66. THIRTY-SIX
THIRTY-SIX
EDEN
“I can’t believe you guys went full James Bond.
” I sit forward on the sofa in Alex’s apartment, watching Macon build a replica of the Seattle Strikers soccer ball on the rug in front of me.
Since Aspen and I brought him home from school two hours ago, I haven’t been able to keep my eyes off of him.
“And to think that it was all unnecessary.”
It was my phone that woke me up this morning. It was Zora, calling to say that when she couldn’t find any evidence of the emergency order in the court system, she’d gone straight to the signing judge himself, who, evidently, had never set eyes on the motion at all.
My ex-husband appears to have found himself in the hottest of waters as a result.
Zora is confident that he won’t even be able to get visitation rights with Macon after this. And not only is he staring down the barrel of losing his license to practice law, but he’s also facing jail time for forgery and kidnapping. Karma can be a real bitch sometimes.
“Yes, well…”—Aspen clears her throat—“I think I’ll leave that part out when I retell the story at parties.”
“You seriously broke into his office?”
She grins and pumps her head. “Honestly, E, I was so badass. I even did a ninja roll.”
I’m equal parts furious that they would do something so risky behind my back and touched by the extremes they were willing to go for me. But I’m so relieved to have my son back where he belongs that I can’t find it in myself to chew her ass out for it. Or Alex’s.
Not that he’s here for me to have the opportunity.
And honestly, I don’t want to, anyway. I can’t get past what they were prepared to do for me and my son. If it had all gone to hell, not only would my custody case have been in an even worse position, but they could have faced criminal charges.
My sister’s motives, I can understand. She’s never been one to shy away from doing the hard shit. In fact, it’s a personality trait of hers to find the most difficult solution to any problem and throw herself full force into it.
But Alex…
He hasn’t even told me he loves me yet.
“You should have heard some of the things Alex said.” Aspen flops her head onto my lap and stretches her legs over the sofa cushions. “The look on Sebastian’s face was priceless. I’ve never seen a man turn so red before in my life.”
“I can’t wait to hear about it when Alex gets back from practice.”
Aspen’s expression changes. She tries to hide it, but I catch the split second of guilt that flashes across her features before she masks it with nonchalance. The scrape of her teeth over her bottom lip. The inward draw of her eyebrows. It’s hard not to see it with her face just inches from mine.
“What are you hiding?”
She balks. “Nothing. I know nothing. W—why would you even ask me that?”
“Because you do, in fact, know something.”
She pushes off my lap and scrambles to the other end of the couch. “Nope. It’s just an ordinary day.” She muses on that then adds, “With the exception of an early morning heist that led to the epic downfall of your ex-husband, that is.”
I narrow my eyes. “Spill it.”
“I’m serious.” She laughs like a hyena. “Nothing to see here.”
“Aspen.”
She sobers. “Eden.”
The clicking of Macon’s Legos pauses, and I catch him watching us with curiosity.
The tears that had stained his cheeks when I picked him up earlier have long since dried, but it hasn’t escaped my notice that he keeps casting worried glances at the front door, as if waiting for Sebastian to come knocking with another reason to take him away.
I’ve done my best to reassure him that that will never happen again, but it’ll take some time before he’s completely able to relax again.
The same goes for me. I know he was gone for less than twenty-four hours, but the memory of what we’ve been through will be a stain on our nervous systems for a long time.
And given my sister’s suspicious behavior, the stress isn’t over yet.
I give her my most intimidating glare. “What. Do. You. Know?”
Her eyes roll skyward, and she lets out a long, jagged sigh. “I promised that I wouldn’t say anything.”
“Promised who?”
“Alex.”
What? Since when are they best friends who keep secrets from me?
“Oh, so your loyalty is with him now? Last I knew, you were threatening to castrate him with blunt instruments.”
“What can I say?” She shrugs. “Espionage really brings people together.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose. “Tell me everything you know.”
Air hisses between her lips as she hugs her knees to her chest and rocks back and forth. “Alex isn’t at practice.”
“What? Then where is he?”
Surely, after everything he went through this morning to get Macon back for me, he’d have wanted to be here to welcome him back home. In fact, I know he would. Hell, if he could have found a way to miss practice to be here, then he would have. It doesn’t make any sense.
Aspen’s lip disappears between her teeth. “You remember the article Sebastian leaked?”
“The one that announced to the whole of the United States that I’m an unfit mother who brings her children around her pimps?” I snort. “How could I forget?”
I don’t know if it’s because I was dealing with something much worse when I found out about the article, or I’ve hardened myself when it comes to the media, but I’m handling the public execution of my character much better than I’d have expected.
It was hard to care about it when I thought I’d lost my son. And now that I’ve got him back and I know that my ex-husband will reap what he’s sowed, it’s water off my back.
Zora assured me that she’s working with Alex’s lawyer, Oliver, to have the article retracted and have another printed in its place.
One all about how a defamed lawyer named Sebastian Hague fabricated court documents and pioneered a smear campaign against his ex-wife for the purpose of kidnapping a child he’d previously shown no interest in.
Aspen scratches her cheek. “I guess the team investor didn’t take it well that their captain has been publicly accused of buying sex from a vulnerable woman. So, they’re… Well, they… They’re kicking him off the team.”
My muscles turn to stone. “What?”
“Aunt Aspen, what did you say?” Macon tosses his Legos to the side and vaults over the coffee table. “Alex is being kicked off the team?”
“He had to go in for a meeting at nine, and I think they’re holding a press conference at the stadium to confirm it in about”—she checks the time on her phone—“half an hour. I’m sorry, E, but he didn’t want me to tell you because you’ve already been through enough, and the last thing he’d want is for you to sit here worrying and feeling guilty when you should be celebrating having Macon home. ”
“Mom!” Macon tugs my sleeve, his eyes wider than I’ve ever seen them, his cheeks flushed with more panic than they were this morning when he thought I’d died. “We have to do something.”
He’s right.
We have to do something.
But what?
What can we do when the decision has already been made?
I scrunch my eyes and think. If the roles were reversed, what would Alex do?
“Macon, get your shoes on. Aspen, grab the car keys.” If we’re going to make it to the stadium in the next thirty minutes, then I’ll need my leadfooted sister to get us there. “Just don’t kill us on the drive, okay?”
Her brows are knitted in confusion as she nods. “What are you thinking, E?”
“I’m thinking that Alex has spent his entire life saving everyone. It’s about time someone saves him.”
“Where the fuck do we go?”
I’m panting as we race through the stadium concourse, my feet sore from running and my chest tight. We’ve been searching for the media room for at least ten minutes now, and I’m convinced we’ve looped back around on ourselves.
Macon, however, hasn’t broken a sweat. But then, he’s wearing more suitable footwear than the block-heeled boots I’d thrown on in my haste, and all those hours spent performing the Hamilton soundtrack has obviously built him impressive stamina.
“Maybe we should go down to the pitch. The media room must be close by for when they hold conferences after games, right?”
Aspen squeaks to a stop on the linoleum, the sound ricocheting off the high ceilings, grabs my son by the shoulders, and shakes. “You, sir, are a genius.”
We slam through a set of closed double doors to our right and find ourselves at the top steps of the stands. Racing down them, I slip more than once and almost twist my ankle, but my sister is there to hoist me back up and drag me toward the grass in the center.
We hurdle over the barricade and screech to a stop on the turf, looking around the vast space to get a clue of where Alex might be.
“Look!” Macon points toward a dark spot in the center of the grandstands. “That’s the players tunnel. I bet he’s that way.”
It’s our one shot.
We’re already late. The press conference must be well underway by now, maybe even drawing to a close, but we can’t give up now. Not after everything Alex has done for me over the past couple of months. What he’s done for me today.
He got Macon back for me.
And yes, I know that the information Zora found this morning would have yielded the same result, but I might take a leaf out of Aspen’s book and forget to mention that part when we retell the story later too.
He’s given me everything. Not just money and a real bed to sleep on for the past few weeks, but he’s given me kindness. True kindness. Something I’ve never experienced from a man before. He’s given me security. The chance at a new life. His heart, even if he hasn’t realized it yet.
He’s given me July.
So even if I can’t do anything for Alex, I have to try.
“Let’s go.”
There’s no breath left in my lungs when we make it to the tunnel. I’ve never been one for running, and that’s coming back to bite me in the ass now, because as we move between the red-painted walls, my vision is blurry, and there’s the distinct taste of blood in my mouth.
But my pain is quickly forgotten.