Page 259 of Vegas Heat

My eyes edge over to Heidi. Fuck it. He’s not giving me a choice. “I fell in love with her before I knew she was your daughter,” I say to his back.

He freezes, and I grab onto the opportunity with both hands even though Heidi is listening to us. I no longer care who knows. The one person we were trying hardest to keep it from found out, and I’m sure Heidi has signed a pretty extensive and intense NDA anyway.

“I met her the weekend you brought me to town to ask me to play for the Heat. It was an instant connection. She didn’t know who I was, and there was something so pure about that. I didn’t know who she was, either. I didn’t even know you had a daughter.”

He turns around to face me, and his eyes are hard and flinty again. His mouth is a thin line, and I can feel the anger vibrating off him from here.

“You’ve been with her since August?”

I plow forward. “We spent the entire weekend together, and she came to see me the next weekend in San Diego. She helped me look for a house before I moved here. You don’t share the same last name, and in those three weeks, I fell for her. I didn’t find out she was your daughter until the morning after you threw that party for me when I first moved to town. I broke it off with her as soon as I found out, but when the feelings are this strong, this intense…” I shake my head. “We were just drawn to one another. We couldn’t fight it.”

“So you’re saying it’s love,” he says flatly.

“It’s big, Troy. I’ve never felt like this before,” I admit. “She is it for me.”

“That’s fucking ridiculous,” he spits. “You’re twelve years older than her. When she was in kindergarten, you were graduating high school. It’s practically illegal. You’re taking advantage of her because she doesn’t know any better. It’s wrong, and it’s disgusting, and you better fucking believe I will choose to act in the best interest of my daughter overanyoneelse. Always. That includes you.” He points at me then folds hisarms over his chest. “And that includes the team. You signed a contract. You made commitments. You may have fucked up our friendship, but you willnotfuck up our team over this. I was hired to manage game play, not players, but if you don't break it off with her before we leave for spring training, I will go to Mike and blow it up myself. What’s it going to be, Noah?”

I don’t know what he means by going to Mike to blow it up himself—does he mean he’ll blow up my reputation? My chance to play again? Or will he ruin his own daughter’s chance at the full-time job she’s on track to start after she graduates?

It doesn’t matter.

He’s right. I signed a contract, and I can’t back out of it. It’s that goddamn sense of responsibility rearing its ugly head again, and I know he’s right. My heart says to choose Gabby over everything, over everyone else. That’s what I want to do. But my brain knows that I made a commitment to the team, and I can’t back out of it…not now. Not when I have thirty-nine other guys on the forty-man roster depending on me. Not when I have an entire expansion team depending on me from the grounds crew all the way up to the front office staff. An entire fuckingcitydepending on me to lead this team to victory in our inaugural season.

Maybe she can wait three years for me until I play out my contract…or maybe we’re the star-crossed lovers who were always destined to have only a short time together, and maybe we’re supposed to be grateful for what we were allowed to have.

It was the best six months of my life. She is the love of my life.

But I don’t have a choice.

I signed a contract, and I committed to leading the team.

I have to end it with her before I leave for Arizona in the morning.

CHAPTER 32: GABBY

Cooper’s truck is in front of a mansion when I pull up to the address Joanie gave me, and I wonder how long he’s been there. I wonder if he found my dad…if he made him understand. If he explained and they’re toasting and everything is going to be fine.

The nauseous feeling permeating my entire body tells me it’s not likely, but a girl can dream.

“Is this it?” I ask Joanie.

She nods.

“This is the exclusive, private club? It looks like a house.” I feel like I’m making conversation as a way to divert the fear zipping up and down my spine, but it isn’t really helping.

“When Troy and Victor bought the place, they pretty much gutted it to build what they had envisioned,” she says a little absently as we both get out of my truck.

We walk toward the front door, and I have to force one foot in front of the other. I’m dreading what we’re about to find inside, and not just this whole mess with my dad and Cooper but actually stepping foot into this sex club. Will people be doing it in the foyer?

Joanie nods to a security guard standing near the front door, and he opens the door to let us in. She must be a VIP if she’s the owner’s fiancée. Did they meet here? Or did they know each other before this? I realize only now I have no idea how they met even though Joanie and I have gotten fairly close over the last few months.

I don’t know if we’ll remain close after this, though. And I don’t know how my dad will feel knowing that I’ve been sleeping with Cooper, either.

I’m surprised when we walk in and the first room is a foyer with a tall counter in front of us. The room is painted black, but the countertop is white with lights glowing beneath them. Overhead lights are on, too, and we find Cooper and my father facing off. My dad’s hand is on the door handle behind him, and Cooper stares him down with a look of complete and utter devastation on his handsome face.

It scares me.

A lot.

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