Page 26 of The Love Duet
Chapter 10
Royce~
I kept staring at the phone in my hand, though the phone conversation had ended minutes ago.Butterflies were swarming deep inside my gut as I was falling into the trap of something being too good to be true.Now, I didn’t have a pessimistic personality, but when all your dreams were lining up to come true, it was hard not to doubt your good fortune sometimes.
“What’s wrong?”I looked up, and my dad was eyeing me, his face full of concern.
Slipping my phone back in my pocket, I told him what I’d done.“The weekend that I went to go see Fred Kemper about my recruitment into USC, I...uh...did something pretty unethical.”
Dad’s brows jumped high on his head.“What did you do?”
I sighed before confessing what I’d done.“I told Mr.Kemper that I’d commit to USC if he promised to get Roxie in also.”
Dad leaned up against the porch column as he processed what I’d just told him.I had taken Mr.Kemper’s call outside, needing plenty of room to pace my anxiousness away, and that’s where Dad had found me, dumbstruck on the back porch.The only reason that I hadn’t told him or Mom what I’d done was because, if Mr.Kemper couldn’t make it happen, then there would have been no point in mentioning it.After our college conversation, I’d told both my parents that I had planned on following Roxie to wherever she had committed to, and they had supported my decision completely.Luckily, I had parents who wanted to see me happy more than they wanted to see me raking in millions.
“You know, Royce, we have always allowed you to control your own future, but this...if this were to ever get out, it could cause a lot of problems,” he said, telling me something that I didn’t already know.“And not only for you.This is Roxanne’s future that we’re talking about, too.”
“Do you think I don’t know that?”I asked, eyeing him.“I know that, Dad.I’m very aware of the ramifications.However, who’s going to tell?Mr.Kemper would never risk his career by admitting to such a thing, and me and Roxie aren’t going to say anything.So...yeah, it’s unethical and all that, but I just can’t do that to Roxie without exhausting all other options.”
He straightened, his hands sliding inside his pockets.“Do what to her?”
“Dad, I have no problem going to Grandstone or wherever she chooses,” I told him.“I’ve made it clear that my degree is more important to me than sports.Yeah, I’m good at football, and a lot of people would have plenty opinions about how I’m not taking my talent seriously enough, but you know that football’s never been the goal.”
“I do,” he agreed.“However, what does that have to do with Roxanne?”
“It’s the selflessness in her that would be the problem,” I explained.“Roxie loves me too much to let me follow her to Grandstone, a decision that will most likely change the trajectory of my future.And since I won’t give her a choice, she’ll start to feel guilty, and that’ll eat at her.”I let out a deep breath.“The last thing that I ever want to do is make that girl unhappy, Dad.It’s just not something that would be acceptable to me.”I shrugged.“So, I thought that I could...find a way to get a win for the both of us.She just wants a school that’s equipped to support her academic challenges, and I just want to be with her.Extorting Mr.Kemper into getting us both into USC was the only thing that I could come up with.”
“I see,” he muttered.“So...what’s got you so upset right now?”
My lip twitched in a grin.“Nothing, actually,” I admitted.“I just got off the phone with Mr.Kemper, and he said that all Roxie has to do is apply, and she’ll be in.”
“When sports are such a big deal for a school, it’s amazing the strings that they can pull,” he replied, but he also didn’t sound like he approved, which he shouldn’t.
“I suppose,” I agreed.
“So, what does Roxanne have to say about all this?”
“I haven’t told her yet,” I admitted.“I hadn’t wanted to get anyone’s hopes up if it wasn’t going to happen.Plus, we still have about a month to discuss it some more.”
“What if she doesn’t want to go to USC, son?”he asked.“What are you going to do if that’s the case?”
“What I had always planned on doing, Dad,” I answered.“I’ll go to Grandstone with her.I’ve already applied.”
My father didn’t say anything for a long time.I watched as he absorbed everything that I was telling him.I watched as he fought against his parental instinct to tell me what to do.I watched as he let me decide for myself what made me happy.
Finally, he said, “I’ve never worried about you or your brother.You both have good heads on your shoulders, and I’m proud of you both.”
I grinned.“Well, you raised us, so isn’t that like patting yourself on the back?”
He returned my grin.“Touché,” he chuckled, but then after a bit, he got serious again “The point that I was trying to make was that I’m not bothered by what you did as much as a parent should probably be.”I arched a brow at that.“You’re putting the woman that you love first, and that is something that I’ve always thought that every man should do.I’ve always chosen your mother, and I will always choose your mother.I’m glad to see that you are doing the same.”
“No matter how unethical?”I joked.
