His passion has always been to start up a place that specializes in motorcycle repair and restoration. He wants this. Iknowhe does, because he’s talked about it for years, never given up on the idea.
And now he can actually do it!
I give him an excited grin, squeezing his hand and mystified by why he’s not more excited about this.
Thanks to his dad, he can finally pursue his dream.
“Carson?” I give his hand a shake, trying to catch his eye, but he’s just staring at the floor, his cheeks draining of color.
I glance at Bree for backup, and she cringes at me before rubbing her hand across his shoulder. “Wow. Opening up your own business… a garage at that…” She grins. “That would be such a special way to honor your dad. He always was a motorhead.”
With an awkward little shuffle, I inch my chair closer to Carson’s and curl my free hand around his wrist.
“This is going to be so amazing.”
Finally looking up at me from the floor, his blue eyes blaze bright with trepidation, and my heart turns into a puddle of melted ice cream.
This man, always so unsure of how capable he is.
“You can do it, baby. You can do anything.” I lean forward and kiss him, hoping he’ll feel just how much I mean it.
CHAPTER 4
WILY
Well, I clearly can’t do anything anymore.
I can no longer chase my passion, live for the thing I thought I was born to do.
Staring down at my pale white leg, made gnarly with the latest scars from my last operation, I let out a heavy sigh.
I’m hiding in the bathroom. Taking my sweet time to lock myself away and lament this loss once again.
When I was a kid, I believed with every fiber of my being that football would be my life. It was what I was made for. But my professional career has been plagued by one injury after another, and that final blow last season… yeah, that did me in.
I’m out.
Rubbing my thumb over the red line running around my kneecap, I lean back against the toilet and stare at the glass door of the shower. I thought I might be able to bounce back from this one, but then the wound got infected and I ended up in the hospital with sepsis. Yep. Nearly died.
Satch was worried sick, basically nine months pregnant with four other kids to look after, and I was holed up in a sterile ward, begging the drugs to kick in and save me.
They did, and I was checked out five days before Satch had Paris. I’m so fucking glad I didn’t miss the birth. The thought of Satch facing that alone kills me.
Thank God I survived.
It’s been a slow trek back to full health, and I’m incredibly grateful for my parents and Satch’s parents. They stepped up big-time. Her parents even moved in for a few weeks after Paris was born to help take care of everyone.
Thankfully, I’ve got the world’s most awesome children. Everyone stepped up, and we got through. Dominic and Jane are only nine and seven, but they acted like young adults, taking responsibility for their younger siblings and waiting on Satch and me like the world’s best host and hostess.
God, I love those kids so much, and I’m so grateful to be back to full health again.
Paris is now ten weeks old, and the only cloud hanging over me now is… what the fuck am I supposed to do with myself?
I won’t be gearing up with the rest of the team when the new season kicks in.
I’m a free man.
A lost man.
