Page 124 of Playbook
“Nah, it’s fine. I want to come. I’ll be there.”
She searches my face. I wonder if I look as wrecked as I feel.
“Okay,” she says finally, lingering a little longer. “Text me if you need anything or just want to talk. I can stop back by if you want.”
“I don’t deserve you.” I hug her and breathe her in one last time.
“You do, and I’m yours.”
THIRTY-THREE
Archer’s face gives nothing away. I just gave him a play-by-play of the last twenty-four hours. I didn’t leave anything out, including how I drank so much that London had to put me to bed.
“What do you think?”I ask when I can’t take it any longer. I need his opinion because my brain is too cluttered. I’ve used it more in the past twenty-four hours than in my entire life.
“You know what I think, but I didn’t talk to her. Is she willing to do a DNA test?”His face is still guarded.
“I don’t know,” I say.“We only talked for a few minutes. She told me how her parents adopted her at birth, and she always knew, but she only started looking for her birth parents earlier this year. She obviously didn’t know about me either, but when she started researching them…”
“She found you.”
I nod.
“Did she ask for money?”
“No. She said she just wanted to meet me.”
He makes a gruff, disbelieving sound deep in his throat.“She could still be making the whole thing up.”
“I know.”He’s not wrong. It’s just a story.“But Arch…I don’t think she is. It feels like she could be the real deal. I can’t explain it. Something about her…”I trail off, feeling silly.“Maybe I’m just gullible.”
His scowl turns into a sympathetic smile. “You’re not gullible. You just see the best in people and some people are assholes.”
“Will you meet her? I know you’re skeptical and I understand why, but I need someone else to help me figure this out because I can’t see straight.”He knows what my parents were like, so I don’t have to worry about him feeling any differently about me. He saw me at my most broken and he’s never held it against me.
“Of course I will.”
“And not yell at her.”
“No promises.”
My body relaxes knowing he has my back on this.
“Where were you last night anyway?”I ask, desperate to change the conversation.
“I went to Wren’s house after the game.”He grimaces.“We ended things.”
“Oh, shit.I’m sorry.” I drop what’s left of my sandwich onto my plate and wipe my hand on a napkin.“You let me go on and on for the past hour and said nothing until now?”
His masked expression gives way to a small smirk. “I don’t think my relationship status competes with a potential secret sister.”
Secret sister. Fuck. My brain is going to explode.
“What happened?”I ask, pushing thoughts of Sabrina away for now. I wenttwenty-three years without thinking about her, another hour or so won’t make a difference.
“Eh…” He lifts a hand and waves it around, diverting his gaze.“It wasn’t really going anywhere. I knew it. She knew it.”
“So? I thought you were just having fun and not looking for anything serious.”
