Page 68 of Blindsided

I got a scoff. “Save it for the bedroom, or at least when I’m not on the phone with you. Camille looked into the purchase agreement. Turns out Aston signed the team over to a power of attorney late last month. Someone by the name of Christian Lewis. Uncle or cousin maybe?”

My eyes got wide. “Holy shit. Christian isn’t an uncle or a cousin. That’s his dad.”

Lincoln stopped pacing and the sentence he’d been in the middle of halted. “What about my dad?”

“Aston gave him a POA over the Parliament late last month.”

“I’ll call you back.” Lincoln pulled the phone from his ear, pressed at the screen a few times, and a ring filled the room.

“Francis?” A male voice I’d never heard before answered after two rings.

Lincoln pinched the bridge of his nose. “Lincoln, Dad.”

“Sorry, son. Old habits. Is everything okay? I haven’t heard from you in a while.”

“Four months or so.” Lincoln rolled his eyes. “Listen, I’m calling because I just found out Aston signed the Parliament over to a Christian Lewis, POA. The only Christian Lewis I can think of is you.”

To my surprise, his dad gave a chuckle. “Yeah. After bailing him out of jail in Boston, I gave him two options when it came to his investments and life. Let’s just say signing a POA that would give me full authority over his major purchases, the Parliament being one of them, was the better of the two options. At least according to him.”

“Damn! Go, Lincoln’s dad!” The voice in my ear reminded me Daisy was still on the phone. I’d been so wrapped up in what was going on in front of me, I’d forgotten all about her. Taking a moment to think about it, I had to agree.

“I’ll call you back.” I ended the call amid Daisy’s protests.

Christian continued. “Why do you ask?”

“Because I got a call from Mom yesterday telling me Aston wanted to sell the Parliament and I was expected back in the office Monday morning.”

When Daisy had told me Lincoln’s dad had control over the team, I’d had no idea what to expect from him. Even as Lincoln had begun the conversation, I hadn’t gotten a good enough read on Christian to predict how things would play out, but I definitely hadn’t expected the bellow of anger that came from Lincoln’s phone.

“She did what? She has no control of that, Lincoln. None. Hell, the only communication we’ve had with your brother in weeks is from internet blogs and news sites.” His anger was barely in check as he spoke, and given Lincoln’s wide eyes at the outburst, I had a feeling he hadn’t been expecting the reaction from his dad either.

I stood and took Lincoln’s hand, directing us to the couch in the living room. “So the Parliament?” he asked cautiously.

Once I was seated on the couch, I pulled Lincoln down on my lap. We were the same height, so on my lap he towered over me. His body was still stiff with tension, but he didn’t resist when I wrapped my arms around his body and pulled him close to me. With my cheek resting in the middle of his back, I could hear his heartbeat as we waited for his dad’s response.

After a long beat, his dad responded with icy disbelief. “It’s still in my control. Your mom has zero authority to sell it.”

Lincoln gave a relieved, almost manic, laugh. “Seriously? So she can’t just force me back there?”

His dad’s voice softened slightly. “Not if you don’t want to be here. Do you like it there?”

Lincoln’s body sagged in my arms, the tension gone with a giant sigh. “I do. I want to stay. I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but I actually like it here.”

“Does this have something to do with the assistant coach?”

My eyes widened with surprise. From my position, I couldn’t see Lincoln’s face but knew he was just as surprised from the slight tensing in his back and the way he gripped my hand. Seconds stretched to what felt like an eternity before Lincoln shrugged. “Yes and no. Easton’s amazing. It was serendipity or kismet that he showed up here. After the way things ended before, I can only be thankful he was willing to give us a second shot. And while I’d do anything to not fuck up like I did last time, he’s not the only reason I’m here. I love this team. I like Daisy and Tom and everyone I’ve met so far.”

A pregnant pause followed before Christian finally spoke, confusion evident in his voice. “What do you mean last time?”

A sound close to a wheeze escaped Lincoln before he answered his dad. “We dated in college. Until he got drafted. Then I freaked out about what the Barrington name would do to him and his career. There were already rumors I was going to Europe after graduation to clean up a mess Aston had made. In the end, I panicked and I ghosted Easton. While I didn’t end up needing to go to Europe, I ran to Australia instead and pretended nothing had happened between us. I tried to forget he’d ever existed until I walked into my office the first day. Turns out, you can only run from your past so long and my time was up. Easton was sitting there, waiting for his meeting about being offered the assistant coaching position.” Pain filled Lincoln’s voice as he spoke and I wrapped my arms tighter around him. I wished his quilt was in reach.

I smirked to myself while cursing out the universe for making me love Lincoln so much I’d become not only the firm-handed Dom who loved to deliver pain but also the caretaker who liked holding his sub close and knew his quilt would help calm him. Trevor had told me not to think too much about why I wasn’t always the no-nonsense Dom around Lincoln as there was a good chance I was simply the safe space for him not to be in charge.

What I hadn’t taken into consideration during my talk with Trevor and Brax had been that Lincoln was my safe space too. We’d always been physically close in college, both before and after BDSM had entered the mix. We had always cuddled and I’d held him close as we’d slept. The absence of his body pressed against mine, able to be touched and held whenever, had been one of the hardest things for me to move past, even after I’d accepted Lincoln was gone.

I’d once heard a friend say he didn’t kiss hookups because kissing was too intimate and made him feel too vulnerable. As it turned out, physical affection was my vulnerability. Despite how things had ended before, though, I still felt safe being vulnerable with Lincoln.

I breathed in deeply, giving myself a moment to sit with and appreciate the emotions swirling inside me, then exhaled in time to hear Lincoln’s dad make a resigned huff. “Twelve years ago, I could understand your concern. Hell, I understand it now.” He scoffed at his own words. “There’s a reason I never fully adopted Lewis-Barrington as my last name. It’s nice to have some separation sometimes.”

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