Page 112 of Fearlessly Us

He gets nothing. Not now. Not ever.

“Actually, while the stadium is technically public and owned by Hillsborough County, it’s only accessible either by having tickets to a game or an event or by booking a tour in advance. The game is long over, and I’m assuming you don’t have a ticket for a private tour, which means you’ve overstayed your welcome. I’d use some fancy legal terms, but why bother when get the fuck out does the job just fine?”

Drew’s dad looks bewildered, like I confused him with all the words, which was exactly the point. “What are you, lawyer bitch Barbie or something? Just give me what⁠—”

“Oh fuck no.” Drew’s hand flexes, and out of the corner of my eye I feel him stand up to his full height, his gaze snapping straight to his dad’s. Giving my hand a squeeze as if to say I’ve got this, he takes a step forward but keeps his hand securely in mine. “Her name is Caitlin,” Drew practically growls. “She’s brilliant and beautiful and the love of my goddamn life, so you’ll speak to her with respect or not at all.”

“Hot,” Emmy mumbles behind me. “Scorching fucking hot.”

Drew’s dad lets out another one of those angry laughs. “You’re good and whipped, aren’t you? Defending the girl like she walks on fucking water or something when she’s probably just a distraction from the football career that’s got you living the high life. I raised you better than that.”

My entire body is primed to fight. To defend. To step in and show this bag of dicks exactly what happens when you fuck with a member of my family and then concoct a plan to make sure he never bothers Drew ever again. This is a problem to solve, and I am the greatest problem solver of all.

Except I don’t do any of those things because I know in my bones that isn’t what Drew needs. Drew doesn’t need me to fix this or protect him or make this problem go away. He needs me to love him and support him and make sure he knows that here is where I’ll always be. To stand with him while he stands up for himself and for the boy who was too young and too afraid to do that all those years ago.

So this time I give his hand a squeeze and stay exactly where I am.

Drew laughs, but there’s no humor in it. “You didn’t raise me at all. You could have. You should have. I was a grieving eight-year-old who needed the only parent I had left, but instead you lost yourself in a bottle and only came to find me when you needed to hit someone to make yourself feel like the bigger man. I was alone, Dad. I was all alone, and you didn’t fucking care. I got myself to school and did my homework because, until I found football, I thought being smart would be my only way out. I learned how to cook and bake because it was my only connection to my mom when you wouldn’t share your memories with me. And when I started football, I didn’t succeed because of you. I did it in spite of you. In spite of the way you told me I was a lazy good-for-nothing player who would never amount to anything. In spite of the way you liked to use your fists to remind me about every pass I dropped in every high school game I ever played. In spite of the way you told me I should have been glad mom was dead so she didn’t have to witness her son being such an embarrassment of a player and in spite of the way it’s your voice I’ve heard in my head every single fucking time I step onto a football field. The one telling me I’d never be good enough, smart enough, strong enough. Because of you, I spent years holding everyone who matters to me at a distance, primed to leave them before they could leave me the way you did when I was far too young to be left alone. Because of you, I’ve played this game far longer than I wanted to—bled and sweat and ached because I thought leaving it meant I was a failure. And because of you, I almost didn’t…” Drew trails off and swallows hard, roughing his free hand over his face and tightening his grip on my hand so hard it aches.

“Because of you, I almost missed my chance with Caitlin. She’s the love of my life. My whole damn world, and I almost wasn’t brave enough to try because my own dad made me feel like I wasn’t worth the trouble, so why would anyone else want me when you never did?”

Drew sucks in a breath, stunned look on his face like he can’t believe all those words came out of him. And this time, when he stands up straight, it’s not to bear a burden, but because of a burden lifted. “But I am worth the trouble. She helped me see that.” Drew turned to me, eyes intense and full of love, and he’s talking to his dad but he doesn’t move his gaze from me. “She gave me love and hope and a home and a future I never thought I would get to have. Family and friends and the most beautiful life I ever could have imagined.”

I blink fast, trying to keep it together when Drew turns back to his dad. “A life that you’re not a part of. Not today and not ever. You’ve taken enough from me. You don’t get anything else. So like my girl said, get the fuck out, and don’t ever come back.”

His dad looks surprised, but then surprise turns to anger. “Who’s gonna make me?”

“We are,” Cam, Tyler, Jack, and Oliver all say in unison, crowding in on Drew’s other side. Cam lays a hand on Drew’s shoulder, looking directly at Drew’s dad. “No one fucks with our brother and lives to tell the tale, so I would suggest you do what he said and get the fuck out.”

“And don’t come back. Ever.” I would laugh at the growl that is so unlike Jack if I didn’t see it for exactly what it is. The Parker men are the most affable, good-natured of men until someone fucks with one of their own. Drew is theirs now and my love for my sweet, protective brother threatens to take me under.

“He has a family he made all on his own. He doesn’t need you.” Avery pushes forward and stands right in front of Drew, glaring at his dad in the way only a fearless almost eighteen-year-old can, and Sophie, Maddy, Maya, Emmy, and Sarah crowd in closer behind us. When I see Drew’s lips curve up into a smile, everything inside of me lights up because Drew should always be smiling.

“Damn right he does.” My dad is next to speak, and I see my parents slide in on my other side, my grandma flanking them. He gives Drew’s dad the signature Ben Parker I’m disappointed in you look, and it’s more effective than any raised voice or harsh words could ever be. “I don’t know you, but I know for sure you don’t deserve a son like Drew. Your loss is our greatest gain, because he’s ours now. And not just because he loves my daughter, but because he’s a good man with a soft, kind heart. You tried to break it over and over again, but you never succeeded. You couldn’t, because of the man he is. But you can go now. We’ll be the ones to take care of that heart from now on. To make sure no one can try and break it ever again.”

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

DREW

When Ben is finished, he slides an arm around Caitlin’s shoulders, but he doesn’t stop there. He reaches past Caitlin and lays his hand on my back, the gesture saying We’ve got you more than words ever could. I inhale sharply, blinking fast against the tears that burn my eyes as I absorb the impact of having all these people stand with me. Brothers. Sisters. Parents.

I glance down at Caitlin, who’s already looking at me, and my entire world lives right in those stormy, determined eyes, the ones that say You’re mine and I’m yours. It seems incongruous that I can feel joy when, for the first time since I was eighteen, I’m breathing the same air as the man who took all my joy from me for years, but that’s exactly how I feel.

He loomed so large in my brain for so long, but over the past nine months, I’ve found something that looms larger. Something that replaces the fear with courage. The loneliness with belonging. The emptiness with the strongest, most abiding love. Actually, over the past eighteen years, I think, looking over at Cam, who still has his hand on my shoulder, seeing the man he is now and the eighteen-year-old he was then. The guy with the easy smile and infectious energy, who attached himself to me the second we met, said without words You belong to me now, and has never, ever wavered.

I’ve been building my own family since the day I left that house, I realize. The day I went out on my own and tried my hardest not to look back. It’s unconventional and beautiful and completely and totally mine, and at its core is Caitlin. The girl who is my heart and my soul, who has given me everything I ever wanted, a life I never thought could be mine. I slide my arm around her waist and she melts into me. Standing side by side like this, it feels like the entire world is within reach.

With Ben’s words playing over and over in my head, I turn to my dad, who’s staring, wordless, at all the people gathered around me. My people. “He’s right,” I say easily. Evenly. “You can go. You won’t be getting anything else from me. You can try, but the answer will be no every single time, so you might as well cut your losses and run.”

He scoffs, rolling his eyes and running a not-so-steady hand through his thinning gray hair. “Fine,” he mutters. “You were never worth the trouble anyway. Little shit.” With those final words, he turns and stumbles his way down the corridor, and my family is silent as we watch him go.

“Fucking asshole,” Caitlin mutters, and I snicker as she slides a protective arm around my waist, her head coming to rest lightly on my shoulder. “Good fucking riddance.” She turns to me, bringing her free hand to my cheek. “I fucking love you, Pretty Boy, and he’s an asshole. Are you okay? I’m sorry I didn’t get here sooner.”

“I’m so okay,” I murmur, resting my forehead on hers and feeling every ounce of truth in those words because she’s here and that means I’m perfect. “And you got here at exactly the right time. I love you so fucking much. Thank you for standing up for me. Standing with me. I couldn’t have done any of this without you.”

“I know,” she says with a cheeky grin that makes me laugh. “I really am quite something.” Then she tips her head forward and presses her lips to mine. “Standing with you is the only place I want to be. You’re my favorite person.”

“You’re my favorite everything,” I say, my eyes dropping closed and my entire world shrinking to this space where we stand. Caitlin and me, together. Always, always together.