Page 166 of Delicate Storm

“I have to. If I agree to drop my investigation, they said they’ll destroy the photos. But I know them, and they’re lying. They won’t stop until they destroyme,and with those photos they have all the ammunition they need. If they hurt you or Isaac, I’ll never recover.”

My teeth clench as I groan. I’m caught between telling her she’s crazy and panicking if she’s not. But I can’t give up. “We can fight this. We—”

“No, Easton. I need you to be the guy I first met. The asshole that only cares about two things in his life. Football and his family. I need you to think about Isaac.”

Is she kidding me?“You are my family, Paige. And how dare you say I’m not thinking about Isaac right now. He fucking loves you. If you walk away, you’ll break him. Worse than Macy ever did. Because she never showed him the kind of love you have.”

“East—” Her voice breaks and she falls silent, her soft sniffles the only sound filling the air, and my heart fucking disintegrates.

“God, Paige. I can’t lose you. We can’t—”

“I love you too much to fuck with your life, Easton. Both of you. Think about it. Macy will use this. She’ll use those photos to take Isaac, and you’ll never get a say. She’s his mom. You know it won’t take much for the courts to side with her, and this is a huge red flag.”

Goddammit. She’s right but I’m not about to walk away from her when I’m part of the problem. “Do I get a say in this?”

Paige sighs and I can guess what’s coming before she says it. “Honestly, no. You can’t fix this. You need to focus on Isaac.”

“Paige—”

“Bye, Easton.”

“Don’t you dare hang up—” The line goes dead and I scream, “Fuck!”

“Jesus, Easton.” Keeley runs outside and pulls the door closed behind her, her voice in a loud whisper. “What’s going on? You’re lucky you didn’t wake Isaac.”

“Paige is in trouble, and she’s shutting me out because she doesn’t want me and Isaac involved.”

Keeley’s eyes widen before she pulls her phone out of her back pocket. “What kind of trouble? Is she okay?”

“Are you planning on recording this? What’s with your phone?”

“In case I need to help.” She shrugs.

“You can’t help. She has some stuff going on with her ex and his family. They’re threatening to release photos of her and me… ah… doing stuff.”

“What do you mean, doing stu— Oh.” Her face scrunches. “Doingstuff. How?”

“We weren't exactly doing it in private, but that’s not the point. The point is that it could affect my custody case with Macy.”

“God, I ha—dislike her. A lot. What is wrong with you? You’re a great guy. You could have had any woman and you chose her. This isn’t on Paige. It’s on you and Macy.”

“Jesus. Thanks for the support, Keeley.”

“Shut up. You know it’s true. You’ve made some shitty decisions to get you to this point. And now Paige—”

“Why does it feel like you know more about Paige than what I just told you?”

Keeley pauses and her brows furrow as she folds her arms over her chest. “We’re friends, Easton. You seem to forget that. And while neither of you bothered to admit you’re together, it didn’t take much to figure it out.”

“Fuck, we should have—”

“Don’t worry about that. I told you. I knew. And that was before Isaac told me she’s been having sleepovers at your place. But none of that’s important. What are you going to do?”

“I have no fucking idea because I share the same fear she does… What if this is all Macy needs to take Isaac away?”

Keeley stays with Mom and Isaac while I head off to my early practice. Since it’s Thanksgiving, we’re only required for a half day, but it’s a half of a day more than I can handle right now, and I’m a fucking mess by the time I run out onto the field.

“Are you okay?” Reed asks when he catches me massaging my temples, and for the first time, I shake my head.

---