Page 99 of False Play
“I’m just a father concerned about who my son is dating.” He tilted his head with a knowing smirk. “The last thing I want for you is to get baby trapped like I did.”
Anger stabbed the corner of my heart like a poisonous blade, spreading throughout my body at his words.
I balled my free hand into a fist.
The same old story was getting fucking tiresome.
It tooktwopeople for my mother to get knocked up. And itwasn’t like it had been a one-night stand, either. My parents were high school sweethearts.
But leave it to him to place the blame on everyone else because he refused to take responsibility for his actions. It was a bitter realization, knowing he’d never change. It angered me, knowing I should have known better by then.
This was my father to the very core. He was an abuser, physicallyandemotionally. He knew the comment would strike a mark just as bad as if he had punched me. Because, yes. My father wasn’t stupid. He may have beaten me when I was a child, when I was weak and still trying to grow my muscles, but he knew better than to try it now. I had the body to stand my ground with him.
A small, sadistic part of me wanted him to try, because I wanted an excuse to unleash everything on him. I was eager for him to punch me. To doanything, just so the world could see the real piece of shit he truly was.
The unrelenting anger I felt was because ofhim. My career was up in the air because I always kept thinking abouthim. It always boiled down tohim.
But I couldn’t lie to myself. It would have been hypocritical of me to place the blame on someone else. At the end of the day, I was weak, and that’s why he could always reach the only good parts of me and crush them with his cutting words.
Hayes and Donovan stepped outside, and when they saw us, they quickly strode closer to separate us.
Hayes placed his arms around my chest and pulled me back as Donovan did the same with Vincent.
“Anderson, calm down, man,” Hayes said as he used his force to hold me back. “What’s going on?”
“Yeah, son.Calm down,” Vincent taunted.
This motherf?—
“That’s enough out of you, Mr. Anderson. I think it’s time you go home,” Donovan said calmly.
A few of my teammates were filtering out of the arena and walking toward the bus that was going to take us to the airport. When Vincent noticed, he concealed his face with a fake smile and a clipped nod.
Before he left, he stood close to me and spoke low enough so no one else could hear him. “Be careful about staining our name again,boy. Or I’ll make a surprise visit and talk with your littlegirlfriend.”
I gritted my teeth without a reply. My chest beat painfully, and my lungs struggled for air. He settled his eyes on me with a knowing look and a smug smile, then nodded andfinallywalked away for good.
“What did he say?” Hayes whispered to me as we got into the bus and sat down.
I shook my head without a word as I leaned my head back on the headrest and shut my eyes.
He was the only one who knew the extent of the issues I had with my father. But I didn’t want to talk to anyone about it.
My heart only wantedoneperson.
The flightsback home were always rough when we lost. The energy was down. No one joked around. Most of my teammates were sleeping, while others were speaking with their partners on their phones.
I stared at my phone with Kennedy’s contact page open in contemplation.
Would she even answer if I called? It was past midnight already.
She had texted me saying she was sorry we had lost the game, so there was a chance she was awake.
Does that mean she watched every game?
What was I saying? Of course, she did. I’m sure she had to, just in case. PR responsibilities and all. Though part of me hoped she watched it because of me.
With a deep breath, I put headphones on and hit the video call button before I lost the little bravery I had.
