You’re siblings and I’m not going to get in the way of family. If his stay here is limited, I can find somewhere else to crash in the meantime.”

“You can’t put up with him for two or three months?”

I shake my head. “No. I don’t want to be within one hundred feet of him. I don’t have feelings for him anymore, good or bad, but I also don’t want a daily reminder of everything that happened.”

“I don’t blame you for that. You handled the whole situation better than I would’ve.”

“Thanks. I’m glad our friendship wasn’t affected by the breakup between me and your brother.”

“As if. He was an asshole and I flat out told him so. And now he’s moving in here to screw with the good thing we’ve got going. I don’t want the toilet seat up all the time or have to replace the toilet paper roll because he doesn’t,” she says. Her shoulders rise as she inhales and drop as she releases the breath with a long sigh.

“Hopefully it’s short term. And don’t worry about me, I’ll figure something out.”

Grabbing my hand, she gives it a quick squeeze of support. “I’m so sorry, Rori. This is another one of those occasions where I wish I were an only child.”

I snort. “No, you don’t. You love Malcolm.”

“Yeah, but I love you more.”

“I know you do, but it’ll all work out in the end,” I say, sounding more confident than I feel. I have a week at most to find a place to stay, and I’m praying that place won’t have to be my parents’ house.

CHAPTER8

KAIDEN

I climbthe stairs next to Murphy’s garage and let myself in the second floor door.

“Hey,” I call out.

“Hey, Cap,” Murphy answers. He’s already running on the treadmill even though I’m ten minutes early.

I’m lucky my teammates are a focused group, at least for the most part. We all have bad days, but we’re good about being there for each other and making sure the lows don’t last long.

“What’s up, Kaiden?” Darius asks from the chair he’s kicked back in. He raises a cup of coffee to his mouth and takes a long pull.

“Not much. How about you? How are Evie and Tillie?” Darius is in a somewhat new relationship with a single mother and, surprisingly, it’s been going well for him. Even though his new girlfriend is the daughter of our coach.

Darius grins, and it’s obvious he’s head over heels for both of them. “Life is wonderful.”

“I’m glad it’s going well.” I look over to Ryder, who’s sitting on a stationary bike. “Ryder, what’s up, bud? Why aren’t you pedaling?”

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