“You spineless son of a bitch.” Chapman manages to rip out of the authorities’ holds, lunging for Harry—for the computer in his hands.
The soft-spoken equipment manager flinches, locking up and waiting for the blow to land, but then I’m there, stepping in front of Harry and throwing my entire body into a rear hook across his face.
Bone crunches against my knuckles, and the satisfaction I feel cancels out any pain when Lawrence hits the floor, the thud reverberating around the room.
My chest heaves as I crouch within inches of where his cheek is pressed to the linoleum floor, blood leaking from his nose. I whisper only loud enough for him to hear, “You fucked with the wrong person when you went after Jade. Something you may not know about me, Lawrence: Iwillthrow it all away for someone I love. There is no purpose in my life greater than taking care of her. So, you better pray to whatever god you believe in that the evidence we find on that laptop holds up in court, because if it doesn’t,” I pauseleaning in further, “I’m going to make the pain you’re in right now feel like a holiday in Ibiza.”
I signal to the police, and they hurry over, stretching his arms behind his back, cuffing his wrists, and pulling him upright. He jerks against their hold, wincing from the pain of being jostled around as they yank him toward the open door and out of sight.
I watch as he goes, feeling one small weight float off my shoulders as another, much heavier boulder comes to rest atop them.
“What now, Cap?” The question comes from Connor, of all people, and I finally turn to face my team—my brothers, the men who have stuck by my side and whose loyalty never wavered. Pride shines through every set of eyes I meet, and a sudden realisation hits me like a high speed train: even when I was at my worst, they never saw me the way I saw myself. They were just waiting for me to catch up.
Looking at every last one of them, I say, “I’m going to go get our boss back.”
The confidence I felt when I left the stadium quickly starts to wane the closer I get to Jade’s flat. In its place is anticipation mixed with apprehension.
I’m almost positive she broke up with me only because of the stunt Chapman pulled, but a small demon in the back of my mind pokes at my insecurities until they’re red and tender. She said I was a distraction, and maybe that’s what she needed for a time, but she was ready to put it behind her now and go back to L.A., back to her life there and everything it came with.
It would annihilate me, but I would weather the heartbreak because it meant for a small time, I meant something to her, even if she meant everything to me.
But there was another part of me screaming she belongs here in London—with me.
I pull my car up to the curb outside Jade’s home, barely coming to a full stop before I’m throwing myself out the door and ringing the bell to her flat.
Minutes stretch on with no answer, and I start to panic. Did she leave already? Night’s fallen, and I count the hours that have passed since I saw her last, but…no, between the second half of the match, post-game interviews, and the whole ordeal with Chapman, it’s only been a few hours. Four, tops, and she wouldn’t have left without saying goodbye to her dad first.
Her dad.
A light flares bright in my mind as I race back to my car, slide inside, and throw it into drive. Within a half hour, I’m knocking on his door, feeling hopeful and a little out of breath.
My fist pounds against the door over and over until a very agitated Archie yanks it open. It’s funny how I can see little bits of Jade in his irate glare. The“are you insane?”look on his face makes me miss her even more. It’s equal parts disturbing and comforting to find her in this person she loves so much.
“Have you lost your bloody m—” I step further into the glow of the hallway light spilling out onto the front step. “Oh, Tieran, my boy!” Archie's wizened face brightens when he sees it’s me. “Did you see my last Word with Friends?” He leans against the doorframe as his lips lift in a smile. “Give it up, lad. There’s no way you can top quaalude.”
A chuckle escapes my mouth despite the stress coursing through my body. “I’ll best you one day, Arch.”
As Archie ushers me in with a trembling hand to my shoulder, I strain my ears for any sign of Jade, but I can’t hear anything outside of this week's presenters on Gogglebox playing on the tv. No rustling around in the kitchen, no doors upstairs being open or closed; it’s as if herdad is the only one here. But…she wouldn’t just leave, would she?
“What brings you by, son?” My stomach flips at the endearment, making me picture a future in which he calls me that because I’m family.
“I’m looking for Jade.” I look around again, hoping the sound of my voice will make her magically appear and start laying into me with her sarcastic tongue.
His face turns grim, and my stomach sinks down to my feet.
“I would have thought she’d tell you…”
“Where is she, Archie?” My voice is pleading, edged with intense desperation.
“She left to go back to L.A. I told her not to go,” he hastily adds on, but I’m unable to focus on what he’s saying as my body threatens to crumble. She wouldn’t give up on us. I couldn’t fathom it—couldn’t even entertain it, because the Jade I know has never given up on anything in her life. That is, until she relented to Chapman’s whims in order to save me. “I told her she needed to stay and stick it out. I knew something was happening with you two long before the news came out. I’ve never seen my Jade so carefree—sohappy.” He just launched a javelin clean through my chest. “She’s never had that before, a balance to her life. Work was the only thing she ever focused on. No matter how much I tried to encourage her to do other things, she always brushed it off, always had her mom in her ear to dissuade her. But you,” he pats my face affectionately, “you got her to slow down, to do something for herself for the first time in years—you brought her balance.”
“She brought me peace,” I admit, wanting him to know any effect I had on her, she had on me tenfold.
“You love my daughter, Tieran.” A statement, not a question.
I feel the need to answer anyway. “More than every star in the sky.”
He weighs my words, his expression inscrutable beforehe walks over to the small table under the window of his sitting room. He pulls out a pad and pen, scribbling something down before tearing it off and handing it to me, his hands steady for the first time since I’ve known him.
