Page 9 of The Tempo of Truth (The Monsters Duet #3)

Ky

“You’re in the prime of your life right now. Why would you want to bring a kid into the mix? If you publicly acknowledge that the brat is yours, you can kiss your carefree days of fucking generously endowed reality stars goodbye.”

I grunted as a shoulder slammed into my chest in an effort to throw me off balance and steal the basketball I was getting ready to shoot.

I looked down at the aggressive Korean man who was a head shorter than me and smirked as I tossed the ball into the air.

It zipped through the netless hoop and bounced on the cracked asphalt.

This court hadn’t changed much from the days when I played one-on-one here as a teenager.

Neither had Mino. He was still an opinionated hothead who couldn’t see beyond whatever the latest get-rich-quick scheme he was involved in.

He still lived in the neighborhood we grew up in.

I made it a point to show up every couple of weeks to catch a friendly game and to keep up with the word on the street.

I considered it an open secret that if you could handle yourself in a neighborhood brawl, you would be a good fit for Lev’s business—both the legal and illegal parts.

Mino was a key piece of my communication network.

He also cheated at basketball and slept around much more than I did when I was famous.

His morals were questionable, but his loyalty was as rock-solid as it had ever been.

When I came back to the States after losing everything, Mino was one of the few people who didn’t wash their hands of me.

He continued his diatribe about my newfound father status.

“If anyone can handle being a single parent, it’s someone with the last name Halliday.

That kid is going to grow up with nannies and butlers galore.

He’s going to have the best education money can buy.

Whatever he wants, it’ll be handed to him by his mother or any of the other obnoxiously wealthy Hallidays.

What good would it do for either of you for you to be a part of his life?

Especially if you plan on agreeing to the terms that the heiress laid out.

All you’re going to be to him is an example of what not to do, and you’ll have jack to show for being nothing more than a bad example.

If you’re really thinking about playing the doting dad, you should get paid for it.

Having a literal billionaire tell you that the only way you can be in your kid’s life is if you agree to do it for free is some fucked-up elitist shit. ”

Mino jogged to the dilapidated fence to grab the ball from where it had rolled.

I lifted the hem of my T-shirt to wipe the sweat out of my eyes and bent over with my hands on my knees to catch my breath.

The week Winnie gave me to think about whether I wanted to be part of my child’s life in the future was almost up.

I hadn’t told anyone the details of our meet-up, but Mino was persistent and noticed I was acting off.

I spilled about the ultimatum Winnie gave me, and my longtime friend hadn’t stopped cursing the redhead in both English and Korean for the entire game.

“My adoptive father is on the run because he ripped off a drug dealer. My biological father is in and out of prison because he’s an addict who likes to beat on women and children.

” I jumped to block his shot and snatched the ball away.

I was pretty good at any sport I tried my hand at, which often frustrated whoever I played against. Mino didn’t care that he was getting slaughtered.

He knew he would never win. The only reason he agreed to play with me was that I never failed to pull in an audience of appreciative spectators.

He knew if he let me trounce him on the court, there would undoubtedly be a pretty girl waiting in the wings to offer him solace.

Today, there were more than a handful of people gathered around the shabby cement.

“My mom is amazing, but she’s got a gambling problem. ”

When Winnie’s uncle paid me off so I would disappear, he gave my mother enough money so that we should’ve been able to live a long, long time with no issues and no need for her to work.

It wasn’t until I started playing football professionally that I realized she was spending money faster than I could earn it.

We should’ve been wealthy, all things considered, but somehow we were suddenly worse off than when we lived in the city.

When I got busted for gambling and match fixing, there were threads of truth in the allegations I couldn’t deny unless I wanted to hang my mother out to dry and watch her go to prison.

While I was furious with her for having such a debilitating addiction, I was angrier at myself for not noticing she was sinking into the mire right before my eyes.

I couldn’t stomach sending her away or letting her take the blame for a failed career after all she’d done for me as a child and the sacrifices she made in pursuit of my dreams. It was my turn to protect her, even if it meant I lost everything I’d worked so hard for.

I sighed and told Mino, “I understand where Winnie is coming from. Suppose I ask her for money to see the kid and to be part of his life. That opens the door for endless handouts in the future. Soon, it’s not about the kid at all.

The focus becomes what benefits I will get by simply being his father.

He becomes a bargaining chip, a tool to use so that I can manipulate Winnie, which she would never allow.

” I knew this because she’d often been cast in the role of leverage between powerful family factions when she was younger.

“Winnie’s always been a bit extreme. With her, it’s always all or nothing.

Either I want to be his dad, or I don’t. There’s no middle ground.”

“I dunno, man.” Mino grabbed the ball while I was distracted and dribbled closer to the hoop.

I jogged after him, squinting into the sun.

I heard someone cheer and clap while calling my name, but I never took my eyes off the ball.

I was used to having spectators watch my every move, so I’d long since learned to drown out any noise and distractions.

“I saw those photos of you and the heiress at the park. It didn’t look like you were trying to get away, or like she was trying to ruin your life by saddling you with a kid you never wanted or asked for.

The way you were leaning over her on the swing was romantic as hell.

If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were whipped for her.

” He chuckled and lifted his eyebrows at me in a mocking manner.

“Is she the reason you’ve always preferred redheads? ”

I snorted as I stole the ball and made another basket.

This time it rolled to the feet of a pretty woman wearing a very short skirt and rocking ass-length boho braids.

Any other day, I’d be happy to introduce myself and grab her number.

Right now, I felt like my neck was in a guillotine and any minute the blade might drop.

Fooling around with a random woman, even if she was a ten out of ten, wasn’t as high on my priority list as it typically would have been.

“It was just the angle of the photo. People are always going to try and make something out of nothing for engagement.” I purposely decided not to answer the question about my taste in women and motioned for him to collect the ball from the stunner holding it.

I also saw the picture of Winnie and me together.

If I wasn’t there when it was taken, I might’ve believed it was snapped right before I lowered my head to kiss her as well.

It was an alarmingly intimate image between two people who had zero contact in years.

The image stirred something inside of my chest and had my mother calling me to demand answers.

I promised my mom over and over again that I wouldn’t get involved with the Hallidays after the turmoil and upheaval of our last encounter sent us running as far away from home as we could get.

Needless to say, she was less than thrilled to find out I was the father of Winnie’s baby and that I was seriously contemplating whether I had room in my chaotic life for a five-year-old.

My mom cried and repeatedly apologized for the part she played in my ending up at my lowest point, where I was finally vulnerable enough to ignore every warning sign that kept blaring whenever I got too close to Winnie Halliday.

If I wasn’t so down and out, and considering if life would be easier if I just ended it all, I never would’ve ended up in bed with the one woman whom I always considered off limits.

When Mino returned with the ball, he handed me a water bottle with a phone number scrawled on the label. He wiggled his eyebrows up and down and gave me a knowing look. “Maybe having a kid won’t kill your game after all.”

The ball hit the ground, and I put a sneakered foot on top of it to keep it from rolling away.

I shoved my sweaty hair out of my face and handed him back the water.

“The last thing I need is getting entangled with another woman while I’m trying to navigate dealing with Winnie.

” She took every ounce of concentration and restraint I possessed.

When we were younger, handling her felt like holding something infinitely fragile and breakable in my hands.

Now, it was more like facing off against a fierce wild animal intent on protecting her young.

I tossed the ball to a teenager who asked if we had finished our game. I pulled Mino over to a shaded area where we’d left our gym bags and crouched down to pull a towel out and wrapped it around my neck. Mino poured the gifted water over his head and shook his wet hair out like a dog.