Chapter Thirty-Nine #2
I shake my head and think about my captain and Coach Morgan. Jack doesn’t share a shred of DNA with his stepdad, yet they are essentially the same person. I know next to nothing about Jack’s father, but I do know he’s alive, and he never comes to his son’s games.
If I had a son, I’d be all over his career. Involved in every aspect of his life.
I’d want to be like Sawyer.
“I used to believe that,” I reply, lifting my head to look at him. “Not so much now.”
He looks like he’s fighting with his temper, and I maintain my silence and eye contact with him. It’s easier if he shows his true colors now rather than in ten minutes when I eventually ask him to leave.
Alex Schneider has nothing for me. Nothing good anyway. He’s here because he feels sorry for himself. Maybe the health story is true, and he has had a wake-up call. I don’t much care. He didn’t care when he treated me like a piece of shit that he just stepped in on the sidewalk.
Rage builds inside me, turning my knuckles white as I dig my fingernails into the soft flesh on my palms.
I want to cut him down and stick the knife in a little deeper when I’m done.
“All right …” Alex cracks his jaw. “Since you don’t care for small talk or anything nice I have to say, I might as well take the direct approach.”
I remain silent, fighting internal trembles as they vibrate through my bones. I’ve no clue what’s going to leave his mouth next, but I’m pretty sure I won’t like it.
“I have medical bills I need to pay. My liver has been playing me up for a while now, and let’s just say, my insurance company wasn’t the most understanding when they learned about the lifestyle I’d been living the past ten years.”
Fuck.
“I ended up approaching some not-so-savory loan people to help me fund the medical care I needed, and you’ll be pleased to know that I’m living the good life and feeling a lot better.” He smiles like that’s the best news I’ve ever heard.
“Trouble is”—he winces, almost sarcastically—“now they want their money back, plus some pretty steep interest.”
I roll my eyes toward the ceiling. “And you haven’t got the money to pay them?”
“Bingo!” he declares, snapping his fingers.
He leans forward on his elbows, mimicking and mocking the way I did the same a couple of minutes earlier.
“So, tell me, son, is this place a rental, or do you own the deed? Because these loan sharks are really interested to know.” He leans back, satisfaction rolling from him.
“You play under the same name as me. They know you have money. They figure that you don’t want to see your old man back in the hospital. ”
My fists ball even tighter. Images of me putting him back in a hospital bed myself flash in my mind as the red mist descends.
There’s no way I’m paying off his debts, and he probably knows it. He’s just trying his luck at threatening me with the fear of filthy scum showing up at my door.
What Alex Schneider has failed to realize is, the scum’s already here. And he’s sitting right in front of me now.
Once bitten, twice shy.
I’m ready to launch. Anger burns in my muscles, coiling them for a strike.
No one threatens me. No one.
Especially not with my girl in the other room.
Jenna.
“Because people who live their life with a lack of compassion for others generally have little for themselves too. Living life without making mistakes is impossible and a one-way ticket to loneliness.”
The words she once said douse the flames burning through me. My fists are still coiled, adrenaline raging through every part of my body.
But it’s enough. Her sentiment is enough to remind me of the person I want to be for her. For us. For me. She needs to see the real Tommy, not the twisted-up one.
And that’s the type of person I want to be.
When I stand from the couch, Alex’s eyes track my movements. I can feel them burn into the back of my head as I make my way to the front door and calmly twist the handle.
Pulling the door open, I motion toward the hallway. “I’m sorry to hear of your health and financial issues, Alex. Hopefully, you can turn your luck around, but I’m not in a position to be able to help.”
He flies from the chair, snatching up his bag before he’s right in my face. I can smell the liquor on his breath.
“You can’t even help your old man out?” he sneers, looking down the length of my body. “The league says that you’re a rotten piece of shit, destined for the farm team, and now I see why! You’re no Schneider, and I’m ashamed that you wear my name.”
I just smile at him and flick my eyes to the open doorway. “Keep watching my games, Dad. Because next season, your name will be a distant memory. Last week, I put in a request to play under Williams.”
On a scoff, he stalks through the door, and still wearing the same smile, I calmly close it behind him.
“You’re going to play under Williams?”
I turn on my heel to see Jenna. Wrapped in a fluffy white towel, she looks at me with soft eyes, waiting for my reply.
I nod my head as I walk toward my girl, wrapping my arms around her waist when I reach her. “Yeah, Hellion, I did. I figured it was time for a change.”
Dampness coats her eyes, and I palm the back of her head, pressing a gentle kiss against her temple.
“I heard it all. Everything he said to you and everything you said to him. I’m so fucking proud of the way you handled that piece of trash.”
My heart races. “He won’t bother me again. I promise.”
“Us.”
I pull back at her single-worded response. “What?”
“Us,” she repeats with a bright smile. “He won’t bother us again.
” She wraps her arms around my waist as I tower over her.
“I’d already decided this in the shower, but now I’m a thousand percent sure of it.
I want to take the next step with you. And I want us to tell my brother together.
It’s time to build some bridges, Tommy.”