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Chapter 7

Annette

D -Day was coming. It was time to be discharged, and I had no fucking clue where I was going to live. Probably at a shelter, but I wasn’t sure yet.

It couldn’t be the same shelter as before since Luke had found us there the last time, and I was never going back to him. If I did, I would end up dead at his hands.

There was a knock on the door.

That was when I saw Terry’s face peeking in. If it were possible, it seemed like he was even more apprehensive than last time.

Trying to break the ice, I said, “Two times now. It must be my lucky week.”

He cracked a smile, which was more than I could have asked for.

His smile was still breathtaking, and it could make the world stand still. But then I remembered he wasn’t mine anymore.

He shut the door when he came in. Then, he settled into the seat beside me. “We need to have a talk.”

Oh, that sounded so fucking loaded, and I didn’t know if I had the capacity to really deal with it all. At least I was elevated and could look him in the eye rather than being reclined back.

“About what?” I muttered.

“Your and Eric’s living situation.” His fingers bounced off the chair’s sidearms. “I need Eric to be under my roof. I’ve missed six years of his life, and I can’t bear to miss one minute more. So if that means you have to move in, then we can do that.”

Damn, his last sentence cut so deep despite the fact that we weren't anything to each other anymore. It was so painfully clear that I hurt him and broke his trust. At the same time, if I was in his position, I would feel the same way.

Yet, despite his cutting words, I was relieved. I needed this lifeline. I didn’t care if it was secondary to his desire to get to know his son.

“I love the fact that you want to get to know Eric, but your work schedule makes it impossible for him to get a good routine. If you are truly okay with it, it would have to be the both of us.”

His side-eye was strong when I said that. Of course, he was okay with me staying at his house since he offered it, but it was his private space, and I had to double-check.

I held up my hands in surrender. “Okay, you meant it?”

“Of course I did.” Then, he looked away and mumbled, “Christ, what happened to you in the past six years?”

I looked down at my lap. I hated hearing that.

Both of us changed so much. He seemed to have grown into himself and was so self-assured, while I was anything but after the last three years with Luke.

I didn’t want to talk about it. I felt so dumb for falling for a guy who was so toxic. Despite knowing how bad he was, I went back. Although, after killing our baby and nearly killing me, I would never go back again.

I knew the last time Terry was here, he made trust a big deal. If I withheld information from him, I would lose him completely, which was the last thing I really wanted. So I kept it super simple. “A really bad relationship.”

“No shit.” It could have been such a mean comment, but his tone was too lighthearted.

I couldn’t look him in the eye. I wondered how much his teammate or Eric told him about my situation, although with me being stuck in a hospital due to a beating, enough was done with it.

He then asked, “Besides the ex from hell, what have you been doing?”

“Raising Eric and doing some dog walking,” I answered.

He raised an eyebrow and leaned back in the chair. “Did you finish your degree from Trysdale?”

More shame crept up. I hated admitting I never went to university, especially when I fought so hard with my parents to let me go in the first place. He was one of the few people who understood how hard it was to get them to let me apply to a school so far away.

Then again, back then, he was just as religious as I was. It was how we met. We were in bible study together, and we did the same singles events. He was the most interesting of the guys.

However, something told me that he wasn’t very religious anymore.

I shook my head. “I didn’t go.”

“What? Your parents never mentioned that.”

I knew he stayed close to my family back in the day. I wasn’t sure if he still reached out to my dad anymore since I stopped talking to him. Actually, it was Luke who wouldn’t let me talk with him since my family was toxic and too judgy. But now I realized Luke only said that so he could control me.

“Probably not. It’s not like we stayed close. I moved in with my aunt initially when I deferred my degree to focus on raising Eric. After a couple of years, I met my ex, and we moved back here.”

“I would ask about you, but it has been in the news. Star player returns home. Although, did you find anyone special after me?”

He chuckled. “No one special. Just had some fun with Tree Boy.”

I was surprised to hear he didn’t have anyone special in his life except a guy. He never gave off the vibes that he was interested in guys.

“Tree Boy?”

“Gavin Corso. One of my best friends from the Sound. The two of us had a lot of fun over the years. He got the name Tree Boy since when he gets drunk, he starts to flirt with trees.”

I giggled. “Trees?”

“Yup.” He pulled out his phone and started scrolling. Eventually, he found what he was looking for. “Here, watch.”

It was a video of a guy who seemed to be built like a hockey player and was incredibly drunk, asking a tree he’d dubbed as Sabrina to go home with him.

I couldn’t stop giggling, but it fucking hurt to laugh like that.

“I get discharged from here in the next couple of days. Is that too soon for me to come to your place? Should I get a hotel?”

“I ordered a bed to put into the guest room for you. It should be here in a day or two. So just come to my place. We’ll figure something out if it’s not here in time. Here’s the address.”

He handed me a piece of paper.

I was relieved to have a place to live, even if things could be super awkward.