Page 115 of Fair Catch

She clicks her tongue, nodding. “You’re loyal, I’ll give you that. The real question is, do you truly believe that my son would be willing to choose you in return?” Folding the check in half, she reaches out and tucks it in the breast pocket of my suit. “Take the week to think about it. We’ll be awaiting your answer.”

And with that final comment, she spins on her heel and rejoins the party, leaving me staring after her in shock.

My mind is spinning at a thousand miles an hour, unable to focus on anything other than…Hayes.What I’m supposed to say to him, how I can even bring up this ultimatum his mother’s dropped on us like a guillotine.

And there’s a big part of me wondering if I should say anything at all.

I have to talk to him. There has to be some way around this.

The next thing I know, I’m bursting through the terrace doors leading back to the party, finding it in the same state I’d left it. People dance and eat and mingle, enjoying their evening without a care in the world.

Meanwhile, it feels like mine is falling apart.

It doesn’t take long, spotting Hayes across the room speaking to some finely dressed man and his equally glamorous wife. He notices me as I’m about halfway across the room, a smile lighting up his face while I approach.

The same smile he’s been giving me all night. The one I continuously get lost in every time it’s aimed my way. And it’s at that moment I realize I can’t do this.

Not here. Not now.

Rather than continuing in his direction, I make a beeline for the front door. An escape is what I really need right now, some space and time to process. Gain some clarity on the ultimatum just thrown into my lap without warning.

Fingers wrap around my wrist, halting me in my tracks just before I reach the exit, and I turn to find Hayes looking at me in confusion.

“Baby, what’s going on? Where are you going?”

I don’t want to lie, but there’s no chance I can tell him what just happened without breaking down—or worse, blowing up. So I settle for another half-truth, hoping it isn’t as transparent as I currently feel.

“I don’t think the hor d’oeuvres are settling right with me. I’m just gonna grab an Uber home.”

Hayes shakes his head, a piece of dark hair flopping onto his forehead before he brushes it back. “Okay, I’ll go with you. Just give me like ten minutes to say a few goodbyes—”

“No, no. You stay. I’ll wait up for you back at the apartment,” I tell him, forcing a smile.

“Are you sure?”

My jaw strains with effort as I nod. “Yeah. Yeah, I’ll see you at home.”

I don’t wait for a response, simply pressing my lips to his for the briefest kiss, and heading for the exit, loosening my tie as I order an Uber and go to wait outside.

I hold it together the entire ride back to the apartment, fixing my gaze out the window at the city lights passing by. Even manage to keep the emotions at bay while I climb the stairs and unlock the door. But the second I’m in the apartment alone, the dam breaks, and all the pent-up feelings spill out.

The check in the breast pocket of my jacket burns through the fabric, and I quickly yank the damn thing off, throwing it over the back of the couch like it’s on fire.

But the pain won’t relent, won’t ease, just won’t fucking stop.

Because the check isn’t the problem, It isn’t the source.

It’s my heart.

And it’s cracking in my chest at this impossible decision.

Thirty

Hayes

It’s nearly one in the morning when I finally make it back to the apartment. Thanks to everyone’s inability to say their goodbyes quickly, I was stuck at my parents’ party for longer than I thought, when the only thing I wanted was to get home to Kason. It’s late enough now that I fully expect him to be passed out, even if he did say he’d wait up for me. Which would be understandable, though unfortunate, considering how much I’d wanted to rip that suit off him after we got home this evening.

My assumptions seem correct too, because the apartment is dark, save for the light left on above the stove in the kitchen, as I drop my keys on the counter. Not a peep comes from down the hall where our bedrooms are either.

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