Page 146 of Faking the Pass
Rosie had accomplished something I would have considered impossible before—she made me believe there was more to life than football.
To my massive relief, she kissed me back, and that night she let me make love to her again.
In the middle of it, when I’d whispered, “I love you,” she’d said it too.
Then she’d stayed the whole night in my bed. As complicated as our relationship was, the chemistry part, we had no trouble with—never had.
As I held her against me feeling her vulnerable heart beating against my side, I literally prayed it would be enough to get us through what was coming.
Chapter 35
A Fresh Start
Rosie
The lawyers were unsuccessful in delaying the hearing.
It had already been delayed once, they said, and Presley and I would have to appear today for the first of what could end up being many days of arguments.
He should have been driving to practice this morning, preparing for his comeback game, but instead he drove us to the county courthouse.
The parking lot was huge and looked very full, so he dropped me off at the front door.
“I’m gonna go find a parking spot in the overflow lot—meet you inside, okay?”
I nodded and shut the passenger door, trudging up the front steps of the courthouse.
It felt like the beginning of the end.
Once this trial ended, one way or another, our reason to be married would cease to exist.
The mind-blowing hotel room sex on the night of the gala had seemed like a new beginning, but now I saw it for what it was—a swan song.
A curtain call.
A final bow.
Because as tender as Presley had been last night, and as much as he insisted he’d been happy on our wedding day and that he was glad I’d come back into his life… he was going to change his mind.
If this thing dragged on and prevented him from getting back on the field when he was healthy enough to do so, when it was what he’d been working toward for months—if it prevented him from breaking that record, which was what he’d been working toward his entire life… he was going to blame me.
He wouldn’t be able to help it.
No matter how optimistic he was trying to be (and believe me I appreciated the effort) I knew there was no way the love he claimed to feel for me would survive it.
If we even stayed together, he’d resent me the rest of our lives, and I couldn’t live like that.
Not only that, but we were highly likely to lose the civil case, which meant he’d be out hundreds of thousands of dollars if not a million or more. Knowing Randy, he’d certainly try to make the judgement include paying for his top-notch legal team.
But what could I do about it? I felt like a helpless puppet being jerked around by a sadistic puppeteer.
The only thing I could really do at this point was testify honestly and try to convince the judge that I hadn’t set out to hurt Randy or his reputation, that running away from that wedding had literally felt like saving my own life.
And that Presley had been innocent in all of this, simply trying to help an old friend.
That it was my stupidity that had led to this hearing.
Stepping inside the courthouse, I shivered. The air-conditioning inside was way too much for the temperature outside.
