CHAPTER 13 ALEXIS
Guilt burrows inside of me.
This wouldn’t have happened if he wasn’t trying to protect me. He can call it an accident all he wants, but it wouldn’t have happened if we didn’t go to my father’s house together today. It was an avoidable accident, but I guess that’s what accidents are by nature.
And now after the initial diagnosis, he’s not even going to get to participate in spring training. He might miss the first few games of the season.
It’s my fault.
“What can I do?” I ask as we wait for the medical assistant to bring us his pain meds. I’m still buried in his chest, but I’m totally at a loss right now. I have no idea what to do to make any of this better.
He shakes his head. “You’re doing it,” he says.
I hold on a little tighter. “Are you doing okay?”
“I’m okay. It hurts like a motherfucker, but I’ll live.”
“We need to get you back to Vegas so you can meet with the team doctors,” I say.
“Eventually. It’s the day after Christmas. Nothing changes if I let them have a little time off.”
“But you’ll have answers. A timeline,” I point out.
“The only timeline is living through it and letting it heal.” His voice is low, and I can’t tell how he feels about that.
I pray this doesn’t drive a wedge between us, but I’m already scared it will. How can he not blame me when it’s all I can think about?
The medical assistant comes back in with a pill bottle for Danny, and as she’s explaining how to take the medication, my phone dings with a text.
I pull it out of my purse and see it’s from Brooks.
Brooks: The paparazzi are swarming the urgent care and you two are all over the media. Hold tight while we figure out what to do.
My chest tightens.
This is it. We’re all over the media. It’s out there. There’s no turning back now.
I share his text with Danny once the assistant leaves the room after telling us we’re free to leave.
“What do you want to do?” he asks.
“Not listen to Brooks, that’s for sure.”
He chuckles. “Then let’s go. We’re pros at this by now, right?”
I nod, and we head out to the Yukon. I run to the driver’s side while he heads to the passenger door, and we both hear our names being called. They want to know why we’re here. They want to know what happened to Danny. They want to know what’s going on between us.
They want every single intimate detail of our lives, but it’s not theirs to have.
We ignore them as we get into the SUV, and I back carefully out of the spot—slowly so I don’t hit anyone, though they’re not exactly moving out of my way, and this is a freaking boat of a vehicle. Danny quietly navigates helpfully from the passenger seat, and I can tell he’s itching to just do it himself.
But he’s patient with me, and we make it onto the main road.
A line of cars follows us back to my dad’s house, and when we arrive, I pull onto the driveway right in front of the front door.
It’s not where we want to be right now, but it does offer a layer of protection.
I type the code into the keypad and let myself and Danny in through the front door. I’m not sure what we do next. Confront my father? Lay low for a few days?
Laying low here doesn’t seem optimal for us personally, but it’s probably our best course of action right now.
I just don’t want my father around Danny. I won’t want him poisoning the beauty we’ve created together. And I don’t want to be here.
“I told you to hold tight,” Brooks says. He’s exasperated as he walks into the foyer.
“And I don’t take orders from you, but thanks for the warning,” I say dryly. “We made it here just fine.”
He narrows his eyes at me, and he turns to walk away. He raises his voice down the hallway as he heads toward my father’s study. “Raymond, your daughter has returned.”
I roll my eyes, and then I follow in the direction he goes until I’m standing in the study.
“We need to make a statement,” Brooks says. “I’m fielding calls left and right about what’s going on.”
“Then…don’t pick up,” I say, my tone indicating how obvious that answer is.
“It’s my job to pick up,” Brooks says thickly, and for the very first time in history, I almost think I see a backbone in the guy. “They want answers, and frankly, they deserve some. We all do.”
“They deserve the truth.” I flatten my lips as my answer is off the cuff, but as I think it through, I stand by it.
The Bodegiac community is a passionate, rabid fanbase who follows my career but also my personal life with dedication. They will stand behind me one hundred percent.
That community didn’t come out of what my father built. It would be there regardless of whether Brooks was in my life.
They’re here for me, and I’ve let my father brainwash me for far too long into believing they’re only here for the brand.
I am my brand, and if they deserve some answers, then they deserve the truth.
“What part of the truth?” my father asks through gritted teeth.
“How about…all of it?” I say.
Danny stands by, silently observing our conversation.
I turn toward my father. “Aren’t you going to ask him about the injury you caused?”
He looks shocked by my accusation. “The injury I caused? Are you kidding me right now?”
“You attacked him, and he broke his wrist because of it. Who knows what this means for his career, for his livelihood. It’s bad enough you’re trying to ruin mine.”
“Oh, is that the tale he spun?” My dad shakes his head bitterly as his eyes flick to Danny. “I told you I’d ruin you. This is only the beginning.”
“Stop it,” I yell.
“Let’s put this on the back burner for now,” Brooks suggests, looking between my father and Danny, who’s still silent. “We need to issue a statement now before things get out of hand.”
“Then issue one,” I say to him.
“It needs to come from you,” he says.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t have the time right now. My husband has a broken wrist, so I need to care for him. Come on, Danny,” I say.
“Where are you going?” my dad asks.
“Anywhere but here,” I mutter.
“Stop,” he says, his voice forceful. “I will not let this come between us.”
I spin around and face him. “Are you kidding me? It’s far too late to be issuing those kinds of statements.”
“Then just…stay here. For the next few days. Until the media circus dies down. You’re safe here.”
“Danny stays with me,” I demand.
“Fine,” he hisses, glaring at Danny. Wow, he really hates him.
“And apart from any discussions about business, you both leave us alone,” I say, looking between Brooks and my dad.
“Fine,” Brooks says, but my dad doesn’t agree to it.
I raise both brows as I look at him.
“Fine,” he relents. He looks defeated as he blows out a sigh, and for just the briefest moment, I connect a dot that I hadn’t connected before.
He lost his wife, and all he’s done since is hold tightly to his daughter to ensure he wouldn’t lose her too.
It’s not possible. In a way, it’s delusional, really. She died after a long battle with an illness, but somehow, that translated to him taking control of my life—which was fine when I was a kid, and even when I was a teenager.
But he’s refused for my entire life to let me flourish and grow on my own. He knows everything. He has all the answers.
He doesn’t want me to learn any of them for myself.
And the harsh reality is that there’s only one way I’ll ever be able to escape it. I have to take control of my life. It may irreparably damage my relationship with my dad, but at least I’ll have my life back—the way I want to live it instead of the way I’m told to live it.
And I want to share it with Danny. The rest? Just details.
“On one condition,” my father adds.
“What?” I practically spit.
“You issue a statement now. One that Brooks and I draft,” he says, nodding at my would-be husband.
I shake my head. “No deal. If I issue a statement, it will be one that I draft.”
My father gives me a stern look, but we’re far beyond stern looks at this point.
I clear my throat and speak the words that are in my heart. “I don’t know what the future holds, but I do know that I can’t continue working with two men who only care about what benefits them most.”
“We have a contract,” my father says thickly.
“A contract that is twelve years old,” I protest. “I was sixteen when I signed that.”
“I spoke to a lawyer a few days ago,” Danny says.
I turn toward him with my jaw slackened. “You did?”
“My job as your husband is to protect you, so I reached out to a friend with some questions.” He shrugs, and he’s so…perfect. He’s my knight in freaking shining armor riding in on his horse to save the day when I’m least expecting it.
“What did he say?” I ask.
“I learned that coercing a teenager into signing a contract is not only unfair but also unconscionable. The terms of perpetuity that appear to be a significant part of the contract create a power imbalance, and you’ll be hard-pressed to find a court that would uphold your terms, particularly in the case of someone who’s as successful as your daughter is.”
“There was no coercion,” my dad says. “She signed it freely and willingly, and she was fine with it until she met you. What would the courts have to say about that?”
Danny faces off with my father. “What does your daughter have to say about that?” He shrugs, and he’s so casual, so collected, as he confronts the man who broke his wrist earlier today. God, I love him. “I’ll be honest, Mr. Bodega. She wasn’t fine with it until she met me. She just finally met someone who supported her and loved her enough to allow her to use her own voice. And the things she uses that voice for are pretty fucking incredible. You’d be so proud of her if you ever shut up long enough to listen.”
My dad flinches as if he’s been physically struck, and I have never loved Danny more than this moment right here.
Whatever happens with my dad over the next couple of days doesn’t matter.
I’ve got Danny in my corner, and that may be all I need.