It was the only way I got to keep a piece of Hailee Raine in my life.
“Am I really supposed to believe, that all this time, you went along with his stupid games because you… liked me?” The doubt in Hailee’s eyes was enough to slay me, but I looked her dead in the eye as I nodded.
“It makes no sense—”
“You’re damn right it doesn’t,” she spat. “We’re not kids, Cameron. This isn’t junior high anymore. This is my life. And it’s all been some big game to you. I’ve been a big game—”
“What?” Panic clawed up my throat. “It hasn’t… that’s not…”
“I need to go.” She turned on her heel and made a beeline for the door, but I rushed over to her, snagging her wrist. “Wait,” I choked out. “We need to talk about this—”
There was too much left unsaid. Too much I needed to try to explain. But when Hailee met my wild gaze again, I saw the defeat in her eyes.
“You know,” she said softly, her flat tone cracking my chest wide open. “I always knew I was right about you. I can’t trust you.” She shrugged me off and fled the room, taking a piece of my broken, bloodied heart with her.
Earlier had been one of the best moments of my life. It hadn’t felt like a betrayal or a game. It had felt real.
Right.
It had felt like a long fucking time coming.
But now, in the harsh light of day, everything had gone to shit. And I couldn’t help but think, I only had myself to blame.
Hailee
“Hailee, sweetheart, is everything okay?” Mom’s voice drifted through the crack in the door, but I ignored her, the same as I had the previous three times she’d come to check on me.
After overhearing Jason and Cameron’s argument, I’d fled Asher’s house and holed up in my bedroom. Everything I thought I knew was a lie. Mom and Kent hadn’t met after he and Jason’s mom separated, at all. Mom was the other woman. And all this time, Jason knew.
He knew and he’d never breathed a word of it.
It wasn’t any wonder he hated my mom, or me, for that fact. I’d always been so judgmental about him and the Raiders. Scarred by my own experiences of growing up without a father because of football. Gary Broker had been a rising star in the NCAA. He didn’t have time to raise a baby, to play happy families with the girl he accidentally knocked up. He had better things to be doing with his time—the endless cycle of girls and parties and attention—and all I had was a couple of grainy photos of him and not a single good memory. Even after I was born, he still wanted nothing to do with me. There had been a handful of awkward meetings when I was a kid, but those didn’t last past my seventh birthday when he finally grew up and settled down with his other family—the one he actually gave a shit about.
Mom had spent years drilling it into me; telling me that guys like him couldn’t be trusted. Athletes. Jocks. Guys who were more focused on their careers than girls. But it was all a lie. Because we’d moved to Rixon and she’d managed to sniff out Kent Ford. Local football hero and legend in the making, if it hadn’t been for his career-ending accident.
God, I was so naive.
All this time, I’d hated on Jason when Mom hadn’t only betrayed him, she’d betrayed me too.
“Hailee,” her voice pulled me from my thoughts. “I’m coming in, baby.” She appeared around the door, giving me a concerned smile. “You’ve been up here hours; you missed dinner.”
“I don’t feel like eating right now.”
“Did something happen… with Jason?” Her lips pursed as if it was a forgone conclusion. “He’s acting more grouchy than usual.”
Of course she’d assume it was him. Because for years she’d stood on the sidelines as we duked it out, and never once had she tried to fix the mess.
The mess she’d created.
“Were you ever going to tell me?” The words spilled out.
“Tell you?” she said, perching on the edge of my bed. “What on earth are you talking about?”
“How did you meet Kent, Mom?”
Her expression faltered but she quickly recovered. “You know this story, baby. We moved to Rixon and Kent was good enough to help me out with a flat tire and the rest as they say is history.”
“I know.”
“Know?” She inclined her head. “Hailee, I’m not sure—”
“Jason told me.” She inhaled sharply, the noise puncturing the air, and my heart. But she didn’t say anything. Didn’t try to tell me I was wrong, that she had no idea what I was referring to. “You knew, he knew?”
I’d heard Jason tell Cameron he didn’t think his dad knew so I’d assumed she was just as clueless.
“I suspected he knew something, yes.” Mom lowered her eyes, but I saw the regret there, the shame coloring her cheeks.
“So, it is true? You had an affair?”
“Baby.” She reached for me, but I snatched my hand back. “Matters of the heart are never that straightforward.” Mom gave a little sigh.
“Matters of the heart?” I laughed bitterly. “You broke up their marriage, Mom. You ruined Jason’s—”
“It’s not that simple.” Panic rose in her voice now. “Kent and Maryanne were having issues, he was lonely—”
“So, you thought you’d what? Offer a shoulder to cry on? A warm bed at night. Somewhere for him to escape his shitty marriage?”
“Hailee Raine,” she scolded, her expression hardening. “I know you’re upset, but I am still your mother.”
Which was kind of the point. Adults were supposed to set examples, to be the ones scolding their kids for making mistakes. Not the other way around.
“You lied,” I said. “All these years, you lied. I spent years in awe of your strength, Mom. You raised me alone, never asked dad for anything. I admired you for not taking the easy route, for not settling for just any old guy.” And there had been quite a few along the way. “And I had to find out from Jason it was all a lie.”
“Hailee, please, let me explain...” Tears rolled down her cheeks, but I wouldn’t comfort her.
I couldn’t.
“You raised me in your image, Mom. You made me believe in self-worth, in never settling for anything less than I deserve. But you also hardened me. All those stories warning me about guys like Dad, it messed with my head. And then you moved me to a town where football is more important than anything, and shacked up with a local football legend, no less. And I never complained. Not once. Because I was happy for you. Because it was your time to enjoy life, to be happy. And now I find out it’s all a lie. That you went after Kent knowing he had a wife and a family.
“Get out,” I said coolly.
“Hailee, now just wait a minute—”
“I said get out. I can’t even look at you right now.”
“Hailee Raine.” She blanched.
“Get out,” I yelled. “GET OUT. GET OUT. GET OUT.” The words tore from my throat like an ugly explosion. Mom sobbed into her hands, fleeing from my room. I hadn’t meant to lose my cool, but I couldn’t look at her. I couldn’t sit here and listen to her empty excuses.