Addison
Addison stepped out of the private suite she’d been in, watching in horror as the events on the field played out. At first, she’d held out hope that the heated exchange between AJ and Fred—like the one earlier that season—was just coincidental. Sure she figured Fred might say or do something pissy like that first time weeks ago, which might result in some kind of scuffle, given AJ’s temper, but after seeing just how enraged AJ had become at whatever Fred kept yelling at him, her gut told her this was the nightmare she’d been dreading.
Even then when things calmed the first time, she’d held out hope again that maybe Fred had just pushed AJ’s buttons on some other issue. The game or something. But when AJ ignored the third base coach’s signal to stop at third, turned that corner with a purpose, then collided into him the way he had, she knew right then—he knew.
His name on her phone screen now had her heart at her throat. This was so bad. She really had decided to come clean. She’d just hadn’t wanted it to affect his playoff series. God damn it, she’d been so close. The worst thing was she knew this was all Fred’s doing. It was infuriating.
“Was Fred a code name?” he asked as soon as she answered. “Was it part of the cover-up, Addison?”
“Sort of, but not just from you,” she said calmly, hoping her tone might calm him because he still sounded as infuriated as he’d been on the field. “Winfred is his full name, but I’ve been calling him Fred since way back.”
She quickly explained how way back they’d both been afraid, since technically she was a minor, even if he were just a few years older than she was. He’d also been afraid of upsetting his mentor. She, too, thought it better if they kept in on the down low, at least for a while. Then she got pregnant and things soured. After that, she for sure would never chance anyone hearing her use the name people knew him by. Ever. She’d never been more relieved for that decision when she found out Clair had overheard her then told AJ.
“I can’t deal with this guy being a part of your life, Addison. I won’t.”
He hadn’t even finished his sentence when her other line clicked. It was Fred. She was sure he’d have demands of his own. Her head was spinning and her stomach roiled. This day had been an absolute nightmare, and it felt like it was still far from over.
AJ was still going on about how he didn’t even want her talking to Fred. She could fight him in court, and AJ was sure she would win full custody. They’d get the best lawyers on it. He said Fred didn’t have a leg to stand on. They could get his estranged wife to testify that he’d never even told her about the daughter he never wanted. They could get a third party to handle any negotiations without Addison having to speak with him directly. He’d heard of people doing that. The lawyers could handle all the negotiating without her ever having to speak with him. AJ was making it perfectly clear. It’d be the only way he’d put up with any kind of relationship she might have with Fred.
“I know it sounds unreasonable, but I’m just being honest with you. There’s ways of dealing with this fucker in your life.” Addison could hear the conviction in his voice. He was breathing hard, and she could almost picture him pacing madly. “We both know the only thing he wants, and it has nothing to do with Clair. He’s just using her, and I ain’t fucking having it.”
The other line had since stopped beeping, but she heard another beep and knew it was a text. Without telling AJ, she checked it.
I’ve agreed to be part of the post-game press conference. You know what they’ll be asking. Answer your phone unless you want me to tell them exactly why that fucking animal did what he did. You can’t seriously expect me to be okay with him around MY daughter.
When her other line beeped again, Addison refrained from gasping. She was afraid AJ would pick up on her anxiousness. How could this possibly be getting worse?
“I have another call,” she said, interrupting AJ. “I have to take it.”
“From who? Fred?”
His words were laced with such anger—such disgust—her response flew out before she could think about it. “My lawyer,” she said.
“Swear on Clair it’s not that fucker on the other line.” Addison’s silence was all it took.
“Why are you lying to me?” he asked, raising his voice. “What else have you lied about?”
“Nothing else,” she said anxiously. “I’m sorry. It is him, but you were already so upset—”
“You take his call; don’t call me back.”
Addison closed her eyes, feeling the hot tears burn her eyes. “I have to take it,” she whispered.
The line clicked and he was gone. She stood there, frozen, the tears dripping down her cheeks, as the stadium suddenly went wild. Someone scored or something big was happening on the field, and she had zero interest. With AJ off the phone now, her phone automatically clicked over to Fred.
“Addison?” he sounded worked up too, but nowhere near as worked up as AJ had been.
“We need to talk,” she said, squeezing her phone as hard as she did her eyes shut.
She hadn’t planned on having this conversation with Fred this soon, and she’d planned on telling AJ about this first, but under the circumstances, she had no choice. Addison needed to regain a little control of this situation that was so out of hand now.
“In person,” he said.
“Fine. But if you reveal anything about Clair or why you and AJ got into it on the field, other than it was something game-related, the only way you and I will ever communicate again is via our lawyers, understood?”
“Agreed. But I wanna see you tonight after the press conference.”
Taking a deep breath, she knew just how angry AJ would be about this and what taking Fred’s call alone might have already cost her. She’d be taking several risks, both with AJ and Fred. But they were risks she was willing to take for the sake of her daughter. Addison could only pray now that both the aces in her pocket would pay off in the end. The finality she heard in AJ’s voice tonight was like none she’d ever heard from him before. It was what scared her most. Even her ace might not be good enough to make him get over her ignoring his ultimatum and her going to meet with Fred on the very night of their epic public brawl, especially since she was certain those leaked pictures were all Fred’s doing.
Addison had every intention of telling AJ about this. If he ever forgave her for this, there’d be no more lies or even secrets between them. She just knew she had a better chance of being forgiven if he heard about it straight from her first. “I’ll meet with you tonight, Fred, but know this. If any photos of us meeting tonight get leaked, tonight will be the last time you hear my voice outside a courthouse. If I hear so much as a rumor that you and I met tonight, the next time you wanna talk to me about anything you’ll have to go through my lawyers. They’re already on standby; it’s all about how you decide to handle this.”
It was how she hoped things would be in the end, especially now that AJ had made it so clear that it’d be the only way he’d deal with this. She just needed Fred to think for now that if he behaved and didn’t pull any stunts after tonight he still had a chance to continue with his infuriating requests.
Her last requirement for agreeing to meet with him tonight, she also added with the same threat about her lawyers. “Cover up that ridiculous tattoo during the press conference, will you?”
~~~
Not only did Fred comply with her wishes of not saying anything she wouldn’t want him to at the press conference, he didn’t even show up to it. At first, Addison thought it was a good-faith gesture on his part. He was going the extra mile to show her he meant what he’d said on the phone call Clair overheard her on earlier. He really did have her and Clair’s best interest in mind when he insisted he just wanted to be a part of their lives.
He’d even shown up at the riverfront pedestrian trail she asked him to meet her at, wearing a sweatshirt with the hoodie up over his head. Even if he didn’t do anything stupid like have someone follow them and take photos, she didn’t want to take a chance of anyone recognizing him and taking their own photos they might leak. It was a lot colder in St Louis than it was in San Diego this time of year, so a sweatshirt with a hoodie made perfect sense. She’d been beyond relieved that, even while she knew it was him when he first got out of the car that dropped him off, she wouldn’t have recognized him otherwise.
Then he got close enough for Addison to see the real reason why he’d likely called off the press conference and why he was all covered up now. His face was a mess. He had a fat lip ripped in two places and a knot on one of his temples that was beginning to swell around his eye. It wasn’t too bad, but it was bad enough that she could see why he wouldn’t want to give a closeup interview on national television that would end up on YouTube forever.
Addison felt a little evil for not feeling any sympathy for him, but she still asked if he was okay. “I’m fine,” he said. “Goes with the territory. Not the first brawl I’ve been in; won’t be the last.”
She only hoped he didn’t mean there’d be more this series. Yet knowing how angry AJ was, she knew the possibility of that was still too real, which was why she needed to do this now and then hopefully get back to AJ as soon as possible. Before the fourth game back in San Diego. Before he could step foot on that field with Fred again.
“I’m glad you agreed to meet me tonight,” Fred said as they started down the river trail. “For the record, he started everything that happened tonight.”
“Oh really?” she asked, already annoyed, and this conversation had just started. “He knew nothing about you being Clair’s dad. He hasn’t even talked about the incident at the ESPYs. Why would he start anything?”
“He made a smartass remark and it pissed me off.”
Addison stopped on the spot. “Is that really how all that ugliness started? Because he made a smartass remark? Something you do every five minutes when you’re on the field, I’m sure.”
“After the argument you and I had earlier, I just wasn’t in the mood and I snapped.”
“So you had to tell him about being Clair’s dad.” She stared at him, worried about the very thing she’d worried about up in the stands. “Did anyone else hear you? Who else knows?”
“I didn’t tell him shit. He saw the tattoo and figured it out.”
That made Addison’s heart spike. “Has anyone else seen that stupid tattoo?”
“I haven’t shown anyone, but someone may’ve seen it. Doesn’t mean they’ll know what it means. Like I said before, she’s not the only Clair in the world.”
Feeling the heat rise up her neck and into her face, Addison decided she wouldn’t try and play nice and prolong this conversation. She couldn’t stand there, looking at him anymore. She pulled her ace out of the front pocket of her own hoodie and handed it to him.
“What’s this?” he asked, taking the piece of paper from her.
“It’s how much you owe me in back child support.”
He stared at it for a moment without saying anything. Her lawyers had drawn up the paperwork weeks ago, based on Fred’s very lucrative income for the past seven years.
“That doesn’t even include what you’ve made in endorsements, but my lawyers said they’d go after it all.”
Of course, they were urging her to file for an injunction to start freezing his assets so she could begin to collect everything he owed her. Even their percentage of the settlement would be a fat amount. Addison had known it’d likely be a lot, but she wasn’t expecting that many millions.
“Addison, I—”
“I don’t want any of it,” she said, stunning him quiet. “Not a dime. I won’t file the injunction like my lawyers are begging me to and another for you to continue to pay until she’s eighteen. All I want is Clair’s freedom and my peace of mind. Sign off on any rights to her so that I don’t have to look over my shoulder anymore. And I want a promise in writing that you’ll never reveal your identity to anyone—”
“I can’t just sign—”
“If you don’t, not only will I go after you for every penny you owe us, I will expose you to the world. What a deadbeat heartless asshole you really are. What a lying piece of shit you’ve been and how you kept this secret love child from your wife your entire marriage. How you’ve now been harassing and using that innocent little girl—one you wanted aborted—to get what you want from me.”
Fred stared at her, still looking every bit as stunned as Addison had expected him to be, and she held her breath. Her heart was going a mile a minute. This was it. She knew this could totally backfire on her if he wanted to get nasty about this. She’d do what she had to, but Addison had always known the two things that mattered most to Fred were his money and his image. It’s why she was banking on him agreeing to this. Maybe not immediately because she expected him to be a stubborn ass and not lie down so easily, but she was fairly certain, once he thought it out and spoke with his lawyers, who would tell him, yes, he’d have no choice but to sign off or pay up, he’d have to give in.
She’d been hopeful she could hold off a bit until things calmed and he’d likely be more conforming, but after her conversation with AJ tonight, this had to be done now.
“You can’t really expect me to agree to any of this without my lawyers looking over it all.”
“You have a week,” she said, starting back to where her driver was waiting.
The knot at her throat suddenly was a strange one. It was part fear that he might not agree and she’d have no choice but to go the ugly route, and partly an enormous relief that it hadn’t been a flat out no. The more Addison thought about it as she neared the car and Fred hadn’t so much as tried to stop her or insist that they talk some more, the more relief she felt, and the knot grew even bigger. He stood to lose so much if he didn’t just give up something he’d never wanted to begin with.
“Oh my God.” She gasped, crying into her hands the moment the driver closed the door to the car. “Could this nightmare finally be over?”
Just as her crying turned into a crazed mixture of crying and laughing as she wiped happily away at her tears, her phone beeped. She was almost afraid to see who it was from. When she saw it was from her dad, she clicked on it immediately, terrified that something was wrong with Clair. He rarely texted her.
Where are you? AJ was just here at the hotel room, looking for you.
Addison hit the call button, and her father answered on the second ring. “What did you tell him?” she asked, the moment he answered.
“Your mother slipped,” he said, his voice soft—rueful. “She feels terrible, honey. She was the one who answered the door. When she didn’t see you with him, she asked him where you were. He was, of course, taken aback at first then said you weren’t with him. That he was here to talk to you. It’s when I walked into the room. He asked me if I knew where you were, but I couldn’t come up with anything fast enough, so I began to explain to him why you’d gone to meet with Winfred, but he didn’t even let me finish. He said he had a plane to catch and was in a hurry.”
Sure enough, AJ didn’t answer or return any of her messages. Not that day. Not the next. Not the morning of game four of the playoffs in San Diego. It almost felt like déjà vu, only the pain was so much more profound this time. She refused to play her last ace, not for this. She needed to know that someone who could profess such a profound love—not just for her but for innocent Clair, who was in no way to blame for any of this mess—wouldn’t really be able to turn his back on them so easily as he was doing now.
Yes, she understood he was angry, hurt. He felt betrayed. But he had to understand why she had to do what she did. She’d warned him from the beginning she’d stop at nothing to protect Clair. What she needed now was to know with all certainty whether there was even the slightest chance of things still working out for them. That no matter what, nothing short of her willfully betraying him would be the only reason he'd cut them off again the next time he was so insanely angry.
At the moment, she couldn’t think of anything she might ever do from here on that would make him this angry ever again, but she still needed to be certain. Ironically, what she loved so much about AJ—his intense passion when it came to everything—made her nervous now. This was a different side of his passion he was showing her: the finality with which he so easily had dismissed not just her but Clair because he wasn’t responding to any of Clair’s texts either.
So her final ace would just have to remain in her pocket, no longer a device she’d use to get him to listen to her. That wasn’t what she wanted it to be, not anymore, not after he so coldly shut both her and Clair out. It was one thing to be angry and hostile to Addison because he really felt he had reason to be. As much as Addison was trying to be understanding, as much as it hurt to think she just might have to cut all ties if it meant protecting Clair’s heart, she’d just have to do it. She’d never stop protecting Clair.
No matter what.