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“It’s more than you can say, though. Isn’t it? You wouldn’t leave him to keep either of us safe.” Tears well instantly in her eyes. Maybe I should feel bad, but I’m done sparing her feelings. “You either leave him together, or I hire an attorney and fight like hell for her. He doesn’t lay a single finger on her ever again. Do you understand me?”
“I don’t know if I can leave, Zan,” she says through soft sobs. This is always what she says. Sometimes she’ll add that she still loves him, sometimes it’s because the church would frown upon a divorce. Other times, it’s the adage of what people would think.
She should be more concerned about what her children think. Or what her community thinks of her being a punching bag and how she allows that to transfer over to her daughter. I love my mother, but she makes it hard to respect her.
“Then don’t.” I give a shrug, pretending I don’t care. It’s a lie. I want her safe and away from him, too. That decision is solely hers to make, however. “Stay in the hellscape you’ve made together. But don’t damn her to it.”
When I find Callie, she’s surrounded by a handful of other players, all of them signing her jersey.
“Everything okay,” Cillian asks me.
“No. I need to find a way to gain custody of her. Soon.”
“I can email my attorney tonight, have him get in touch with you tomorrow.”
“You don’t have to do that,” I protest.
“I saw the bruise, so I’ll have to disagree with you on that one.”
“Thank you, Cillian. I owe you one.”
“You sure as fuck do not. Isla loves you like family, that means she”—he points to Callie—“is family too.”
“Isla isn’t too happy with me just now.” She had a lot of questions for me after the gala. I tried explaining but she doesn’t agree with how I’ve handled it all.
“She isn’t, but I trust you’ll fix that when we get home,” he agrees. “Regardless of that, she’d still want to help you. And so do I. We take care of family. Whatever you need, Zander. Understand?”
Nodding at him, I try to hide my emotions. It means more than maybe he knows. Growing up with a large family means nothing when they don’t support you. Acceptance is what Isla has always offered. I guess it’s true when people talk about ‘found family’. What does it say that Cillian will do whatever he can for Callie, a stranger, when my mother will do next to nothing?
I rub my temples, pressure growing so quickly, it’s bound to be a migraine before I make it out of the arena and back to the hotel. As soon as Callie has all the signatures she can get, she hops back into my arms.
“You’re the coolest brother ever,” she says.
“And you’re the most important person in my life,” I tell her. “Keep your head down as much as you can. I’m trying to get you out of there.”
“Okay,” she says, but she sounds defeated. She doesn’t believe I can do anything.
I aim to prove her very wrong.
“Everything okay,” I ask through the screen of my phone.
We’re on the longest road trip of the season and the only thing helping me keep my shit together are video chats with Willa and Damian. Our schedules have all made that more difficult than I like. Tonight is the first time I’ve gotten them both in the same place.
Only they are both acting weird.
Neither answers me.
“What happened? You both went to the capitol today, right?” Damian got in touch with one of the state representatives to talk to them about the legal age of marriage. He was taking Willa to meet them. “Did it go okay?”
“It went great,” Damian says, a smirk playing on his lips. Willa sighs and looks down at her lap.
“Willa?”
“We had sex,” she blurts. “It’s my fault, probably. But he looked really good in his suit, like really good, and he was so eloquent in the meeting. It was all I could do to keep it together until we got back here. It turned me on in the same way it does when you get into a fight on the ice. But, anyway, I’m sorry.”
Her outburst stuns me into silence for a few seconds.
“Sorry for what, exactly,” I question, trying to keep from laughing. Her eyes snap to mine.
