Page 64 of Love In The Spotlight

“She’d say she doesn’t have any,” Jamie said, laughing.

“She would,” West said. “But everyone has weaknesses.”

“As much as Laken loves attention,” Nelson said, “she doesn’t like the kind you get.”

“You mean out in the public?” he asked.

“Yes,” West said. “She is used to it being around me but is fine it’s on me and not her.”

“She’s said as much,” he said. “We are doing our best to keep that from happening.”

“You can only keep that quiet for so long,” Braylon said. “We all know that. West is a prime example.”

“That’s right,” West said. “I’m well known by name more than sight at this point. I can go places in the area and not be recognized if my name isn’t said. But you, you’re well known.”

Not just for being one of the highest paid quarterbacks in his time. Or the comeback kid that everyone said couldn’t bring their team as far as he had.

But more of his reputation came about from his behavior on the field early on in his career. The fights in the locker room, even on the sidelines.

He left that team and came to New York and that all stopped.

He focused his energy on building the team and making them as great as he wanted to be.

But off the field, he’d still had fuel in his body to burn.

Many said it was rebelling against the strict religious upbringing he had.

That could be some of it, but he’d thought he’d got most of it out in college.

He supposed he didn’t if he was out getting so drunk that he got someone pregnant without even knowing.

Best worst decision of his life now.

“Laken is coming to terms with it on her own. If we spend time at her place for now, then so be it.”

“Why not spend it at your house?” Nelson asked. “Away from all the noise and action.”

He didn’t expect this kind of questioning. “I’m not ready for Penelope to know Laken that way just yet. You’re not going to sit here and tell me how to parent my child, are you?”

“No,” West said. “We aren’t.”

“We don’t need the details on how you manage your relationship with our sister,” Braylon said. “Nelson shouldn’t have asked specifics.”

“You said we had to be tough,” Nelson complained to West.

West rolled his eyes.

“It doesn’t matter how tough you are,” Jamie said. “What Laken and I have is between us. Just like Lily and Braylon and Abby and West. I’m going to say Laken respected your privacy?”

Both older brothers laughed. “Kind of,” Braylon said. “She can be bossy when she wants, but she normally sided with our girlfriends and not us.”

“Good to know,” he said. “And if you don’t have anything else to add on a personal level, maybe we can get down to business?”

“I’ve got a meeting to go to anyway,” Braylon said, getting up and leaving him there with West and Nelson.

“This got done faster than I thought it would,” West said. “Nelson, why don’t you give Jamie and me twenty minutes and then I’ll have him go to your office to talk before you go to Laken’s?”

He could see the younger man didn’t like that he was dismissed but left anyway.

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