Page 65 of Second-Rate Superstar

It killed me to see her in pain. I would have given anything to take it on myself, but I knew it wasn’t that easy.

Approaching softly, I crouched in front of her. When I gently touched her leg, she flinched but peered up with red-rimmed eyes, the tears still flowing freely down her face.

How had we gone from carefree, a moment away from our first kiss barely an hour ago, to this?

I said the only words I could think of. “You’re not alone.”

Dakota squeezed her eyes shut, but tears still leaked past the tightly sealed lids. “It’s my fault she’s dead,” she whispered.

“What? No! Why would you think that?” I wanted so badly to pull her into my arms but knew she needed space while she battled with invisible demons.

She nodded. “It’s true. If she never had me, then maybe she would have married a man who cared about her. She wouldn’t have put off routine preventive care because of not having insurance. Or ignored the pain instead of seeking out a doctor when she got sick because she was worried about how much it would cost. And maybe they would have caught the cancer early, and she could have beaten it.”

That was a lot to unpack, and I could tell she was spiraling. I needed her to slow down; maybe then, we could work through this rationally.

Stroking her calf, I tried to soothe her, suggesting, “Let’s take a step back. None of us can control how we come into this world or the family we are born into. From what you’ve told me, your mom loved you with her whole heart. I can’t imagine she would wish for a life without you in it, even if it was cut short.”

Glassy blue eyes met mine. After shaky breath, she said, “I am my father’s greatest mistake.”

“Dakota—”

“No.” She shook her head. “He would probably admit that.”

“You want to tell me what happened?” I squeezed her leg gently to let her know I supported her, no matter the answer.

“No point in hiding it anymore. You know who I really am now.”

Moving closer, I placed my back against the wall, allowing us to sit side by side. “You’re still the same Dakota who walked through the front door with me earlier today. I don’t care who your dad is. That doesn’t change how I feel about you.”

That earned a sharp intake of breath from the woman by my side.

“My dad, Hank, was a player. And I don’t just mean on the field. He had lots of girls lined up and bounced between them all. Honestly, it’s a wonder my mom never caught something from him. Or maybe she did. The studies say HPV is linked to cervical cancer, so it’s certainly possible he passed it to her from one of the other women he was sleeping with.”

Until today, she’d never mentioned how her mom had died. I wanted to comfort her but knew she needed to get this off her chest. She’d been holding it inside for too long already.

Dakota continued, “My mom, Morgan, met Hank in college. She fell for him hard and fast, but the feeling was one-sided. Sound familiar?”

I groaned. She was watching in real-time as her best friend made the same mistakes as her mother. I couldn’t imagine how painful that was, reopening old wounds.

She sighed. “Now, I don’t know the exact circumstances as she never shared them, but somehow, Mom got pregnant with me. It’s probably better that I don’t know if she did it on purpose to secure the man she loved all for herself, because I can’t bear to be mad at the woman who was my whole world. It would only hurt more, knowing that in doing so, she signed her own death warrant.”

I couldn’t tell where this story was headed yet. Dakota had her father’s last name, but that didn’t mean her parents ever married. Had he abandoned her mom as soon as she revealed her pregnancy? Or was there more to this?

“He married her because it would ‘look bad’ if he didn’t, going into the draft. That, and down south, if you got a girl in trouble, you were staring down the barrel of a shotgun. He was selected by the Hawks, and I was born here in Hartford. He wasn’t around much. Our house was primarily a place for him to sleep most nights. Football kept him busy, but even in the offseason, he traveled to other states for training. Benji was right when he said he was one of the best—he was. So, it made sense that he had to train hard. We didn’t realize that most of it was a lie.”

“Oh God.” Dread churned in my gut.

“The whole time, he was living a double life. He had another woman, and they had three kids together. They were hisrealfamily, the one he chose to have, the one he chose to love. And eventually, he got tired of living a lie and came clean, serving my mom with divorce papers and never looking back.” A bitter laugh fell from her lips. “You know, I called him. Just once. To let him know Mom was gone. Do you know what he said tome? He told me he was sorry formyloss. And that was the end of it. Like the eleven years they’d spent married and sharing a child meant nothing.”

My heart broke for her. No child should feel unloved by a parent.

“The worst part? Even after he left, Mom couldn’t let him go. She was adamant that he would come back to us. She closed herself off to the possibility of moving on for fear that she would be unavailable when he came to his senses.” She wiped at her runny nose with the back of her sleeve. “Being here today, I couldn’t help but put myself in the shoes of your brother’s children. They seem so happy, and I can see the love he has for them, for Natalie. What if there was a man out there for my mom, who might have claimed me as his own? But we never got the chance to find out because she was too hung up on a man who never loved her?”

Turning my body to face hers, I held her gaze so she’d know I was sincere. “He’s the one missing out. I know, without a shadow of a doubt, there would be a hole in my life if I never met you. And now that you’re right here in front of me? I never want to let you go.”

Her lips parted on a soft exhale. We’d been tiptoeing around me wanting her for months, but I was done hiding. I wanted her to know exactly how much I cared about her and needed her in my life. If it scared her and she ran, it wouldn’t matter. I would chase her to the ends of the earth. She was becoming as essential as air—I found breathing difficult when she wasn’t near.

Daring to reach out and touch her, I cupped her wet cheek. “I’m sorry he couldn’t see the treasure before him. But I can’t say I’m sorry you exist. I owe your mom a debt of gratitude for bringing you into this world so I could find you.”

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