8. Peyton

Peyton

" W hat's going on Fallon? Or is that even your name?"

"Give me a chance to explain." She tugs at my jersey. "I never wanted to lie to you."

"But you did Fallon. Every time I touched you it was a lie. When I was deep inside you and you were screaming my name, it was all a lie. And for what? Did you see me as a meal ticket? Were you tired of sponging off the real McKenna?"

Her palm connects to my cheek with a sharp sting. "How dare you!" The tears stream down her face but I'm not done with her yet.

"You better hope you're not pregnant, because if you are, I will do everything in my power to take that child away from you. I'll make sure you are never involved in raising any child of mine."

She clutches her stomach and stumbles backward. "I wish I'd never met you."

"The feeling is mutual, sweetheart. Now if you'll excuse me I have a Super Bowl to win." I slide my helmet on my head, then slam the door shut behind me, leaving her alone in the locker room.

My thoughts are so jumbled I don't even notice when some one approaches me.

"You were a little harsh on her weren't you?"

"The last thing I need is a lecture from you, Coach."

"Point taken, but I want you to think about how she made you feel. You're a changed man Peyton. The spoiled kid is gone replaced with a man who can lead his team to a championship."

"Yeah, well, I don't plan on falling for another pretty face anytime soon." I don't add, that Fallon will always hold my heart no matter how deceitful she is.

***

Surprisingly we won the Super Bowl. Even more surprisingly, I won the MVP award. I wish I could enjoy the win and the award, but all I can think about is Fallon.

Coach was right, even though we only spent a few days together, Fallon makes me want to be a better man. A man that puts his team, his friends, and the woman he loves ahead of anything else.

I need Fallon in my life. I've got to find her and tell her I'm sorry. There has to be a good reason she lied to me and pretended to be her twin sister.

The owner's box, that's where McKenna and Fallon will be. I push my way through the crowd of well wishers, stopping every few feet to accept their congratulation on the big win.

Pushing open the skybox door, I scan the crowd searching for Fallon. I spot her standing next to Amber with her back to me.

"Fallon." I place my hand on her shoulder and spin her around to face me, but instead of looking into the face of the woman I've fallen in love with, I'm looking at the face of her identical twin sister.

"She's gone. Did you really have to be so mean? She's the sweetest person I know with the biggest heart and you broke her. Not just her heart but shattered every inch of her mind, body, and soul."

"She told you what I said to her?" I blanch, remembering the awful words I said to her.

"No, not everything, but I'm her twin. I can feel her pain, and it's bad."

"I need to fix this. Where is she?" I scan the room desperate for a glimpse of Fallon.

"Like I said, she's gone. She left right after the half-time show."

"Where did so go? I need to see her." The desperation is thick in my voice, but I don't care. I would give up my Super Bowl ring for one more chance with Fallon.

"You don't get it do you? She's hurting really bad because of you. You're the last person she needs right now."

"I made a mistake. I need to tell her how I feel about her."

"I think you made that abundantly clear when you pushed her away."

"It was a mistake, one I plan to rectify if you'll tell me where she is."

"Listen up and listen good, because I don't owe you anything, but since you wouldn't listen to Fallon, you're going to listen to me," she pokes me in the chest, punctuation every word.

She turns away and looks out over the football field down below. "I was on the last leg of my world tour when I was diagnosed with pneumonia. My doctor's recommended I cancel the rest of the of my appearances but I couldn't disappoint my fans. That's when Amber came up with the idea for Fallon to pose as me for the last few events." She turns back to face me, her face taking on a softness as she continues talking about her sister.

"Fallon has a beautiful singing voice. It's so much better than mine, but she is deathly afraid to perform in front of a crowd. She'd rather be back in our hometown reading or fishing in our grandfather's boat. Do you know how much courage it took for her to step in for me? Then on the last night of the last concert she met a man that made her heart race. A man she wanted to tell all her secrets to but she'd made a deal not to tell anyone about how we traded places until after the biggest performance of my career, the Super Bowl. When she tried to tell you, you pushed her away and broke her heart."

A scowl crosses her face, "You don't deserve her or her love. She needs time alone to heal and if by some strange twist of fate she decides to forgive, it will be on her terms not yours."

All I can do is nod. She's right, I hurt my beautiful, compassionate girl who would never intentionally hurt anyone or anything.

"Can I ask you one thing? When she's fishing on your grandfather's boat and she catches a fish, does she keep it or does she release it back into the water?"

"She releases it. There was one time when we were kids playing in the sand and a crab chased us all over the beach. I called him a bastard but she said he was our new friend so she named him Bastar. He was a vicious creature who earned the name bastard, and even though he chased us around snapping his claws at us, Fallon fell in love with him. She convinced our grandfather to relocate him to a near by crab sanctuary so he could live his life without the fear of ending up in someone's boiling pot of water which is what I wanted to do to the little bastard. So when I say you don't deserve her I mean it. No one hurts my sister."

She turns her back on me and walks away, leaving me feeling lower than I ever thought possible.