Zane
I would not and could not let them down. Christ, Sasha looked a lot like her mom. And if Sasha looked like Maria in twenty years, I’d be a happy man. Hell, I’d be a happy man if she looked like the Crypt Keeper. As long as she was by my side.
Back at the venue, I had only five minutes to prepare before my next match. At least I wasn’t late. Niles and Grant were immediately on me, asking if Sasha was okay. It warmed my heart that they’d taken such a liking to her. Though what could I expect? She was a goddamn ray of sunshine.
“She’s fine,” I said. “She’s with her mom.”
I began sizing up my competition, a real douchey looking guy wearing rose tinted shades. He was way too tanned. Guys who looked like that did so because they knew they weren’t the best players. I was.
“She looked so…” Grant trailed off. “Is there anything I can do?”
I nodded. “Keep the distractions to a minimum for me, okay? If there’s any drama, don’t let it reach me.”
Even if a brawl started right next to me, I was going to win this game. And the two afterward. Then I’d go to the national championships and win the twenty grand cash prize, and Sasha’s mom would live. It was all I could think about. I was obsessed with it. I had to help. If I didn’t do everything I could, I didn’t deserve Sasha.
The first match, as expected, wasn’t even a contest. I beat the guy in less time than it would have taken for him to have a session in a tanning booth. The next two weren’t much harder.
By the end of my third match, I’d almost forgotten the reason it was so important for me to win. I was so high on my success that adrenaline thrummed through my body, sending every nerve into overdrive.
“Good job,” said Niles, coming up and patting me on the back.
Grant repeated the gesture, just much harder.
As my friends gathered around me to wish me congrats, all I could think of was getting back to Sasha. I tried to press through them and toward the door, but just as I’d escaped their clutches, I was accosted by Asa.
“Nice moves, stud.”
I suppressed a scowl. “Thanks. I can’t talk right now, though, Asa.”
I went to brush past her, but her clawed hand darted out and grabbed my bicep. I halted, though I knew I could drag her along behind me if I needed to. “What is it?”
She leaned up toward my ear. “I got a paternity test on the baby,” she whispered. “It’s definitely yours.”
I leaned back a little and looked down at her, eyebrow raised. I wouldn’t get anywhere by starting a fight with her now. That was what Sasha would have told me, anyway. What would Sasha have done, for the sake of progress? Would she have said nothing? Would she have congratulated Asa?
I decided that pretending to be happy was the best way of not setting off another Asa bomb and clearing the room with the least amount of difficulty.
“Asa, that’s great!” I exclaimed. I pulled her over to the side of the room where we wouldn’t be overheard. “I can’t believe I’m going to be a father.”
She positively beamed. It was sad, actually. She was so delusional that she actually thought we were going to have some sort of fairy tale ending together—that this would ever work. Didn’t she realize that we were oil and water? Worse than that, we were baking soda and vinegar. A fucking volcano. And not in a good way, either. Sasha and I had dynamite sex. Her body worked with mine like we were sharing the same head. But Asa? Asa and I had good sex but horrible everything else. Why did she want to be with me in the first place?
“We’re going to have to talk to about this with Sasha, though,” I warned. “You and I still have so much to work out.”
“Sasha?”
“Doctor Walker.”
“Right.” Surprisingly, the cheer did not drop from her face. “I think she’s been a real help for us. I got a lot out that I’ve never been able to say to you before.”
I blinked. Asa and I were agreeing on something. Sasha really was helping us. That realization made me want to laugh out loud. It was brilliant. This crazy plan might actually work!
“I have somewhere to be, Asa, but I’ll see you at our next appointment.” I smiled, and she reciprocated it. She didn’t try to stop me. She didn’t yell insults at me.
I had to admit that Sasha had helped me too. Who knew that being nice to Asa would, in turn, make her nicer to me? I went in for the kill, pulling her into a hug. She didn’t even notice as I slipped her phone out of her back pocket, checked something real quick, and slipped it back in.
The smile on my face when I left after winning the regional billiards championship was unequivocally real.