Page 24

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

M y baby and my girl are staying at my mom’s.

With me.

I wasn’t expecting that turn of events, but thank God Anya likes to redo her house all the time. I could kiss her if I didn’t think she’d hold me down and bitch at me for chasing off her daughter after knocking her up. I smile to myself as I head toward my apartment. That went as well as I thought it would. I was fully ready to be questioned, to be blamed, but what I wasn’t ready for was how strong Audrina would be as she stood her ground. She made it seem like she couldn’t handle them, but she did. She didn’t need to wait three years; she could have done that before, but…maybe she couldn’t have.

Maybe she needed to have Arwen and be a mom first before she faced her own mom.

No matter what, I’m stoked they’re staying here.

Audrina and Arwen, my girls.

I use my key to enter my apartment just as Telly yells out in pure frustration. “Dude, cover my fucking ass!”

I chuckle to myself as I shut the door. He whips his head toward me and throws off his headset. He stands, in some Pokémon pink sleep pants and an old hockey juniors shirt full of holes, as he holds out his hands to me. “Hey fucker, I’ve been calling you for four days!”

I exhale, nodding as I bring him in for a tight bro-hug. “I know. I’m sorry. It’s been nuts.”

“Who you telling? Not every day you go out for a pancake and find out your bestie has a kid.”

“Try being the guy it happened to,” I say on a sigh. “But it’s all good.”

His brows shoot up in confusion. “It’s…all…good?” he asks slowly and incredulously. “How is any of that fine? You have a fucking kid, bro!”

My lips lift at the side. “I do, and she’s incredible, Telly. You’re going to love her.”

Telly just blinks. “I’m sure she is. She seemed super cute.”

“She is,” I agree happily, heading to my room. He’s hot on my heels as I pull a bag from my closet. I throw it on the bed and then grab all my game-day suits. “I’m going to go stay with my mom for a bit, to be close to them. I don’t want to miss out on time with Arwen.”

“Oh, okay. That’s understandable, I guess.”

“I’ll still pay my part of the apartment.”

“No worries, dude,” he says, and I feel his gaze on me.

I look over at him. “What?”

“Dude, you don’t look like you just found out you have a kid.”

I chuckle at that. “How do I look?”

“Happy. It’s weird. Why aren’t you raging? Like, tearing the world apart and taking that bitch for all she’s worth.”

I pause mid-stride before I get to my dresser. All I see is red. I close the distance between us, grabbing him by his shirt, the fabric tearing as I yank him inches from my face. “Don’t call her that.”

Telly’s hands come up, his eyes widening before he pushes me off. I stumble back; he’s a big dude. His voice is sharp as he snaps, “Whoa, my bad. Don’t need to put your hands on me.”

He’s right. I take a deep breath. My whole body is shaking, and I can’t believe I did that. Or maybe I can. I don’t want anyone speaking badly of her. I already made her feel like the shit on my shoes, as she said. I won’t let anyone else do that. My chest is rising and falling quickly as I mutter, “My bad, but don’t talk about her like that.”

“I won’t. Fuck,” he mutters, shaking his head. “I’ve never seen you get this worked up over a girl.”

“Because the only girl I get worked up over is her.”

“So, I guess you’re not over her?”

“No,” I say, running my hands down my face. “I never thought or admitted I was.”

“That’s true,” he says slowly. “I just didn’t think after three years of her being gone and finding out about your daughter, you’d care.”

“I never stopped caring,” I admit, meeting his gaze. “I’ll never stop.”

“Bro, what the hell?”

“I gotta get her back.”

He brings in his brows, surprised by that. “Why? For the kid? Plenty of people raise kids without being together.”

I shake my head. “No. I gotta get her back because she’s mine.”

Once more, he looks at me like I’ve lost my goddamn mind. “You want to get back with the woman who hid your kid from you?”

I nod with ease. “I want to get back with the woman I love more than anything in this world. All this other shit is just background noise. I have a second chance, and not everyone gets that. I have to make it worth it. I have to show her how much I can love her.”

Telly looks like I have three heads sprouting out of my ass. “What. The. Fuck. Bro. Do you hear yourself?”

“I do, and I sound pretty damn determined,” I decide with a nod.

“Yeah, and totally ridiculous. She hid your kid.”

“It doesn’t matter. I’m moving on from that. I just need her to move on from me breaking her heart.”

He inhales through his nose, leaning against the doorjamb. “So, because you broke her heart, it’s okay she hid your kid?” I just stare at him, and he shoots me a “Come on” look. “It doesn’t, if you didn’t know.”

“Nothing about what happened is okay,” I tell him, packing my bag. “But we can’t change a damn thing, can we?”

He shrugs. “I guess not, but it’s still fucked up.”

“Sure, but do I make it hard on all of us and hurt Arwen?”

Telly presses his lips together, his eyes boring into mine. “Absolutely not.”

“Exactly,” I answer, swallowing past the lump in my throat. “I forgave her, and I’m moving on. Please don’t hold it against her.”

“I don’t even know her.”

“Sure, but you will. And you’ll know Arwen,” I tell him. “You’re my boy. I want you in my life, and those two are my life.”

He hisses out a breath, shaking his head. “Fuck, dude. You are a goner.”

I don’t even feel ashamed. All I feel is the truth of the words. The moment I set eyes on Audrina again, I knew there was only one option. Bring her home and make her admit she never stopped loving me. Then Arwen was thrown into the mix, and there is no way in hell I’m letting them go.

Where they go, I go.

I chance a glance at my buddy, who still looks a bit bewildered. “I am. I always have been when it comes to her.”

“Why did you let her go?” he asks after a moment. He came to the team a year after the fateful argument that had Audrina running, and honestly, I don’t want to rehash it.

“Because I was an idiot,” I tell him, packing some underwear and socks. I have practice the next two days before I leave on a seven-game road trip. Figures that when Audrina and Arwen finally come home, I have to be gone for almost thirteen days. I keep going over my schedule in my head, trying to figure out how I can spend the most time with them. I’d like to take Audrina out on a date, too, before I head out, but I’m not entirely sure how I can make that happen. Not that I won’t have time, but that she won’t want to go. I feel like I’m breaking through her walls. She isn’t downright glaring at me. Instead, she’s annoyed because she wants me.

Or, at least, that’s what my delusional self is saying.

“Owen told me what happened,” Telly says, and my eyes drift shut. For a team of men, everyone sure is gossipy. Or maybe that’s just Owen. He loves watching drama. Don’t put him in it—he has enough of it from his family—but man, he’s like that Michael Jackson GIF of him with the popcorn. He eats up drama. When all that happened, Audrina and I were the talk of the team for a month.

Meanwhile, I was dying inside.

Lost and broken without any way of admitting to her how badly I fucked up.

“Of course he did,” I mutter, shaking my head.

“He was Team You. But, dude, you were a dick.”

I glance over at him, my brows raised. “Wow, thanks.”

“Still doesn’t mean it’s okay, what she did.”

“We are both aware,” I sigh as I shake my head. “And we both fucked up. It’s time to move on.”

Telly comes all the way into my room, sitting on my bed as I fold some shirts. He’s a big dude, so when he sits, my bag drifts toward him, though neither of us fixes it. I just continue to pack. “When I’d get sad that my mom and dad didn’t want me, my grandma would tell me that you can’t change the past or what was said or done. That all you can do is live in the moment and make sure to mold your future into the one you want.”

Everything he says is what I’m feeling. “That’s what I want to do.”

“And I support you,” he says, sending me a smirk. “I just don’t want you to be blinded by the fact that you have a kid and you’re trying to do everything to make it right for her. Make it easier for Arwen because you had such a good family dynamic. Not all kids from broken homes are broken.”

He’s a kid from a broken home, so I understand where his concern stems from. It’s unneeded, though. Still, my breath gets caught in my chest at his admission. I swallow, emotion lodged deeply in my throat as I meet his supportive gaze. “I want her for her, not because it would be easier, but because I love her.”

He nods, slapping my shoulder. “Then make it happen.”

“I will.”

“I know,” he says with a laugh. “I’m not the least bit worried.”

His confidence in me is unnecessary, but damn if it doesn’t feel good to have it.