Page 58 of Power Play

I’d been hoping for both our sakes that Sydney and Brandon had somehow been so consumed in their project that they missed the entire episode, but of course they hadn’t. Sydney watched us with pursed lips, and Brandon raised a brow when our eyes met.

“Taylor, I’m so sorry,” Joey jumped in to say, but Taylor held up her hand.

“It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not but thank you for being so forgiving.” He dropped his head and walked away, picking up a random box and taking it down the hall.

Taylor twisted to face our friends. “When we were eighteen, I got pregnant. At twenty-five weeks I had to deliver him stillborn. His name was Alexander, and I loved him with my whole heart. I still do.” She sighed, and I put my arm around her shoulders.

“I left pretty quickly after,” I said. “I didn’t know how to cope with losing him, so I ran. I left Taylor on her own to grieve and adjust all the plans we made. That’s one of the many reasons I deserved wine thrown in my face that night.”

Dad chortled. “I’m sorry, now isn’t the time for laughing, but what did you just say?”

Taylor shook her head. “Of course, you bring that up.” She looked at my parents. “The first time I saw Jason in Raleigh, I threw a drink in his face.”

“It was quite the sight,” Brandon said with admiration.

“Good for you.” Mom winked at Taylor.

“It wasn’t my best moment.” She dropped her head.

“I’m so sorry, you guys.” Sydney stepped forward and took Taylor’s hands. “I can’t imagine how hard that was.” She sniffed and peered up at me. “And you left her?”

I dropped my arm and took a step back. “It’s my biggest regret.”

She narrowed her eyes, and I knew it was only a matter of time before the entire Pride turned on me.

“You guys were both young. You made mistakes.” Brandon shot a look at Sydney, who at least stopped glaring. “Thank you for sharing this with us. It won’t leave this room.”

Sydney sighed and looked at Taylor. “You’re okay with him?” She nodded toward me.

Taylor gave her a small smile. “Yeah, things are okay now.”

That was more than I deserved. I was grateful we had a chance to talk things out before Joey shoved his foot in his mouth. It felt like things were okay, like we might actually be able to get to a place beyond hatred and resentment.

The tension in the room gradually dissipated and we worked to get Taylor’s apartment somewhat resembling a livable space. My parents joked with her, and she teased Joey like the past four years never happened. Like no time had passed.

Seeing her with my family and my teammate’s family gave me a glimpse into what could have been if things had been different. If this was our home not just her new place.

I hated it. Thinking like that only deepened the ache that took up residence in my stomach since I first saw her walking toward me with a full glass of wine. It was rare a man had to literally face his past the way I did, and a very naive part of me thought maybe I was getting a second chance.

We called it a night around eleven, and Taylor headed home with Brandon and Sydney. It felt wrong. Like she should be leaving with me and my family.

We couldn’t have come back into each other's lives just to watch each other from afar. Right? Not with how much we’d been through. That would be too cruel.

I barely slept. My thoughts went from hopeful to confused to angry the longer I stared at the ceiling. Neither of us should be going through this. We were fine living our separate lives. Raleigh should have been the end, but no. The women just had to get involved and bring her here. That could have been fine too. She could have found a nice accounting job and apartment farther away from downtown. But no. Oh no. The Pride had to get overly involved. Chloe had to get her claws into things.

I got out of bed and changed into workout clothes before sneaking through the apartment without waking anyone. I drove to the arena and instead of heading down to the training room, I went up to the front offices and marched directly to her door.

It was cracked open and the light was on, so I pushed it back. I wasn’t really expecting her to be in yet, but it didn’t surprise me what she was.

Chloe took her eyes off her computer screen long enough to see me before returning back to it. “What?”

“Why?” I bit out.

She began typing. “Why what, Dumoulin?”

I moved to stand in front of her desk so she couldn’t ignore me so easily. “Why did you get involved?”