AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I could ask you the same thing. I thought you wanted to have lunch with me! Instead, you spring an interview I’m not prepared for on me and you get that couple’s hopes up about a nanny when I’m not even going to do the job!” I glare at her, tears threatening to prick my eyes.
“I don’t recognize you, Olivia,” she says, shaking her head in dismay. “Before, you stood your ground with him. You left when things were dark and dicey?—”
“You didn’t even dislike him before. You encouraged me to follow my heart!”
“That was before he revealed himself to be a liar! I’m sorry, sweetheart, but you’re keeping yourself in a situation where he has power to keep lying to you, using you. How long is it going to be before you’re back together with him?”
Anger flares hot inside me, so intense I feel it on my face. “You think I’m that stupid?”
“I know what it’s like to feel something for someone so deeply that I overlook their flaws at the expense of myself,” she snaps. “And I don’t want that for my daughter. Not when I raised her better. To be stronger.”
“So I’m weak then?”
At that, Mom takes a step back. “That’s not what I’m saying?—”
“Maybe not verbatim, but the words are loud and clear anyway. Now, if you’re done humiliating me in front of strangers, I have to get Violet home.”
Mom doesn’t protest as I get Violet buckled into her car seat. What I wouldn’t give to be a baby, completely oblivious to the comings and goings on around me.
I give my mother one last look, full of hurt and irritation and a hint of betrayal that she would think of me in such a way. Aren’t I standing my ground by sticking to what I want? What I’ve committed to? Aren’t I strong for staying in the place that’s caused me pain?
Not according to her.
According to her, I’m weak.
And it fucking hurts.
10
REESE
Practice never stops, even if the season does. After the blowout at playoffs ending last season early, summer break for the Bulls was canceled. We keep on grinding, keep on going. I’m thankful for it—I’d be going stark fucking crazy if I had nothing to do until the next season kicks back into gear.
Going crazy for other reasons isn’t off the table, though.
All through practice, I can’t get my mind off Olivia. It burns me hard that she forgave Quinn so easily for their night out and leaving her alone to get creeped on by some fucked-up asshole. Meanwhile, she still won’t even talk to me.
I’d hoped that, after a day out with Violet, Olivia would come to me, ready and willing to hear my side of the story.
I’ve never been more wrong.
I force all those feelings into practice. I imagine the opposing team in our mock scrimmage as all the bullshit that I’m dealing with right now. Is it the healthiest thing? Probably not. But there’s something to be said about sports helping you through the worst of times.
Every sunk goal, every recapture of the puck, each and every whoop from my teammates for plays perfectly executed without fail—it makes me feel like, if I can do that shit, I can make Olivia see that I’m not the man that she thinks I am.
That I’m worthy of the same second chance that Quinn gets.
Practice winds down and I move in the mass with my teammates to the lockers. Surprisingly, everyone’s in higher spirits these days. Despite the huge letdown in the postseason, the thing that has the boys happy is ironically the thing that’s giving me so much damn grief these days.
“Hey, when you bringing the little lady around?” An arm drapes over my shoulder. Philip, the second-string goalie, gives me a huge grin. “After all that big talk about her, you won’t let her come hang. You afraid one of us is gonna steal her from you?”
I roll my eyes and shove Philip off me. “You got no chance in hell with her. But maybe if you got a BBQ to go to, I’ll bring her around.”
Philip grins. “Bet.”
Now, I’ve just gotta get Olivia to like me enough again to agree to go. But relationship drama ain’t for the locker room. Least of all relationship drama where I have a fake ass baby mama lurking in the wings to ruin my life.
“Pathetic.” Bastian brushes past me, his shoulder knocking against mine. I narrow my eyes at him as he smirks at me. “Who’d have thought—Reese Dalton being led around by the dick by some chick?”
