Page 284 of Vegas Heat

“Dude, wake the fuck up! One, we have to leave for the field in an hour, but two…” He pauses, and he shakes his head. “No, you need to get up and showered before I hit you with two.” He sets a cup of black coffee down on my nightstand, and I’ve never been more grateful to have his friendship.

I pick up the coffee and blow on it when I see the steam coming off the top, and then I take a gingerly sip. “Ahh,” I say, and I’m reminded of my father.

He’d take that first sip of morning coffee and follow it up with an exaggeratedahhevery time. And as I recall, it drove my mom nuts, so he’d do it after his second, third, and fourth sips as well. And beyond.

I can’t help a small smile at the memory even though I feel like I got run over by a dump truck.

Or perhaps a tequila truck.

“What the fuck are you smiling at, man? Do you even realize what’s going on?” Danny asks.

“I’m sort of enjoying the oblivion ofnotknowing what’s up your ass, and I’d appreciate it if you could lower your voice about fifty decibels.”

He shakes his head, and then he shoves his phone over to me.

I close my eyes for a beat before whatever this is hits me. I live in a moment of peaceful ignorance, and then I open my eyes to read the headline.

Cooper Noah out drinking as his child is born!

“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” I mutter. I toss the phone back to him without bothering to read the article or look at the pictures. “So she had the baby?” I ask brightly.

Danny doesn’t laugh as I expect him to. “What are you going to do?” he asks, his tone gravely serious.

“Noah!” a voice calls from another room.

But it doesn’t justcall. It yells. Angrily. And it’s immediately recognizable.

“I told you to get up,” Danny whispers.

“Thanks for the warning,” I mutter dryly.

A second later, Troy Bodine appears in my doorway. “You want to tell me what thefuckis going on with you when you’re supposedly soin lovewith my daughter?” he booms.

Jesus Christ. So I can’t be with her, but I also can’t be with anybody else?

I get that isn’t the issue, but my personal life is literally none of his business. Back talk won’t do me any favors right now, though, so I keep my trap shut.

“And a top of the morning to you, too, sir,” I say. I take another sip of coffee, and I can’t help anotherahhout of habit.

Troy looks like he’s about to bust a vein in his neck as he looks at me. “You’re sitting here all relaxed without a care in the world while my daughter won’t answer my fucking calls and you’re knocking up your exes and galivanting around town like it’s no big deal? I brought you in to be a leader, Noah, and you’re actinglike a clown.” He shakes his head. “Don’t bother coming to the field today.”

As much as it pains me to get out of bed, I rise to my feet so I can stand the fuck up for myself. “There are two separate issues at play here. You gave me an ultimatum, sir. You told me you would not allow me to fuck up the team, and you gave me no choice. It’s not my fault if your daughter doesn’t like what you did and won’t answer your calls. You made me choose the team, to adhere to the ninety million dollar commitment I signed off on to make you happy, to end things with Gabby, and here I am. I’m fucking up, and I’m heartbroken, and I’m a fuckinghumantrying to move on.”

He stares at me with that flinty look in his eyes again. He doesn’t like me talking about his daughter, and that’s why we haven’t. But we’re here to have it out, so let’s fucking go.

“As for the second issue,” I continue, “I haven’t been with Stacy in years. That baby is not mine, and I told the press as much. She fucked Alex Hamilton, and he won’t take responsibility for it, so she’s hinting that I’m the father. I don’t know if she’s doing it to fuck upmylife or if she’s doing it because she knows I’m the type of guy who would help out. She has nothing to do with any of this, and how I handle her is not anybody’s business but my own. Did I get fucked up last night? Yep, I sure did. Have I made all the wrong decisions lately? You bet your ass I have. But my father taught me to see my commitments through, and that’s why I’m here. If you choose to bench me, you’re doing exactly what you said you wouldn’t do when I chose to play.”

He's quiet a beat, and then he asks, “And the photos from last night?”

My brows draw together. “What photos?”

Danny, the silent witness to all this, nudges me.

“What photos?” I say a little louder.

“That’s what I was trying to show you, man,” Danny says. He hands me his phone again, and this time I scroll past the dirty headline.

I blow out a breath at what I see.

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