Page 79 of Cross Check Daddies
He laughs, bitter and hollow, and kicks a piece of gravel.
“I never recovered from it. Never let myself get close like that again. And now it’s the same damn story. Different woman. Same ending.”
I open my mouth, but he keeps going. “Brooke’s not just any woman. You and I both know she’s rare. The way she carries herself, the way she loves Jackson, the way she doesn’t ask for more than you’re willing to give—but somehow still makes youwantto give it.”
He wipes his face with both hands, pacing now, barely keeping it together.
“She’s weighing her options. I can see it, and I don’t blame her. Tanner’s got youth and drive. You’re her first love. There’s a rhythm between you two that nobody else can touch. And me?” He laughs, but there’s no humor in it. Just fatigue. “I’m the coach. The grown-up. The guy with a stocked fridge and probable arthritis in my knee.”
“Don’t do that,” I say.
“I’m being realistic,” he fires back. “Hell, even Brooke’s probably hoping one of you two is the father. She didn’t say it outright, but I could tell.”
He stops pacing, standing dead still. “I’ve done this before, Cam. I’ve let myself believe I could have something and then watched it fall apart.”
I stay quiet.
“She’s not just deciding who she wants in her bed, Cam. She’s deciding who gets to help raise her kids. And I don’t think I’m the man she sees beside her in all that.”
“I think you’re wrong,” I say quietly.
He turns toward me, frustration sharpening his voice. “She kissed me. Sure. She let me in. But you think that means she sees a future? She’s kind, Cam. She’s considerate. She doesn’t want to hurt anyone.” He exhales hard, eyes raw. “But kindness isn’t the same as commitment.”
This time, I don’t have a comeback. Because I get it. I really do.
He’s not angry. He’s scared. And it’s bleeding out in all directions.
I stare at him, every part of me burning from the tension between us. But something clicks. Something I’ve been circling for weeks but never had the guts to say out loud.
“What if she doesn’t have to choose?”
Ace freezes.
I take a breath. “What if shedoesn’thave to pick one of us? What if we make it work... all of us?”
He stares at me like I’ve grown two heads.
“You’ve lost your mind,” he mutters.
“No. I’m just trying to be honest about the fact that none of us is going anywhere. We’ve all been circling her for months. We love her in our own way. She loves us back. Maybe not the same. But it’s there.”
“She has a child, Cam. And is expecting another.”
“I know that.”
“She deserves stability. A partner. Not three men dragging her in different directions.”
“Or maybe we’ve been thinking about this wrong,” I say. “Maybe what she needs isn’t about one person. Maybe it’s aboutbeing held together by something that doesn’t fit into a neat box.”
He shakes his head. “I can’t. I need to get out of here.”
He walks fast, rips the door open, and slides behind the wheel. I back up as the engine roars and the tires spit gravel behind him.
And then he’s gone.
I stand there for a few long beats, watching the taillights fade into the horizon.
When I turn back toward the house, Brooke’s standing on the steps. Her arms are crossed, her expression unreadable. Her hair’s a mess, her shirt wrinkled. She looks like someone who’s trying not to fall apart.
