Hendrix - Kelsey Clayton Page 0,9
sports on TV.”
I chuckle half-heartedly because I know she's probably right. His playboy antics have been all over the media the past six years. They stung at first, but over time they've become easier to ignore.
“Yeah,” I sigh. “I'm sure I'm just freaking out over nothing.”
A COUPLE DAYS LATER, I'm cleaning up the mess from a blanket fort when there's a knock at the door. I roll my eyes and get up to answer it.
“Maddie, I gave you a key for a reason. You don't have to—”
The words are sucked right from my lungs, along with my breath, when I find none other than Colby Hendrix standing at my door—looking every bit like the Greek god I always remembered.
4
COLBY
Saige's eyes widen, giving away that I'm the last person she expected. Her mouth opens and closes like a fish out of water. I take the few moments she needs to get a handle of herself to look her over. She looks beautiful, as always. Her hair is a little shorter than it used to be, and she looks more grown up than the nineteen-year-old I left behind, but she's just as gorgeous as she was back then—if not more.
“I know this is weird, me just showing up here.”
She crosses her arms over her chest. “Weird is an understatement.”
I nod and rub the back of my neck. “Do you have a minute to talk?”
It looks like she wants to turn me down. To tell me to fuck myself and slam the door in my face. And honestly, I'd deserve it. But instead, she steps back and gestures for me to come inside.
The house of Topher James is nothing like I thought it would be. I always pictured a statue of himself in the middle of the foyer and self-portraits covering all the walls. It's a lot homier, though I don't think the credit for that goes to him. Saige always did have a knack for decorating.
“How've you been? You know, since...”
She snorts, leading me through the house and into the living room. “You mean since you broke up with me through a small paragraph?”
I swallow thickly. “Yeah.”
“I've been great.” She bends over to pick up a few things off the floor, and it takes everything in me not to stare at her ass. “You really did me a favor back then, you know. It would have sucked to spend even more time with someone who always had one foot out the door.”
“Oh, come on. That's not fair.”
She pins me with a look. “Isn't it though?”
The two of us stand here, with so much tension in the room it's hard to breathe. The time we spent together wasn't without arguments, but we never felt uncomfortable. Not like now. Not like this.
Finally, she gives in and sits down. “I'd offer you something to drink, but I don't want you to stay any longer than necessary.”
“Noted,” I respond, sitting across from her.
My eyes scan the room until they land on a picture on the end table. It's of Saige from years ago, holding a tiny little infant in her arms. Madelyn is off to the side, smiling brightly at her best friend, but Saige doesn't take her sights off the little girl wrapped in pink.
Saige's breath hitches as I take the picture into my hands, and my chest tightens. My eyes water, and a stray tear slips out. I look up at the only girl I've ever really given a part of myself to, and the answer to my question is on her face before I even ask it. Still, I need to hear it for myself.
“Please,” I beg. “Please tell me I didn't miss out on the first five years of my daughter’s life.”
She stays completely still, not saying anything at all. I'm not even sure she's breathing. She's just staring back at me, with nothing but fear and heartache written all over her. My grip on the frame tightens.
“Saige,” I say a little more sternly. “Who is her dad?”
Her throat bobs with a heavy swallow. “Y-you are.”
The truth hits me like a ton of bricks. Not only do I have a kid, but I have a five-year-old daughter who doesn't know me. I've never gotten to hold her in my arms. To sing her to sleep. To watch her take her first steps.
“How? How could you keep this from me?”
Saige is instantly ripped from the emotional daze she was in, and her eyes narrow on me. “Excuse me?”
I put the picture back in