Chapter 50 Asher Nash

The Secret Woman

I’m trying to be everything she needs, but I’m starting to wonder why she’s so dead set against telling her parents.

She says it’s to protect me, but sometimes it feels like it’s because she isn’t sure she wants to be with me.

I’m certain it’s just me projecting. I’m positive it’s because of my reputation and the repercussions of getting suspended for a year. But it’s still in the back of my mind.

Does she think I’m not good enough for her? For our baby?

Or is it me who thinks that?

Maybe I need to hear her tell me the words back. Maybe I need the reassurance that she sees the same future I see.

But I’m not sure I’m getting that reassurance, and I think it’s because she’s scared I’m going to run again. I’m not sure what I can do to convince her that I’m not going anywhere. I’m new to this commitment thing, and I fucked it up once already. I won’t fuck it up again.

There’s way too much on the line to risk it.

We ring in the new year naked, and I hold her in my arms as we sleep until well after the sun rises.

I could get used to this.

Where I’ve always run from commitment in the past, when it’s just the two of us in the quiet of morning in a hotel room, I think I want to run toward it. For the first time in my life, when I think about the future, it’s not just me.

It’s a frightening realization, but it also feels right.

Except we can’t fully explore what life would be like together if we have to keep seeing each other in secret.

I’d love to have her as my date at the next event on my schedule. I’d love to take her to listen to live music in the park or to see a show on the Strip or to go out to dinner together.

But we can’t do any of those things if she won’t admit the truth to her parents.

I guess we’ll continue doing this her way because the alternative isn’t an option.

I’ve been staying with Grayson since we found out about the twins. I haven’t found the right words for my father, so I’ve been avoiding him.

He has to be curious as to what I did with the information about his twin sons. As far as I know, none of my brothers have told him anything, but I don’t know if the twins got in touch with him.

We have a home game this weekend, our last one of the season, and then we get a bye during Wild Card Weekend since we’ve secured our spot in the playoffs. That bye is supposed to be used for recovery and preparation for the intensity of the next game, but I plan to spend the entire week with Des—or as much of it as I can, anyway.

I’m on my way down to the locker room ahead of practice on Friday ahead of our final home game this weekend when my father turns the corner from the hallway the coaches use to access the locker room.

“What are you doing here?” I grunt.

A few players pass by us on their way into the locker room, and there’s really nothing I want to do less right now than have a confrontation with Dad just outside the locker room. I’ve worked my ass off to earn some respect in this place, and now they’ll see me as the little kid getting yelled at by his dad outside the locker room.

“Came to see why you’ve been avoiding me like the plague,” he admits.

“How’d you get in?”

Lincoln chooses that moment to walk by, and he widens his eyes at me as if to say good luck with him .

I need it.

“I’m the head coach’s father,” he says, slugging my brother on the arm as he crosses between us to get to the locker room. “How do you think I got in?”

Lincoln grunts and disappears into the locker room.

I press my lips together. “I guess I don’t have much to say to you right now.”

“No? Not even about meeting your half-brothers?”

I sigh as I shake my head. I really, really don’t want to do this here, and it’s not like he’s keeping his voice down. Anyone and everyone walking these hallways could hear him, and does he really want my teammates gossiping about my half-brothers? I know Lincoln wouldn’t want it.

“Nope. Not even about that,” I say dryly. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to get to practice.” I turn to walk into the locker room, but he stops me.

“Wait,” he says. “What about the secret woman you knocked up? Your mom said she’s nearly three months along. Who is it?” He leans in a little as if I’ll whisper it to him, but before I get the chance to tell him to shove off, Coach Dixon rounds the corner.

He freezes when he sees me standing there talking to my dad, and I’m positive he heard what my dad just said.

He couldn’t’ve known who my dad was talking to until he rounded the corner, but he definitely heard.

And he definitely pieced it together the moment his eyes landed on me.

“Secret woman you knocked up?” Coach Dixon asks, and the recognition turns icy as he pins me to my spot. “My office, Nash. Now.” He spins on his heel to retreat back toward his office, and he fully expects me to follow him.

Fuck.

“What the fuck have you done?” I hiss at my father, who looks absolutely clueless that he just revealed his daughter’s baby daddy to the one person we weren’t ready to tell.

And then I take off to follow Coach and face the music.