Page 141 of Fair Catch

“I called my mother about a month ago, told her that I knew what happened at the party. As you can likely imagine, it didn’t go all that well.” My lips twitch into a sardonic smile. “She seems to still hold onto this ideal that I imagine no one could actually meet, and I told her who I love isn’t her decision to make.”

“So they don’t know about you wanting to go with me.”

I shake my head. “Every time she’s tried calling me since, I’ve ignored. I haven’t had anything else to say to her until now.”

“And now?”

A small smile tugs at my lips, and I pull my phone from my back pocket and search for my mother’s contact. After hitting the dial button, I switch it to speaker and set it on top of his thigh, waiting for the source of all this pain and misery to pick up on the other end.

My mother’s proper, sugary tone comes from the speaker a few moments later, sending ice through my veins.

“Hayes, darling. What a surprise.”

A sardonic laugh slips out before I can stop it. “Considering you’ve been attempting to get me to return your calls for over a month now, it shouldn’t be. So why don’t we cut the crap, Mom?”

“I see,” she says, her tone now clipped. “And I take it you still haven’t seen reason?”

“I’m more firm in my choice than ever,” I tell her, my eyes locked on Kason’s. “Kason was drafted to Nashville, and whether you like it or not, I’m going with him.”

“You’re making a mistake, dear. I’m just trying to look out for your best interest.”

Yeah, she said that last time.

“If that were truly the case, you wouldn’t have treated Kason as if he were some meaningless fling or a gold-digger after the family fortune—neither of which are remotely true.”

“I will not apologize for protecting my child,” she retorts matter-of-factly. “Especially when they’ve been subjected to being used in the past.”

It’s a low blow, to bring up all the times I’ve been hurt in the past, but at this point, I should come to expect it from her. She’s more than shown me her true colors by now.

“No, you’re not protecting me. You’re protecting yourself,” I snarl, my fingers gripping Kason’s desk chair. “You’re protecting the image you and Dad have built for this family. One of wealth and high class and status. But the thing is, those things aren’t what’s important to me. Kason is.”

She scoffs, and I can almost see her eyes rolling in my head. “You’re twenty-two, for God’s sake. You’re barely an adult. You don’t know what’s important to you.”

“How quickly you seem to forget you were my age when you met Dad,” I shoot back immediately.

“It was a different time, andverydifferent circumstances.”

Yeah, because you both were part of wealthy, upper-class society, and Kason isn’t.

I somehow manage to stop that from falling off my tongue, choosing a different route instead. One straight and to the point, where there’s no mistaking or misconstruing my meaning.

“I’m not gonna keep going round and round with you on this, Mom. You either accept him, or you lose me. That’s the real ultimatum here. Because there is no doubt in my mind that he is what I want. More than the future I’ve got mapped out, more than your money…” Wetting my lips, I let out a sardonic laugh. “Thereisno choice. It will always be Kason.”

“Hayes Richard, I will not be threatened—”

“You can let me know what you decide at graduation next week,” I say, cutting her off.

And with that, I end the conversation and the call all at once. Flipping my phone to silent, I shove it back into my pocket and lift my gaze to Kason’s.

He swallows roughly, his throat bobbing with effort, and I’d give anything to know what he’s thinking. To take a peek at what’s beneath that head of soft, auburn hair and—

“Your middle name is Richard?”

My brows arch, not sure I heard him correctly. Because there’s no waythat’sthe piece of information that his brain decided to fixate on.

“Let me get this straight. I just, for all intents and purposes, told my mother to go kick rocks, and you’re wanting to confirm my middle name?”

A tiny, wry grin pulls at his lips. “I think the rest of me is in shock you actually just did that.”

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