Chapter 23

Twenty-Three

Kyleigh

"Do I have to answer it?" I whine like the younger sister I am when it comes to Conor and me.

My dad is standing on the other side of my apartment door. Doing this in public wasn't an option, but I wish we didn't have to tell him here. I don't need the reminder of breaking my dad's heart every time I walk into my living room.

"We should've done it at your hotel," I whisper to Conor as I walk over to the door. "Just a second, Dad."

"I'm staying at Tweetie Sorenson's actually."

I freeze and circle back around. Surely it's some joke. Two hockey players being roommates? Two hockey players who are worth millions? "What?"

"The place I bought won't be done for a few months because there are some renos to be done before I close, so he said he'd let me take his second bedroom in the meantime."

My dad knocks again.

"Ky?" Conor says, nodding toward the door. "Stop stalling and get the door."

I'm pretty sure I look like I did when he let it slip that there wasn't a tooth fairy.

He gets up off the couch. "What's with you?"

He walks over to the door, and I hear him say hi to my dad.

Conor is living at The Nest? Is the universe trying to screw me? Why didn't Rowan tell me? Then again, why would he? It's not really my business since he has no idea Conor is my brother.

I cringe. God, this is such a mess.

"Ky?" Dad says, his hand landing on my shoulder.

I turn and force a smile. He opens his arms, enveloping me in a hug. I try to commit this moment to memory because everything I know in this life is about to implode. I inhale his woodsy scent.

"How was the case?" Conor changes the subject, giving me a look after I separate from my dad that tells me I need to get a grip, and I'm acting like he's dying.

"We won." Dad sits down in my chair, his long legs stretched out in front of him. He rolls his neck. After every big case, you can see the stress and toll it took on him. I wish we could give him a few weeks to decompress, but that would just be delaying the inevitable.

Conor heads into my kitchen. "Beer?"

"To celebrate you coming home. Not my case." He sits up and rests his forearms on his knees. His salt-and-pepper hair isn't styled today like it usually is. His gaze lifts to mine. "We should plan a meal with your mom."

I tear my gaze away and stand, meeting Conor at the fridge. "I'll open up some wine too."

"Ky." My dad sighs. "I know your mom expects a lot from you. But she just wants the best. Nothing is going to change until you two talk this out."

My jaw clenches, and I glare at Conor because it's taking all of my willpower not to spit out that she's a lying cheater. But my dad isn't and doesn't deserve to be told that way.

"We ordered some pizza," Conor says, opening my dad's beer and handing it to him.

"Okay, but—" Dad starts to say something else, but suddenly stops, and I'm guessing that it's because of the look Conor is giving him.

This is our family dynamic. I allow my mom to push and push me until I finally push back. Then I retreat and ignore the fact that I'm mad. Sometimes I suck it up, let her apologize, and we make up. But those times, she wasn't sleeping with a man who wasn't my father. It was always about her control over my life, my career, and my decisions. To my dad, this is no different than any other time, and he thinks we'll be one big happy family again soon. With Conor returning, he's probably excited for weekly family dinners.

My chest squeezes, and I have to force myself to keep my face neutral.

"Sorry I've been MIA while you're looking for a place here," Dad says to Conor. "I should've been helping you. Have you decided whether you're buying or renting?"

They sit in the chairs across from one another while I sit on the couch. Conor looks so at ease with his baseball cap on backward, his worn jeans, with an even more worn T-shirt. While I feel like a kink in a necklace and no matter how much I try to free the knot, the metal tightens.

"No worries, Ky helped out. I ended up buying. I'm hoping I'm here for a while." He shrugs. "I mean, I think I will be."

"You will. You're the best thing that could happen to the Falcons," my dad says.

"Besides Landry," Conor says, and my stomach feels as if a dozen helium balloons were let go.

My dad smiles. "That entire offensive line, but how is Rowan?"

"He's great. Solid. Has it all together like usual." There's a jealous note in Conor's voice that I'm not used to hearing.

"He's definitely got a good head on his shoulders. Doesn't let all that fame get to him."

My dad is right. I never would've imagined how grounded Rowan seems for being the player he is in the league. Not to mention how fucking hot he is.

"I can't wait to play with him again. But I'm staying at Tweetie Sorenson's until my place is ready. Funny enough, he lives right above Rowan."

"They live in the same building?" my dad asks.

There goes that dread washing over my body again. How am I going to get to Rowan's apartment without Conor seeing me? Plus, they'll be at Peeper's, and that's the bar I'm buying. Our time together is running out.

Conor's hasn't brought up the bar again, but I'm sure once he returns for good, he's going to want to insert himself into the situation.

"Yeah. Hensley and his son too."

My dad nods.

"They call it The Nest," I say before I think better of it.

Conor's head whips in my direction. "How do you know that?"

Shit.

I scoff. "Hello? I mean…everyone in Chicago knows."

Conor narrows his eyes, and I try to push away all the anxiety quickly overtaking my body language with the hopes that he'll believe me.

"They mentioned it in an interview on SportsNight when they told the three of them about your trade."

Thanks for the save, Dad.

Conor nods and strips his gaze off me. Thank goodness.

"So, Dad…" Conor sits up straight, setting his beer on the table.

My heart hammers like a pagan war drum, and I gulp down my wine. This is it. We're going to tell my dad. My heart is fracturing as I take one last look at him before he knows, then I stare at my lap.

"The reason Mom isn't here," Conor starts. "She, um…"

"I know you're having your differences, Ky. She's been so stressed out these last few weeks without you. I wish you'd just talk to her."

"That's not it, Dad," Conor continues and glances in my direction.

The hurt has to be overwhelming Conor, and he's always been there for me. It's time I don't let him handle everything in my stead. We're both adults now.

"Dad, um…a few weeks ago, I went to one of the weddings for Mom. And I had to stop by the office to grab something I forgot beforehand. Mom was there."

He shakes his head. "I keep telling her to stop working so much, but who am I to talk? With my cases, I'm at the office at all hours."

Listening to him defend her nearly breaks my heart.

"Yeah, no. That's not it."

"Sorry you guys were brought up by two workaholics." Dad chuckles.

"That's not it," Conor says and nods in my direction.

I suck in a breath and let it trickle out slowly. "She was with another man, Dad."

He's looking at me, but I don't think he's really seeing me. He's processing what I just said. Trying to decipher what exactly it is I'm saying. "Another man?"

"They were…" I swallow past the Sahara Desert that is my throat. "Kissing."

"Oh." He puts his beer on the table.

None of us say anything. He stares at the floor while Conor and I glance at one another, unsure what to do from here.

"I'm sorry you saw that," he says.

I'm not sure how to take that. Did he already know? Maybe just suspect something was going on?

"I need to talk to your mom."

He's so calm, but this is where Conor gets it from. Dad's going to process this and dissect it like he does his cases at work. He's always told us never to draw conclusions before looking at the facts.

"Did you know him?" he asks, and his jaw clenches.

"No," I say with tears in my eyes. "Dad, I'm so sorry." I slide to the end of the couch and lean forward to take his hand. "I can't believe she did this."

He squeezes my hand and stands. "Thank you for telling me, Kyleigh." I hate hearing him using my full name. "I know this couldn't have been easy for you two."

I stand and wrap my arms around him, pressing my cheek into his chest and wishing I could do something other than be the bearer of bad news. He runs his hand up and down my back as if he's consoling me . I step back, and he heads over to Conor, hugging him.

"I'm sorry, Dad," Conor mumbles.

Then Dad walks toward my apartment door.

"You don't want to stay for pizza?" I ask.

"Ky," Conor says.

Dad turns around with his hand on the doorknob. "No pizza tonight, kiddo. I have to figure this out with your mom, but what's happened doesn't change the fact that she's your mother."

My mouth slowly falls open, and I cross my arms. "She's destroyed our family."

Conor comes up beside me, putting his arm around my shoulders.

"She's the only mother you have, that's what I'm saying. It's our marriage, not yours. You'll have to separate the two. She didn't cheat on you. She cheated on me."

I huff. "No, Dad, you're wrong. She cheated on all of us."

Conor's hand tightens on my shoulder.

"You have every right to be angry. You both do. We'll talk soon." Dad opens the door, steps out into the hall, and shuts it behind him.

I turn into Conor's chest, and the tears stinging my eyes finally slip free while he holds me.

"It's going to be okay. He's going to be okay," he says.

"I hate her, Conor. Hate her."

He squeezes me tighter. "I know. I know."

I'm not sure what I would do if I didn't have Conor as my big brother. Which makes me hate even more than I already do the fact that I'm keeping a secret from him. I'm sleeping with his teammate and friend, and he has no clue. Hell, his teammate doesn't either.

But now is not the time for me to drop it all at his feet. His mom cheated on his dad too. And although Conor's great at hiding his emotions and moving forward to do what has to be done, I know he's as torn up as I am. How could he not be? Our family has always been the stable thing in our lives, our calm in the world's storms.

She took that from us. All of us.