Chapter 25

Chapter Twenty-Five

Rafe

West: Does Abby like the surprise?

Me: So far, so good.

Emmy: Offer to take her to Lyme Park and she’ll love you forever.

Me: Wait, is this a group chat now?

Emmy: Of course. West hates texting. So I’m here to help.

Me: More like you’re just nosey.

Emmy: tongue out emoji See if I offer any more advice.

Me: Sorry, sorry. I could use all the help I can get.

Emmy: Just update us later, okay?

West: Only if it’s good news. If it’s not, then I may have to meet you at the airport and have a little talk.

Emmy: West! Be nice. He’s trying.

West: Hmph.

Me: I’ll let you two know how she reacts later. For now, I’m turning off my phone for a bit.

E ver since I’d run away from Abby to take a shower, an apology had burned on my tongue.

I’d rushed things and offered myself to her, and she’d hesitated. Long enough to make me feel like a dick for even suggesting it.

Did she think I expected it in order to keep helping her?

Because no, I wasn’t that asshole.

For the moment, though, I couldn’t even attempt to say I was sorry. We were in the second store I’d booked a private session with—to try and avoid the paparazzi—and I currently sat waiting while Abby tried on some clothes.

The fact she’d stated explicitly that she wanted to do it alone had squeezed my heart. But I hadn’t fought her, and so I’d resorted to answering emails and texts. I was just composing a message to one of my former teammates to see if they’d come to the stadium during Abby’s tour when my sister’s name flashed on the screen.

Since Emmy would only call if it were an emergency, I picked up. “Emmy? What’s wrong?”

“Oh, Rafe. Has Abby seen it?”

“Seen what?”

She paused, the two seconds of silence pure agony before she whispered, “The interview her ex gave to Celeb Gossip and News.”

CGN was famous for scandal and borderline unethical practices. They were also effective at blasting their videos all over social media and streaming sites to get the word out quickly.

And yet, despite some of their illegal practices, they always managed to avoid being shut down.

“What the fuck did they say?”

Emmy gave a quick summary, and I cursed. Eventually, Emmy said, “You need to watch the video yourself and then determine if Abby should see it. But she needs to know what her ex did, Rafe. Everyone will soon be talking about it.”

Because even if soccer wasn’t as popular in the US as other sports, CGN had hundreds of millions of followers across all social media platforms. Abby’s pain would spread like wildfire.

I gripped my phone tighter. “I’m going to fucking kill him.”

Abby’s voice came from behind me. “Kill who?”

“I’ll call you back later, Emmy.”

I pressed End, took a breath, and then stood to face Abby. “If there’s anything you want to buy, get it first and then we’ll talk in the car.”

She frowned. “Okay, now I’m worried.”

“I know, but I’ll tell you everything once we’re alone.”

“I already had them ring it up. You just need to pay and we can go.”

I went through the motions, trying my best to be polite and nice. The store manager had done me a huge favor—even if it’d been for free tickets—and I didn’t want to take out my anger on a near-stranger.

By the time we both slid into the rear of the SUV and the window partition between the front and back was up, I was clenching my fingers so hard that my nails might draw blood.

“Rafe? You’re scaring me. What’s going on?”

Taking a deep breath, I scanned her face. I hated the confusion in her eyes and the fact her expression was going to get worse. A lot worse.

Still, I couldn’t keep this from her, nor would I watch and decide if she could handle it. The world was probably already talking about Abby, and she needed to prepare herself for what was to come.

“Emmy called to let me know that your ex gave an interview. And not just any interview, but one to Celeb Gossip and News.”

Her face paled. “What?”

“I only know the basics but haven’t watched it yet.”

I tried to take her hand, but she swatted me away. Her voice was hoarse as she said, “I need to see it.”

It was on the tip of my tongue to ask if she was sure. And yet, no matter how much I wanted to protect her from this, I couldn’t.

However, even without knowing what that asshole had said, Travis Doucey was a dead man.

“Rafe, please. I-I can’t set it up myself. Let’s watch it and then you can close it right away so I don’t see the comments.”

Fuck. I hated this. The internet could be hateful and downright mean. I’d learned to brush trolls aside out of self-preservation, but Abby hadn’t.

And the only reason she had to endure any of this was because she was my wife. I didn’t have proof, but I was pretty fucking sure it was my fault, given what my sister had told me.

Still, as Abby hugged herself and opened her mouth to ask again, I pulled myself together. “Just a second, love. I’ll get it going.”

I pulled up their channel, found the video—which already had two million views—and hit Play.