Jett
The pilot had to ask us to calm down because fifty giant football players were jumping up and down with excitement as my daughter won her team the championship.
Vance and I have been hugging. Everyone has been shaking my hand, congratulating me.
I can’t stop crying. She did it. My baby girl did it.
She’ll be immortalized for that shot. My chest is so full of pride it feels like it could burst.
No one expected the ball to go to Kennedy.
I know Fallon had a hand in that play being called.
I need to go to her. I need to make things right.
I’m a jerk for not calling her for the past few days.
The news came as a shock, but I owe it to her to hear her out. Her tearful voicemails nearly broke me.
It’s now the middle of the night, and our plane is about to land in Philly. We won our game in LA today, but my heart was back home. I can’t believe I wasn’t there in person to witness my daughter making history. It’s got me questioning my future in coaching.
When we land, the guys all scatter in seconds. They always do, anxious to get home to loved ones after a long weekend of travel.
I wait on the tarmac for one of the team assistants who I called from the plane.
She arrives with the flowers and the basket I asked her to get.
I know Kennedy will either be out partying or already asleep, but I want to leave this stuff in front of her apartment door so she gets it first thing in the morning.
I want her to know I’m thinking about her and proud of her.
I slip in the long note I wrote on the plane and make my way to her apartment. Maybe after I leave, I should go to Fallon’s and make a peace offering. She won’t be expecting me, but I’m hoping she’ll be happy to see me get into bed with her.
I park and walk into Kennedy’s less-than-secure building.
She mentioned moving in the off-season. It can’t come soon enough.
I hate this place. She deserves to live somewhere nicer.
After tonight, endorsements should more than afford her the opportunity to buy something in a nice, secure area.
I’d buy it for her in a second if she’d let me, but I know she won’t.
The annoyingly slow elevator is taking forever so I decide to take the steps. When I open the door to her floor, I hear voices. That’s odd. It’s after three in the morning.
Nothing—and I mean nothing—prepares me for what I see when I poke my head around the corner. Kennedy, who’s wearing only panties and a Camels’ jersey, has her legs and arms wrapped around Daylen fucking Humblecut.
His hands are on her ass in a very familiar way, and they’re alternating kissing while also talking and laughing into each other’s mouths as if this interaction is the most normal thing in the world. My heart starts racing. I feel like I might have a heart attack.
She screeches and then says something I can’t make out before lifting her shirt. That’s when I see it. She’s got a small belly. It’s not like Kennedy is shy about her body. She always wears shirts showing off her toned stomach. Did she gain weight? Why is she showing him?
And then I find out why as he places her on her feet and drops to his knees in front of her. He places his hands on her stomach and says, “Our baby is in there?”
She nods, and I feel like the ground is moving. My daughter is pregnant with Daylen’s child. I grab my chest. I might actually die of a heart attack right here.
They’re smiling and chatting as if it’s good news. Are they happy about this? Are they fucking crazy? Was this planned?
Just when I think it can’t get worse, it does.
He looks up at her and says, “We’re not going to be able to hide this much longer. We need to tell people. Our families. Our friends. I want the world to know my baby is in here.”
She nods. “I know. Fallon said the same thing.”
I don’t hear anything they say after that because my ears are ringing. Fallon knew? She knew about Daylen and the baby, and she didn’t tell me? She lied to me?
I stumble back out of view before dropping the flowers and basket. My hands are shaking. I feel like I’m having an out-of-body experience.
Without full control of my faculties, I walk back into the stairwell as reality begins to set in.
I let myself into Fallon’s house, still questioning everything that has transpired in the past thirty minutes.
It’s dark and quiet. I make my way to her bar and search the contents until I find Tanner’s favorite whiskey.
Figures she’d have it on hand. I don’t think she ever got over losing him.
I’m just second-string behind the man who threw her out after she banged his best friend.
Opening the bottle, I bring it to my lips. I have a brief moment of hesitation as my conscience begs me not to do it. Whiskey and I don’t have a good history together.
My life has gone to shit. My daughter’s life is ruined. Fuck it. This calls for the good stuff.
“Fuck you, Tanner,” I mumble to myself before tilting my head back and the bottom of the bottle up. I let the oak and caramel taste of whiskey slide down my throat for the first time in over twenty years. I nearly forgot how good it tastes.
I down half the bottle in under a minute, letting it quickly numb my pain. Betrayed by two of the most important people in my life. Fallon and Daylen. What did I do to either of them to deserve this?
The room starts to spin. I think I prefer it this way to reality.
The past year with Fallon scrolls through my head like a movie. I was so happy. I loved her. I gave everything of myself to her, opening up to her in a way I never have with another person. Why would she do this to us? Two lies in one week has me wondering if I ever knew her.
I need answers. I need to hear the words from her lips.
With the bottle in hand, I make my way up to her bedroom. The stairs are suddenly a little crooked, but I manage to gracefully take one at a time until I trip over the top one before catching myself.
Pushing Fallon’s bedroom door open, I see my angel face sleeping. It turns out, she’s not so angelic. I’m so fucking stupid. I believed she was my happily ever after.
I stumble a bit and hit my toe on the dresser. Fuck, where did that thing come from? Did she move it?
She stirs at the intruding noise, and then her eyelids slowly blink open until I see those turquoise eyes I thought were my forever. What a load of crap. There’s no such thing as forever.
She smiles sleepily and whispers, “You came home to me.” She lifts the blankets, revealing herself in the same tank top and sleep shorts she wore the first night we made love. How ironic. “Get into bed, my love,” she breathes.
Pain eviscerates every inch of my body at her term of endearment. I feel on the verge of tears. “Did you know?” I ask in a cold tone I don’t recognize.
Her eyebrows pinch together. “Know what?”
My jaw tics. “Don’t play stupid. Did you or did you not know my daughter is sleeping with Daylen and having his baby?”
She immediately sits upright as the expression on her face gives me the answer despite her silence. She knew.
“Did you know?” I shout as her figure turns blurry.
“Calm down, Jett.” Her eyes move down to the bottle in my hand before they widen. “Have you been drinking that?”
I point at her with the hand holding the bottle, causing a little of it to spill out onto her floor. In a croaking voice that betrays the anger I’m trying to portray, I spit out, “You don’t get to fucking judge me. You’re a cheater and a liar.”
“Mommy?” a sweet, scared voice interrupts from behind me.
Oh my god. I didn’t know Harper was here.
Fallon plasters on a fake smile for her daughter. “Yes, baby. Everything is fine. Jett and I are talking. Go back to bed.”
Harper looks up at me with terror written all over her face. “I’m scared, Mommy.”
Fallon nods in understanding. “Come here.” She motions for Harper to join her in bed.
I move to cover the area where I spilled the whiskey so Harper doesn’t slip on it, but my less-than-graceful sudden movement frightens her enough that she scurries past me and leaps into the bed, immediately clinging to Fallon for dear life as her body shivers.
She’s…scared of me. It’s like a punch to the gut. Reason number ten billion why I shouldn’t have more children.
Fallon straightens her shoulders. “Why don’t you go into my guest room and sleep this off? We can talk more in the morning when you have a clear mind and are able to have a real conversation.”
I snort in mock laughter. “Talk? I have nothing left to say to someone like you.” I yell the word nothing way louder than I intended, and Harper flinches in fear.
Fallon looks down at her frightened child, who is physically trembling, and then back at me before steeling herself. “Get out of my house and don’t ever come back.”
“My pleasure. We both know I was always just a poor substitute for the man you really want in your bed. I’ve got somewhere better to be. Mr. Humblecut has a date with my fist.” At that, I turn on my heels and stumble out of her room.
I hear her yell something about not driving and sleeping it off, but I ignore her. I never want to hear her traitorous voice again.
I clumsily walk down the stairs and to my car. Daylen lives nearby. I’m going to kill that motherfucker.