# CHAPTER 13: A Game of Phone Calls, Tools, and Unspoken Wants
Hello, my wonderful readers! It's me again! How are we all doing tonight? I hope you're ready because I've got quite the chapter to walk through with you. Today, we're diving into the beautifully chaotic world of "Just for the Plot" once more, and I promise you—this one is packed with awkward locker-room banter, terrible book club names, clever flirting, and more sexual tension than you can possibly imagine. So grab your favorite snack, settle in, and let's get started, shall we?
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We open in the best way possible—the Gladdy Daddies group chat. The sacred bond between Bennett, Graydon, and the loudest, most tactless friend any man could ever have: OC.
It all starts because OC, in his infinite wisdom, decides to ask the boys their thoughts on vibrators. Of course. Because why not? Why not bring the group chat to that place at nine in the morning?
Bennett, ever the confident one, says he's all for them. Easy. No shame. And OC immediately starts crowing about how Bennett is such a secure man who talks about things he isn't ashamed to discuss.
Graydon, who clearly wants absolutely no part of this conversation, says he's not ashamed to talk about them either—he just doesn't want to talk about them with OC.
But that doesn't stop OC. Because nothing stops OC. Bennett, in an incredibly patient and gentle way, points out that OC tends to make a big deal out of things, and if Graydon ever admitted to using one on himself, OC would wave a flag about it for all eternity.
Now—here's where chaos truly erupts. OC absolutely loses his mind, caps lock on, demanding to know whether Graydon told Bennett he uses a vibrator. He's threatening to flip his shit. He's clutching his virtual pearls. And Graydon, deadpan, feeds the fire by telling him that yes, he did, and that he and Bennett have a separate thread where they discuss vibrator usage without OC.
"I am dead inside," OC claims.
Bennett, trying to rescue the conversation, says Graydon is kidding, they don't actually have a separate thread, they just talk about sexual positions together. Which—sure is an attempt at damage control.
But OC will not let it go. He's talking about the demise of the Gladdy Daddies, insisting it will literally be the death of him. Graydon, reaching peak irritation, tells OC to get his shit together and stop asking invasive questions.
And then OC, in a way that only OC can, opens his mouth and creates a problem that cannot be undone. He brings up the fact that Graydon had sex six times the night OC stayed over, saying he was impressed.
Graydon: "And didn't I say to never fucking talk about it?"
Bennett: "He did."
OC backpedals admirably, trying to one-up Graydon's number. Five times! Okay, fine, four. Fine—THREE, but he could have gone four. The girl was just raw.
_Raw._ He said the words out loud. Bennett's groaning. Graydon's invoking the name of God. And OC claims it's not retractable because it's already out there. But he promises never to say it again and pleads for mercy. He reminds them of all they've bonded over—the zoo, vibrators, Maple and Graydon's love affair that OC believes he's responsible for creating, and Bennett's sister's friend.
And then Bennett makes a classic rookie mistake: he suggests there's nothing going on with that. Graydon agrees. OC, sensing blood in the water, clutches his pearls because THAT sounds like interest to him.
"Nothing is going on. So drop it." Bennett sets his phone aside.
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We transition to the locker room, where Bennett is sitting in his chair, and up walks his teammate Nolan, holding a peanut butter burger with pickles and a Coke. Nolan offers Bennett a bite, and Bennett declines. Besides, he's asking the real question: is Nolan really going to play heavy on a full stomach?
Nolan, ever confident, explains that he once ate a twelve-ounce steak with fries and a giant slice of chocolate cake before a game, then hit two doubles and made a diving play. "Nothing is going to stop this brick house."
And then—the inquiry. Nolan wants to know how the date went for "your girl." Bennett corrects him. She's not his girl. Not yet. But that "not yet" hangs in the air. It's heavy. It's hopeful.
Bennett fills him in: the date went fine, but the two of them have nothing in common and they've agreed to casually see each other while seeing other people.
Nolan's reaction? "That's fucking great."
Bennett is baffled. How is that great? But Nolan's logic is simple and, frankly, pretty sound—she gets to discover how much of a douche this other guy is on her own time, while Bennett keeps swooping in and charming her. She'll end up in his arms in no time.
And Bennett doesn't say it out loud, but we know. She was kind of in his arms the other night. He pushed his limits, placed his hand on her hip, and she didn't seem to mind. He probably couldn't have stopped himself anyway.
But he shrugs it off, saying she still sees him as a friend.
Nolan, with the grace of a bull in a china shop, suggests the ultimate solution: "Text her a dick pic."
Bennett, understandably horrified and still fully clothed in his sanity, tells Nolan he has lost his mind. Unsolicited dick pics are never okay, especially to your sister's best friend. But Nolan, doubling down on terrible ideas, insists Bennett pretend it was an accident. Say he meant to send it to someone else.
"Get the fuck out of here," Bennett says, shoving his chair away.
Nolan calmly suggests Bennett ask anyone. It's a great idea. And at that exact moment—because the universe has a sense of humor—Asher Peppers walks by in nothing but his baseball pants and socks. Just as Nolan calls out to him for confirmation that dick pics are where it's at.
Asher freezes. That cold, blank stare—the one that's absolutely terrifying, the one he gives everyone—nearly slices Nolan in half. "Don't fucking talk to me."
And then he storms off to hide in the corner.
Nolan spins toward Bennett and mouths _Yikes_. Bennett can't even argue. They're in complete agreement on that one.
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Bennett's phone buzzes. He almost ignores it, expecting it to be the Gladdy Daddies. But it's Gabby calling, so he answers.
Gabby is checking in on him from Seattle. She teases him about his home run the day before, though Bennett is far too humble to brag. "Just another day at the office," he says, and Gabby laughs because she knows he'll never boast about himself. Not when she does it enough for him.
Then she delivers the real news: she and Ryland want to visit San Francisco for a few nights. Solana is staying with her aunt and uncle. They want an adult getaway. They'll be staying at Hayes's apartment, and she wants to come see a game or two. Bennett offers tickets, and Gabby asks for three—because she wants to drag Bower along.
And just like that—the butterflies. They erupt in Bennett's stomach, exactly like they always do when he knows Bower is coming to a game. The anticipation is already there. The idea of her in the stands, watching him play, is enough to set his whole body alive.
"Sure. Just send me the dates."
They exchange their I-love-yous, and he hangs up.
Nolan, who has been listening to the whole conversation with far too much glee, coos: "Ooooo. Who do you love?"
"My sister, you fuck." Bennett throws a roll of athletic tape at him, and Nolan laughs. Then he asks if she's single—as if he doesn't know Gabby is married—and Bennett shuts that down hard: he'd be the last person Bennett would ever consider letting her date. Nolan clutches his heart. He's wounded. Playfully so.
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Then the text comes. From Bower.
Bower: _Are you still awake?_ Bennett: _Just got back to my hotel. What's up? Everything okay?_ Bower: _Yeah, everything's fine. I've been attempting to unpack ever since your sister told me she was coming to visit._ Bennett: _I told you I'd help you. I couldn't the other night like we planned because of a last-minute team meeting, but I said I would make it up to you._ Bower: _And I told you I didn't need the help._ Bennett: _I'll be back tomorrow after the afternoon game. I can help tomorrow night._ Bower: _It's fine. I've got it. I was texting you because I was wondering if you have any tools._ Bennett: _What do you need tools for?_ Bower: _Hanging things and maybe building a side table._
Annoyed, Bennett exits the text thread and calls her. Because this woman—this stubborn, independent, don't-need-anyone woman—is not going to lecture him about not needing help when she's about to build furniture on her own.
Bower picks up on the second ring, already defensive. "Bennett, I will not take a lecture from you about tools. You either have them or you don't."
And Bennett fires back. "Bower, I will not take a lecture from you about not needing help. If you're building things, at least let me help with that."
"I don't need some big, strong man to help me," she says. "I can do this on my own."
_You think I'm strong?_ Bennett smirks and lies down on the bed. He's pushing, teasing. And to her credit, Bower rolls her eyes—audibly—and admits the truth: "Of course you're strong. I'd be lying if I said otherwise."
"Glad you can admit it."
Then she changes the subject, dropping a bomb he did not see coming. She has a date in the morning. She needs to hang something before that.
A date. In the morning. With whom?
_Cougar._ They decided to do breakfast, because Bower thinks that taking him out of his playboy atmosphere might make him more grounded. More willing to open up.
Bennett doesn't like it. Don't like the fucking sound of that. But he can't say that. Not yet. Not without revealing too much. So he focuses on what he can control: the tools. She can borrow them, but only with his supervision, tomorrow after his game.
She groans. But Bennett refuses to budge. In the meantime, she can find other things to do. He'll build and hang her items when he gets back.
"Fine, but only because I'm tired and don't want to fight anymore."
"Would you call this fighting? Or me trying to be a good guy and you not letting me?"
And then Bower drops some timeless wisdom: "Oh, Bennett, there's something you need to learn about women. We are always right."
"Yeah, Gabby taught me that a while ago."
"Best you remember it."
The conversation softens then. He asks about her day. She mentions errands and paperwork—Gretchen sent over the NDA stuff, and she's got Adalade's lawyer reviewing it, making sure she isn't signing her life away just to be in a book club with him.
Then she has to tell him the book club names. The terrible, terrible book club names Gretchen came up with.
_Baseball and Books._ The most obvious and most dreadful.
_Bombers Book Club._ Just as lame.
_Bennett's Book Club._ Boo, she says. Forever and always, _boo_.
And then the grand finale: Gretchen combined all three and suggested _Bombers Bennett's Book Club_. Or, as she prefers, the _Triple B Book Club_.
"Oh, for fuck's sake," Bennett groans. And Bower is laughing, that beautiful sound filling his ear, as she tells him she refuses to be part of any book club with that name. She jokes that she'd rather call it the Kim Halpert Book Club before she'd ever accept Triple B.
They talk more. He asks if she has any ideas for the name, and she says she's been "brewing some things up." Not ready to present yet. In the meantime, is he still reading his assigned books?
He is.
"Did you get to the scene where they're on the kitchen floor and she sticks the vibrator up his ass?"
"I did," he says, cheeks flushing.
"Thoughts?"
"You want the truth?"
"Always."
And Bennett, lying back on that hotel bed, decides it's time to be bold. He smiles and says those five words: "It made me hard as fuck."
He waits for her reaction, because this is a move. He's testing the waters, trying to get her thinking about him in a different way. And the response is better than he could've imagined.
"Oh my God," she whispers. "Why did my nipples just go hard?"
He lets out a wallop of a laugh, strips out of his clothes—boxers and all—stretches out along the mattress with one hand behind his head, and continues talking to her. Flirting. Teasing.
"You trying to tell me something?"
"I think my body is trying to tell you something." She laughs, but it's a scared little laugh. Nervous. But there.
"Good to know." He doesn't push further—he got what he wanted. He tells her he's headed to bed, and she says she should too, now that he won't let her use his tools. But he makes a promise.
"Tomorrow, you and me. It's a date, okay?"
And there it is. The smallest intake of breath. The pause that says everything. "Okay."
"Night, Bower. Sweet dreams."
"Umm... night, Bennett."
He hangs up, sets the phone down, and grips his goddamn cock. Because that little gasp—that tiny breathless pause at the end of the call—makes him hard as stone. And he knows, with absolute certainty, that whatever is growing between them isn't just friendship anymore.
She's coming to his game. She's letting him help with her place. She's admitting she likes the sound of his voice. And tomorrow, he's going to see her.
The question isn't whether Bennett will make a move. It's how long he can possibly hold himself back.
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## Reader's Impressions & Star Rating
Oh, what a chapter! We got the full Gladdy Daddies experience, which remains absolutely unhinged and endlessly entertaining—OC really is a gem and also a menace in equal measure. But the heart of this chapter is undeniably Bennett and Bower's phone call. The slow-burn tension is simmering beautifully. Between "it made me hard as fuck" and her breathless "why did my nipples just go hard," you can practically feel the electricity crackling through the phone. The fact that Bennett hears that little gasp and ends the chapter hard as stone proves this man is a complete goner. And his reaction to her breakfast date with Cougar? He says nothing, but the dread is written all over his inner thoughts. We're building toward something big, and I can't wait.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Rating: 4.9 / 5 Stars
## Next Chapter Prediction
With Bower heading off to her breakfast date with Cougar in the morning, I'm predicting things are about to get very interesting. Bennett said he'd help her with the tools and hanging things after his afternoon game—which means he's absolutely going to be in her space while she's fresh off another man's date. The tension is going to spike, and I wouldn't be surprised if Bennett's jealousy finally pushes him to make a bold move. Plus, Gabby and Ryland's visit is looming on the horizon, which will put Bower and Bennett in close quarters with family present. Something tells me Bennett is not going to be able to play the "just friends" card for much longer—especially when he's showing up to build side tables and "supervise" her decor. Sparks are about to fly, my friends.
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