Page 101 of The Fake Out

“She was a drug addict.”

I nodded. I had a feeling that was the case.

“Don’t be mad, okay?”

“About what?”

He sighed. “She wanted to come see you when you were twelve.”

“What?” I shrieked.

“She was going through rehab and doing the twelve-step thing. Dad wouldn’t let her see you, made me promise on his deathbed I’d always protect you from her.”

“That wasn’t your choice to make!”

He nodded. “I know. Dad was a good man, but he shouldn’t have left that up to me. She reached out when she heard about Dad’s death.”

“What?”

He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. He produced a card and handed it to me. “I told her to fuck off, but it’s your choice if you want a relationship with her. I had Tony look into her. She’s been clean since then, living in bumblefuck PA, but she seems good.”

Eddie’s brother Tony was a PI. Of course Alex had him do a background check on my mother because he was trying to protect me. I wasn’t sure I ever wanted to see her, so I was more annoyed than angry that he withheld this information.

“Why tell me this now?” I asked and crumbled up the card.

Alex sighed. “Because you’ve been a shit to work with lately, and I hate seeing you like this. It wasn’t your fault. Your mom left because she had an addiction. Seth’s an asshole, but Blaise wasn’t. He made you happy.”

I stared at my brother. “I can’t.”

“Yes, you can. You’re gonna show him a big grand gesture and tell him how you feel, or so help me God!”

“What if he doesn’t feel the same? Big grand gesture? What am I in a romcom?”

He tipped back his head and laughed. “Yes! Go to his game, wear his jersey, and then tell him you love him and want to have his babies.”

“I don’t want his babies,” I muttered.

My brother laughed. “Yeah, you do. You’d have cute little babies, and I want some more nieces and nephews. I’ve heard that family’s fertile, so you better hop to it.”

“What about asshat?”

“I kicked him to the curb early. I feel terrible for Lily.”

I nodded. “Me too. She seems nice. She didn’t deserve that.”

“Neither did you.”

I ran my hands down my face. “There’s only one problem with this grand gesture plan.”

“What?”

“I don’t have a ticket for tonight’s game.”

My brother looked at me like I just told him the sky was green. “Hoe! You know Eddie’s baby sis is about to marry a Bulldog.”

“Yeah?”

Alex rolled his eyes. “And one of your clients is a sales manager for the team.”