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This woman got me. I wouldn’t take the test without him, and I didn’t want to be alone. Lighting my dorm on fire may have been the best thing to ever happen to me. As much as I’d dreaded transferring to TU, I’d found the connections I’d always craved in the last place I’d expected.
* * *
I watchedMicah out of the corner of my eye as Chloe and Eva retreated into their apartment. Craig had spent the last fifteen years convincing me my father was dangerous, and I wouldn’t take a chance with Chloe, especially now.
As soon as the door closed, I faced him. “Say what you have to say.”
He spread his hands. “Is that any way to greet your dad?”
I couldn’t call him dad. I just couldn’t. The man I’d known as dad disappeared a long time ago.
“I wouldn’t know, Micah,” I said, crossing my arms.
The way Craig described him, I expected Micah to want something from me, but Craig’s information wasn’t exactly unbiased. I waited for my father to say something, but all he did was stare at me.
Was this some kind of intimidation thing? Joke’s on him. I lived most days in my head. Silence didn’t bother me.
“You played well yesterday,” he finally ground out.
I drew back with a frown. “You came to the game?”
“Yeah. You had a good block in the third quarter. That Mac kid is fast.”
“Don’t let him hear you say that,” I muttered. “His ego’s already big enough.”
Micah chuckled, and his shoulders relaxed a little. “The girl is faster. RJ.” He looked away and ran his hand through his hair. “Look, I was hoping we could talk, without Craig as an intermediary.”
I wasn’t against the idea considering the amount of questions I had about our past now, but Chloe was waiting for me to take a damn pregnancy test.
“We can talk, but now’s not really—”
As if we’d summoned him, Craig came striding up the walkway wearing a polo shirt and khakis, with a curl of disdain on his lips. “Micah. I should have realized you’d run straight here.”
Micah’s body language changed from nervous hope to lazy contempt. “Yeah, calling me was probably a poor decision. Your first mistake was assuming you had any control over my actions.”
“That’s rich coming from someone who does nothing but make mistakes. How does it feel to knowyourpoor decisions cost you a son?” Craig’s dart hit its target, and Micah flinched. I’d heard the refrain enough it no longer affected me.
“I trusted you with Noah, and you turned him against me,” Micah fired back.
I stepped between the two of them before someone threw a punch. “What are you doing here, Craig?”
His lips pinched together at my use of his first name without the uncle title, but he didn’t comment on it. “I stayed an extra day after the conference to attend your game. After our last meeting, I thought it prudent to see for myself the kind of life you’ve been leading.”
There was a time when I would have given anything for Craig to come to one of my games—to care at all about me without using it as a chance to malign his brother. All of a sudden it hit me, Craig was jealous of Micah. My affluent doctor uncle was jealous of my ex-con father, maybe always had been. The realization didn’t change anything.
“You’re not welcome here,” I told him. “Not after what you said about Chloe.”
Craig scowled at Micah and edged closer to me. “I stand by my point, and you need to come to your senses before you’re faced with dire consequences.”
“You mean like you using your influence to fuck with my classes unless I declare for the draft?”
His brow furrowed. “I admit, playing in the NFL would be quite the accomplishment, but I wouldn’t do anything to interfere with your education. I was referring to letting those around you drag you down into their problems.”
“As you can see, I haven’t been dragged anywhere. You need to leave now.”
Craig threw a hand toward Micah. “I’m not leaving unless he does.”
My ire started to rise at Craig’s insistence on ignoring me. “He’s here at my request. You’re not.”
