Page 125
Story: The Playbook Complete (Vegas Aces Complete Series Box Sets #5)
I was stuck in a meeting with Coach when I was supposed to call Victoria. He was busy yelling at me a little longer than the rest of the pack since I can’t seem to stay out of trouble lately.
Tristan was in the lobby waiting for me when I was finally released, and even though I don’t want to talk about it, it does feel like at least I have someone on my side…someone who understands this latest issue since he’s part of it, too.
“How’d it go?” he asks. I nod toward the elevators as if to say let’s head to our room and we can talk privately there.
Once we’re in our room and I’ve collapsed on my bed, I say, “Not well. Coach is severely disappointed in me and my actions.”
“Me and mine, too. But you’ve got it worse, I’m sure. Who do you think talked?”
“Cory thinks it was Jillian,” I say.
“The one you banged and didn’t call back?” he asks.
I press my lips together. “Yeah.” I stare up at the ceiling. “And then she was dating Cory and I warned him off her.”
I shake my head as a moment of silence filters through the room. I wonder what’ll happen to Jillian. I wonder what’ll happen to Coax.
But worse, I wonder how angry Victoria is at me now.
“I was supposed to call Victoria an hour ago. She was already angry that I was even a member of a club like this, so I can’t imagine how she’ll feel now that everyone in the universe seems to know I’m a member, and I didn’t even get a chance to call her to talk to her about it. She’s probably asleep now and I just look like the dick who never called when you know how it is here. I didn’t get the chance and I don’t want to wake her up. And now my daughter is going to know about Coax, and I’m already at risk of losing her—”
“Wait. What?” he interrupts.
I nod and sit up a little. “My dad said there’s a family in Los Angeles trying to petition the court to take her away from me. They just want me to pay them off, but I won’t do it.”
“You didn’t tell me that.” He looks a little offended that I didn’t let him in.
“It’s complicated. I don’t really tell anybody this shit, you know? I won’t lose her. They wouldn’t rip her away from me. She’s old enough to tell a judge where she wants to be, anyway.”
“And that’s with you?” he asks.
I lift a shoulder. “I mean, I think so. She’s lost enough already. She doesn’t need to be taken away from another parent—from a happy home.” But is it still happy? That I don’t know. “But I know she doesn’t want to live with the Callahans. There’s an older brother who has creepy clown posters on his walls and Harper isn’t having any of that shit.”
He chuckles. “Two more days, man. Two more days, and then we can at least try to deal with this shit on home turf.”
“We can try.” I’m not sure what that’s going to look like. “What do you think will happen to Coax?” I ask, shifting the subject.
He shrugs. “Who knows? The owners took steep measures to keep it protected, but people will dig now that it’s public. They’ll want to know who owns it, who else is a member.”
I nod. “Yeah.” Hopefully the fallout won’t be too bad. It’s a hell of a place for the right clientele, and the whole point of it was to keep it secret and quiet for its members.
I take a quick shower then text Victoria.
Me: You still up?
She never replies, so I go to bed with a healthy dose of disappointment filtering through my chest.
I try again in the morning, and I don’t get a reply.
I try calling in the evening. No answer.
I text again as we board the bus on Sunday after breakfast. She still doesn’t answer.
And when I walk in the door Sunday afternoon, the house is quiet.
Nobody was waiting for me at the bus lot. I got a ride home from Tessa.
I walk through all the rooms in the house and check the backyard, but nobody’s home.
I don’t know what I was expecting. Some big welcome greeting. Maybe posters with my number on them. Maybe a little excitement from my family that I’m back after two weeks away.
Instead, I find a whole lot of nothing.
I bring my duffel upstairs to toss it in the closet, and when I walk by my dresser, I see a manilla folder sitting on it.
I set my duffel bag down to pull the papers out of the folder.
Joint Petition for Divorce.
What the fuck?
I spot my name and her name typed on the lines.
I flip to the end, where I see it’s already been signed by both Victoria and Allen Young.
She wants a divorce?
And she just…left the papers here without even talking to me about it then took off?
What the fuck?
Did she take my daughter and run off?
My heart stops for a beat, but then I hear some noise downstairs. I skip down the stairs two at a time with the folder still in my hand.
I find Victoria and Harper laughing in the kitchen.
“What the fuck is this?” I demand, holding the folder up and shaking it at Victoria.
Her eyes edge over to Harper before they zero in guiltily on me. She clears her throat. “Welcome home.”
“Welcome home!” Harper repeats with a little bit of glee, and she rushes over toward me.
I throw the folder down on the counter and kneel down to pull her into my arms.
God, this feels good. It feels right to be back home with her.
“I missed you so much,” I say into her shoulder, and she squeezes me tightly.
“Missed you, too…Dad. Oh, and swear jar.”
Heat pinches behind my eyes when she calls me that, but I force it away as I look up beyond Harper’s shoulder at Victoria, who’s studying us.
She looks away when our eyes meet.
This isn’t good.
And my reaction to it is probably even worse. The first thing my daughter heard from my mouth was a curse the second she saw me, and I’m sure she’s wondering what’s in the folder now, too. A better approach might’ve been waiting until I had Victoria alone to ask her about it.
Maybe it’s just preemptive. Maybe she’s taking precautions. It’s insurance to have it there in case she needs.
But I get the overwhelming sense that’s not it at all. She’s done. There have been one too many strikes against me, and I’ve gone way too far in ruining her life. She doesn’t want this life. She doesn’t want me .
Part of me doesn’t blame her. She deserves better than what I can give her.
The other part of me wants to hold onto her and fight for us with every fiber of my being. I know how fucking good we can be together, and I just want to find a way to get us back there. I know the family we’ve built. I know how this will affect Harper, and I can’t do it to her. I can’t tear apart her family by agreeing to divorce the woman I love.
We just need to sit down and talk…but we can’t do that when I’m having a happy reunion with my daughter, who finally lets me go. I walk over to Victoria next, and I move in to give her a kiss, but she stiffens. I drop one to her cheek instead.
She quickly backs away. “I’ll get dinner started.”
She does, and Harper helps her, and I unpack as anxiety plagues me over what’s coming next.
It isn’t until we get Harper down for bed that we finally get the chance to lay it all out on the table.
And it’s even worse than I thought.
Table of Contents
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- Page 125 (Reading here)
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