“Luka’s a phenomenal player.Let’s sort out this mess.”Gunnar stepped toward the door.He towered over me, the debonair, inscrutable billionaire.I’d lived with my father’s belittling, invasive tactics, but never had I felt as powerless as I did in that moment.And this was a person who intended to be on my side.
With a curt nod of dismissal, Gunnar left through the door Cruz held open for him.
Chapter15
Luka
Iclutched at my hair as I listened, through the speaker of my phone, to the conversation between the owner of the Wildcatters and my Millie.
I wasn’t there.How the fuck was I supposed to prove to her that she could trust me, lean on me, be with me, if I wasn’t there for her when she needed me?
Instead, Cruz and Paloma and even Coach were standing in for me.
Part of me was glad they cared enough to be there for my woman.But another less-confident part—the little boy who’d gone to his mother in tears over a skinned knee or a slight and been rejected—worried Millie would reject me, too.
“You hear all that?”Cruz asked as he closed the door behind him.
His voice rumbled through the air, into my ear, and through my body.
“Yeah, man, I heard.I need to get back for that meeting.”
“True.”Cruz paused.“By the way, Millie doesn’t know I had you on the phone—that you heard all that, and maybe that’s a good thing.”He blew out a long breath.“You should also do the paternity test.”
Shock flared white-hot through my chest.“Why would you say that?”
“To give Bree protection, in case Chasten manages to Britney Spears your girl.Your child can’t get caught up inthat, man.”
He was right, but the idea seemed mercenary, like I didn’t trust Millie.But I had to pursue my options with a clear head.
“How’s Alyssa?”Cruz asked into the silence.
I swallowed hard.“Dying.”
I was losing my damn mind; I didn’t have a clue how to solve the problem that was my life.Although I needed to be in Houston with Millie, I couldn’t abandon Alyssa, the mother I’d always wanted.
“None of that now, son.”
Alyssa’s voice froze every muscle, and I couldn’t take a breath.She never called me son—that moniker was Mike’s, the child of her body.“You’re a good boy, Luka,” she added, patting my face when I met her eyes.“A good boy.”
“Gotta go,” I told Cruz.“I’ll figure out how to get there for that meeting—and I’ll call Millie in a few.”
“You got it.Chin up.”
I closed my eyes.That was a near impossibility in this situation.
“Love is hard,” Alyssa rasped after a moment.“Until it’s as easy as breathing.”She reached up, her hand shaking.I took it in mine.“The secret is letting go, son.You gotta let all that other shit go.”
“What?”
The door had creaked open as she spoke, and I lifted my gaze to Mike’s.
“The details about her past, your past—they don’t matter, not if you want each other,” Alyssa continued.“Not if you want to be great parents to that precious baby.I raised you right, enough to be an even better partner than you already are.”
“He’s been a better son to you than me, Ma,” Mike said, taking up position on the other side of her bed.“Giving you a grandkid earns extra points.”
“Different, honey.Not better.Luka, see, he knows what it’s like to go through life without a mother’s love.Except you both have mine, and I did a mighty fine job of raising you both.”
Mike’s lower lip trembled, but he nodded.“You did, Ma.You did.”
