Chapter 48
Alex
“Well,not to say I told you so but…” Tobias looks down at the ground.
“Thanks that’s real fucking helpful right now,” I gripe.
“Just saying. Maybe listen to me sometimes. I fuck up a decent amount of my own life, but I still give pretty good advice based on those experiences, you know. Secondhand wisdom...”
“I’ll keep it in mind for the future. Doesn’t help me right now though unless you have a magic solution.”
“I mean… you have a magic solution. You just don’t want to use it.” Ben gives me a look.
“What solution is that?”
“He means your father.” Tobias gives me a knowing look.
“That’s not an option.”
“Why not?” Colt asks. “And I’m asking that rhetorically before you give me a lecture about how awful he is.”
“Then you know my answer.”
“He could get you out of it though. He definitely has more power and leverage than Drew. His PR team is much more skilled.” Colt shakes his head.
“And then I’ll be indebted to him for the favor. He’ll want something, no doubt.”
“So do you—your career, the girl, her career.” Tobias’s eyes flick over me like I’m being childish.
“You want to tell her you knew you had an option, but your ego just wouldn’t let you?” Ben’s eyes drift over me.
“They’re right you know. I know you don’t want to hear it. But it’s probably your best way out,” Waylon adds.
“This feels like a fucking pile on,” I grouch at them as we sit around the restaurant after practice. I’d asked for it, offered to buy dinner for a brainstorming session, but I’d hoped for solutions that weren’t him. I’d already been up late last night turning that potential solution over and over in my head. Wondering if somewhere deep inside the man had any paternal instinct. One that would be enough to undo years of animosity between us and have him stick his neck out for me.
“Maybe it is.” Tobias shrugs.
“It’s not a pile on. It’s us trying to help you.” Colt shoots Tobias a look.
They’re right, and I know they’re right. It’s a nuclear option, but it’s one I need right now. I’m just dreading the idea of asking him. Of having to go and kiss the ring and beg for his help. I’ve spent so many years avoiding him. Avoiding any need for his help or presence. I know if he delivers, it’ll come with at least one demand, maybe several. I can guess what the biggest one will be.
I don’t even care about me. If it was just my name, I’d let Drew drag it through the mud. Do his worst. I’d hire half a dozen lawyers to make his life a living hell then. Defamation suits. Broken NDAs. Privacy violations. I’m sure they could find enough to keep him wrapped up in legal fees for the rest of his life if that’s the way he wanted this friendship to end. I might have to switch teams, endure some bad press, but I’d come out the other side better off eventually. He’d come out broke, with no job and no prospects after the lawyers finished him and the agency off.
What I won’t do is let her go through it, which is—I’m certain—what he’s betting on. His fail safe if she did tell me is that I’d either react by beating his face in for trying or if I could manage not to do that, I’d do everything in my power to keep her out of the news. Even agree to give her up. What he didn’t fucking bet on apparently is that I care enough about her to do just about anything. Including going to the man I despise for help.
* * *
“Well,out with it. I know it has to be bad if you’re here talking to me.” My father gives me a once over from his side of the desk. We’re sitting in his hallowed office. Like I’m one of his clients from his time before he was a senator when I was still a kid. A place I was only invited to when I was on the receiving end of a lecture.
“Drew turned on me. He’s blackmailing me and Harper to keep us apart.”
“That doesn’t shock me. Usually, there are consequences when you go after your friend’s wife. Especially if it’s the one guy who’s spent years cleaning up all your messes. You’ve probably given him all the ammunition he needs.”
I bristle at the accusation, a bitter taste in my mouth because for a moment before I came in here, I thought maybe, just maybe, my father would take my side for once. I shake my head, staring out the window, trying not to take the bait and react.
“Did you sleep with her before the divorce or after?” he asks when I let the silence stretch on.
“After.”
“Well that’s on your side at least.”
I take a deep breath, bracing myself for the inevitable back and forth. No matter what I say he’ll find fault, but I can try to get through to him if I stay calm.
“You’re right. I’m here because it’s bad. I don’t care what happens with my career. I’ve had a good run. If I get benched or shipped off to another team, it is what it is. But she doesn’t deserve what’s happening to her. He doesn’t even love her. It’s just a pissing contest to him and she shouldn’t be in the middle.”
“A pissing contest you started.”
“You would think that. But that’s not how it was. She was… with me first. I wasn’t ready for a relationship. So she met him, not knowing we were friends and I stayed out of the way. I tried to do the right thing.”
His eyes drift over me for a minute, assessing me.
“So how’d you end up in this situation?”
“They divorced. She was at a party. One of my teammates was getting aggressive with her, and I intervened. We fought, and he hit her—accidentally, but in the moment, it set me off. We fought more and I got the better end of it. He threatened to call the cops and Westfield told him that Harper was my girlfriend. That it would look bad if she wasn’t. So Harper, Drew, Sam, and I all got together and planned this show for the media and for management. That we were dating. Drew bought in because he wanted to try to win her back. Figured pretending to be with me would keep the other guys away and give him time.”
“But you had other plans.”
“I gave him a fair fucking shot at her. I played the best man. Showed up to their family events. He cheated on her. Treated her like trash. She was clear she was done with him.”
“She was his wife.”
“Well she should have fucking been mine,” I snap. “That’s what I get for trying to do the right thing.”
“You would have married her?” He looks at me skeptically.
“If I’d had time to fucking process, yes. I didn’t realize until it was too late.”
He sits in silence for a minute, like he’s contemplating the idea of having a daughter-in-law and deciding whether or not that’s something he could tolerate.
“What does he have on you?”
“Nothing. Not really. Most things were covered by the NDA. But he took pictures of our injuries that night in case Daniels tried to take us to court or go to the cops. So he said. Now I wonder if he was plotting all along. He wants to spin it that she was cheating on him with me, and that I beat her when I found out she was leaving me to go back to him. Then scared them both into compliance. Threatened his career. The fucking irony…”
He presses his lips together and glances at his bookshelves.
“He have anything on her? Anything that would make her turn on you?”
“His father’s on her board. The museum’s at risk already. They have that vote coming up to fund the building and the staff. He’s threatened to plant stories that would sway votes. She wouldn’t turn on me.”
“She wouldn’t choose her job over you? You’re not exactly a good bet given your track record.”
“She came to me with the information and the blackmail. She wanted to come up with a solution and she thinks she can. So she’s prepared to let it happen.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t kill Drew the moment she told you.”
“She made me promise.”
“And you listened?” He looks surprised.
“She’s smarter than me, so yes.”
“Huh,” he grunts, a little smirk playing at his lips before it disappears.
“Does that amuse you?”
“I don’t care for her. She’s got a mouth on her, and she doesn’t know how or when to use it. But if she can get you to listen to reason maybe she’s not all bad.”
“You might like her if you knew her. She’s good—that’s not even the right word. She’s whip fucking smart, compassionate, selfless, generous to a fault… Not that you’d appreciate half of those things given what you value.”
“You didn’t value those things for most of your life either, Xander.”
“Because I tried to be more like you,” I grit out.
“Well… don’t.” He looks out the window.
I sit in shocked silence for a moment. It’s a strange thing to hear from a man who only ever wanted a prodigy he could mold in his image.
“That’s probably the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me,” I mutter sarcastically.
“Remember you’re here for my help,” he warns.
“You’ve given no indication you’re going to give it, so I decided honesty is the best policy.”
“I’ll see what I can do. What leverage I can find over Drew and his father. I have a few leads I can think of already where that family is concerned. But whether it’s enough, I’ll have to see.”
“Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet.”
“Can I be dismissed then?”
“If I do this for you, you know what I’ll want in return.”
“I told you I’d consider it when my football career is over.”
“And when is that? Will you still have a body and a brain intact at the end of it?”
“Don’t fucking start this.”
“One more contract. Then you get out.”
“I’m not making any promises.”
“Then neither will I.” He looks at me pointedly.
I want to storm out of here. Tell him where he can put his fucking ultimatums. But then I think of her. If anyone could put a stop to Drew, it’s the man sitting across from me. What kind of asshole am I if I leave her to him twice? Because of what? Pride? Family disputes? A game? I love her too much for that.
“Fine,” I say at last.
There’s a beat of silence while he studies me again, before the pen he’s been twirling between his fingers drops, and he nods.
“I’ll see what I can do.”