Page 41 of Quarterback Keeper

“I see you need more convincing.” Mr. Wilder’s cold eyes hardened. “If you fail to do as I say, I’ll make sure Evalyn is booted from the treatment program where she’s finally seeingpositive results. The cancer will ravage her body again, and her imminent death will be on your conscience.”

He wouldn’t. I wanted to call his bluff because that had to be what was going on. “You’ve already paid for the next few treatments, and Kylian’s going into the NFL. He’ll take over then.”

“Is that what you think?” His brows climbed his forehead. “You’re partially right. My son is an elite athlete and will make it into the NFL, but only if he gets the proper treatment for the injuries you’re responsible for. Make no mistake about it, young lady. You brought this on yourself when you invited your violent and unstable former boyfriend into his life.”

“I didn’t?—”

“You did.” He scoffed. “None of that would have happened to Kylian if not for you.”

Tears flooded my eyes again, and I widened them in a desperate attempt to keep the tears from falling.He’s right.Still, I didn’t want to let him see how much his words slammed into me with the force of a battering ram. “Kylian doesn’t see it the same way.” I hoped he didn’t.He knew I would never intentionally put him in harm’s way, didn’t he?

“I can see the wheels turning. You need to stop. Do whatever it takes to break things off with my son when you see him in a couple of days. If you don’t, you will be responsible for Evalyn’s demise and my son losing his dream of going into the NFL—and you know that’s been his lifelong ambition.”

I had some fight left in me, very little, but what I did possess, I flung his way. “You have no bearing on keeping him from the NFL.”

“Did you know he suffered a torn rotator cuff in his throwing arm?” He saw from my shock that I didn’t. “He’ll need intensive physical therapy, and as an athlete, he’ll want to do anything and everything in his power to heal and get back on that field. Thatmeans platelet-rich plasma injections, which are very pricey and not covered by insurance. If you’re gone from his life, I’ll pay for everything. My son will only have the best care money can buy, which will save his career. If not…”

Bile climbed my throat, and I backed away from him. I couldn’t do anything. Not a goddamned thing. Hurting Evalyn and Kylian because I wanted to be in their lives was not worth the hell Kylian’s father would unleash if I stayed. I was almost at the exit before he stopped me.

“Do we have a deal?”

God help me, but yes, we did. I could only nod before I turned and fled.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

KYLIAN

Several days passed while I was stuck in the hospital. Everything I’d worked for was gone. Dark despair hung like a heavy mantle on my shoulders. Football had been my world, my end game, how I’d coped with things. And it was gone. Or that was what the doc said.Fuck that—I’ll prove him wrong.

My mind wrestled with the potential loss of my future, the inability to protect my mom from my father, and the reality of Gia’s situation.Where is she?

I felt as if I were underwater, drowning. My mind tried to swim through the murky, heavy depth of each failure that had brought me to my current state—the inability to protect Gia and Mom. Then there was that other thing.

I always knew Gia was holding something back, and I should have pressed her to find out what. I’d wanted to help her. I understood why she’d withheld her past from me, even if I didn’t like it. But if I’d known what she’d faced, maybe I wouldn’t have ended up in a fucking hospital bed, after surgery, missing out on the Alabama game and who the hell knew how many more.

I’d needed that game. My mom needed it.Now that I’m red-shirted, how the hell will I get the money for her treatments and get out from under my dad’s thumb?

Injuries like mine had the potential to end careers. The doc’s prediction wouldn’t leave my head. He’d said that the tear to my right rotator cuff could cause a considerable problem with mobility if it didn’t heal correctly, and he was worried it might not. Then there was the puncture wound to my kidney, which they’d had to do emergency surgery on to save my life. The shoulder injury shouldn’t cost me football, but it could. He was wrong—I would play again, better than before. I couldn’t let the setback stop me from helping my mom when she needed me the most.

ESPN had reported my injury and surgery, sharing it far and wide to all coaches’ and scouts’ ears. I was achingly aware of the potential reduction in the contract value I would receive when I came back—and I would—if I even got picked up by a team.

And Gia—no, Aurora—had suffered at that asshole’s hands too. Bile climbed my throat at the thought of him abusing her. Relief and pride had filled me at the sight of her falling to her knees to help me while I sat there in a pool of blood.

But what she’d said about me meaning nothing to her had gotten into my head. Even if it had been an attempt to save me. I’d trusted her with everything I cared about most, but she didn’t trust me enough to give me her real name.And she’s not here. Did she ever care about me, or was I just a means to an end?

The weight of my mom’s fate was my priority, especially when my future lay in shambles around me. Because it wasn’t only mine—it was my mom’s ticket to health and freedom too.

I had a long road ahead of me with physical therapy and doing everything my docs said. Four to six months was the timeline. The doc said six. I would prove him wrong and do it in four.

I knew my head wasn’t on straight, and maybe I wasn’t thinking clearly. But I knew how to achieve exactly one thing, and that was getting back in the game. I had to become a machine, solely focused on recovery.

Once I was back on the field, I would have to prove myself with a consistency I hadn’t needed to worry about as much before. There would be no signing before the combine, not after my injury. I would have to get an invite to the combine and prove to the NFL teams that I had what it took to be a first-round draft pick.

“Stop it,” Mom said, jolting me out of my dark thoughts.

“You shouldn’t be here.” I’d growled the words at her, and an instant wave of guilt hit me. She didn’t deserve my bitterness. I had no right to take my emotions out on her. Or Aurora.

“Why? Because I spend too much time in the hospital already? I’m here, Kylian, and I’m not going away. So stop feeling sorry for yourself, and be the man I raised you to be.”

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