The Hardest Fall

“If only your mom could’ve gotten in touch with him before she…then you wouldn’t have to go through all this. She wanted to see him so much.”

I could never tell him my mom was actually more excited about seeing Mark than anything else. She was hopeful, even.

I would never forget the day she told me Ronald Clarke wasn’t my real father. She’d broken my heart that day, and if my dad—because whatever she said, he’d always be my dad, because blood doesn’t make you family, not always—had been in the room with us, she’d have broken his heart too. Maybe she thought I’d be happy to hear that Mark had been the love of her life, and as good as Ronald had been to her, no one could take Mark’s place, the rush of their relationship. Maybe she thought that.

After getting to know the guy, I couldn’t have disagreed with her more.

There were a lot of things I was angry at my mom for, but it would hurt my dad if I voiced any of them. He loved her more than she loved either one of us.

I hated lying to him, but I couldn’t talk about her. “Dad, I have to go. I have a class in ten, and I need to go find Jared before that, so…”

“Okay. Now that I know all your secrets, promise me you’ll call more—and Zoe, no more secrets, okay?”

“Sure. I love you so much, Dad.”

His voice was rough when he replied. “I love you, too, baby.”

Chapter Twelve

Dylan

The bar was filled with college students who were out to celebrate the end of midterms. Some of those students were my teammates hell-bent on starting the bye week with a bang. A few of them rounded the pool tables, waiting for their turn, and a few of them were content with watching a heated game of beer pong between a few girls. Others were in front of the TVs watching a rerun of the previous week’s games. It felt like the whole team was there. A loud cheer would go off somewhere in the bar and before you could understand which corner it came from, the sound was swallowed up by the loud crowd and the music Jimmy blasted from every corner of the place.

Pulling the lever, I filled a pint and handed it to Chuck, one of the waiters.

“Thanks, man,” he yelled over the din before heading back out.

I tried to get in as many hours as humanly possible at Jimmy’s place without messing up my training schedule in the process, because bartending helped me pay for everything the football scholarship didn’t. Some nights I made enough that I could afford sending some of it back home, without my dad knowing about it, of course. The last thing he wanted was for me to worry about money problems.

Washing a shaker and the few glasses that were piling up behind the bar, I watched JP make his way over to me.

“When is your break again?” he asked, jumping onto a bar stool and eyeing Lindy, one of the other bartenders who was on with me that night.

“Missed me?”

Before he could answer, I made my way toward the two girls who had been waiting for me to come around.

“What can I get you, ladies?”

The blonde, who was wearing a low-cut red dress, leaned over the bar with a flirty smile, handing me the twenty that was tucked between two of her fingers. “Tequila shots, two rounds—and to chase those, I’ll take your number.”

I grinned and lined up their shots after checking their IDs. “Maybe next time.”

I ignored how the redhead looked at me intently as she licked the salt on the back of her hand and making an even bigger show out of sucking one of the lime wedges I’d provided. As soon as they were done with their first round, I filled their second and left them to it.

“Let me know if you need anything else.”

JP was still waiting for me when I got back. “You’re the stupidest son of a bitch I know, you know that right?”

“So you keep telling me.”

“What the hell is wrong with her?”

He tipped his head to the side, and I glanced at the girls, catching the blonde one sending me a wink.

“Nothing is wrong with her, but you know I haven’t been a fan of random hookups since freshman year. Why does it surprise you now? Also, doing some random girl is the last thing on my mind right now. Weren’t you there when we almost lost the last game to Colorado?”

“The keyword is almost. We won, didn’t we?” He leaned over the bar and grabbed a handful of peanuts. “And it’s more like you don’t do anyone anymore. When was the last time you got laid?”

“If only you were this interested in—”

My eyes caught something just over JP’s shoulder and I trailed off. The soft glow of the yellow and red lights hanging from the ceiling gave the bar a relaxed, welcoming look, and it made it possible for me to recognize Zoe walking in with a guy, her arm wound around his. It hit me like a fucking blow to the stomach.

JP followed my gaze and saw what had my attention. “Ah, that’s Zoe isn’t it? So, you won’t do a random girl, but you’d do her, wouldn’t you? I swear to God I’ve seen her before, but I can’t remember where.”

“You haven’t,” I muttered absentmindedly as my brows snapped together. “And we’re friends—no one is going to do anyone.”

She wasn’t holding on to his arm anymore, but I watched her grip the guy’s shoulders to get up on her toes and look around over the crowd. When she found what she was looking for, a big smile broke out on her face and she yelled something at the guy right before she started dragging him behind her toward the back of the bar. She must’ve been looking for her friend, because a girl slid out of a booth closer to the end wall where all the TVs were mounted and met them halfway. There were muted squeals and hugs and kisses. Was this the guy she was dating? I followed her with my eyes all the way to the booth and watched her settle in right next to the dick face.

“From what I can see, looks like she is definitely doing someone. Dude—hey! Did you hear what I said? Earth to Dylan?”

My fingers clutched the rag in my hand to the point where I could feel my fingernails biting into my palm through the material. I forced myself to look away and focus on JP as every muscle in my body tensed.

“What did you want?” It came out harsher than I’d intended, so I rolled my shoulders to try to relax.

His eyebrow slowly rose up and he leaned back in his seat. Surprisingly, he chose not to push me further.

“I’m waiting for the guys.” He paused, his eyes slightly narrowing. “Do we know who the guy is?”

“Probably her boyfriend. I don’t know.”

“Do we kill him? Or just break his legs as a warning?”

I laughed, but it felt foreign. “Neither. Trust me, he is a better option than what I was afraid of.”

“What do you mean?”

Shrugging, I walked away to serve a few newcomers.

Raising his voice, JP kept at me. “So she’s dating, huh? That means she really isn’t dating you. That’s interesting. Did you know about this or is it a surprise?”

I braced myself on the bar with one hand and knocked JP’s away with the other when I saw he was reaching for the peanut bowl again. “What’s so interesting about it? She’s dating—everybody dates.”

His shrug “Oh, nothing. Did you know about it?”

“Yeah, she said she had a boyfriend and it was complicated.” I gritted my teeth and glared at my friend. “I guess it got uncomplicated. Don’t you have something else to do? I’m trying to work here.”