“But you’ll forgive him and we can move on?” the coach prompted.
“Yeah, yeah.” Dax rolled his eyes. “But only because I want to know what Leon’s keeping secret. That’ll be fun.”
Leon snorted. “Please! You guys always complain that I share too much about my life. Like I have some other secret, I...” He frowned. “Oh, Fox, I used your towel on Saturday. The one hanging in your locker.”
“The one I use for myface?” the captain exclaimed, horrified.
“I have no idea what you use it for. I definitely…”
“Good, that’s enough!” the coach exclaimed, alarmed. “Lucy?”
“I’m having a really shitty day because Moreau has more secrets than the Illuminati and I’ll have to work overtime today because of it!” she stated loudly, glaring at Lucas.
“That wasn’t a secret, Lucy,” Leon informed her seriously. “You said that at least three times on the drive here.”
Irritated, Anna glanced back and forth between Lucy and Lucas, whose face was completely expressionless. What other secrets was Lucas keeping? Lucy already knew about her.
“Well then.” Gray gritted his teeth. “Come on, Moreau. Spill it.”
Lucas sighed softly and leaned back further in his chair… His gaze was still on her.
She expected him to remain silent because he was so damn good at it. Because he was so private. Because he would protect all his secrets in order to continue...
“I have a daughter,” he murmured, his gaze wandering to Jack and Dax, who were sitting next to her. “And I love your sister because she’s not just your sister.”
Abrupt silence was the answer. Anna’s heart stopped beating. Two dozen mouths were gaping open, including Jack and Dax’s. It was more because of the news of Melody than for her, she was certain. She lapsed into repeating that last sentence in her head.
I love your sister.
That was her. She was their sister!
“Anna,” Lucas murmured darkly, his gaze on her again as he slowly rose. “I’m angry with you because it was shitty of you to put words in my mouth.I’ll get over the fact that you don’t love me.What the hell?! You never asked me if I loved you. You never gave me a chance to tell you, and you took off before I could. And you know words mean nothing to me? Bullshit.Yourwords are worth something to me! For someone who doesn't want people to make decisions for them, you decided pretty quickly for me that I don’t love you!”
She swallowed as the first tears trickled down her cheeks. “I wanted to make things easier for us!”
“Well, it didn't,” he said, irritated.
“I gave you the choice, Lucas!”
“And I had to think about it.”
“You didn’t tell me then!” she complained, coming to stand.
“I didn’t sayanythingthen! Before I could, you fled.”
“Well, I agree, you can’t be relied upon to say anything,” Fox muttered.
“Should I show you what you can rely on me for?” Lucas promptly snapped at his friend.
Anna had to laugh. Maybe because her heart suddenly felt so light. Maybe because this man, who smiled and spoke too little, nevertheless indicated with every tense muscle in his body that he was about to sprint across the room.
“Good God, can you guys finally kiss?” Leon asked, annoyed, waving his hand in her direction. “So we can get this over with, and he no longer looks like a...crushed box of tissues?”
“Yes, I would appreciate that,” the coach stated matter-of-factly. “Then we can finally move on.”
She grinned and strode across the room. “All right then.”
Lucas’ gaze flicked to her. “Don’t you dare. There’s way too many people,” he replied harshly, but the corner of his mouth was raised — and his eyes were so damn warm that they were surely partly to blame for the climate crisis.
