Page 141 of The Hardest Fall

Zoe sent me a helpless look and I laughed, reaching for her hand.

“I know, Mom. That’s why I’m keeping her—so I’ll have something nice to look at for the rest of my life.. What are you doing out here? The rest of the gang still at the restaurant?”

Finally she let go of Zoe and turned to me. Pulling my face down, she kissed my cheek.

“I couldn’t sit down and wait, and, I admit”—she sent Zoe a quick wink—“I wanted to see Zoe before everyone else. Now she is here and everything is so perfect. I’m so proud of you, Dylan. We’re so excited.”

I groaned. “Lauren Reed, if you start crying again, so help me—”

“No crying, not yet. Oh, okay. Maybe a little bit of crying.” She quickly brushed away her tears. “Come on, let’s take Zoe inside so she can meet everyone before you disappear for those interviews.”

With one of my hands suffering a death grip in Zoe’s, I grabbed the handle of her luggage with my free hand and took two of my favorite women inside.

* * *

The lights at the stadium, the hushed conversations, the camera guys walking around the tables—all the people around us were starting to get to me. I felt Zoe’s hand on my leg, stopping me from bouncing it against the table.

The show was about to start in less than ten minutes.

“You, okay?” she asked, leaning toward me, her eyes worried.

I grabbed her hand under the table and held on. “Everything’s good.”

She didn’t look like she believed me, but her touch calmed me down just enough.

My parents were talking with my agent when I felt a hand close on my shoulder.

“What’s up, man?” Chris greeted me with a huge grin on his face when I twisted in my seat to look back.

I rose and we gave each other a quick hug.

“I called you on the way here, wasn’t sure you’d make it.”

He sighed and played with his tie. “Just a little late, that’s all.” When Zoe pushed her chair back and joined us, Chris leaned down and kissed her cheek.

She was beaming up at him.

“Hi, Zoe.”

“Hey. I texted you earlier to wish you luck, wasn’t sure I’d get to talk to you here.”

“I called you, but I guess you can’t hear a thing with everything going on.”

Zoe stood beside me as her eyes skittered around, no doubt looking to see if Mark was around.

“He’s not here,” Chris commented before I could say anything.

Zoe’s frown deepened. “This is the biggest day of your life, how could h—”

Chris turned to me. “You didn’t tell her?”

“Didn’t come up,” I replied, avoiding Zoe’s curious gaze as I absentmindedly stroked her back.

Their interaction was still awkward at best, nowhere near a normal sibling relationship, but I knew Chris wanted that…maybe not as much as Zoe wanted it, at least not yet, but I knew he was trying to get there.

A camera guy started to film us as he passed by, and Zoe inched closer to my side. “Tell me what?”

As Chris started to tell her how he’d basically forced Mark’s hand to make him resign from the team, Zoe’s fingers gripped my forearm tighter and tighter.

“It was either that or I was going to tell my mom I knew about the adoption. In his own weird, sick way, he cares about her…I think.” Chris must’ve seen the look on Zoe’s face because he shook his head and gave her the rest of the story. “It’s not just you, Zoe. He was messing around with students…girls. He was going to get himself into trouble eventually.”

We weren’t giving her the whole story, but I’d already spoken to Chris and he’d promised me he wouldn’t tell her how I’d broken his father’s nose soon after he was no longer our official coach. You see, Zoe had forgotten to tell me what had happened in the apartment right before I’d walked in that night. I’d learned about it only because Chris had made an offhand comment, thinking she’d already told me.

I slid my arm around Zoe’s waist and pulled her to my side just as they announced that the event was about to begin.

After promising to meet up after the night was over, we had to say goodbye so Chris could go to the table they had him seated at.

“It’s gonna be a long night,” Zoe murmured beside me, wringing her hands in her lap.

“How do you feel?” I asked into her ear.

She looked up at me. “About what?”

“Your dad.”

“He is not my dad,” she replied automatically. “I don’t feel anything.” She shrugged. “I don’t care one way or another, and he is the last person I want to talk about tonight.” She reached up to touch my cheek. “Tonight is all about you.” Her smile got bigger. “You made it, Dylan. All those shifts at the bar, all those morning workouts—which I enjoyed immensely, thank you very much—studying your ass off to graduate early…all your hard work, and look where you are. I’m so proud of you.”