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If I hadn’t grown up watching my dad look at my mom that way, I might not have noticed. Nah, that’s not true either. I recognized it when Cameron looked at Paisley, and I was just a kid then. I know he loves her.
“Don’t make me regret this,” I tell him.
“We’ll name our firstborn after you,” he offers.
I throw my head back in laughter. “Let’s start with her forgiving you before you talk about knocking her up,” I advise.
“I’ll win her back, Peyton. There is no other option. She owns every piece of me.”
“I’ll text you the hotel and the room number.”
“Thanks, little sister. I won’t forget this,” he says, ending the call.
“What’s going on?” Karina asks.
“That was Holden. He was looking for Parker. I guess they had a spat.” I love my best friend and roommate, but this is personal, and growing up, you never know who’s listening or watching. Case in point is the mess Holden is currently in. “I’ll tell you in the room.” Better safe than sorry.
Grabbing our things, we head to the room so I can fill her in and I can check on my sister.
CHAPTER 28
Holden
I knock softly on the door, which goes against my every instinct. I want to pound it off the fucking hinges. Whatever it takes to get to her. I have to talk to her, and if she thinks it’s me at the door, I know I’ll be standing out here in this hallway all night long. The fucked-up part is that I would do it.
For her.
The door opens, and there she stands. Her hair is piled in a knot on top of her head. Her face is red and blotchy, and there are fresh tears in her eyes. “Baby.” My voice cracks. I reach for her, but she backs away. “P-Please, can I come in?”
Autumn appears next to her. “I’m going to go take a walk. You two should talk.” Autumn gives me a warning glare, but something tells me that she might be on my side.
“Thank you,” I tell her. She nods and pats my shoulder, and that gives me hope.
Parker steps back and allows me to walk into the room, closing the door behind me. “P-Parker.” I swallow hard. “Please, can I explain?”
She gives me a small nod.
“Never. You were never a bet to me. The guys tried to make it a bet when they knew I wanted you. I told them that you deserved better than that, and you do.”
“That’s not what I heard.”
“I know.” I pace across her room, pulling my hat off my head and running my fingers through my hair. “The guy behind us, Rogers, he was eavesdropping, and he only recorded a part of the conversation. He wasn’t even in on it. I had no idea he even recorded it until today.”
“You played me, Holden. I gave you all of me, and in return, you played me.” Her voice cracks, and so does my heart.
So many emotions are rolling through me. I’m frustrated because I want to just shake her to make her understand that she’s the love of my life. I didn’t bet on her, but I should have bet on us.
I’m pissed off at Rogers for recording our conversation, one that he wasn’t a part of. If I lose her over this, teammate or not, I’m kicking his ass. Career be damned.
I’m so in love with her. She’s all that I can see. Nothing matters to me but making her see what she means to me. I’d walk away from it all if it meant she would always be mine.
“You played me,” she says again, dropping down to sit on the bed. Tears are still coating her cheeks, and it cracks my soul wide open. “I heard what you said.”
“Dammit, Parker. Yes, that was me on that recording. I said those things, but you have to know that this is different. What we have is beyond the play. It might have started with the play and the thrill of the chase, but baby, I’m not playing. Not with you.”
She closes her eyes as her tears continue to fall, and I feel her slipping away from me. Short of calling the guys, I don’t know what I can do or say to make her understand, so that’s what I do. Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I dial Wade.
“Hey, man, it’s Holden. I’m going to text you a room number. I need you, Tucker, and Sonny to come here. And if you can track down the pencil dick Rogers, he needs to be here too.”
“Done,” he says, ending the call, and I shoot him off a quick text.
“What did you do?” she asks.
“The guys who I was talking to that day, they’re going to come here and tell you what happened. They can tell you what I said.”
