He shook his head. “No. I love what I have and would do it a million times over.”
“Even losing football?”
He was quiet for a moment. “Yes. Even losing football. I’m a firm believer in everything happening for a reason. I was meant to do this. To write. Tell stories. Change lives. I can still watch football and teach my son someday. I am more than happy with that.”
“Then back to the question. Is this fucked up?”
“Can both things exist at once? It could be fucked up but necessary.”
“Schrödinger’s fuck up,” I mused, refilling our glasses. “I like it. Both can exist at the same time, but until we rip off the bandage, there’s no way of knowing how much blood there will be.”
Evan sighed. “So time will tell?”
“Indeed. Cheers to fate, brother.” I held my glass up.
He chuckled and clinked his glass with mine. “To fate, the fucking bitch.”
We drank deeply.
She really was a bitch.
8
RYDER
“You OK?” I asked Rosalie as I went into her room. I didn’t like that Ethan had come to talk to her in her bedroom. I worried about her. She’d been through so damn much already. Ethan may have been a great guy and all, but the shit they did to her five years ago still didn’t sit well with me.
“I don’t know.” She looked at me with tears in her eyes. “How do I fix this?”
“Oh, Red.” I hugged her against me. She clung to me, crying softly.
“I don’t know what to do. How do I stop loving someone?”
My heart broke for her. I had no idea what had gone down in here, but it had caused her to get all up in her feelings.
“I don’t think you can stop loving someone unless you really want to stop loving them, and even then, I’m sure you can’t fully get rid of it.”
She shook in my arms as she cried.
I held her tighter.
The door opened, and Anson came into the room. Immediately, he took her from me and held her as he sat on her other side on the bed.
I didn’t move. I watched, taking in how she nestled against him like she was the perfect fit and meant to be there. And she really was, but that didn’t stop the ache in my chest when I wished for her to fit against me, too.
“Ryder, can you go check on Ellis?” Anson murmured.
“Yeah, man. Call me if you need me.”
He said nothing, all his attention back on her. I left the room and went back to the living room, where Ellis was playing with her dolls and singing softly. I smiled at that. Maybe if she grew out of her love of ballet, she’d be like Rosalie and singing for millions of people.
There was a knock on the door, and I ruffled Ellis’s hair, making her giggle, before I went to answer it.
I couldn’t even comprehend what happened because it happened so fast.
One minute I was opening the door, and the next I was lying on the floor, covered in blood as Ellis screamed bloody murder. My ears rang. My head ached. My chest felt like I’d been laid on my ass by a bus.
I blinked rapidly, trying to stay conscious as I kicked the door closed. I touched my chest and pulled my hands away to see so much damn blood.
