Page 47

Easton

F uck. Mother-fucking-fuck.

My eyes close as I fall silent. Paige didn’t mess up. I did. That was all me. And it’s broken her. She’s working hard to keep her cool, but she’s falling apart. I can hear it in her voice. The way it cracks. The little waver.

“Paige, you didn’t—”

“You deserve better, Easton. So much better. Maybe we weren’t meant to fall in love. We set those boundaries for a reason. And we—”

“To hell with the boundaries. We’re well past that now. We’re together, Paige. It happened and it’s not something you can take back.”

“I have to. If I agree to drop my investigation, they said they’ll destroy the photos. But I know them, and they’re lying. They won’t stop until they destroy me, and with those photos they have all the ammunition they need. If they hurt you or Isaac, I’ll never recover.”

My teeth clench as I groan. I’m caught between telling her she’s crazy and panicking if she’s not. But I can’t give up. “We can fight this. We—”

“No, Easton. I need you to be the guy I first met. The asshole that only cares about two things in his life. Football and his family. I need you to think about Isaac.”

Is she kidding me? “You are my family, Paige. And how dare you say I’m not thinking about Isaac right now. He fucking loves you. If you walk away, you’ll break him. Worse than Macy ever did. Because she never showed him the kind of love you have.”

“East—” Her voice breaks and she falls silent, her soft sniffles the only sound filling the air, and my heart fucking disintegrates.

“God, Paige. I can’t lose you. We can’t—”

“I love you too much to fuck with your life, Easton. Both of you. Think about it. Macy will use this. She’ll use those photos to take Isaac, and you’ll never get a say. She’s his mom. You know it won’t take much for the courts to side with her, and this is a huge red flag.”

Goddammit . She’s right but I’m not about to walk away from her when I’m part of the problem. “Do I get a say in this?”

Paige sighs and I can guess what’s coming before she says it. “Honestly, no. You can’t fix this. You need to focus on Isaac.”

“Paige—”

“Bye, Easton.”

“Don’t you dare hang up—” The line goes dead and I scream, “ Fuck !”

“Jesus, Easton.” Keeley runs outside and pulls the door closed behind her, her voice in a loud whisper. “What’s going on? You’re lucky you didn’t wake Isaac.”

“Paige is in trouble, and she’s shutting me out because she doesn’t want me and Isaac involved.”

Keeley’s eyes widen before she pulls her phone out of her back pocket. “What kind of trouble? Is she okay?”

“Are you planning on recording this? What’s with your phone?”

“In case I need to help.” She shrugs.

“You can’t help. She has some stuff going on with her ex and his family. They’re threatening to release photos of her and me… ah… doing stuff.”

“What do you mean, doing stu— Oh.” Her face scrunches. “Doing stuff . How?”

“We weren't exactly doing it in private, but that’s not the point. The point is that it could affect my custody case with Macy.”

“God, I ha—dislike her. A lot. What is wrong with you? You’re a great guy. You could have had any woman and you chose her. This isn’t on Paige. It’s on you and Macy.”

“Jesus. Thanks for the support, Keeley.”

“Shut up. You know it’s true. You’ve made some shitty decisions to get you to this point. And now Paige—”

“Why does it feel like you know more about Paige than what I just told you?”

Keeley pauses and her brows furrow as she folds her arms over her chest. “We’re friends, Easton. You seem to forget that. And while neither of you bothered to admit you’re together, it didn’t take much to figure it out.”

“Fuck, we should have—”

“Don’t worry about that. I told you. I knew. And that was before Isaac told me she’s been having sleepovers at your place. But none of that’s important. What are you going to do?”

“I have no fucking idea because I share the same fear she does… What if this is all Macy needs to take Isaac away?”

K eeley stays with Mom and Isaac while I head off to my early practice. Since it’s Thanksgiving, we’re only required for a half day, but it’s a half of a day more than I can handle right now, and I’m a fucking mess by the time I run out onto the field.

“Are you okay?” Reed asks when he catches me massaging my temples, and for the first time, I shake my head.

“I’m far from it. But we have a game to win, so I’m here.”

He steps forward, undoubtedly to ask me more, but Pierce blows his whistle, saving me from having to elaborate.

Then I attempt to be a football player. I say attempt , because if anyone that didn’t know me was watching, I’d barely pass as an amateur.

And I have no one to blame but myself.

The one time I let my guard down, letting someone else in, and she’s not here when I want her. Somehow, I’ve managed to fuck up another relationship and, in turn, potentially shatter Isaac’s heart. Again.

Zane throws me the ball and I fumble, dropping it to the ground. I expect him to laugh or gloat, but when he frowns almost sympathetically, I shake my head and turn away. I can’t think straight for long enough to catch a ball, let alone care about what Zane thinks. That doesn’t mean I haven’t noticed that the coaches are pissed.

“Get out of your head, Easton. When you’re here, you leave all your other shit at the door.”

I nod, like I always do when he uses this line on the team, but today, I don’t agree with him. It’s not that simple. And I doubt I’m going to contribute anything useful to this practice or this team until I’ve figured my shit out. “I’ve gotta go, Coach.”

“What? We’ve barely started.”

“I know. But if I don’t go now, my game’s only going to get worse.”

He stares me down, his brows raised in disdain, waiting for me to cave, but I hold strong. I’m leaving with or without his permission.

“Tell me what’s more important than being here with your team. If this is because it’s Thanksgiving—”

“Let him go, Coach.” My gaze snaps to Reed’s as he steps forward, confusing me. “It doesn’t matter why. Easton doesn’t fuck around. If he says he has to go, he has to go.”

Ah, shit . I cringe. “Thanks, Reed, but I don’t—”

“Go,” Coach cuts in. “Just go. But you better get your ass back here tomorrow with a clear head or I’ll drop you from the game. Got it?”

“Got it. Thanks.”

I reluctantly turn to thank Reed again, but he waves me off, turning away before I open my mouth.

And then I run… For all I know, Paige is gearing up to disappear on me, and I can’t fucking handle that. Not anymore.

I’m through the tunnel and on my way to the locker room when I hear my name and cringe. “Wilder!” Paige’s dad calls out, halting me in place, and it’s the last thing I need right now.

“I know we need to talk,” I say as I turn to face him. “But now is not the time.”

“Of course it’s not.” Sal shakes his head. “You’re supposed to be at practice.”

Fuck. He’s worried about that?

“I—”

“I don’t give a fuck about practice. Not today. Did Paige tell you what’s going on?”

My head drops back as I sigh. “She did.”

“And—”

“And what?” I throw my hands out in question despite being acutely aware that I should be nice. “Sorry, I—”

“What are you going to do about it?” Sal cuts in, waving off my comment. “Are you letting her walk away?”

“What? Fuck, no. Why do you think I’m skipping practice?”

“Good. Cause she’s going to need you. I have to head back to New York for a few days and—”

“Now? Today?” My jaw drops because, fuck , this is going to shatter her. Just like she always feared, he’s leaving when she needs him the most. “With all due respect, D’Angelo,”—I use his last name like he did mine—“your timing fucking sucks. She needs you here. How do you think she’s going to feel when she finds out you’re gone?”

“She doesn’t need me anymore. She needs you . And I’m trusting you to protect her. She’s going to make it hard for you but—”

“At least I’m going to try.” Unlike you.

“Don’t fucking try , Wilder,” he snaps and my anger simmers. “Get it done. She doesn’t give her heart away often. Actually, ever . But you’re holding it in your goddamn hands, and I need you to look after it. No matter what she says, she’s wrong. Walking away from you is not going to solve anything. It’s likely to destroy her.”

My rage dissipates as Paige’s words run through my head. “They won’t end until they destroy me.” How the fuck do I fix things when she’s likely to be destroyed either way?

“I’ve got to go.”

“Good. Go find Paige. We’ll have a better chat when I get back.” He smiles but it’s clearly forced, and I don’t know if that’s because he doesn’t trust me or he’s worried about Paige. Either way, I can’t dwell on it. I have to find her. I can’t let her go.

When I get in my truck, I bang my hands against the steering wheel before turning the ignition. What’s the right move here? Paige needs me. Isaac needs me. Mom needs me. I’m getting pulled in every direction, but there’s only so much I can do.

But if I really think about it, Mom’s okay, and if Paige is putting Isaac first instead of herself, and her dad’s gone, who the hell is looking out for her?