Page 123 of The Only Goal

I frown at my phone screen, brushing my thumb over the house I’m pretty sure is hers. Doubts start to fire through me again. Will showing up make everything a million times harder for her?

Maybe I shouldn’t just turn up unannounced.

Maybe I should call first.

But what if he’s in the room when she wants to answer the phone?

What if he’s there when you knock on the door?

“Shit. None of that should matter. It’s a friendly check-in.” I try to convince myself out loud, but I know I’m lying.

It’s not a friendly check-in. I’m going there to try and convince Tammy to leave her husband. Does that make me the scum of the earth or her knight in shining armor? I don’t fucking know!

“I don’t know.” I shake my head, hating the complexity of this situation.

With a sigh, I stare out across my motel room and figure I shouldn’t be making any decisions when I’m this damn tired.

So, after a long, hot shower, I fall into bed and drift off into a fitful doze…

“Baxter?” Kai calls my name as if he’s looking for me. I search my surroundings, but it’s dark, and I’m struggling to find him.

Heading for the light, I stumble down a hallway and walk into a living room I don’t recognize.

“Kai? Where you, buddy?” I call out his name, searching behind the couch and the curtains.

It’s like a game of hide-and-seek… but not a fun one.

Someone is groaning behind me, and I spin, seeking out the sound. It’s not a painful groan, more like sex, and I walk into the kitchen and find Hudson with his pants around his ankles. His ass cheeks are clenching as he buries himself deep in a woman. I can’t see her face. It’s pressed against the counter while Hudson goes for it. She’s moaning like she’s enjoying it, and my stomach bottoms out.

I don’t want to see this.

Tammy and Hudson doing it in the kitchen while Kai is playing hide-and-seek makes me sick. What the fuck!

I’m ready to bolt from the room and make sure he doesn’t come into the kitchen and find them, but just as I turn, I spot Tammy.

She’s standing by the fridge, frozen in place while she watches her husband do another woman.

Fuck, that’s another woman.

Tammy’s eyes are bright with tears, and you can tell she wants to run from the room, but when she starts to edge for the doorway, Hudson looks over his shoulder and snaps, “No! You stay! You watch!”

Tammy covers her mouth and starts to jerk with sobs. Then she looks right at me, and her eyes are screaming at me. “Help me! Get me out of this!”

Anger bursts through me in a rush so fast, it’s nearly blinding.

I lunge for Hudson with a vicious growl, but when I go to grab him, my fingers fly straight through his shoulders.

He grunts, pounding on the woman a little harder, while I spin to look at Tammy in confusion.

“Please,” she begs, and I hold out my hand, ready to pull her away from this mess, but her fingers fly straight through my palm.

No. I need to get her out of this.

We need to go.

We need to?—

Hudson grunts, his moan changing pitch, and I swear he’s about to come.

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