: Chapter 31

I’m glad he leaves quickly.

It takes everything not to watch him as he passes me. As I absorb the last I’ll probably see of him for who knows how long.

I will see him, though. Maybe at a stoplight a year from now. On Liv’s social media when she’s home with them next summer. Maybe he’ll have a kid someday, and I’ll have a kid, and I’ll see him across the field as they play on opposing sides.

I will see him, though. He’s not done yet, and I’m satisfied with that. I can be satisfied with that.

But I still feel like my insides are bleeding.

I draw in a breath, hear the door close, and look at my father. “Are you going to raise the kids?” I ask him. “You and your girlfriend?”

He lifts his chin, his discomfort at discussing this in front of his colleagues evident. But we don’t have to discuss anything.

“They stay with me,” I tell him, taking out the check from a pack I found in his desk. “Say yes.”

“We need to talk.”

“We will.” I set the check, already made out, on the table. “Say yes.”

He inhales and exhales three times, and then nods once, barely. He might be willing to go the distance with me and Paisleigh after he’s remarried and has set up house properly, but he doesn’t believe Mars is his, and it doesn’t matter, because I’m not discussing it. We’re a package deal.

I slide the check over to him. “And pay her off.”

He drops his eyes to the check, taking in the sizable but fair amount I wrote out. She won’t acquiesce for anything less.

“I left her the house to sell,” he says.

“You mean the home where your children live?” I fire back. “Fuck you.”

Garrett Ames chuckles and then takes a sip of his scotch.

“Krisjen, what has gotten into you?” my father growls in a near whisper.

He’s embarrassed.

I don’t retreat. “Take out your Montblanc,” I order him.

Take out your fucking pen and sign it and this is done. He’ll be free. He doesn’t break eye contact until he has his pen out and starts signing it.

He pushes it back over to me, and I take out my phone, log into my bank account, and scan the check, immediately depositing it.

I put both the check and my phone away. “If it doesn’t clear, the next check will be bigger.”

His jaw flexes, but he keeps his mouth shut, slipping his pen back into his breast pocket.

“Have your lawyer draw up the papers,” I tell him. “Bring them when you come to see your kids next Saturday. I’ll make sure she signs them quickly.”

“Krisjen.”

“Please leave,” I say.

And I lift my eyes to the wall behind him, done dealing with him tonight. Two down, one more to go.

Buttoning his suit jacket, he walks out, slamming the door behind him.

Jerome tsks. “Not as sweet as I thought.”

I cock my head. “Y’all are handfuls.”

He laughs, but I don’t.

“So why the change of heart?” he asks.

“Well, I’m not going to college.”

I pull out one more thing from the pocket of my skirt and step forward.

“And I promise you, you’ll get everything you pay for,” I tell him, placing the key on the table. “On one more condition.”

Jerome reaches out to pick it up. “And what’s that?”

I slide it away from him. “Not you.” And I push it toward Garrett Ames instead. “You.”

He picks it up and turns it over, examining it. “And what’s this a key to, little girl?”

Ileave quickly, worried they’ll try to make me stay. I know the stories, heard about the sharing that goes on among the adults.

I never asked my mother and will not ask Clay if she thinks her parents took part in any of it. I don’t want to know.

I don’t want anything to do with it.

The adults …

Like I’m not one of them now.

My plan worked perfectly tonight. Everything went in my favor. The tears well in my eyes in spite of the wins.

He left. So quickly. Left me in there. With those men. In that room. In that room. God …

I walk down the drive, toward my Rover, barely noticing the people on the green. “Krisjen!” I hear someone call.

I look right as a crowd of night golfers congregates a hundred yards away, one person waving their golf club in the air. I think it’s Clay. Did Liv join her?

I came dressed to play for their biannual fundraising event—if nothing else, as an excuse to get out of the meeting if Jerome tried to keep me—but I just want to go home. I need to think.

I know I did the right thing. Right? This is what’s right. It sucks, but it’s right. He’ll be safe now.

But then he’s there.

In front of me. Walking to me as I stop at my car.

“Does he have enough money for you?” Macon asks, climbing the incline of the driveway, up to me.

He didn’t leave. I don’t blink, but I feel the tears in my chest. He stayed.

“You look good,” I whisper.

He does. The bags are still there but getting lighter. He’s sleeping.

As soon as I drove up and saw the bikes parked along the edge of the driveway, I got nervous, but I was also happy to see him riding. With his family.

He stops when he reaches me, his body pressing into mine as he gazes down at me. “How many square feet did he promise?”

God, I love his eyes. Everyone notices the green eyes on his brothers, but Macon’s make me feel like I’m tucked away in a cabin, deep in the forest, under a quilt, and it’s raining. It feels like a memory, but it’s not. I’ve never been to a cabin.

“You’re all riding,” I say, unable not to smile a little. I’m glad he’s getting out. He looks strong.

“Does he have brothers, too?” he says.

My chin trembles. He looks so good. “I don’t know,” I admit.

“But he won’t want anyone else touching me. At least for a while. At least until …”

He touches his forehead to mine.

“Until?” he gasps.

But he already knows.

Grabbing me in both hands, he lifts me up and pins me to the tree. I wrap my legs around him. “What was one of the rumors about me that you said you heard?” he whispers over my jaw. “That I’m gonna breed you all out?”

I hold his face in my hands. “I love you.”

His scent fills my head, and I close my eyes, my hair like a curtain falling between us.

“You could be carrying one of ours right now,” he says, hovering his mouth over mine. “My brothers and I had a lot of fun with you, after all.”

I brush my nose to his. “I love you,” I whisper.

“He’s going to get you nice and used.”

I kiss him softly on the lips, and I feel his body tremble under my hands. “I love you.”

“I would father all of your children,” he murmurs.

I press my lips to his forehead, trailing kisses down his temple, down his face, and to the corner of his mouth.

“Summon me every time you want one.” He breathes hard, digging his fingers into the backs of my thighs. “I’ll happily work for you.”

Leaning in, he kisses my forehead, sets me back on my feet, and leaves me there.

“I love you,” I mouth long after he’s gone.