Tank: Kings of Denver (Book 4) Read online

  “Get dressed, Sophie,” he tells me with a warning in his voice, knowing it would only take the slightest push for me to get him to cave to my will and take me on the kitchen floor but I also know that when he heard my stomach growling, his first thought was about getting food into my stomach to feed this beautiful baby within me.

  “Love you,” I call out, giving in and being a good girl. I mean, there is only so far you can push this caveman.

  “Damn straight you do.”

  I emerge ten minutes later, dressed and ready. “Where are you taking me?”

  He looks at me like I’ve spoken another language. “To the burger joint down the road?”

  “No,” I demand. “I don’t want to go there.”

  “What?” he questions, “You said you wanted a burger.”

  “No, I said I wanted one of Micky’s burgers. You can’t take me to get some other cheap ass burger that isn’t going to compare to one of Micky’s because then I’ll be disappointed and left unsatisfied.”

  “Are you shitting me?” he asks.

  “No,” I say with attitude. “I’m not shitting you, I’m dead serious.”

  He lets out a sigh in frustration. “Then what do you want?”

  I cringe, knowing exactly how he is going to react. “I…uh… don’t know,” I tell him.

  “For fuck’s sake,” he groans, looking at me like I’ve grown another head. “Get that fine ass of yours in my truck. We’ll figure it out on the way.”

  With a grin, I grab my bag off the bench and strut past him, stopping on the way to give him a big sloppy kiss. “You’re going to be a great Daddy,” I tell him.

  With yet another roll of his eyes, he turns and follows me out the door.

  Chapter 2

  Tank

  “Holy shit,” I murmur to Sophie as we let ourselves into Dani and Miller’s home. The place is a mess, there are baby clothes and toys thrown all over the place as if the baby patrol came and ransacked their house.

  “Yo?” I call out. “You fuckers here?”

  “Yes, yes, yes,” Dani calls, rushing around the corner from the kitchen. “We’re here.”

  Miller comes out behind her, carrying little Mia, fast asleep in his arms while looking as nervous as shit. “Please don’t go,” he begs Dani. “What if something happens?”

  “Miller,” she says, stopping in her tracks and turning around to face him. “You’ll be fine. She’ll sleep for the next hour and I’ve stuck her schedule to the fridge. All you have to do is follow that and everything will be ok.”

  “But what if she cries?” he asks, following behind her as she continues ducking around the house collecting her things.

  “It depends, if she cries after she’s had a bottle then she probably has a sore tummy and needs a burp. I showed you how to do that,” she says.

  “What if it’s not a burp?” he questions.

  “Then she probably needs to take a shit,” Dani says flatly. “Rub her tummy.”

  “Right,” he says. “And if she does shit?”

  “Then change her nappy,” Dani says, getting frustrated with him. “You’ll be fine, Miller. You’re a great dad. You know what you’re doing.”

  He lets out a sigh before walking over to Mia’s bassinet and putting her down. He turns some weird plastic thing above her head and it starts making music. Holy shit. That thing is fucking awesome. I’ll have to get Soph to pick one up for our son, though, it won’t play this girly shit, it will be a commentary of the ice Hockey championships, something for the little guy to inspire to.

  “What the hell happened to this place?” Sophie asks as Dani gets the rest of her things and jams them into her bag.

  “We lost Mia’s dummy last night,” she explains. “Hell froze over and took up residence in our home. It was fantastic.”

  “Wow, you make me look forward to having this baby so much,” Sophie jokes as she rubs her perfect little belly.

  “No, being a mummy truly is amazing,” Dani says, looking down at Sophie’s belly in awe, making me think she’s already thinking about baby number two. “Are you ready to go?”

  “I’m ready when you are,” Sophie tells her.

  Miller comes up and threads his arms around Dani’s waist. “You leaving?” he asks.

  “Yeah,” she says, turning in his arms and pressing a kiss to his lips. “Remember, the schedule is on the fridge and if all else fails, let her have her dummy.”

  “Ok,” he says, though it still comes out rather sulky.

  “You’ll be fine, you have Tank here and he’s great with babies,” she says. Though, I have no idea where the hell she got that information from.

  “Babe,” Miller says. “He used Jaxon’s son as a human football a few weeks ago. Cassie nearly died.”

  Dani’s eyes widen in alarm and I see her look back at Mia with concern, wondering if she really should be leaving her today. Her eyes flick back to me and narrow right down to slits. “You use my baby as a football and you’ll never see the light of day again,” she warns me.

  “Yes, mam,” I say with a grin as I hold my hands up in surrender.

  She lets out a huff and gives Miller another kiss which turns into more of a spontaneous make-out session. I turn to Soph. “You better go before he convinces her to stay.”

  “My thoughts exactly,” she murmurs as she stretches up on her tippy toes and kisses me goodbye.

  Sophie reaches forward and grabs Dani’s hand before hauling her out the door.

  The door closes with a thud and suddenly it’s me and Miller with a newborn baby. Fuck. What possessed us to agree to this shit?

  Miller and I look at each other blankly, wondering what the hell we’re going to do now. But I guess since Mia’s fast asleep, we don’t really need to do anything. I head into the kitchen and grab us each a drink out of the fridge and can’t help but notice the schedule on the fridge. I double check the time and notice she is due for her milk in an hour and a half and commit that to memory.

  I come back out to the lounge room and flop down on the couch while Miller flicks on ESPN and we watch a rerun of a game. We both grin as we notice it’s the latest Denver Dragon’s game, it’s from last season but it’s still fucking good to watch. Neither of us know any of the kids on the team anymore but we can’t help but still feel a part of the family.

  It’s been five years since our senior year where we won the championship and I have to say, I’m damn proud of every single player that has been on that team since, as five years in a row, the Denver Dragons have remained undefeated and have won every championship.

  Like I said, I’m fucking proud of those boys.

  We’re halfway through the game when the camera zooms in on the coach’s section and we see Coach Harris. “Fuck yeah,” Miller chuckles but that’s not what has caught my attention.

  “Rewind that?” I demand.

  He does as asked and I tell him when to stop. “Is that Shorty next to Coach Harris?” I ask, pointing him out.

  “Sure, fucking looks like him,” Miller grunts. “I only saw him a few weeks ago, I wonder why he didn’t say anything.”

  “Who knows, maybe he’s just filling in or something,” I shrug as Mia starts to stir in her bassinet.

  I pull the bassinet towards me, give it a little rock and before I know it she has settled back into a peaceful sleep. My ego practically doubles in size. I got this. I can do this baby shit. It’s easy.

  Miller looks at me like he’s seeing a whole new person. “How’d you do that?” he asks. “Every time I try, she wakes up screaming.”

  “I don’t know man, maybe it’s just in her nature to give her Daddy hell,” I smirk.

  “Fuck off,” he murmurs. “That shit ain’t supposed to happen until she’s a teenager.”

  I can’t help but grin. In all the years I’ve known Miller Cain, he has always been a cocky, egotistical bastard but now, with this little girl, for the first time in his life, the fucker has no clue and that knowle
dge alone, makes me the happiest bastard the ever lived.

  Mia wakes up shortly after and I smirk as I watch Miller’s face fall. It is startling clear that he is desperately in love with this little girl but watching him work out how to parent is damn funny. “Fuck,” Miller grunts as he gets up and takes Mia out of the bassinet. He holds her up and cuddles her into his chest, trying to soothe her cries.

  “Dude,” I say. “Dani’s schedule says she needs a bottle,” I remind him.

  His eyes widen, realising she is just hungry. He passes a screaming Mia off to me while he runs off into the kitchen to prepare her milk.

  Well shit. I look down at Mia who’s red in the face as she demands her lunch. I stand and try to settle her. “Come on, Kid. It’s coming,” I say, practically begging her to stop. Wow. Maybe this shit is harder than I thought.

  Miller returns a moment later and takes Mia out of my hands. He sits down on the couch, re-adjusts her in his arms and slips the bottle straight into her waiting mouth. It’s incredible how she goes straight from screaming to instantly settled with her bottle. “Fuck man. I don’t know how Dani does this,” Miller says as he watches his little girl down her bottle like a damn pro.

  “No clue. Maybe you should think of it like a game plan,” I suggest.

  “Huh?” he grunts, clearly confused.

  “You know, in hockey, you have a game plan. Just apply that same principle to Mia, think of her schedule as a game plan. You get through the whole thing with no fuck ups, you win. She gets the best of you, she wins.”

  “Hmm,” he murmurs to himself, clearly thinking it over. “I like it,” he says as Mia polishes off her bottle. He raises her up to face him. “Hear that, Mia. From now on, the game plan is for me to win.”

  He puts Mia up on his shoulder and starts to burp her, his hand gently rubs at her back and precisely two seconds later, she comes out with the loudest burp followed by a projectile vomit which goes straight down his back. “Fuck,” he gasps as he shoots out of the couch with a very satisfied Mia in his arms.

  I crack into laughter as he hands her over to me. “Dude, I think she won this round,” I say, smiling down at Mia as her father rushes about the house, stripping himself of his soiled shirt and using it as a mop to clean the vomit off the couch. Ugh. That will be me in a few months.

  “No shit,” he murmurs.

  Mia reaches up and places her little hand on my face and I can’t help but grin at the little she-devil. This moment just proves to me how damn ready I am to be a father. I find a play mat on the floor and lay her down, adding a few toys for her to play with.

  “How’s Sophie going with it all?” Miller asks when he flops down into a different couch.

  “So far, so good,” I tell him. “I just wish she’d slow down on work.”

  “Pft, that’s never going to happen,” he scoffs.

  “Tell me about it,” I murmur as I pass a new toy to Mia. “She caught herself a murderer yesterday, a thief last week and uncovered a prostitution ring the week before that.”

  “Shit, at least no one would ever say she’s no good at her job,” Miller supplies helpfully.

  “Yeah,” I grunt. “I just wish it wasn’t so dangero-”

  My sentence is cut off when Mia lets out a groan, moments before an almighty sound comes shooting out of her tiny ass. Oh, fuck no. Both mine and Millers eyes swivel to her in shock as the smell hits us. My lips pull up in disgust as Millers' face turns ghostly white. “Oh, please no,” Miller begs as he gets up and makes his way over to a very happy Mia. “You wanna take the lead on this one?” he asks me as he looks down at his daughter in absolute fear.

  “Get fucked,” I smirk, enjoying this way too much. He bends down and picks her up by her underarms, clearly refusing to hold her under her ass, especially after an explosion like that. He walks past me and the smell hits me in the face. Ugh. That is foul.

  As he walks her down the hallway and into her nursery, I look down at the mat and notice baby shit all over the mat. I realise it truly was an explosion. That baby has shit leaking out of her nappy. Fuck. I’ve gotta see this.

  I get up off the couch and make my way down to the nursery and watch as Miller gags while trying to get her out of her onesie. “Oh shit,” he gasps as he sees the mess up close and personal.

  Mia giggles and it’s almost as if she has done it on purpose. Miller gets her out of her clothes then moves onto the nappy. It doesn’t take him long before he is turning around and asking me to start her a bath.

  I grin to myself as I give him a nod. I head to the bathroom and do as I’m told, hoping I’m doing it right. I make sure it isn’t too hot and soon enough, Miller comes in holding a naked Mia under the arms before putting her down into the bath. He gives her a quick wash, rinses through her barely existent hair then lets her have a splash before wrapping her up in a towel.

  How the hell did we get ourselves in this situation?

  Miller passes her off to me to get her dressed while he cleans up after the poo explosion.

  I lay her down on the change table and pull a new nappy out from beneath. I look at the nappy which is when my ‘can do’ attitude comes to a startling halt. Shit. Tabs at the front or tabs at the back? I look at it from every possible direction and still have no freaking idea. Tabs at the front could be uncomfortable, right? I settle with the back and get straight to work. Satisfied with my work, I go about getting her dressed into her little hockey jersey, the same one I know Dani has stashed in her wardrobe.

  “Dude,” Miller laughs as he comes in to take her old nappy away. “You got that shit on backward,” he grins as he points out the nappy I just put on.

  “Fuck,” I groan before starting the whole process all over again.

  Ten minutes later, I’ve successfully got her changed and take her back out to the lounge room. I put her down in her play area as Miller comes out of the kitchen with two beers. We each crash down onto the couch in relief and take pleasure in our drinks. I’m so glad that is over. Mia couldn’t possibly throw any more surprises our way.

  ESPN goes straight back on as Mia giggles to herself while she plays with a toy elephant.

  I look over to her, as happy as can be. Yeah, I can see how being a parent is so rewarding.

  Five minutes later she settles herself to sleep on her playmat with Miller and I following shortly after.

  Chapter 3

  Sophie

  I walk out of the massage rooms with Dani right by my side. I let out a sigh as I think back to how damn good that massage was. I swear nothing will ever compare to how good Tank makes me feel but holy hell, that massage came in a close second.

  Dani groans as we make our way up the hallway and into the bathrooms. “What’s your problem?” I ask as I start pulling off my complimentary robe and get dressed back into my normal clothes.

  “I fell asleep,” she whines. “All I wanted was to relax and enjoy my massage but then I had to go and fall asleep.”

  I can’t help but grin at the idiot. “Come on, it’s not that bad.”

  “Are you kidding?” she demands as she strips out of her own robe. “I pushed a watermelon out of my lady taco three months ago, I’ve had that watermelon sucking on my tits ever since, I hardly know what sleep is and my stomach looks like it’s suffered through its own personal hurricane.” She says, “Is it too much to ask that I actually enjoy my massage rather than be unconscious for the whole damn thing?”

  “Ok, Mumma,” I say. “Calm down. We’re getting our nails done next. You’ve had your power nap so you can relax while some lady fusses over you without the fear of falling asleep. What do you say to a pedi as well?”

  She pouts but the idea of getting pampered cheers her up. “That sounds great,” she says with a little whine. She grabs her bra and starts to get redressed when she puts these weird looking things inside her bra. Now I know for a fact they aren’t chicken fillets, I’ve seen them before and that isn’t it.

  “What the fuck are y
ou stuffing your bra with?” I ask as I stare at her like the weirdo she is.

  A massive grin cracks across her face. “They’re breast pads for when your breastfeeding,” she tells me.

  “What?” I ask, dumbfounded. “You mean, like, menstrual pads but for your tits?”

  “Kind of,” she laughs. “Watch this.”

  She stands up before me, naked as the day she was born and I watch in disgust as milk starts leaking from her extremely plumped up boobs. “Oh my, God,” I gasp. “Is that shit going to happen to me?”

  “Yeah,” she laughs. “If I give it a squeeze, I could squirt you,” she tells me. “Miller hates it when I do it.”

  “That’s foul,” I grunt.

  “Eh,” she shrugs. “It’s pretty fun when you’re the one doing it, though, be careful, it gets a bit sticky.”

  “Would you shut up about your leaky tits and get dressed already,” I moan.

  “You’re the one who asked,” she says with shrug before she finishes getting dressed.

  I pull my phone out to check the time when I see a text from Tank. I open it up to find a photo of Miller changing Mia’s nappy only it’s not your usual nappy change. Shit is quite literally everywhere. I smirk at the screen before handing the phone over to Dani to check out.

  “Oh, geez,” Dani laughs, “Miller is never going to let me leave again.”

  “Yeah, he will,” I say. “He is way too in love with you to hold it against you.”

  “He is, isn’t he?” she says, getting that dreamy look on her face every time she thinks about how much she loves her man.

  “Ugh, don’t start this shit,” I groan as I take the phone back and actually check the time. “Oh shit, our appointment at the nail salon starts any minute.”

  “Oh,” she gasps as we collect our belongings and make our way over to the nail salon, making sure to thank our masseurs on the way.

  We make it to our appointment right on time and they are more than happy to squeeze us in for pedicures as well. The lady sends us off to choose a nail polish colour, I go with a deep red as Dani chose’s a foul purply colour. I let her know just how awful her choice was as we take our seats and instantly relax before getting pampered.