Page 78 of The Penalty Shot (Totally Pucked 5)

“Me too, baby.” I press my lips against the top of her head.

I love these moments with Auden. Intimate. Authentic. Unhurried. Us. I’m so in love with her my chest aches sometimes, as if my heart is so full that it can’t possibly be contained any longer. I’ve never been happier.

“My mom called again today, twice.” She deflates against me, her voice breaking as she says it. “She’s sent so many texts I’ve lost count.”

Anger surges through me, an overwhelming need to protect her and Alex flooding my veins. I fucking hate her parents. I’m thankful we were able to go to New York and have time to ourselves. We’ve been on this high of confessing our love to each other, but her parents have persistently contacted her since the first unwelcome visit. It’s the only thing that’s reminded us both that they are still here, and annoyingly fucking present.

I hate them for abandoning her and Alex, without a second thought. For leaving them without a fucking home. For making Auden go through the hardest time in her life alone. For shaming her into thinking she was anything other than perfect.

I hate them even more now that they’ve waltzed back into her life, making demands of her and Alex and making her second-guess herself,like they haven’t done all the fucked-up shit they’ve done. Like they have the right to be in her life.

Fuck them.

“What do you want to do, baby?” I say, continuing to stroke her hair.

She sighs. “I don’t know, Asher. Part of me feels like I should talk to her and give her a chance. Even if she doesn’t deserve it. She’s still my mom. Another part of me wants to block her number and walk away. I wish I didn’t have to make a decision like this.”

I wish she didn’t either. I wish I could make it for her and never let them hurt her or Alex again. But, this is something that Auden has to decide. Her parents have manipulated her for so long, she has to be the one to decide to walk away, and feel confident in her decision. She has to decide what her boundaries with them are and need to be.

I press a kiss to her temple. “I think that you have the best heart of anyone I’ve ever known, Auden. I think that you put everyone before yourself, and when making a decision, you always think of others first.” I trail my fingers down the delicate slope of her neck, to her shoulders, down the expanse of her arms until I lace my fingers in hers. “I think that you probably already know in your heart what it is that you’re going to do, and it’s your head that’s playing catch up. That’s the kind of person that you are, baby. You listen to your heart even when it’s at war with your head. And I fucking love you so much for that. I aspire to be that kind of man.Youmake me want to be that kind of man.”

She looks up at me, tears in her eyes. “You give me a lot of credit.”

My thumb ghosts along her chin as I lower my head and kiss her, my mouth moving over hers. “Only the credit you deserve, baby. Whatever you decide, I’ll support you, and I’ll be by your side. Okay?”

“Okay.” Her voice is barely a whisper.

And I mean it. I’ll support her in whatever she chooses to do. I just hope like fuck that her parents pull their heads out of their asses and realize what an amazing woman she is, and that they have the best fucking grandson. I hope that they can change. If not, well, it is definitely their loss. But they better not hurt Alex and Auden again.

I’ll make sure thatmyfamily is happy, no matter what it costs me.

Chapter Twenty Four

Auden

The heavy sinkingfeeling in the pit of my stomach seems to worsen by the minute as I wait for Mama to walk through the entrance. I’ve been sitting here, pretending to sip my overpriced water, for what feels like forever, when I finally see her prance through, with the hostess in tow. Her light red blonde hair billows behind her, the very same shade that she’d passed down to me. Dressed in a dark navy pantsuit, suitable for the nation’s next First Lady, her face is tight and her lips pulled into a deep scowl.

“Auden,” she says simply, setting her Birkin bag on the table, not bothering to hug me or say hello before she sits down.

I try to smile genuinely, but she’s only been here for a moment, and I already feel nauseous from her flippant attitude toward me. “Hi Mama,” I whisper quietly.

The waiter pours her a glass of ice water and scurries away with his tail tucked as she looks down her nose at him. Something tells me that she already insulted him before she walked into the dining room.

Has she always been this way and I was just too insecure to notice?

I’ve done a lot of thinking since I returned home from New York. My time with Asher has made me realize that, for the past few months, I’ve been avoiding confronting a lot of hurtful parts of my past. But I know that if I don't face these broken pieces of my heart, I can’t move forward.

My parentsare central to all of that trauma. The strained, unhealthy relationship we have is the thing that hurts me the most. And now, for the first time in my life, aside from the day that I had my son, I’m happy. I’m really happy, and so deliriously in love that I want to let go of the things weighing me down.

“Very dramatic of you to make me wait this long, Auden, honestly.” Mama scoffs, bringing her glass to her lips.

I notice how much she’s actually aged in the last few years since I’ve seen her. There are lines between her eyebrows and under her eyes, and the dramatic makeup she’s always worn seems caked on. No longer hiding all of her blemishes.

“I wasn’t sure if I was going to respond,” I tell her, truthfully. I didn’t know if I was ever going to speak to her again after the hateful, hurtful things that she and my father spewed standing in my own home. Asher is right. I love with all my heart, and while it can be one of my best qualities, I think it may also be one of my most damning ones. I wasn’t sure if letting them back into my life was a good or bad thing, at first.

But lately, I’ve opened my eyes to the things around me that I’ve ignored for far too long.

Mama rolls her eyes, the distaste written all over her face.

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