Page 58 of Closing the Distance

“I’ve never fought with my brother about anything serious, but this time…this time he’s crossed the line, and I don’t think I can forgive him so easily.” I rub my face. “I think he’s looking into Lexi’s history.”

“Has she told you about it?” Romel asks.

“Some.”

“Now might be the time to get her to tell you all of it, so you’re not blindsided by whatever Tanner shows you.”

I shake my head. “I’m not going to push her to share unless she’s ready. I know it was bad. That’s enough for now.”

I don’t tell them I suspect it hurts her when she talks about it. As much as I want to know every piece of her—good, bad, and ugly—I don’t want her to have to relive a pain I can never understand just to fill in those gaps in information for me. She’ll tell me when she’s ready, and that’s what matters.

Maybe he’s right and I’m being naive, but I’m trusting my gut. She’s been honest with me since the beginning, and I’m choosing to trust her. She’s the mother of my child, and hopefully someday soon, she’ll agree to be my wife.

I will protect her at all costs, even if it’s from my own brother.

THIRTY-THREE

Sunlight shines softly through the windows as I part my eyelids. On a sigh, I sink back into the warmth of Ty’s arms wrapped around me, cocooning me.

I’ve never felt safer than I do in his arms. It’s not a feeling I thought I’d ever get to experience, not after the way I grew up. But I’m growing more addicted to it by the day.

I’m so in love with him it scares me.

He hums against my neck, his arms tightening slightly before he slides his hand down to my stomach. “How are my girls this morning?”

Butterflies swarm in my stomach. “Good,” I murmur. Good is an understatement. Blissful might be closer to the truth.

He nuzzles my neck, his stubble tickling me, and a giggle escapes. He chuckles and then his deep, husky voice whispers in my ear. “I love your laugh. I want to wake up to it every day.”

“You already do.”

He hums again in his throat and then rubs his face against that sensitive spot on my neck that’s always so ticklish. I burst into a fit of giggles that has him laughing until both our phones ping with an alert. I reach over to the nightstand and pick mine up, seeing the notification for a new email.

I open it and lie back in Ty’s arms, letting him see the paternity results that are likely sitting in his email as well. I knew what they’d say, but there’s relief in knowing he now knows for sure. I still don’t fully believe these results were just for the press. Now that I’ve been in his life for several months, I understand why he needed them. While I wish he would’ve trusted me blindly, he needs to be smart about this, and at least now we have irrefutable proof so no one can question him.

He kisses my head and snuggles me close. “Thanks for doing that, Lexi.”

Before I can say anything back, his phone dings again, and then again. His brows furrow as he rolls over and grabs it off his nightstand. I can’t see his screen from this angle, but it’s clear when he shoots up to a sitting position with a curse that it’s not good.

I sit up. “What is it?”

“Fuck,” he mutters, his thumb scrolling through what looks like an article. He scrolls back to the top, and my heart freezes in my chest when I see my school picture next to a picture of Ty in his Wolves jersey.

He pulls up another article and then another. Each headline worse than the last. His phone rings, but he ignores the call.

I can’t stand not knowing what they say, so I grab my phone and search my name. All the breath in my lungs whooshes out of my body instantly when I see the first headline and click on it.My awful childhood is plastered all over the page. The next article is more of the same. The third calls me a gold digger from the wrong side of the tracks.

For the first time in months, nausea rises up so rapidly, I’m sure I’m going to vomit, but I can’t stop staring at the train wreck in front of me.

How did they get all this information?

And then the next thought hits me.My students are going to see this.

“Is this true?” Ty’s voice cuts through my devastation at having my entire sordid history plastered all over some of the biggest news outlets in the world—things I barely want to remember, let alone have anyone else know.

I glance up at him but can’t read his expression through my own emotional turmoil. Instead, I stare at his phone screen which he holds up to show me. I read the paragraph, nausea swirling until I can’t hold it back. I throw off the covers and dash to the bathroom, barely making it to the toilet before bile climbs up my throat. There’s nothing in my stomach to expel.

The demons of my past have finally caught up with me. No matter how much good I’ve tried to do with my life, secrets never stay buried.Or maybe they would have if I’d fallen in love with someone else. Someone without a public following. Someone without a fan base that will no doubt tear me to pieces, if they aren’t already.

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