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Ryan pulled the SUV up in front of their house and he leaped out before the car was even in park. He raced up the stairs, tossed his bag in the corner of his room, and pulled up the FaceTime app. As the phone rang, he dropped onto the mattress.
Kia’s face popped on the screen. His chest tightened. It broke him to see this strong woman so visibly shaken.
“Key,” he groaned. What he wouldn’t give to be there with her. To wrap her in his arms.
“Hey.” She smiled sadly back at him. “You read them?”
“Yeah. Fucking Austin,” he growled.
Her eyes flared with anger. “I can’t believe he would do that to me.” Her eyes welled with unshed tears. “I knew he was pissed we broke up, but I thought that was just him being all butt-hurt because he got dumped. I never dreamed he’d go to the media with some bullshit story about us.” She looked up at the ceiling and blinked rapidly, like she was trying to keep the tears from falling. “I never thought this would happen.”
“It’s not your fault. If I hadn’t been an asshole about you and Brandon there wouldn’t have been any pictures for them to run with.”
“What are we going to do?” she whispered.
“We’re not going to do anything. We just go about our business as usual and ignore this bullshit.”
“Ignore it? How the hell am I supposed to ignore it when people say shit like that about me? People at Max’s school were already talking trash about me. This is just going to make it so much worse.”
“I know it’s hard, but it’ll blow over. I saw the shit the trolls were saying about me too. How I’m a deadbeat. How I’m not willing to step up and look after my son, so you had to go elsewhere. We both know it’s all bullshit. Ignore it. If we don’t feed it, they’ll get hungry for something else. They always do.”
“What am I supposed to say to Max?”
He dragged his hand through his hair. “Tell him the truth. We’re a family and nothing is going to change that.”
“You make it sound so easy.”
“It’s as easy or complicated as we want it to be.” He ached to wrap his arms around her and absorb some of this pain she was feeling. He was used to this shit. People always talked trash about players online. Some people were kind, but more often than not people were dicks just because they could be. He’d learned long ago not to pay attention to any of it. He was willing to talk about the game, and that was it. Not who designed the suit he was wearing, who his date was, none of it. Baseball and nothing else.
“Tell that to my parents.” The tears she’d been trying to hold at bay slipped down her cheek.
“Baby,” he groaned. “Don’t cry.”
She looked right into the camera. The pain in her eyes was visceral. He could feel it through the screen. And it hurt. “What did they say?” he growled.
She sniffed. “The usual. I’m a whore. I’m a shitty mom.” She rubbed her nose with her hand. “How ashamed they are of me. They’re embarrassed I’m their daughter. I’m going to hell.” Her eyes welled again, and she pursed her lips to hold them at bay. “You know the usual.”
“Oh baby, I’m so sorry.” What was wrong with her parents? How could they say that to her?
“I’m used to it.” Kia shrugged. “It just—”
“It still hurts.”
“Yeah,” she whispered. She angrily rubbed a tear that slid down her cheek. “I wish it didn’t.” She looked up at the ceiling again. “Gah, why did I answer the phone when they called? I know better.”
What was he supposed to say? He couldn’t imagine having his parents act like that. Hell, he was a grown-ass man and when things were bad, his first instinct was to pick up the phone and call his parents. Kia didn’t have that. What she had with her parents was the exact opposite. “I wish I was there with you.” His heart broke watching her hurting like this and knowing there wasn’t a damn thing he could do to help her.
“Me too.” She gave him a tight smile.
“Are we good?” He held his breath as he waited for her to answer.
“Yeah, I think so. I freaked out. It’s probably a good thing you couldn’t return my call till now.” She gave him a tight smile and exhaled. “But you’re right, this will blow over. I mean, hell, we aren’t that interesting. I’m sure some rockstar somewhere will do something stupid and they’ll move on.”
“Exactly.”
“This is a lot harder than I thought it was going to be,” she admitted.
“What part?”
