Jock: A Secret Baby Sports Romance by Irons Aubrey

Author:Irons, Aubrey [Irons, Aubrey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2016-09-06T07:00:00+00:00

44

Hailey

“You sure you don’t want me to come in with you?”

I shake my head quietly in the dark of the car. “No, I-” I take a breath. “I’ve got this.”

Roxie nods as I open the car door.

Three minutes later, I suck in a big breath of air before I raise my hand and knock on the door to Dad’s office.

“Come on in.”

He stands from the chair behind his desk when I step in, and I can feel every nerve ending in my body buzzing with the same dread I can feel tugging at my face.

“Dad, I-”

“Hey, are you okay?”

I shake my head. “What? Yeah, Dad I’m fine, but there’s something I need to tell you.”

Slowly, he shakes his head. “You don’t, honey.”

“No, Dad-”

“Because Dalton already did.”

I freeze, feeling the ache in my chest ready to drop through the floor.

“What? No, Dad-” I blink. “Wait, he what?”

It’s a whirl of emotion and confusion, and I stagger a step, feeling like I might fall.

“He told me, Hailey - how he felt about you, I mean. After the game tonight.” He shakes his head. “That kid’s got iron guts, I’ll say that.”

Dalton told my dad he loved me?

“That magazine called, by the way,” Dad says slowly. “Wanted a reaction quote for some tabloid junk story they’re running tomorrow.”

Oh, God.

“Dad, it’s not- I mean-” The room is spinning, and I feel like claws are dragging up my chest to clutch at my throat. I take another staggered step, feeling my legs start to go weak before my dad is suddenly there, wrapping his arms around me.

“Hey, I’ve gotcha, kiddo” he says gently, stroking my back as I squeeze my eyes shut and try to keep the tears from falling onto his shoulder.

He pulls back and smiles at me, that sort of parental smile that soothes like a well-worn blanket on a stormy night. “C’mon,” he jerks his head towards the office door. “Let’s take a walk, honey.”

The field is lit this time. The lights bright and searing past the shadows and the secrets I’ve been carrying, as if proving they can be laid bare.

“Damn boosters can’t make up their fool minds about whether or not to light this place at night,” Dad says with a shrug.

We walk in silence down the sideline of the football field.

“I’d like to consider myself a molder of men, Hails,” Dad says after a minute. He nods slowly, as if considering his words, “I knew who Dalton was when I took this job, or when I got involved with Heather for that matter.”

Dad takes a deep breath. “Look, Dalton Cole is-”

“Dad, I know,” I cringe, feeling that sinking feeling in my chest. “I know what he is.”

He shakes his head. “No, kiddo, that’s not what I was going to say. He’s more than that, I know. Hell, we’re all more than what shit-kicking tabloid papers say we are. This whole team is more than just a win or a loss on a scoreboard or a page, not that the papers want to admit it.

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