Vegas Aces: The Wide Receiver Complete Series

CHAPTER 2 TRISTAN

I run.

I’m sure I look like a fucking maniac as I literally haul ass through the hotel and out to the Strip in a tuxedo, but I had to get out of that goddamn room before I suffocated in it. My legs carried me all the way outside, and I know I’m leaving behind problems that I can’t outrun, but I just need a minute.

Or a day.

I handed my phone to my mom when we were taking pictures, and she probably still has it in her possession. It’s for the best, though. There’s nobody I want to talk to right now.

Instead, I want to live in the knowledge I own now for a minute before I’m expected to respond to any of it.

I have a kid.

A child walks this Earth who is one-half me and one-half the only girl I ever loved.

The only girl who ever had the power to break me.

She broke me once before. It’s happening again, but this time…I’m the one who’s walking away. It’s the only way I can feel any semblance of control over anything right now.

All I ever wanted was to have a big family with Tessa.

I don’t care how or why she gave up that child. The fact remains that I confessed everything to her—the shameful secrets I never wanted anybody to know—as we vowed that we’d be honest moving forward.

And the whole time, she kept her secret under wraps. My secrets had nothing to do with her, though. Her secrets had everything to do with me.

How different would my life be if I would’ve had a child at eighteen? Would I be a professional football player right now? Or would I be sitting behind a desk, miserable with my life as I work to live and support my family instead of having the type of career most people could only ever dream about?

I’ll never know the answer to that question because the right to it was stripped from me.

I have a lot of other questions, too, but none of the answers matter more than one.

Is my kid happy being raised by someone else? Savannah might have the answer to that—or at the very least, she might be able to give me the names of the parents so I could get in touch and find out for myself.

If he’s happy, I can’t just walk in and interrupt his life. Not after he’s lived seven years with somebody else.

But what if he isn’t?

He’s mine. He should be with me.

I don’t even know his name.

For seven years, a boy I helped create has walked this planet…and I had no idea.

My chest cracks with the knowledge. My stomach heaves. I feel like I might be sick as heat pools behind my eyes.

I don’t know where to turn. I don’t know what to do.

I hate Savannah for ruining our day, but I hate Tessa for keeping it from me.

I also have no idea what she has been through. I have no idea what torture she’s endured…but it couldn’t have been that bad if she could look into my eyes and keep something so important from me while she kissed me, fucked me, promised to marry me.

I stop when I get to the street, and I stare out over the traffic. Cars move along, some weaving in and out to try to get to the next light first, horns honk, people move. Life continues as usual as if my ex-wife didn’t just deliver life-altering news to me, as if my world didn’t just stop turning.

I don’t know where to go. I don’t know where to turn. A cab pulls to a stop at the red light in front of me, and his light is on —meaning he’s taking passengers. I open the door and slide into the back.

“Where to?” he asks.

I can’t go home…I don’t have a home here anymore. I was going to stay with Luke and Ellie while I figured that one out.

I can’t stay here, where I’ll be forced to face the liars and manipulators inside.

Only one place comes to mind.

“The Vegas Aces practice facility,” I say.

Twenty minutes carry me away from the lies and toward the only place that feels like home. I stare quietly out the window the entire time, focusing on the landscape, the cars, the people, the mountains, the palm trees…anything but what I just found out.

The Complex is pretty much empty when the cab driver lets me out. I don’t have my keycard, so I can’t just walk in, but I spot Coach’s car in the lot, so I figure he must be around here somewhere. I can’t text him to come let me in since I don’t have my phone, so I perch on the cinderblock half-wall out front and wait for someone to come by.

I loosen my tie, take off the tuxedo jacket, and roll up my sleeves. My watch tells me it’s eighty-one out right now, but it feels like about a hundred ten as the sun starts to lower in the sky.

I’m only out there maybe fifteen minutes when the door opens and Coach spots me sitting there. He’s clearly done for the day and on his way toward his car to go home, but he stops.

“Higgins?” he asks, his brows drawing together as he takes in my appearance.

“Hey, Coach. I, uh…don’t have my credentials.”

“Come in,” he says, and he walks in with me.

We pause in the lobby, and I lean against the wall for a beat.

“You don’t need to hang around. I just needed some place to go, and nowhere felt like home quite like this place.” I knock on the wall beside me. Even I can recognize the sullenness in my own tone.

“What’s going on, kid?” he asks. “What are you doing here…and why are you dressed like that?”

“Runaway groom,” I mutter, and then I can’t help a small laugh. I must look ridiculous right now.

Coach looks at me like I’m a little crazy, and I slide down the wall until I’m sitting on the floor.

“I was supposed to be getting married about a half hour ago. And then my crazy ex-wife showed up with papers claiming my would-be wife birthed my child seven years ago. She never told me, but she admitted it was true. So I fled, and this was the first place I thought to come.”

“Whoa,” Coach murmurs. “That’s quite a day.”

“Tell me about it,” I huff.

“Want some good news?” he asks.

I nod as I glance up at him.

“The brass upstairs issued your extension today. I’ve got the paperwork with your new contract in my email,” he says.

I press my lips together. This should be the greatest day of my life.

Instead, I can’t seem to muster up any enthusiasm at his words.

“That’s great,” I say, my voice flat.

Coach slides to the floor beside me. “This too shall pass.” He says the words quietly, and when I don’t respond, he continues. “That’s what my dad used to tell me whenever I hit a rough patch. This too shall pass . He wasn’t wrong, but it never helped me feel better in the moment, you know? You have every right to feel how you feel, but I’m going to tell you what I tell every player when something gets them down, and this applies both on the field and off. Focus on the next play, kid. You hear me? Focus on the next play.”

I nod as I blink, trying to grasp onto what he’s saying.

If I let this pull me under, I’m putting a whole lot at risk.

“I guess I just have so many unanswered questions that I’m not even sure what the next play is,” I admit.

“Who can answer those questions?” he asks.

I lift a shoulder. I’m not sure if anyone can, and the person who was supposedly the reason behind all of this in the first place is six feet deep in the cemetery back in Fallon Ridge. My fists itch, though, and what I wouldn’t give to slam one in that motherfucker’s face.

I hate him with an unreasonable amount of force. I hate her right now, too, and I really hate Savannah even though a tiny part of me is grateful I found out about all this before I made Tessa my wife.

Is that why she was rushing into this wedding? She gave some bullshit reason about my dad being there while he’s physically able to be, but did she really just want to jump into it before her secret came out, before Savannah told me the truth?

These are questions I need answers to, but I’m too fucking worked up to go back there right now.

“Thanks, Coach,” I say. “You’ve given me a lot to think about.”

“Why don’t you come home with me for the night?” he suggests. “Mama Mo can whip up a casserole and you can take a night in a neutral zone with somebody who has your best interest at heart.” He pats his chest.

“I don’t want you and your wife going to any trouble for me.”

“Trust me, kid, Monique loves when I bring home boys from the team,” he says, referring to his wife who’s basically the mom of the Aces. “Since we never had kids of our own, she feels like you’re all her boys.”

I look over at him gratefully. “What kind of casserole?”

He chuckles, and then he helps me to my feet. He waits while I change out of this tux into some clothes and shoes I find in the locker room, and we head out to his car.