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I scoff, biting back a comment. Amicably, my ass. He proposed to her on Valentine’s Day because his dad threatened to cut him off if he didn’t. But hey, it’s not my business. And I really don’t give a shit.

“Anyway,” Logan continues, hoisting his bag into the room, “Huck says everyone’s waiting in the lobby. We should probably head down.”

“Yeah,” I mutter, already heading for the elevator. “Before your ex-girlfriend makes good on her threat.”

As the elevator doors slide shut, Devon pulls a joint from his pocket and presses it to my lips.

“You’re not supposed to smoke in here,” Logan points out, eyeing the joint like it’s radioactive.

“You think we give a shit?” I mumble, taking a puff before handing it back to Dev.

Logan frowns. “What the hell is your problem?”

My problem presents itself when the elevator doors open, revealing the ornate lobby.

Salem catches my vision first, being physically held back by Taylor, who stands between her and his stepbrother-turned-boyfriend, Huckslee, while Christian plays mediator. Typical because Salem and Huck can’t be in the same room without drama.

But watching it all with an amused grin is… Matty.

Big as ever, his t-shirt clings to his broad chest, and he’s sporting a freshly trimmed beard. It sets me on edge. He never liked hair on his face.

Those baby blues lock onto me for a split second, and his smile widens into something crooked and familiar, just like it used to.

Then it fades. Reality crashes between us like a goddamn anvil.

Thirteen months. That’s how long it’s been since Matty stood before me, tears in his eyes, trying to explain why he had to return to her. Why he was choosing the life he thought Hannah needed over the one we’d built together.

“She’s her mother, Xed. I can’t take that from her.”

As if he hadn’t already taken everything from me.

We’ve texted here and there, mostly about his daughter, Hannah. I video call her regularly because cutting her out of my life was never an option. She’s my heart and soul, that girl. I held her the day she came home from the NICU—not Valerie.

I can’t even think her name without wanting to puke.

She’s standing next to him in Louboutin heels, smacking her big fake lips like we’re all wasting her time. Until last year, she never wanted anything to do with him or Hannah, spending all her time high out of her mind.

She’d been so strung out on meth the day her daughter came into this world that Hannah had been born prematurely. And who had been there for Matty through it all, holding him while he sobbed at his newborn’s bedside?

Me.

Not that it matters. Not that I matter. He made that clear the day he decided that Hannah needed a mother and father who hate each other instead of two dads in love.

What a fucking joke.

“Salem, it’s not a big deal,” Taylor grumbles, a white streak running through his shaggy black hair that honestly reminds me of a skunk. “You won’t even be staying in the same room. Stop being dramatic.”

“I’ll show you dramatic!”

Ignoring them, I slap Huck on the shoulder with an up nod. “Good to see you, man. How’s Baltimore?”

Huck went to high school with us and got drafted by the Ravens last year.

“Not bad,” he says, blowing a golden curl out of his face. “What’s Dev doing here?”

“Emotional support,” Devon answers breezily, extending a hand to Matty. “Hi, I’m Devon. Logan’s uncle.”

Matty shakes his hand, glancing at me briefly. “Matthew. This is my fiancée, Val, and her friends. And my teammate, Tyson.”