they cut you? What about Bast and your mom? Me and the baby?”
“Every fucking day I’m on that field, tearing myself apart, sacrificing my body. I do it all for you.” He shook his head. “And now you think the only way I can take care of my family is if I cheat.”
“No. That’s not it.” I reached for him, but he batted me away. “Listen to me. I know you will be an amazing player, but you can’t see past your pride. You have to ask the team for help.”
“I can’t have this conversation now. Not with you.”
He raged, inside and out. His steps thundered to the door. My heart went with him.
I couldn’t let him go like this. Not when he was so angry.
So hurt.
“Lachlan, please, let’s talk.”
It was the last thing he wanted to do. “You know…when my entire world started crumbling down, I thought I could come to you.” He dragged his gaze to mine, but the green was muted and dark. “But that was a mistake, wasn’t it? This whole relationship. It’s nothing but a fake marriage built on secrets.”
Not to me.
“Don’t you dare…” My words broke. “You have no idea what I’ve been going through.”
“You’re right. You didn’t trust me enough to tell me.”
“God, Lachlan, if you had any idea what I felt for you, you wouldn’t be looking at me that way.”
He shook his head. “What’s it matter? You don’t have any confidence in me. You don’t think I’ll survive in the league. And maybe I won’t. But I hoped you’d be there in case I…”
“In case what? If you failed?” I said the word he was unwilling to speak. “And what if you do? What then?”
“It doesn’t matter.” He retreated to the door.
“I’m not done talking.”
“Yeah, but I know everything you’re gonna say.”
“No. You’re only hearing what you want to hear.”
“I’m hearing exactly what I need to hear. You don’t think I can cut it, fine. Then what are we doing here? Why are we even doing this?”
“Because I’m trying to help you? Because I care about you? Because I’m trying to make it easier on you?”
“I can make this a hell of a lot easier, Elle.”
Lachlan didn’t look at me. He slammed the door and left me in a dark, frustrating silence. I whispered after him, wondering just how much I’d lost in those heartbreaking seconds.
“I’m doing this because I love you.”
22
Lachlan
The door slammed behind me.
And I knew I fucked up. I was getting pretty good at it.
Three times now I’d nearly ruined my life.
The first was when Victoria and I decided we didn’t need to use a condom. I screwed up again when I let Mom adopt Sebastian instead of taking responsibility for him myself.
And tonight, like a jackass, I’d yelled at Elle. I blamed the woman I loved for my life turning to shit.
That was a rookie mistake.
Elle was right. About everything. I needed help. Hers. Jack’s. The team’s.
That was the reason she kept secrets from me. Not that she didn’t trust me, but because I was jammed too far up my own ass to think of anything but my own pride.
It had to change.
I’d made a promise to my family that I’d provide for them. I’d do everything in my power to protect that promise…but did that include lying, stealing?
Cheating?
What the hell was I going to do?
I pulled into my driveway. A red Kia parked in front of my garage.
Son of a bitch. I knew who owned it. Of course she’d come to my house.
Victoria waited for me on the porch, kicked back on a patio chair.
“You’re out late,” she said.
I kept my voice low. “What are you doing here?”
“Can I come in?”
“You can get off my property.”
Victoria frowned, twisting a dark curl in her fingers. She handed me a manila envelope.
“I think you know what’s inside that,” she said.
“Guessing it isn’t sunshine and rainbows.”
“It’s a lawsuit—”
I ripped the envelope in half and tossed the pieces on the porch. “Drop it.”
“Not until I have my son.”
“He’s not your son.”
Victoria thought she could argue with me. “Only because you won’t let me be a part of his life.”
“You chose not to be a part of his life.”
“I was young and foolish,” she said.
Like it made any damn difference. “But now you’re older and broke.”
“I’m going to fight until I get rights to my son.”
“You want to see your son?” I was done playing. “Fine. Follow me.”
Victoria smiled like she’d won some great victory just stepping into my house. She