PART 6–CHAPTER 196
LUKE
Steam clung to my skin as I stepped out of the shower, wiping my face with a towel. Most of the team had already left, only a handful of rookies lingering to run extra drills with the defensive team. I didn’t care to stick around, so when I heard raised voices down the hall, I nearly ignored.
them.
But the tone had a certain edge to it that caught my attention.
I took a few steps, then paused near the coaches‘ office. From the slightly cracked door, I could hear one of the rookies, Michael, sounding furious. I rolled my eyes. Barely on the team and already screwing things up with drama? He probably snuck some chick into the stadium. His career won’t last long.
I rolled my eyes and moved away until I caught a snippet of the conversation.
“You know it’s mine!” Michael’s voice was insistent, full of anger. “Just be honest! The baby is mine! Tell him you want to be with me!”
What the hell? He got some girl pregnant – it’s worse than I thought. Poor
guy.
I kept my distance, shaking my head. It wasn’t my business. But then, another voice floated through the door, soft but familiar, pulling me to a dead stop.
“Don’t you get it? I don’t want it to be yours,” the girl replied, but her voice was familiar–way too familiar–and something in the back of my mind snapped into place.
PART 6–CHAPTER 116
There’s no way….
“I have no future with you. My future is with him.”
Francesca.
I was shocked for a second, gripping the towel around my waist. I didn’t know what to do. Was this real? A fucking nightmare again…
My mind scrambled, racing back over the last few months.
I should have barged in and pushed this rookie’s face through a wall, but I couldn’t move. I wanted the truth, and he was giving it to me on a silver platter, even if she didn’t know it.
Michael’s voice rose again, seething. “You told me he hasn’t finished inside of you in months! You always have to give him a blow job just to get him to finish! You told me that! I might be young, but I know how fucking babies are made! I’m the one that has been fucking finishing inside of you for weeks now. Not Luke! Admit it!”
The blood ran cold in my veins. I couldn’t make sense of it. I watched through the crack in the door as Francesca stepped into view, her expression caught between defiance and shame.
“Michael. You made me feel… beautiful. You really did, and if it will help you sleep tonight – then yes. You are the father because Luke and I haven’t had sex that ends with him inside of me spilling himself. That has been you, and I am sorry we weren’t more careful. It’s my fault. I should have known better, but we can’t be together just because of a baby. I’m 10 years older than you, and I need a man who can provide for me and my baby.”
It was like a slow–motion nightmare. I felt a strange calm settle over me, almost clinical. This was what it had all been leading to, every unanswered question, every forced smile. And now, I had my answer.
06.18 m)
PART 6–CHAPTER 195
Without hesitating, I pushed the door open. The noise startled them both, and they spun around, frozen as I stepped into the room. I didn’t feel rage or confusion–I felt a raw, bone–deep certainty.
“We’re done,” I said, the words coming out steady and clear. I looked straight at Francesca. I won’t be back tonight, but when I get back, I want you out of my apartment.”
She opened her mouth, the beginnings of some excuse or apology there, but I held up a hand. She fell silent. My heart should’ve been hammering, my hands should’ve been shaking, but all I felt was the numb realization that I’d been clinging to something that was never real. I’d been chasing the idea of a family, of stability, of someone who’d be in this with me. But I hadn’t wanted to see how little of that was actually true.
Without another word, I turned and walked out, leaving Francesca and Michael in the silence I should’ve seen coming all along..
