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  LIAM

  Single Dads Club Book 2

  Candice Blake

  Copyright © 2019 by Candice Blake

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Contents

  1. Liam

  2. Shawn

  3. Liam

  4. Liam

  5. Shawn

  6. Shawn

  7. Liam

  8. Shawn

  9. Liam

  10. Shawn

  11. Liam

  12. Shawn

  13. Liam

  14. Shawn

  15. Liam

  16. Shawn

  17. Liam

  18. Shawn

  19. Shawn

  20. Liam

  21. Shawn

  22. Liam

  23. Shawn

  Epilogue

  Bonus Scene

  Exclusive Look

  Harry’s Baby

  Harry’s Baby Blurb

  1. Harry

  2. Carter

  Harry’s Baby

  Also by Candice Blake

  About the Author

  Newsletter

  1

  Liam

  Present Day

  “I can’t believe you dragged me out to this,” I said.

  Damon laughed. “That’s what I said when you invited me to our first Single Dads Club meeting.”

  “Which is where you ended up meeting your boyfriend, Jesse.”

  “Very true,” Damon said.

  It was a beautiful, cool September evening. We were on the subway, on the way to the basketball stadium to see the game. The subway was crowded because it was the weekend.

  “I thought you loved basketball,” Damon commented. “It used to be your sport in college.”

  “I love basketball. I just don’t want to see Shawn Carter again.”

  “Why not? You’re jealous he’s one of the biggest basketball players in the league?”

  “I’m not jealous of him,” I said. “I just haven’t seen him in over twenty years and we didn’t exactly end our friendship on good terms.”

  “That’s a shame. You guys used to be inseparable in college when the three of us were dormmates freshman year.”

  “I know, but friendships drift apart.”

  “It’s going to be a fun night tonight. How often do we get courtside seats to a Raptors game? Jesse was going to come with me tonight, but he’s swamped with deadlines for school and decided not to go.”

  “How did you get the tickets anyway? Don’t courtside tickets usually go for thousands?”

  “I checked online. Our tickets are close to twenty thousand. Each. Shawn gave them to me and told me to bring a friend.”

  “I didn’t know you guys still talked.”

  “We do sometimes. But we’re really busy now, so it’s harder to talk more than a few times a year. He’s a great guy. I have no idea why you guys don’t talk anymore.”

  “It’s a long story. I don’t really want to get into it right now.”

  We got off at our stop and walked to the stadium. Since Damon started dating Jesse, I rarely saw him without smiling. It was nice that my best friend and business partner was always in such a good mood, because it made me feel good too.

  As we approached the stadium, I felt my heart start racing. I hadn’t seen a basketball game in Toronto since Shawn had joined the team. I just didn’t want to be in the same place as him, and I was nervous tonight, because I knew we’d see each other. We did have courtside seats after all. It made me wonder if Shawn had given the tickets to Damon because of how close Damon and I were. Maybe Shawn wanted me there to see him play.

  Damon presented the tickets on his phone at the gate and they had someone escort us to our seats. The game hadn’t started yet and the players were on the court warming up. Even though I hadn’t seen Shawn in over twenty years, I recognized him right away. His presence stole everyone’s attention. Shawn was one of the oldest on his team, yet he still looked as muscular and fit as some of the younger guys. His dewy skin made him look like he was glowing under the bright stadium lights. He dribbled the basketball between his legs, then took an effortless shot from the three-point line. It went in. People cheered even though he was just warming up. Younger women twirled their hair and looked at him like he was some kind of God. I hated everything about him and I wasn’t even someone who usually hated people.

  I took off my blazer and sat down next to Damon.

  “These seats are fucking incredible,” Damon said.

  “Tell me about it,” I replied. “Some people will kill for these seats especially since the Toronto Raptors won last season.”

  “You know they only won because of Shawn,” Damon said. “He made history by scoring the most points in an NBA final.”

  “Whatever,” I said. “I’m sure he just got lucky.”

  Damon punched me playfully on my arm, then wrapped an arm around me. “Lighten up, Mr. Grinch. I’ve never seen you so worked up over anything before.”

  I took a deep breath. “I’ll try not to be so bitter tonight. It’s going to be hard, but I’ll do it for you.”

  I watched Shawn walk off the court to get a drink of water, then he strolled over to us.

  “You came,” Shawn said.

  Damon stood up to greet Shawn with a hug. “Of course, we did,” Damon said.

  “These are pretty good seats, aren’t they?” Shawn said.

  “I was just telling Liam how amazing they are,” Damon said.

  Shawn turned to me and smiled. I remained seated and smiled back, but I wasn’t going to make any effort to initiate conversation.

  “It’s nice to see you,” Shawn said to me. “It’s been a while.”

  As much as I didn’t like him, what he said sounded genuine.

  I looked up at him and smiled tightly. “Yeah, it’s been years.”

  “How’ve you been? Business is doing well?”

  I wondered how he knew about it. Maybe Damon had told him we were business partners.

  “It’s going great,” I said. “We’re expanding and moving into a new office soon, which is pretty exciting.”

  “I always knew you guys would be successful,” Shawn said.

  “Look who’s talking, Mr. Player of the Year,” Damon said.

  A cocky grin appeared on Shawn’s face and I could tell he loved Damon praising him.

  “I’m just here to play a game I love,” Shawn said.

  “Shawn Carter,” the Raptors coach called out. “Stop flirting and come over for the pre-game huddle.”

  Shawn smiled at us. “I have to go. Maybe I’ll see you guys after the game. We can get a drink or something.”

  “That’d be great,” Damon said.

  I didn’t say anything.

  Shawn went over to his team and I felt relieved. I didn’t have to talk to him anymore.

  “What a great guy,” Damon said. “And he’s really made a name for himself. We used to stay up all night playing video games in our dorm with Shawn, and now he’s watched by millions of people around the world.”

  “He’s also had scandal after scandal that people seem to forget about.”

  “If paparazzi followed you everywhere and watched your every move, I’m sure they’d find bad things to say about you too. I wonder how many of those tabloid headlines are true though. I feel like people just make shit up about celebrities to profit from them.”

  “I saw a headline last week where they caught him hanging out with two different models on the same day in New York.”

  “Maybe he was just friends wi
th one of them,” Damon said, trying to justify it. “But who cares if he likes and gets a lot of girls. He’s a great guy and deserves it.”

  “He was photographed kissing both of them.”

  Damon laughed. “Wait a minute... how do you even know this? You don’t strike me as someone who’s on TMZ.”

  I felt self-conscious all of a sudden that I knew so much about Shawn. But the truth was I found it hard not to read into these stories about Shawn. The articles about him let me justify my hatred for him after what happened in college. It was like Shawn had been living rent-free in my head for the past twenty-something years.

  “Does Shawn ever ask about me?” I asked.

  Damon looked up to think about it. “All the damn time. He asks how you’re doing whenever we get the chance to talk.”

  “Really? You’ve never told me. When?”

  “The last time was when he gave me these tickets. He told me I could bring whoever I wanted, but he also asked if you could come.”

  I looked over at Shawn who’d taken his shirt off to put on a new one. The crowd went wild. I tried not to look at his rippling abs and cocky grin. Shawn winked at a group of women in the audience and tossed his jersey to them. Two of them started fighting for the jersey until it eventually ripped in half. There was something about Shawn that people loved. I had to admit he was a very charismatic guy. He always had been. At college parties, girls practically lined up for the chance to talk to him. I always got a bit jealous over the attention he got, but it was like all Shawn had to do was breathe, and it’d make a girl faint.

  Why was I so jealous of him?

  I had my own life. I shouldn’t be obsessing over a guy so much. Hell, I was straight. But that falling out Shawn and I had over twenty years ago had always stuck out in my mind. At one point, Shawn and I were much closer than I was to Damon. We did everything together in college, and played on the same varsity basketball team our freshman year. It was a real shame we weren’t friends anymore.

  I looked around the stadium at the sold-out game. I saw a lot of people wearing Shawn’s jersey. Number twenty-three. That was actually my number when I was playing college basketball, which made me wonder if Shawn had picked it because of me.

  The game started and Shawn’s teammate passed the ball to him. Two people from the other team were defending him, because he was just that good. Shawn took a step back and shot it from the three-point line. Swish.

  The crowd erupted and people started chanting his name. Even Damon was on his feet cheering.

  As much as I didn’t like Shawn, I had to admit he was an incredible player. I guessed his confidence was the reason why he was so good at the game. He was able to take shots that other players wouldn’t even dare to try. He made the game exciting to watch, and the way he’d interact with the crowd set the stadium alive. He carried himself with this carefree swagger that made all the women and even some men swoon over him.

  The score at the end of the game was 121 to 86. The Raptors won and Shawn had scored fifty-seven of those points. He combed his dark chestnut-brown hair back with his fingers, and went over to some fans to sign his autograph.

  “It must be exhausting to have that many people know who you are,” I said to Damon.

  “I can tell Shawn enjoys the attention though,” Damon said. “Do you think you could be that famous?”

  I shook my head. “I’m way too introverted for that kind of attention.”

  “I guess it’s kind of good you never continued to play basketball then.”

  “It worked out in our favor because we started our company instead. Had I played, we would’ve never become business partners. We probably make as much money as Shawn does. Our lives just aren’t as flashy, that’s all.”

  When Shawn finished signing autographs, he came back over to us. He was standing close and I could feel the heat of his body against my skin.

  “What did you guys think of the game?” Shawn asked.

  “It’s one of the best games I’ve ever seen,” Damon said. “You did incredibly.”

  Damon wrapped his arm around Shawn’s sweaty body affectionately. Damon had become more touchy-feely since he started dating Jesse.

  “You guys should come and check out our new locker room. They renovated it after we won last season, and everything is state of the art now. It’s probably nicer than the one the Lakers have.”

  “I’d love to check it out,” Damon said, turning to me for my response.

  “I don’t know. I kind of want to go back to see the kids,” I said.

  Shawn raised his brows. “I almost forgot you guys were fathers now. How old are they?”

  “Brooklyn’s six months,” Damon said, pulling out his phone to show the picture of his baby on his wallpaper. “How old is Hayden now, Liam?”

  “Hayden’s seven months,” I said.

  “I can’t wait to meet them,” Shawn said. “I guess our lives took very different paths. You guys are living the suburban dad life, while I’m still a bachelor.”

  I tried to bite my tongue, but couldn’t hold back any longer. “Neither of us are living a suburban dad life. We don’t even live in the suburbs. Sure, we have kids now, but our lives are far from boring. We still do fun things.”

  “What do you guys do for fun when you have kids?” Shawn asked.

  I tried to think of something I did recently to impress Shawn, but all I could think about was the Toy Story movie we took our babies to, and the swimming lesson last week when Hayden learned how to float for the first time. Fuck, was Shawn right? Was I becoming a boring suburban dad, while he was living his best life, hanging out with models in New York City?

  “I can’t think of anything right now,” I said.

  “Well, if you want to do something fun, maybe you guys should come back to my place and have a drink,” Shawn said. “Maybe we can go out tonight to celebrate the win with the team.”

  “That sounds like fun,” Damon said. “It’ll be just like old times.”

  Both Shawn and Damon turned to me. I didn’t want Shawn to think I was too boring to still have fun, and Damon looked excited to have a boys’ night out.

  “I guess we can go,” I said.

  “Nice,” Shawn said. “Well, come to the locker room first so I can shower. I’ll give you guys a tour of the new facilities.”

  We followed Shawn off the court. A security guard stopped me and Damon as we were walking past him.

  “Hey, you need passes to come back here,” the security guard said to us.

  “They’re with me,” Shawn said to him.

  “Oh, my bad. I didn’t know,” the guard said, bowing his head to Shawn, and waving us through.

  I still couldn’t believe how big an NBA star Shawn had become. It was a shame we weren’t friends anymore.

  2

  Shawn

  Twenty-seven years ago

  “Is Liam in my bed again?” I asked as I walked into my dorm room.

  Damon was sitting at his desk, slumped over his textbook with headphones on which were connected to his Walkman. He glanced over at my bed. “I totally thought that was you sleeping there.”

  “God, why does Liam always have to sleep here?”

  I went over to my bed and shook him to wake him up. I could tell he was in a deep sleep since he was snoring.

  Liam rubbed his eyes and looked up at me. “What do you want?”

  “You’re in my bed again.”

  He looked around the room. “My bad. I had too much to drink last night after celebrating my last midterm and I passed out.”

  “That’s what you said last weekend.”

  His blond hair was disheveled and he didn’t have a shirt on.

  “Don’t tell me you’re naked under there,” I said. “I just did my laundry.”

  “Relax, I have my boxers on,” Liam said. “Where did you even go last night?”

  “I went on a date with this girl, then I went back to her dorm room to hang with her.”

/>   “So, why do you care that I’m in your bed?”

  “Well, I didn’t exactly do much sleeping, so I was hoping to come back to sleep in my clean sheets.

  Liam grabbed my arm and pulled me toward him making me fall into my bed. “Just come cuddle then.”

  Liam wrapped his arms around me and I couldn’t pull away however much I tried. Liam was strong.

  Damon turned to us and gave us a look. “Do you want me to leave the room so you guys can fuck already?” he said with a smirk.

  “No,” I said. “But you can tell this idiot to get out of my bed.”

  Damon laughed and shook his head, then put his headphones back on.

  “Aren’t we friends?” Liam asked. “I’m hungover as fuck and I just want to cuddle. It’s not like either of us is gay.”

  “If you’re not, then why are you cuddling me like this?”

  He didn’t say anything and simply closed his eyes and smiled. I was exhausted after staying up all night, and I was too tired to fight him.

  All of a sudden, I felt something on my ass, and it took me a second to realize it was Liam’s cock.

  “Are you fucking hard?” I asked, trying to break free from his hold on me.

  “It’s only my morning wood,” he said, still smiling like this was all a joke to him. He moved back slightly so his hard-on wasn’t on my ass anymore. “Don’t act like you don’t get hard when you wake up.”

  “Well, I don’t go around rubbing my dick on another guy’s ass,” I said. “If our teammates find out…”