“I told you, I remember everything about you. Why didn’t you ever tell me about your dad being a football coach?”
“It wasn’t relevant to any of our conversations.”
“What else are you not telling me?”
I thought about it for a minute before I stated, “None of your business.”
“It’s going to be my business when you become my wife.”
“Fake wife.”
“Either way, you’re still mine.”
“For six months, Jax.”
“We have a son, Soph. You’re forever tied to me.”
“And that’s another reason I didn’t tell you. We’re nothing more than property to you. Just another trophy you can add to your shelf.”
“I know you’re upset for how I handled things back then, but for fuck’s sake, do you think this is easy for me? Put yourself in my shoes. I’ve missed out on six years of my son’s life! I’ve missed all of his major milestones, his birth, his birthdays. There’s already so much I can’t get back. You may think I’m being a vindictive prick and the truth is, I am. I’ll own it, okay? I’m not going to apologize for that. Especially when you show absolutely no remorse for hiding him from me in the first place.”
“Don’t pretend like you know what I feel. There were so many times I wanted to reach out and tell you about him, but then another scandal would break about you. Just in the past year alone, how many women have claimed you knocked them up, Jax? Can you put yourself in my shoes for one second? I’m not trying to play the victim. I know what I did was wrong, but I can’t go back to the past any more than you can when it comes down to us. I loved you. Wholeheartedly. You were my everything. I cherished the ground you walked on.” My eyes rimmed with tears, unable to hold them back.
“You hurt me in ways I didn’t think you’d ever hurt me. Do you have any idea how hard it was for me to get over you? You broke my heart. I thought…” I shook my head, wiping away a tear. “I thought you loved me. I thought what we had meant something to you. I never expected you to do what you did, and it killed me to realize I was just like every other girl to you. You got what you wanted. All of my firsts. For what? Huh? Why would you take it all from me; if you were just going to fuck me over in the end?”
“Sophie, I didn’t want to fuck you over. It was the last thing I wanted to do, but it happened anyway, and all I can say is my life was so messed up back then. All I had was football.”
“That’s not true. You had me, Jax. You. Had. Me.”
“I know.” He nodded. “There’s a lot you don’t know, and I’m not ready to tell you yet, but I will. Just give me time, alright?”
“I don’t care anymore. It doesn’t matter. Why are we even talking about this? I already told you I don’t want to talk about the past. It’s done and over with. We speak about the present and the future. That’s it.”
“It matters to me. Were you ever going to tell me about Ben?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“My dad’s your new coach. I didn’t even know you were coming to play for Fort Worth. I found out when the world did. It’s not like my father and I discuss his team. He wouldn’t have told me anyway. I knew it was only a matter of time before I told you. I just wanted it to be on my terms. Now that’s shot to shit, and here we are. You’re once again using me and expecting me to just roll over and take it like I’m still that young girl waiting on you hand and foot. I’m not that girl anymore, and I never want to be her again. So let’s make one thing crystal clear—I’m only doing this because you’re making me. I don’t love you, Jax. I don’t want us to be friends. I don’t want us to be anything other than Ben’s parents. We can co-parent, but that’s the extent of our dynamic.”
His jaw tightened for a second before he asked, “Does Ben know who I am?”
“Everyone knows who you are. He’s obsessed with you like everyone else.”
“He watches football?”
“He lives and breathes football. My dad had him on the field from the moment he could crawl. He wants to be just like you.”
He smiled, beaming.
“He’s really good at throwing a football. You’d be proud, which brings me to my next stipulation. I don’t want an engagement party or a wedding. We can go to the courthouse and get married or have someone come to your home and marry us there. We’ll take pictures, do the whole charade. I don’t want to say, ‘I do’. I don’t want to walk down an aisle. I don’t want my friends or family to even be in attendance. We can tell everyone we eloped. This isn’t real, and I don’t want to pretend like it is. You either take it or leave it. If you refuse, then I won’t agree to this, and you can tell the world the truth. I’ll deal with the consequences. It won’t be the first time you’ve fucked me over.”
His jaw clenched again before he reluctantly nodded. “I can work with that.”
“Great. Now for my last stipulation.”
“There’s more?”