Page 23 of The Forever Play

Sighing in frustration, I try to check my tone and stay calm. “We dated for a year in high school. I’d like to see her again. She’ll remember me.”

“Oh yeah, she remembers you.” His eyes glitter, his voice taut and scathing.

I flinch and steel myself. This guy obviously hates me. What the fuck has Sienna said about me? She’s the one who took off without a word. She’s the one who ghostedme…had a kid without even telling me.

Shit, is that little girl mine?

I have to know.

“Yeah, we all know you, Mr. Donohue. Football star. Got your face on the cover ofSports Digest.” He scoffs. “Should have fucking looked into the football program before I took a job here.”

“What?” I frown.

“You’re the guy who broke her heart, took off for a new life. Any excuse to get away from your clingy girlfriend, right?”

My heart stops beating for a second, and the air in my lungs feels like toxic ash. Sienna must have been fucking dark on me to say this shit to her family friend. Unless he’s more… and that’s why he knows the whole fucking story. Well, her version of it anyway.

Sucking in a ragged breath, I force out my next question. “Is Zoey mine?”

The man pales for a second, shaking his head.

I frown. That doesn’t feel right.

Stepping a foot closer, I study his face carefully as I say, “But the timing… She’s about two, isn’t she? And she looks just like my sister at that age.”

His nostrils flare and I sense his desperate need to cover the truth, so I keep pushing.

“She’s mine. I can feel it in my fucking bones, so just tell me!”

“Watch your mouth,” he snaps. “You’re a student here, and you don’t talk to faculty that way.”

I huff, my fingers balling into an even tighter fist in my pocket. It takes everything in me to keep my tone soft and respectful. “Please. Please, tell me the truth.”

The assistant coach stares me down like I’m a bug he needs to exterminate before finally sniffing and giving me a stiff nod. “All right, fine. She might have your DNA, but that’s it. She’s not yours.”

A powerful sensation floods my veins. I don’t know what it is, but having my suspicions confirmed is making me lightheaded.

I have a daughter.

I’m a… dad!

“She shouldn’t have kept that from me.” I say it more to myself, but he hears me anyway.

And then he fucking scoffs.

My eyes snap to his face, and I can’t help glaring at him.

He glares right back, like he’s almost enjoying this somehow. Like my tortured expression—that’s gotta be what he’s seeing right now, because it’s what I’m fucking feeling—is bringing him some sense of satisfaction.

“She was going to tell you, but…”

“But what?”

His jacket rustles as he shrugs and shakes his head. “You don’t even deserve her. You don’t deserve to be in either of their lives. I’m not telling you shit.”

What the fuck? Who is this asshole?

My dread at the idea that he and Sienna might be a couple is sinking in deep, and I’m struggling to reckon with it.

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