Page 59 of Face Off
“Stop coddling her, Celeste. She needs to understand that opening your legs when unwed at a young age has repercussions. It’s what she should have realized when she came home that night and told us she was pregnant with Cam.” He blows out a frustrated sigh.
Tears streak down my face as I register my father’s words.Mistake.My father sees Camden as a mistake. No matter how much he claims to love him, he’ll always see him as a mistake. A repercussion filled with baby daddy drama I so well deserve for getting knocked up at eighteen.
I push away from my mother, pulling myself off the ground. Wiping the black mascara that’s run down my cheek. Camden is not a mistake. He’s my world. God knew I needed him because I needed to know the true meaning of love. A mistake he is not. A mistake was ever thinking my father truly loved Camden and supported us.
I walk over to the nightstand and pull out a black lockbox. Entering the code, it opens revealing years’ worth of cash I put away. Every cent I earned on my own or received as some sort of gift went into this lockbox. Not even bothering to count it, I slam it shut and shove it into my father’s chest.
“I reckon there’s over five hundred thousand in there. That should cover the medical bills, the childcare costs, the tuition for medical school and undergrad,” I say as more tears spill down my cheeks. “The house payment I’ll have wired over to you from the bank, from the trust fund Grandpa gave me. And as you know, Camden’s tuition has been paid from that. So, with that, there’s nothing more you can hold over me for bringing my son into this world. The mistake you claim he is.”
“Hayley.” My mom sobs as she grips my father’s arm. “He didn’t mean what he said. He just wants…”
“What’s best for Camden and me?” I cut her off. “Yeah, I can see that, but it doesn’t change the fact that he thinks Camden’s a mistake and that I’m a grade A fuck up who is going to take down one of his best players.”
My father’s face is impassive, his lips tightening into a firm line as my mother sobs next to him. I always knew my father wasn’t happy back in the past, I just never knew that deep down, he was harboring all these feelings about everything.
“Please, take the money and get out of my house,” I say, turning back to pack my bags. “I’ll have my letter of resignation to your office first thing tomorrow morning and my office cleaned out by the end of the day.” My tone falters as tears burn the back of my eyes again. “I won’t keep Camden from you, but I won’t allow you, Boyce, or anyone for that matter to hurt my little boy.”
“Come on, Celeste,” my father mutters as he turns his back to me.
“But… Wade.”
“Let’s go,” he yells, causing both my mother and me to flinch.
I throw my stuff in my bag as I hear the sound of the front door slamming. I quickly go to Cam’s room and pack a bag for him, not knowing how long we’ll actually be away from our home. I walk down the stairs, locking the front door before meeting Cassidy in the back alley. I throw my bags in the trunk and take a seat on the passenger side. It’s only once I’m settled that I let the tears fall.
???
The stadium is swarmed with reporters this morning as Brooks pulls into the underground parking garage. Stories surfaced late last night that I lied about Cam’s father because I slept around. Pretty sure that was Boyce who did that. That’s what he claimed all those years ago when I told him I was pregnant.
I’ve spent hours crying as I repeat what my father had said to me over and over again. It hurts to know the truth about my father. How he felt all these years, no matter how much he showed pride in Camden when he participated in youth camp or dominated in youth league. Brooks has held onto me the entire night as I unravel all that had happened. His warm embrace soothes me as I quietly sob after Camden went to sleep.
I walk in my office, flipping on the lights. I make my way over the bookshelf and pull books, placing them on my desk in an attempt to pack. My father doesn’t try to stop me from quitting. He just stands there stoic as ever as if the heir to his legacy has just spit on his grave.
“Hayl?” Cassidy says from the doorway as she makes her way into the room. “Holy shit. You weren’t kidding when you told me you were resigning.”
She walks over to me, taking a seat next to me on the floor. My once straight hair is pulled into a messy bun, and my mascara is smudged from the tears. “You didn’t tell Brooks you were quitting, did you?”
“No,” I say through a sniff. “I told him to head back to his place without me after his morning skate. Told him I had game prep to do today and that he should get some sleep.”
I kept Brooks up most of the night crying into his shoulder. Poor thing looks exhausted this morning driving us into work.
“Come here,” she says, pulling me into a hug. “I thought I’d at least be gone before you.”
“Ha. Ha. Very funny,” I say, knowing what she really means.
“So, Arizona? You’re really going to move there?”
She releases a deep breath and piles some books into a box. “Yeah, but I’m not leaving till the end of the season. Vince is going to be traveling so much, and I just don’t want to get out there and be bored.”
“You mean alone.” She definitely means alone. We know no one in Arizona besides Vince and Boyce.
She shakes her head with a solemn look cast upon her face. “Yeah, I never gave much thought to it until now.”
I shoot her a sad look as we continue to pack books into boxes. The door handle jiggling before the door opens altogether pulls our gazes across the room. My father stands in the doorway, the black box I gave him yesterday tightly held to his chest.
“Cassidy.” He nods in her direction as he moves into the room. “Mind giving Hayley and me a moment alone.”
“Of course,” she says, moving toward the door, pulling it gently shut behind her on her way out.
