Текст книги "Rage"

Автор книги: Elizabeth Reyes

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Текущая страница: 18 (всего у книги 22 страниц)

She stared at him, desperately trying to squelch the temptation to tell him to go to hell. “I don’t have time for a social life. I’m sorry. It’s why I broke things off with AJ. Clair requires my full attention.”

“Fair enough,” he said, taking another sip of his drink, then smiled. “But being that I am her father, it seems it would only be fair that I help alleviate some of that burden you’ve been carrying all this time on your own. You shouldn’t have to sacrifice your life, Addi.”

Addison glared at him, trying desperately to refrain from throwing her tea in his face. How dare he call himself a father! And how dare he refer to Clair as a burden! He knew nothing about sacrifice. He was only after one thing and they both knew it. Even then, a part of her questioned whether or not it was his inflated ego behind his newfound desire to be a part of their lives.

Before she could calm herself enough to say something less abrasive than what she was thinking, he put his drink down and laid his arm down on the table palm up.

“Look,” he said, with a smug smile.

Addison glanced down at the heart tattoo on the inside of his lower arm. Her eyes widened when she saw the name inside the heart with angel wings: Clair.

“It’s my tribute to my little girl.”

Not only was his calling Clair his little girl as ridiculous as his calling himself a father, it felt contrived. The tattoo looked new. The skin around it was still bright pink. The placement of it was so that it’d be very visible not just now but when he’d be on the field.

“Why would you do that?” she asked, unable to pull her eyes away from it, her heart thudding in her chest.

“Why not?” he said, looking back down at it. “Despite what you may think, these past few days have been very distressing for me. Just when I’d decided I wanted to be a part of her life, she was close to dying. I felt like I needed to do something.”

“You haven’t even asked me how she’s doing today.”

“I was going to,” he said, glancing up at her, obviously surprised at the change in her now-hardened tone. “We just got into other stuff, but I was getting there. How is she?”

“You don’t care,” she said, shaking her head, feeling like an idiot for even being there now.

“Yes, I—”

“You’ve never cared. This is just about you and your fucking ego. You don’t care about me either. You just can’t stand the thought of me being with someone else and that AJ got all the sympathy and credit for being Clair’s dad. He’s been more of a dad to her in the past couple of months than you have her entire life. And now you go and do that”—she pointed at the offensive tattoo—“because you’re just hoping someone notices it. Someone’ll put two and two together just because you can’t stand feeling left out.”

Addison grabbed her purse and began to slide out of the booth. She couldn’t sit there another minute and listen to even one more word out of this idiot’s mouth.

“Addi,” he said, sliding out of his side.

“You disgust me,” she said, flinging her purse on her shoulder as he pulled out a twenty, threw it on the table, and rushed after her. “I’ve just gone through the worst experience of my life,” she said as she rushed through the thankfully near empty restaurant, “and all you could think of was why AJ was getting all the attention.”

“No, I wasn’t—”

She turned to him and actually laughed just outside the restaurant. This was so ridiculous she couldn’t believe she hadn’t seen it coming. “It was the first thing you asked about when I finally returned your calls!” She glared at him but took a step closer to him and lowered her voice, despite the agitation she was feeling “Not how’s Clair? Not how are you holding up? All you wanted to know was why all the reports were calling him her stepdad and to make it clear that you’d spoken to your lawyers and knew he couldn’t adopt her without you signing off. So what? You think a stupid tattoo marks her as your territory?”

“No, I was just—”

“You listen to me and you listen good, Fred.” She took an even closer step to him, paranoid about anyone overhearing. “I have lawyers too. You’ve never wanted anything to do with her and I have proof of that. You don’t deserve to be a part of her life ever. And I will stop at nothing to make sure you never do. This is the last time I will meet with you. I won’t be intimidated by your threats. You wanna be a part of her life? I’ll see you in court.”

Addison spun around, the knot in her throat quickly building. “It doesn’t have to be this way, Addi,” he called out but didn’t come after her as she hurried away. “I don’t want this to get ugly, but we both know I have rights too.”

She knew what a risk it was to say all that to such a pompous asshole so full of himself. She could be facing an uphill legal battle. The chance of her losing the case and Fred getting, at the very least, visitation rights, just to spite her, was too real. He was probably dying now for the chance to tell the world that amazing little girl was his, just so he could counter AJ’s public comments, because it was all his pretentious ass cared about.

The thought nauseated her. This was what she’d feared all along: that she’d publicly have to insist that Fred never wanted anything to do with Clair. Obviously, it was the truth, and as smart as Clair was, Addison was sure she’d figured that out already, but she didn’t need to hear it over and over and have to answer questions from her schoolmates and friends about her famous dad that wanted her aborted. Fred was right about one thing. If this did get out, things would get very ugly for more than one reason, and her daughter’s name would be in the center of it all—the one thing Addison had always sworn she’d make sure would never happen.

Chapter 26

AJ

This was so much harder than AJ had expected. Addison was answering his calls less often than she had before his last visit with her at the hospital. She was still responding to his texts, but they were noticeably shorter, and she didn’t respond to him by saying she loved him or even missed him like he did to her.

He was desperately trying to be understanding. He’d been there the moment they both thought Clair was gone—seen and felt her unimaginable grief—knew firsthand how terrifying the thought was of ever having to go through something like that again. He was just as terrified now too. But she had to understand what she was now doing to him. His only consolation was that he still got to be around Clair often.

It was his last night in San Diego before having to take off again, and he couldn’t believe he wasn’t going to at least see Addison. Clair had mentioned something about work keeping her mom real busy. He could tell she was trying to make him feel better about Addison not having made any of the four home games.

As usual, whenever he was due to be gone on the road, his family got together for a barbeque at his place to spend time with him before he left. Another consolation was that, since they were in the playoffs now, he wouldn’t be gone as long. He’d only be in St. Louis this time for about three days until they came back and played the next games of the five-game series at home. If it was still necessary, he’d go back for the last game in St. Louis again; otherwise his season was either over and he’d be home for a while. He planned on using the extended time home to attempt to see Addison.

Even if they won the Division Championship and his season wasn’t over, it’d still be at least a couple of weeks before the World Series started. He’d have practice and training to attend, but at least he’d be home. He’d leave her be for now since he did promise to step back and give her the time she needed to heal from this horrific event he knew was still so raw. But it was torture not being able to be with her.

“Change that shit,” Isaiah said as AJ walked into the kitchen from the patio. “I’m sick of hearing about that already.”

Nathan turned with a smile, but his smile waned when his eyes met with Isaiah’s, bounced off AJ’s, then turned back to the television, and he changed the channel.

“What shit?” Rage asked curiously after witnessing the strange exchange between his brothers.

“The same crap that’s been on every sports and tabloid channel since Clair was rushed to the hospital,” Isaiah said, staring into the fridge.

AJ frowned, nodding in agreement. He, too, was tired of seeing and hearing about it. He’d lived it. He didn’t need the constant reminder of that awful day or why his relationship with Addison had taken such a turn. Hearing all the intrusive speculation about who Clair’s dad really was didn’t help his already shitty mood. “Yeah, I’m sick of it too.”

Liv and Lorenzo arrived, and his sister waddled into the kitchen with her husband behind her, carrying little Enzo. “Still no baby?” Isaiah asked.

Liv groaned. “Oh my God, no. I still have at least three more weeks,” she said, holding her sides. “And it’s so hard to sleep now.”

She stopped at the center island, and AJ rubbed her shoulders. She looked positively miserable. Of course, even this made him think of Addison. His sister was surrounded by family who loved her, but there was nothing like having her husband there with her to live and forever share this profound experience of bringing a child into the world.

Addison may’ve had her parents there for her when Clair was born, but it made him sad that, aside from them, she’d been all alone. Little Enzo was born with a touch of jaundice. The doctors had both him and Liv stay an extra night just for observation. He remembered leaving the hospital, feeling glad that her husband stayed there with her both nights. Lorenzo refused to leave until morning when one of them could come and relieve him just long enough for him to go home and shower, but he was right back there with her the rest of the time.

Even if Addison had only had to stay the one night, she’d still likely have been there alone overnight. When Clair was first admitted to the hospital after her allergic reaction, AJ, too, refused to leave that first night and even the next day until Addison insisted he should get back to his team. But he’d been glad to have at least been there that first night with her. She’d had her parents too, and still AJ could feel how much she’d needed him there with her.

“So, it’s really true about you and Addison?” Lorenzo asked as Isaiah took little Enzo from him. “You two broke up?

AJ nodded then kissed his sister’s head. “For now,” he said, taking a deep breath. “She’s got a lot to deal with right now. And she wants to focus on getting Clair better. But it’s not for good. I have the playoffs I need to focus on too right now, so it sort of works out that we’re taking a breather.”

Fortunately, the subject was changed when Emi and Sydney arrived, and everyone oohed over her lime-cream cheese-and-pineapple Jell-O. It was everyone’s favorite. No sooner had she set it down on the counter than the forks were pulled out and they all started picking at it.

They all ended up outside eventually, where Isaiah manned the grill. It wasn’t until Vince and Rosie arrived that the subject of Addison was brought up again. Rosie wanted to know how Clair was doing.

“She’s not still blaming you, is she?” Emi asked with frown.

“She blamed you?” Liv asked, turning to AJ.

AJ could only conclude Emi, who typically shared everything with Liv, had kept this from her since he’d been so broken up when she’d called him and he told her about it. Emi probably didn’t want to upset Liv in her condition, and the day he’d spoken with Emi about it he’d been a fucking mess.

“I’m the one who let Clair have the ice cream they think caused the allergic reaction.”

“Think,” Emi said, lifting a brow. “They still don’t know for sure, but even if that was the case, it’s not like you did it on purpose. I can understand her being so upset and all, but I still think it sucks that she reacted that way.”

“How’d she react?” Liv asked as everyone’s eyes flicked back and forth from Emi’s to AJ’s.

Emi had been the only one who’d heard him so broken up that day Addison had told him to leave the hospital. He’d later spoken to his brothers, but he’d been much calmer, and Addison had already called to apologize for her reaction.

“Like a witch—”

“Hey!” AJ said before Emi could finish.

“No offense, AJ, but don’t tell me it doesn’t piss you off if anyone hurts or messes with one of your siblings.”

AJ stared at her for a moment, pressing his lips together, because there was no way he could argue with that. He turned to Liv. “She was upset and asked me to leave the hospital when I told her about it. But as soon as she calmed down, she called me to apologize, and it’s all good now.”

“Is it?” Emi asked, peering at him. “So why are you two still broken up?”

“Because she blames herself, Em.” AJ walked around the outside bar and opened up the fridge. “She thinks her social life distracted her from her number-one priority. So she wants to focus completely on Clair. She has no time for a social life right now. I have to respect her wishes on this.”

“I know half those stories on that tabloid show TNT are exaggerated if not completely false,” she said, holding her glass out for Sydney to pour her some lemonade, “but I’m curious. What did she have to say about the photos they keep talking about of her leaving the bar down at Gaslamp with that guy the other night?”

Isaiah groaned under his breath, but AJ heard it and turned to him then back at Emi. “What photos?”

“You haven’t seen them?” Emi asked, glancing at Isaiah then back at AJ “They’ve been all over—”

“I stopped watching that shit days ago,” he said, walking over to grab the remote to the outdoor TVs mounted in the bar area and flip through the channels. “They kept repeating the same shit. What channel is that damn show on?”

“I don’t know,” Isaiah said. “But who cares; it’s probably all bullshit anyway.”

AJ put the remote down when he couldn’t find anything and patted his pockets, searching for his phone. Then he remembered he’d left it inside. Knowing how unlikely it was that Addison would be calling him, he hadn’t given a shit about missing any calls or texts.

“I need my phone,” he said, setting his beer down and stalking around the bar.

“Em,” he heard Isaiah say, as he got further away from them, then something about AJ having a playoff game in just a few days and how he didn’t need to be thinking about this stuff. As soon as AJ had his phone in his hand, he tapped away at the screen. He was pretty sure he already knew who Addison might’ve met up with, but it still pissed him off that she’d keep it from him. Not that she’d been saying a whole lot to him these last couple of days, but still.

After entering the main key words—TNT, photos of Addison Lara, Gaslamp—he waited. The moment he saw the first photo he felt his insides light up. This was not what he was expecting. He’d expected to see an annoyed or even somber-looking Addison walking out very separately from whomever she was with. Instead, as grainy as the photos were, he could make out that she actually appeared to be laughing in a couple of them. They weren’t as separate as he expected them to be. The next two were worse. While her face was a bit shrouded and she wasn’t laughing anymore, in each one she was leaning in closer to him, their faces almost touching.

Isaiah and Emi walked in the back door as he’d begun to skim through the story attached to the photos. “AJ,” Emi began to say, but he held his hand up.

“Hold on,” he said as he skimmed the story.

The photos came from an anonymous source that spotted the happy couple leaving together in the same car. AJ immediately scrolled back to the photos, but there were none of either of them getting into a car. He scrolled back down and read some more.

According to the source, the guy was Clair’s dad but the source wasn’t able to identify him. As big as AJ stretched the photo on his screen, it was at a weird angle, and the guy’s face was shrouded. It could have been anyone. As usual, it was all a bunch of bullshit speculation. Their daughter’s near tragic incident had brought the two back together and that’s why Rage Romero had been given his walking papers by Ms. Lara.

He’d already begun to roll his eyes when another photo made him freeze in place. It was a super close-up of the guy’s inner forearm with a tattoo bearing Clair’s name. It was grainy as fuck, but AJ could see the letters clear enough.

“He has a tattoo with her name?” AJ muttered, studying the close-up photo, comparing it to the other of the guy and Addison.

“It looks fake to me,” Emi said, and AJ finally looked up and away from his screen.

“Is this the only story about this?”

“They’re the first one to break the story and post the photos,” Emi said. “But now everyone else is jumping on it and adding their two cents after the fact. Those are the only photos though.”

“AJ, you know it’s all bullshit,” Isaiah said. “Why get yourself worked up about this? This might even be an underhanded tactic St. Louis is using to get you riled up. Remember other teams used to do this kind of shit way back? Try to get in your head before a big game? Anonymous source?” Isaiah’s face soured. “Really? Two days before the playoffs start? Don’t let them do it, man. Let it go.”

“I will,” AJ said, already bringing the phone to his ear after hitting speed dial and hurrying toward the front of the house. “I’ll just ask her about it.”

He walked out into the front entrance of his house just as Addison answered. “Hey,” he said as soon as she answered, the sound of her voice instantly making him smile. “How are you? How’s Clair?”

“Good,” she said, even though AJ detected something strange in her voice. “Clair is pretty much back to normal now.”

“That’s great,” he said, smiling, but he’d never been the type to beat around the bush, so he got right to it. “You sure everything’s okay with you?”

“Yeah, but I was just getting ready to call you, actually.”

“You were?” he asked as the excitement about that had him smiling again.

“Yes. I wanted to apologize again.”

“For what?”

“My mom and Clair teamed up to do a little investigating about that theater in Chicago.”

Ever since the story broke of Clair’s allergic reaction to something she’d eaten in the theater, the media had been all over it. Since Addison had specifically asked the manager about the oil used in the popcorn, a lot of the investigative journalists hoping to make a name for themselves with one of the most talked about stories that month were demanding answers. It wasn’t until later when it was leaked about the ice cream thing and Addison had admitted to telling Fred about it that the theater had used it as a scapegoat to get the negative glare of the media off them. Not to mention any kind of lawsuits.

“Clair was upset when I had to explain to her about the breakup. My parents weren’t happy about it either, so I guess Clair and my mom decided to investigate a little further.” She sighed. “They uncovered something the theater hadn’t admitted. Yes, they don’t use peanut oil anymore, but that wasn’t until very recently. Like a week or so prior to our visit there. They started using the canola oil like the young lady behind the counter showed me, but they never changed out the popcorn machines, machines that for years had been using peanut oil. Apparently, because of the media storm, they quietly changed the machines out just two days after Clair’s incident.”

AJ’s mouth fell open. “Those sons of bitch—”

“My dad has his lawyers researching it already because—I didn’t know this—with the rise of food allergies, their parent company had switched to canola and made a few other changes to their menus and had already been advertising on their website as allergy-friendly theaters. But they’d failed to switch out the machines in some of their smaller affiliate theaters like the one we were at. Just a trace of anything nut-related can cause a severe reaction for people like Clair.”

“Obviously,” he said, feeling a mix of anger and relief.

It hadn’t been his fault.

Addison apologized some more; though AJ was quick to stop her. Then they moved on to what he really wanted to know. “So was that Fred in those photos?”

She was quiet for an unnerving moment but finally responded. “Yes,” she whispered.

“Is that a real tattoo?”

More unnerving silence and he held his breath then heard her exhale loudly. “Yes. Ridiculous, but yes it is.”

“How long has he had it?” he asked, wondering now if maybe Addison had left more out about Fred than she’d previously admitted.

“I didn’t ask, but it looked fresh to me. He didn’t have it the last time I spoke with him in person. At least I didn’t notice it.”

“And you did this time? It’s not something you just saw in those photos?”

“No,” she said, and the background noise appeared to go away. “I don’t want Clair to hear me. She’s in her room, but I know I’ve been careless before, and as far as I know, she hasn’t seen the photos. She hasn’t mentioned them anyway.”

“What did you meet with him for now, Addison?”

“He said he had something he wanted to discuss in person. It was all a bunch a lies as usual. All he wanted was to show me the stupid tattoo and discuss us being friends and social again. It was annoying and disgusting.”

AJ gripped the phone a little tighter. “You didn’t look too disgusted in those photos.”

“I know,” she said immediately. “Of course, the leaked photos would be the ones of me laughing at his ridiculousness. And according to that stupid made-up story, we left together. I left him standing there after I threatened to get my lawyers involved if he didn’t stop threatening me.”

“He’s threatening you?”

“Not physically, AJ. He’s just threatening to leak his identity, among other things. He hates that you’re getting all this attention from Clair’s allergic reaction. It’s so him. He couldn’t care less that she almost died. All he cares about is that you got the sympathy—the glory of the caring stepdad—while her real dad has never stepped up. The statement you made didn’t sit well with him either. He thinks you were calling him out. It’s why he got the stupid tattoo. He didn’t say so, but I know it.”

AJ didn’t comment. He could kick himself now for having said what he had to the press. He’d been pissed at the time. Maybe he had said it to send a message. Clearly, he wasn’t too far off about this guy. He was a fucking idiot. But he didn’t mean for it to cause any stress for Addison.

“I’m sorry if he’s harassing you because of what I said.”

“Don’t be,” she said with conviction. “If the truth hurts, that’s too bad. He’s proven time and time again that he is an idiot.”

AJ nodded, waiting for her to go on, but she didn’t. “What else?”

“What do you mean what else?”

“You said among other things. What else is he threatening you with?”

Again she quieted then finally sighed loudly. “I’ve always known there was a sinister side to him. I suspected it when he turned so cold on me the day I told him I was pregnant then again the day way back in Chicago when he brought up his rights as a father. In all the years he’d had rights, not once had he chosen to use them as a threat, until he found out I’d begun dating. It felt evil. He hated that I was dating again, but he especially hated that it was you.”

“Why?” AJ felt his insides heating all over again.

“I don’t know,” she said, but AJ got the feeling she did. “Because of who you are? How popular you are and how much Clair obviously loves you? It kills him to hear about it and see the photos of you and her laughing and seeing her so happy around you, when I don’t want anyone to even know about him. He’s made other things clear too. Like that he’d never sign off his parental rights so that you could legally adopt her. It’s ridiculous. No one’s ever even mentioned it, but he’s already thinking that far ahead.”

“Who is this guy, Addison?”

Silence.

“Why can’t you just tell me? You know you can trust me. I’d never tell anyone.”

“I know,” she whispered.

“Then tell me.”

“I will,” she whispered again. “Only I can’t yet. But I will. Just let me take care of a few things. You finish your season and then we’ll talk about everything. About us. I promise.”

Us.

It was hard to wrap his mind around how one little word could fill him with such happiness and hope. All these days he’d been gearing himself up for the biggest fight of his life. Yet at the same time a part of him was preparing his heart for the possibility of losing that battle. He knew nothing mattered more to Addison than Clair, and having her go against her better judgment when it came to her daughter’s well-being was what he was up against. So the possibility of losing them was all too real.

Hearing her promise they’d talk about “us” calmed the adrenaline he’d begun to feel coursing through his body. It was pathetic really, but it was all it took and he gave in.

“Okay,” he said, exhaling a bit frustrated. “Addison?”

This was something he’d wanted to ask Clair, but he got the feeling Clair wasn’t taking the break up as well as she was pretending to. So he hadn’t wanted to upset or make her feel like the middle man between him and her mother. Even now he hesitated to ask, but given what she just promised, it couldn’t be helped.

“Yes?”

“Will you be at the playoffs in St. Louis?”

“I will,” she said softly. “All three games.”

That made him exhale even heavier. Despite the relief that he at least could anticipate seeing her in two days, he had to bite his tongue at what he was so tempted to ask her now: if there was any way he could see her today.

“I gotta go,” she said, squashing any temptation he might not be able to fight. “I have a call I need to be on in a few minutes, but I had to apologize about ever blaming you. I feel terrible—”

“Stop,” he said, shaking his head with a frown. “So it was the popcorn, but we both know giving her ice cream that could’ve been contaminated was irresponsible. It was the only good thing that came out of this. I learned my lesson and I’ve been doing my homework. Trust me. If—” He stopped himself, shaking his head. “When things go back to the way they were before all this happened, how excessively diligent I’ll be from now on might even get on your nerves. I had no idea that you can never be too careful when it comes to this stuff.”

She was quiet again. As happy as he was to hear her after not really talking to her or seeing her for too long now, the mood of the call was a strange one. He was glad for the hope it’d given him, but he couldn’t help feeling there was still something very wrong that she wasn’t sharing with him.

“Good luck with the playoffs. You guys have this. I know it. Most importantly”—she laughed suddenly, surprising him—“Clair knows it, and you can’t argue with her stats.”

AJ smiled, pushing the bittersweet emotion he felt over hearing Addison speak of Clair, the little girl who now owned the other half of his heart. He’d begun to daydream about adopting her someday just before the horrific incident, but now he knew her asshole dad would never let that happen.