I look my girlfriend’s naked mother straight in the eye. “Iamfucking better than what you had.”
She flinches.
I’m not done, and this time, I’m talking to both of them. “I’m not standing here asking her to choose between us.You’redoing that.You’reputting her in an impossible situation. She’s smart. She’s strong. She’s kind. And all she’s asking is for you to accept who she is and what she wants. I don’t give two shits what you do to me. But don’t make her life harder because you want to lump me into the same bucket as some ass-nugget who could’ve had her in his life.”
Deedee flinches again, but I keep going. “I know what I have. I know what an amazing person she is. I cannot wait to be the kind of father to her baby that apparently neither of us had, but both of us deserved. And I’m doing everything I fucking can to not be the reason she hurts. If you’re not willing to do the same, then you don’t deserve her.”
Ziggy squeezes my hand.
“Roland, sell the team,” Deedee says. “So help me, if you don’t sell the team, you’ll lose your daughterandyour wife.”
He grunts at all of us, but there’s no heat to it.
“Love you, Mom,” Ziggy whispers, “but there’s no fucking way I’m hugging you right now.”
Deedee’s head bobs, and she discreetly covers herself as best she can. “I’ll hug you later. I’ll—I’ll come see you later. At your house.Yourhouse. With clothes.”
“Tomorrow’s fine.” Ziggy sniffles.
Deedee sniffles too. “No, I can get dressed and come over today.”
Roland’s still eyeing me, but I’m not worried he’ll try to hit me.
Be a dumb thing to do with his balls hanging out.
Especially considering he fired me.
Ziggy squeezes my hand again.
I squeeze back, and we duck out of the office together.
Neither of us says a word as we walk through the house.
When we get outside, Goldie straightens.
She’s still alone, but I suspect she won’t be for long. And it won’t just be Fletcher.
It’ll be the whole team.
Fuck me. I haven’t wanted to cry this much since Caden died, but this is different.
This isn’t grief.
This isfamily.
“All okay?” she asks.
“Don’t go in there,” Ziggy says.
I cough.
She whimpers.
“Did someone have a digestive issue?” Goldie asks.
“Naked Tuesdays,” Ziggy whispers back.
Goldie stares at her. Blinks once. Once more. “Well, that’s some extortion material that I wish I didn’t know and will definitelynotbe sharing with Fletcher. Actually, I heard you wrong. I am a thousand percent positive I heard you wrong.”
