Page 40 of Outlaw Heartstrings
“And the mom?” Parker asks sagely. “Is she an old girlfriend or something?”
“Yeah. What’s the relationship status between you two now?” Ronan questions.
I wince, still holding my phone up to my ear. “That’s…complicated.”
“Complicated how?” Tipton’s eyes twinkle, like he’s ready for all the juicy bits.
“Raya and I were never a couple. It was more of a one-time thing. I was on my way out, you know? I’d already been drafted, and I had no intention of ever coming back to FairyBush. But now…well, let’s just say I left a whole lot of responsibility behind me.”
Won’t lie—I feel a little slutty every time I go over that part of the story. Like, what the hell was I thinking, getting myself in that situation. But I was a kid back then. I’m a man now. And I’ll do what I have to do to make amends for my actions.
“Anyway, Raya didn’t stick around to be a mom. She’s out of the picture now. And Jagger’s been living with his aunt, Alba.”
The guys blink at me.
“His aunt?” Ronan asks.
I nod. “She’s been working so damn hard to take care of Jagger, holding everything together all on her own. I’m just…I’m so fucking grateful for all the sacrifices she’s made, shouldering the burden while I was off building my career.”
Tipton hesitates to speak. “I don’t want to sound like an asshole and I know that you’re disappointed to have missed a big part of the kid’s life, but you sort of got lucky that things worked out like this.”
“What do you mean?” I ask, already feeling defensive.
“I know the type of person you are,” he insists. “You’re a good guy. If you had known you had a newborn baby back in the day, you would have done something reckless.”
“Something reckless like what?” I challenge, my eyebrows slashing down into a stormy frown.
“Something like throwing away the opportunity you’d worked so hard to achieve, just to come back home. You would have gotten blasted in the media for making a mistake. Or worse, you might have forfeited your spot on the team,” he dares to mutter.
“Damn, thatissome asshole shit to say.” Parker elbows our teammate in the side.
I scoff incredulously. “Coming home for my son? That doesn’t sound reckless to me, Tipton. It sounds responsible. I losteight freaking yearswith my boy.Eight freaking yearsof being a father. It’s all I can think about.”
Ronan intervenes, changing the subject before I can get even more heated. “Shit. So, how is this going to work? This aunt—is she going to let you keep seeing the kid?” he asks.
My shoulder rises and drops in a heavy shrug. “I hope she will. I hope things don’t get contentious. Legally. She and I were good friends back in high school. She knows I’m a good guy. I hope that’s enough to make her trust me.”
“So what happens when you start to play hockey again?” Parker asks. “When you’re out in Fairy Bush for the summer, that’s one thing. But when you’re back in Sin Valley at the start of the season, what happens then?”
“I don’t know, okay?” I lean forward, letting my head hang and giving the guys an ugly close up of my nostrils in the process. But I don’t care. “This whole thing is a mess and I have no idea how it’ll work itself out.”
Ronan sighs. “Chin up, brother. Keep your chin up. You’ve got to believe that it’ll all get sorted out.”
He’s right. I straighten my shoulders and stare off across the park, feeling a renewed sense of determination. “I can’t think too far ahead into the future. I can only think about the here and now. All that matters is taking advantage of the time I have with Jagger. All that matters now is getting to know my son.”
15
ALBA
Today, I’m working my receptionist shift at the hospital’s main front desk. I’m greeting all patients and visitors who enter the building, answering phones, and trying to keep up with paperwork. I’m multitasking like my life depends on it.
“Name?” I say automatically when a shadow looms over my desk.
“Someone I know likes to call me ‘Mr. Tower’,” a deep, smooth, familiar voice says.
A smile touches my lips before I even look up.Easton…I lift my head and find him standing in front of me.
“You still going by that horrible nickname, huh?” I wrinkle my nose at him.
