Enter Ellie.
“Why are you even here?” he asks. “Why aren’t you bothering him instead of trying to ruin my life?”
“For the baby,” she cries.
He blows out a breath. “I’m sorry, Michelle, but I’m married now, and I’m in love with my wife. I will never love you the way I love Ellie.”
“But we’re having a baby together,” she says, actual tears falling down her cheeks now. “Doesn’t that mean something to you?”
“Yeah, it does,” he says. He stands. “It means I want a paternity test.”
Her brows draw together. “You can’t be serious.”
“Oh, I’m dead serious. And I want my brother’s DNA tested against this baby, too.” He points at her. “Your refusal to answer my question about whether you’ve slept together tells me everything I need to know.”
“I did,” she finally says. “I slept with him after you and I broke up in January. I was so angry with you, and I wanted to hurt you. I wanted to make you jealous.”
He shakes his head and snags his bottom lip between his teeth. I’m a silent observer through this entire exchange. “It didn’t work. Don’t you see that? I’m not jealous that you slept with Jack.” He lets out a little chuckle. “I’m disgusted. Get that paternity test done in the next month or you’ll hear from my lawyer. If the results show I’m the father, we’ll figure something out. Until then, stay on your side of the house. Stay away from my wife and me or find somewhere else to live.” He turns to me. “Come on, Ellie, let’s go have sex.”
My eyes widen at the whirlwind of his monologue, but I stand as instructed and follow my husband up the stairs to our bedroom.
CHAPTER 24
“Are you okay?” I ask tentatively once I shut the door behind me. He collapses on the bed and lies back to stare up at the ceiling.
“Not really,” he admits.
I sit on the edge of the bed then lie back beside him. “Wanna talk about it?”
“Not really.”
“Do it anyway?” My voice is a hopeful question, and he chuckles. “You’ll feel better.” I nudge him a little with my elbow.
“It’s just a lot, training camp and preseason games and everything, and we’re playing the Broncos this week so the added pressure of the team who beat us in the playoffs. And then to have to come home to that—to find out my ex slept with my brother, or maybe she’s still sleeping with him...” He exhales a long breath. “I’ve come to terms that I’m the father of that baby...but maybe I’m not.”
“It is a lot. And you know, your wife is supposed to help you carry those burdens.” I glance over at him, and he turns his head to lock eyes with me.
He doesn’t say anything as a bit of heat passes between us. It’s always there, but never more present than when we’re lying on a bed together.
“Thanks, Ellie,” he says softly.
I reach down and grab his hand. I squeeze it. I want to ask how he’ll feel if it isn’t his baby—or how he’ll feel if it is. Instead, I ask, “How does it make you feel that she and Jack slept together?”
His eyes are still on mine. “I’m disgusted by it, but they’re free to do what they want. They deserve each other.”
“Does it hurt?” I pry.
“I was done with her over a year ago, but it took me a little time to get up the nerve to actually end it. I don’t know how she thought sleeping with my brother would somehow translate to getting me back, but that’s Michelle for you. She’s fucked up, but my choices are limited given who her father is.” He shakes his head and moves his eyes back to the ceiling. “I wish I would’ve known who she was from the start. I never would’ve gotten involved with her if I had.”
“So what if she gets the test done and we find out the baby isn’t yours?”
He’s quiet as he mulls that one over. “I don’t know,” he says. “I know it’s not ideal, especially not with her, but there’s still a part of me who keeps thinking about the baby. I figured I’d have kids down the road. I’m still young, and maybe family, kids...maybe that’s where I want my focus to be eventually.” He’s edging around talks about the future even though it’s a known superstition that brings bad luck in his eyes.
He wants kids someday...and now he’s married to me for a year, which pushes someday further back—unless Michelle really is carrying his baby, in which case someday might actually just be a few months away.
What a mess.
“And what about Jack’s role in all this?” I ask. I flex my fingers in his.
“If anything hurts, it’s the betrayal there. But at least I understand his motivation. He has wanted to get me back for everything that happened with Savannah for years, and he thought he found that opportunity when Michelle came knocking. But even so, I can’t help wondering how we even got here. How our relationship got so fucked up that his first move is to try to hurt me.”
“I only saw him for a minute today, but he told me to warn you about Allen Hammond.” I keep my eyes on his profile as I say those words, and Luke winces.
“Not much I can do about him,” he says.
“I looked him up,” I admit. “He sounds like a real asshole.”
He grunts out a laugh. “He is. He’s sidelined me for a few plays. He’s left me with more than a few bruises. He’s as tough as they come, and he’s also one of the few really dirty players in the league.”
“Because he intentionally hurts people?”
Luke nods. “Nobody wants to injure anyone. You can’t take away someone’s livelihood like that. But hurting them? Taking them out for a few plays or even for the rest of the game? There’s still a few guys around with that old school way of thinking, and Hammond is one of them.”
“So how do you protect yourself?”
He shrugs. “I play the game. I get out there and defend myself the best way I know how. I catch the ball and run it into the end zone.”
“How many career touchdowns do you have?”
“Sixty-seven,” he says without missing a beat.
“Wow,” I say. I’m not sure if that number is impressive or not.
“I’m in the top hundred of all-time career TDs for a single player. I’m actually one TD away from tying a spot in the top fifty.”
There’s my answer. “Holy shit, Luke. That’s impressive.”
He chuckles. “Just doing what I love.”
“Speaking of doing what you love,” I say, trailing off.
He chuckles. “Is that an invitation?”
I sit up and then I turn and toss one leg over him so I’m straddling him. I shift my hips over his. “Well you did invite me up here for sex,” I point out.
He chuckles. “Yeah, I did do that, didn’t I?”
I lean down and press a soft kiss to his lips, and then I sit up over him as I continue to move my hips over his growing erection. “Whatever happens, Luke, I love you. I’m rooting for you, and I don’t just mean from the stands. I’m on your side and I’m here.”