Made For Us, page 5
I buckle my seat belt, ignoring the pull to look back at him and instead look at Penelope. “This is going to be a great week,” I say, feeling that I’m two seconds away from throwing up.
CHAPTER SIX
TRISTAN
I sit next to Abigail and buckle my seat belt, ignoring how my heart is pounding. Ignoring the way my eyes fly to her legs. Ignoring my head yelling at me not to look at her. But I fail at it all, and I turn to watch her. She looks at Penelope. “This is going to be a great week,” she says, and I have to slow down the nerves that have now worked their way from my stomach to my throat.
I’ve been on the ice with the biggest and baddest there are. I’ve even been in some fights in the middle of the ice, but it’s nothing compared to how nervous I am as soon as I see Abigail.
The whole night I tried to tell myself that going on this trip was a bad idea, but then the other side of my brain would tell me what a great fucking idea it was. It was a fucking nightmare, I barely slept.
Did I walk on the plane and immediately look for her? Yes. Did I immediately get disappointed she wasn’t here? Yes. Did I ask if she was coming? No. Did I sit down and watch the door like a hawk? Yes. Did I see her walking toward the plane with Maddox as they smiled at each other and think she’s gotten even more beautiful in the past two days? Yes. Did I wish I could tell her? So much yes.
“Anyone need a tissue?” Christopher asks from five rows over, laughing. He looks around the plane, and I see a couple of people snickering when he spots me. “Tristan, you good?” he asks, and my heart sinks, thinking he knows how I feel for his sister.
I lean over. “What’s happening?” I ask under my breath.
“Every time someone new joins the family, they cry when they meet my grandfather,” she fills me in. “Started with Wilson and then Xavier.”
“So as soon as you marry into the family, you start crying?” I ask her, joking, and she can’t help but throw her head back and laugh. I picture leaning in and kissing her lips, but the image quickly evaporates from my head when I hear Dylan.
“Regret coming yet?” he asks, and I just shake my head. I might regret it at the end of the week, I think to myself, but not yet. He slaps my shoulder before walking two rows back and then sitting down in the seat, waiting for Alex to join him. She stops to kiss her grandfather and grandmother before making her way to Dylan.
“It’s not always like this,” Abigail shares from beside me, and I turn to look at her. She sits with her head back on the rest, and the way the sun is coming in, it hits her eyes and makes them even lighter.
I laugh a little. “I’ve been around them for the past six years,” I remind her. “If I were going to run away, it would have been way before now.” I lean back in my chair, folding my arms over my chest. “Besides, your family has been nothing but supportive and by my side this whole time.”
“Oh my.” I hear from the aisle and turn to see Gabriella. Even though she and Abigail are identical twins, I can tell them apart. Abigail has a bigger smile than Gabriella, and her eyes are warmer than Gabriella. Abigail also has one eye with a fleck of green in it. “I didn’t know you were coming on the trip.” She looks at me and then looks at Abigail. “Fun.” She continues walking toward the back.
Matthew gets on the plane next, followed by Max, as they start doing a head count. I close my eyes for a second, and when I open them some forty minutes later, the plane door is shut, and I look over and see Penelope and Abigail are coloring together.
She smiles at Penelope, and my heart feels like it grows tenfold in my chest. She tucks her hair behind her ear, something she always does. Something she isn’t doing to be sexy, but it just is. I take one long look at her before I turn around and tell myself, yet again, this is a bad idea.
This family has helped me from day one, and what do I do? I am lusting over one of their family members. They invited me in, and all I can do is sit here thinking about Abigail in ways I should not be thinking about her.
“If you want to rest,” Abigail starts, looking up at me from her coloring page, “I can watch Penelope.” I don’t say anything because the words are all jumbled in my throat. All the words that want to come out are me telling her that she is beautiful or she smells amazing or I want to kiss her. “I know that the last couple of days have been hectic, and from what I’ve been hearing, not many people got much rest.”
“It wasn’t that bad.” I watch her color the paper and then show Penelope, who smiles at her and shows her the picture she’s doing.
“I didn’t even attend all the events you did, and I ended up getting sick,” she informs me, and I am worried for her.
“What happened?” I ask, my tone going softer than I want it to.
“Nothing major, I just think with the whole moving and then not sleeping when I should’ve been sleeping, and then partying, I was burning the candle at both ends, and I got sick,” she says as if it’s nothing. I want to ask her what kind of sick she was. I want to ask her if she is okay right now.
“Do you need anything?” I start to unfasten my seat belt, ready to get up and make sure I can get her something. “I think I have water,” I say, leaning forward and grabbing the black backpack I always bring when we travel.
She puts her hand on my arm, and I swear to God, my whole body zaps to life. I haven’t touched or been with anyone in the six years since I became a dad. My dating life was put on the back burner. Then every single time I tried to put myself out there, there was always something missing, or better yet, they weren’t Abigail. “I’m okay,” she assures me, and Penelope looks at the bag in my hand.
“Dad, can I have the iPad?” she asks, and as much as I don’t want to pull my arm away from her touch, I have no choice. “Do you want to watch Encanto with me?” She looks at Abigail.
“Why don’t we leave Abigail to rest,” I redirect, and Abigail just laughs.
“I love Encanto,” Abigail says. Her eyes light up as she sings, “We don’t talk about Bruno.”
I chuckle as I pass the iPad to Penelope and then hand her the small white square AirPod case, “You have one,” Penelope says, handing her an earbud and then putting it in her own ear. I lean back and close my eyes, just to rest them, and the next thing I know, the plane is touching down, and applause fills the air.
I blink open my eyes and look over and see Abigail with her hand over Penelope's shoulder as they look out the window. “Daddy,” Penelope says, her eyes bright, “we saw the crystal-blue water, and Abigail said it looked like our eyes.” She points at the same eyes we both have.
I smile at her and then look over at Abigail, who just smiles at me. “Did you sleep well?”
“I guess so.” I take off the baseball hat on my head, putting it on my knee before running my hands through my hair. As soon as I hear the ping for the seat belts, the whole plane basically springs to action.
I look over at Abigail, who holds the iPad as she hands it to me. “Thank you,” I say, grabbing the iPad and then the black bag to put it back in. I get up from my seat and stand, stretching before I feel Penelope next to me.
“Daddy, can we go to the beach today?” she asks, and all I can do is lean down and kiss her head.
“We better,” I reply, smiling at her and then looking over at Abigail standing up and trying to get her bag out of the overhead bin. I don’t even think about it before I’m leaning forward over her, her back to my front, as I reach over her to grab her bag. “I got it.” I look down at her as she looks up, and I suddenly realize how close I am to her.
“Um,” she stutters, “thanks.” She turns and quickly walks away from me. I swallow down the embarrassment of my cock being so hard. The minute I leaned over her and felt her ass on my cock, it was just like the switch was turned on, and my cock was ready for whatever was coming its way.
I place her bag in front of me, hiding my cock in case someone looks at me. God, this is going to be a long fucking week. My eyes are stuck to her ass as she walks in front of me, which makes my cock even harder if that was possible.
We slowly start to leave the plane. It’s so bright I have to close one eye when I step out onto the stainless steel. Abigail holds on to the railing with one hand and never lets go of Penelope’s hand.
As soon as I step foot on the tarmac, I look over and see three huge buses waiting for us. “Holy…” I say, putting my hand in front of my eyes to block the sun. “This is quite the production.”
I look over and see Dylan is next to me. “It might look like it’s madness, but it’s actually a well-oiled machine.”
My eyebrows pinch together, confused. “Trust me,” he reassures, putting his arm around my shoulders and trying not to laugh. “You are going to hear some yelling, and someone is going to swear at least five times.” I look over and see Matthew throwing up his hands in the air.
I also see most of the women are on one side, ushering the kids onto a bus and out of the sun. My eyes find Penelope, who is now holding hands with Emma and Parker. “Don’t worry, the kids get on one bus where there is food and snacks,” Dylan informs me.
The porters are in the back of the plane, grabbing the luggage as they load them onto a trolley and then drive it over to the buses. I make my way over to the bus I saw Penelope walk into. The door opens when I get close enough, and the air-conditioning hits me right away. I walk up the steps of the same bus we use when we are at away games. I scan the seats looking for Penelope and see her sitting with Parker.
Erika and Alex are sitting behind him, and of course, my eyes roam the rest of the bus looking for the other woman I always seek out, who sits in the row across from Penelope with Gabriella.
I sit in front of the bus, watching the madness outside. I grab the bottle of water from one of the trays beside me with the snacks, putting Abigail’s bag on my lap, being careful not to lose it.
Forty minutes later, we are pulling up to the hotel or, as I’m told, a private resort. When the bus stops, I get up, walk out of the bus, and make sure the kids don’t run off. A woman and a man are holding a clipboard each.
“Name?” the woman asks.
“Tristan and Penelope Weise,” I reply. She smiles at me and hands me an envelope with two key cards inside, suite number eight written on the front. “Thank you,” I say, nodding at her and then calling, “Penelope.” She turns over toward me. “Come on.” I motion with my head and she skips over to me.
“Your luggage will be delivered to your room within the next thirty minutes,” the woman says to me. “If you walk through the lobby and toward the back, you will find signs on how to get to your room.” I look around at everyone grabbing their own card.
“Let’s go get changed, and we can meet everyone at the beach,” I tell Penelope as we walk into the lobby and then see the big buffet area where the meals are served. Three signs are telling you which way rooms are. Walking past the massive pool, over a little bridge, I make my way over to number eight. Each numbered hut looks like its own personal house.
I stop at the big brown door with the number eight on it. “Are you ready?” I ask her, taking a key card out and sliding it over the sensor near the door handle. The click allows me to turn the handle and push open the door.
I hold the door on top while holding Abigail’s bag in my hand. Penelope walks in and shrieks, “Daddy, there is a pool in front of our back door!” She walks into the room, and I step in with her. A living room area faces a wall of windows. “Can we go into the pool?” She jumps up and down as I place my bag on the couch and Abigail’s next to mine.
I open the back door and see the pool she was talking about is really the ocean. I slide open the door and walk out onto the patio, seeing that every single room has its own patio leading to stairs that take you straight into the ocean. “That isn’t a pool. It’s the ocean,” I inform her.
I take a second to look around and hear a commotion coming from the patio beside us. “It’s open.” I hear, and then I see her walking out, the wind picking up as her hair flies around her head.
“Shit,” I mutter under my breath, of course she would be in the room next to us. She must feel me staring at her because she looks over at me, and her eyes go big. “Hi.” I hold up my hand, now counting the days until we can leave.
CHAPTER SEVEN
ABIGAIL
I walk out of the glass patio door, and the heat hits me right away. I can’t help but smile when I see the patio has two lounge chairs facing the crystal-blue water. The sound of the water hits the side stairs that lead directly into the shallow ocean.
The warm wind suddenly blows my hair into my face as I turn my face toward it to push back my hair. I can feel eyes on me, and when I look over, I see the one man I’ve been trying to get away from. My whole body has been on alert from the time I sat down on the plane
My eyes go big, and I see him mutter something right before he puts up his hand. “Hi,” he greets.
I automatically lift my arm up to wave back to him. “Hi.” My heart speeds up, and it suddenly feels like it’s going to come up to my mouth. This is getting way out of hand, I think to myself.
He snaps his fingers. “I have your bag,” he says, turning and walking back inside. I put my hand on the railing, my head falling forward as I try to calm myself down.
“What in the hell?” I say. I’m about to turn around to call for Gabriella when I hear creaking coming from beside me. I look over and see him walking over to me, holding my bag in his hand. On the plane, the minute I reached out to grab it, I felt him behind me, and I swear to God, my body felt like it was going to go off. I thought for sure he would see the way my nipples perked up for him. Just looking down at myself, I felt my face turn a beet red. I literally felt like I was on fire. I couldn’t even look over at him. I hightailed it off that plane and then into the first bus with all the kids, thinking I had somehow escaped him. But the door opened, and he walked onto the bus, and I literally yelled out, “What the fuck?” So I stayed back and let all the kids walk off the bus, then quietly slipped out of the bus and walked over to the guy holding a clipboard. The whole family was trying to gather up their kids and figure out what to do, and I had already secured my key and was making my way to my room with Gabriella.
I push off from the patio and walk over to the right, where the patio is separated by a little empty space. He leans over and hands it to me. “There you go.” He smiles at me, and all I can do is nod at him.
“Thank you, I didn’t even realize I didn’t have it.” I chuckle nervously, then hear the patio door slide open in behind me.
“Holy crap,” Gabriella says, walking out onto the patio, “look at this view.” It takes her a minute to look over and see us. “Oh, well, hello, neighbor.” She holds up her hand.
“I was returning her bag,” Tristan explains to Gabriella, who smiles and nods at him.
“I’m ready,” Penelope announces, coming out of the house. “I need sunscreen.” She looks over and comes over to see us. “Dad said we can go to the beach.”
“That sounds like so much fun. Apparently,” I say, putting my hand over my eyes, “they said that if you walk around there.” I point at the stairs and to the left. “It takes you to the big beach.”
“Oh, good to know,” Tristan says. “Let me go get changed, and we can go to the beach. Come on, let’s get some sunscreen on you before anything.” He puts his hand on Penelope’s head as they turn and walk back into their villa.
I take a second before looking over at Gabriella, who just looks at me rolling her lips, trying not to laugh as she folds her hands over her chest. “We need to move,” I inform her, not giving her a chance to laugh in my face.
I walk past her, back inside our two-bedroom villa, which I think is exactly the same as Tristan’s. I close the door, walking over to the big welcome basket in the middle of the living room table. I grab the bottle of champagne as the door slides open again. “Oh dear,” Gabriella says while I peel off the foil and untwist the little wire that holds the cork down. I throw it on the table and then pop the cork, bringing the green bottle to my lips when it starts to pour out. “So we aren’t using glasses?” Gabriella just walks over to the single couch and sits down, crossing her legs as she looks at me.
I gulp as much as I can before the gas, and the bubbles feel like they’re going to come out of my nose. “I don’t know who we need to call, but we can’t stay here.” I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand.
“What would you like us to tell Uncle Matthew?” Gabriella put one hand on the couch before she decides to get up and grab a glass of champagne for herself. She holds out the glass, waiting for me to pour her some. I pour her as much as I can before it bubbles over. “Hey, Uncle Matthew.” She takes a sip. “We are going to have to change places because Abigail is secretly in love with Tristan, and it’s going to be really hard for her not to stick her face to the wall and try to listen to him sleep.”
I can only glare at her. “One, I would never press my face against the wall.” I take a sip of the champagne. “And two, I’m not secretly in love with anyone.”
“So are you openly in love with him?” She finishes off her glass of champagne as I flip her the bird. “That’s what I thought.” She holds out the glass for another refill. “Or here is a stupid idea.” She just grabs the bottle from me. “How about you tell him how you feel?”
I gasp, “Are you insane? I am never ever going to tell him how I feel. Telling you was the biggest mistake of my life.” She just laughs at me.
“I knew how you felt even before you knew,” she teases, putting the bottle of champagne down. I’m about to answer her when there is a knock on the door.
“Don’t answer that,” I whisper, and she just looks at me.
“He knows we are here,” she states, walking over to the door, and I sit down on the couch. “Thank you so much.” I hear Gabriella say. “I can take that,” she says, and I hear the door close and then the sound of wheels over the tiled floor. “It was our luggage.” I breathe out a sigh of relief, getting up. “Are you sure you are going to be okay?” She is the only one who knows how I feel about Tristan. It’s not like I told her. She sort of guessed it one day. She didn’t guess right away, and that was only because we didn’t live together.
