Page 116 of Major Penalty

I can take it. I will take it.

Because no matter what he says to me, no matter how hard he hits me with his disappointment, it won’t change anything. I’m not walking away from Irene.

But God, it hurts. It hurts because he’s not just my coach. He’s the man who first gave me a reason to believe in something. He’s the one who saw me when I was broken, bitter, and fucking bleeding out behind my own silence. He saved my life.

And now, I’ve disappointed him. He’s going to tell me I’m not worthy of his daughter. That I’ve over stayed my welcome.

I force the words out before he can.

“If you’re going to tell me how angry you are,” I say, my voice low and raw, “I know. I get it. I deserve—”

“Ares,” Brown’s voice cuts through mine, sharp. And then gentler, “Ares. Stop.”

I blink as he takes a few steps forward until he’s standing right in front of me.

And before I can brace for it, he pulls me into a hug. Not just a hug. A bear hug. Like he’s trying to crush years of silence and pain out of my chest with one squeeze. His arms wrap around me with so much force that it actually aches.

I just stand there, frozen and stunned. My arms hover for a second, until I bury my face in his shoulder and grab onto his back like I’m fucking drowning.

“I’m sorry,” he says, his voice rough and broken into my ear. “I’m so fucking sorry.”

My breath catches, and an unfamiliar sound slips past my lips. It’s the last thing I expect to hear.

He pulls away, gripping my arms, and looks up at me with glassy eyes and furrowed brows. And his eyes. They're not full of the disappointment I braced myself for, not the anger or disgust I thought would come crashing down on me.

“Ares, I was a fool,” he says, shaking his head. “I was a damn fool. Irene, she said some things to me, and I realized…God, Ares.”

I stare at him, unable to speak. I don’t know what Irene told him, but it must have really shaken him.

“I’ve watched you grow into the man you are,” he says. “I saw you claw your way out of every dark place life threw you into. I saw you fight for yourself. And not once did you ever let yourself stop caring about the people around you.” His voice cracks. “And I…I treated you like an outsider.”

I clench my jaw, my nostrils flaring from the flood of emotions.

“I looked at you like you weren’talreadypart of my family. I kept you outside that door,” he says, “when you’ve been standing on the goddamn porch for years just waiting for me to let you in. And I’m sorry for that. I have more respect for the man you’ve become and that kid who overcame every obstacle than you'll ever know.”

His words are tearing me apart. I don’t know what to say. I want to say something, but my throat is too tight.

“Youarefamily, Ares.” His hand grips my shoulder. “I just didn’t say it enough. Or maybe I never really said it at all. And I’m going to fix that.”

He steps back and looks at me, eyes burning with what I’ve chased my entire life.

“Forgive me,” he says. “Give me a chance to show you what a real father is.”

I try to swallow the lump in my throat, but it doesn’t budge.

I try to breathe around the fire building behind my eyes. I just nod, my jaw tight.

“You’re my son.” His hand hits my chest once, solid and certain. “You always have been.”

I don’t know when my arms move. But the second I wrap them around him, the second I pull him into me, I don’t feel like a grown man anymore. I feel like a boy. The boy who waited by a window for a mom who never came back. The boy who bounced from home to home with a fake smile and a suitcase that got heavier every year. The boy who wondered when someone would finally look at him like he belonged.

And now, I’m holding onto the one man who made me believe I could.

He’s smaller than me—shorter and older—not even close to my size, but right now, I feel like a child in his arms.

Brown holds me tight, hand fisting the back of my jersey like he can feel how much I need this.

And fuck, I do.

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