20. Chapter 20
Chapter twenty
Parker
“Here.” Maddox tosses a frozen bag of corn onto my lap.
I jolt, grabbing the item before pressing it to the right side of my face. He got me good.
Cooper sits across his kitchen island from me, questions brewing in his eyes. Maddox straddles the stool at the end of the bar, his gaze hard.
Not nearly as hard as his fist felt when he clocked me in the parking lot. I didn’t cower, though. I deserve it.
“How much did you hear?” I ask as the cold numbs my skin.
“Enough,” Maddox grumbles. “You want to explain to me why my sister was sobbing in the pouring rain about you breaking her heart?”
“Shit, Maddox.” I pitch the corn onto the island. “It’s not—”
“When?” He narrows his eyes.
“Before I went pro.”
“How long?”
“It started the summer she was seventeen,” I admit.
“I knew it,” Cooper mutters. “I knew something was up.”
I glare at him. “She didn’t want anyone to know. Laiken is private. You know how she is. And frankly, it was none of your fucking business.”
“When someone makes my sister cry, it’s my business.” Maddox stands from the stool, the legs scraping against the floor.
“Mads,” Cooper warns.
“No. This asshole hurt my sister. What’d you do? Fuck around on her? Was it with Tori?”
Rage ignites inside of me. I push to my feet. “Fuck you. I never cheated on her. Not once. I loved her.”
“Funny way of showing it.” He shakes his head. “What the hell happened? I’ve never seen her upset like that.”
I lower back down to the stool, swiping a hand over my face. “Look. There’s a lot I need to say and I’ll tell you everything, but she deserves to hear it first.”
There’s silence in the room before Cooper speaks. “You said you loved her.”
“Never stopped, so I guess love is the correct tense. Life just got…”
“Complicated,” Maddox adds. He palms the back of his neck. “I know a little bit about that.”
Of course he does. He’s about to marry his little brother’s ex. You can’t get much messier than that.
“I swear to you, I would never intentionally hurt her. Ever,” I vow to him. “I’m here to prove that.”
“And if she wants no part of it and can’t forgive you?” He lifts a brow.
I shrug. “I guess I’ll have to accept that. But she’s it for me. It’s her or no one.”
He holds my gaze before he takes off his hat and drops it on the counter. “Well, good luck, buddy. My sister may be the sweetest human on earth, but she can hold a grudge.”
Cooper chuckles. “They all do. Dakota still won’t speak to Mariann Smith.”
“Isn’t that the chick you made out with at the homecoming in seventh grade?” I chuckle.
“Yep, and she hasn’t let it go.”
Maddox sighs. “Parker, you and I have been friends a long time.” He picks up his hat, then places it back on his head. “I respect you. So this is your only warning. You fuck with my sister’s heart, I’ll put you in the ground.”
“I’d expect nothing less.” I hold out my hand and he shakes it.
Cooper chuckles, then inches a hand into his pocket and pulls out his phone.
“Hope you’re not planning on walking home, Maddox. Looks like our girls are sleeping at your house.”
Maddox shoots me a look. “This is all your fault. Because of your dumb ass, I won’t be getting my d—”
“Okay, man. That’s my sister.” Cooper lifts a hand. “And on that note, I’m going to bed. Don’t wake up Ari. She’s feral when she doesn’t get eight hours of sleep.”
Laughing, I push to my feet. I forgot there was a teenage girl down the hallway. Trace too.
“Guess I’m on the couch.” Maddox plops down on the sofa as I walk out the front door to head to the loft. I have my mind made up. Tomorrow morning, I’ll bare my soul. I’ll tell Laiken the truth and pray she can find it in her heart one day to forgive me.