Razor's Edge: A Bad Boy Romance (Bad Boys of Football Book 2) (10 page)

As he was yanked away by four officers, our eyes met. E.J. didn’t say a word to me. What could he say?

I’
d
  only been here for four hours and it already felt like a lifetime. I’d fucked up and I knew it. For sure, no court of law would let a man, who did what I did, keep his son. I was going to lose my son and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it. Not a damn thing.

“There’s someone here to see you,” the guard with sympathetic eyes said to me through the glass. “Stand up and turn your back to the door, please.”

I did as was told -- probably a little too late to make a difference – but I did it. I stood up, turned my back to the door and backed up with my hands clasped behind me so he could release the handcuffs and let me pretend I was a human being for a moment.

“Step out. Keep your hands locked behind you.” The guard grabbed my arm to guide me back. “Okay, now put your hands up on the wall next to you.”

I followed each and every instruction. All the fight I had in me, left the moment I came out of my rage and looked into my son’s eyes. He looked at me with the same expression Hillary had. They were both horrified. Horrified because of me and my actions. I’d have to live with that knowledge for the rest of my life.

“You’re not going to ask me who it is?” The guard sounded nice enough, but I got the feeling it was his attempt at sarcasm.

Everybody loved when a celebrity failed. They especially loved when I failed because I practically built my career on one scandal after another. While I would have liked to have been known for my moves on the field, my ability to command and direct a team, my temper got the best of me and somehow, that translated to everyone and their mother following me around with a camera and an open mic, just waiting for me to fuck up again. And, again.

“Doesn’t matter,” I answered him.

I think, I must have disappointed the guard by not going off on him because his whole demeanor changed in an instant. His shoulders squared. The grip he held on my arm tightened and beads of sweat formed right over his lip. “We need to strip search you.”

“What? Again? Why?” I asked.
Well, if he wanted a fight, he was sure getting close to getting one.

“Look, you’re getting a visit a few hours after you got here. Do you know there’s guys in here who haven’t had a visit in months, so don’t act like you’re above doing what I tell you to do because you’re not. In here, you’re like the rest of them. Money and fame doesn’t count for shit in here,” the guard said as he tried to shove me into a changing room.

“Whatever, asshole. I’m just trying to do what I have to do and get out of here.” I avoided eye contact with him, so he wouldn’t get the satisfaction of gloating. He wasn’t winning any prizes here. Not on my account, at least. “Here you go.” I threw my jumpsuit off and endured the intrusive search. Compared to how badly my heart was hurting, a strip search wasn’t going to do any more damage than I could have done on my own.

When I stepped into the visiting room -- a room with a wall of windows that separated inmates from their visitors, Kelly shook her head at the sight of me. I took a deep breath, prepared for the tongue lashing she was about to give me, but as soon as I grabbed the phone to speak to her, her expression changed.

“I’m not going to mince words here…” she stopped, swallowing the lump that formed in her throat. “She got a court order to have temporary custody of Edge. Her attorneys called me. I was on my way to Hillary’s now, but I wanted to stop by to tell you face-to-face.”

My heart fell. Stephanie was taking my boy away from me. “What do I do? You can’t let this happen! Why the hell are you here? You should be out there doing something to stop this! She can’t take him. He’s my son. She doesn’t even know him.” My voice broke as the realization sunk in. It was all too much for me to bear.

Kelly stood up. “You did this to yourself.”

Tears rolled down my face. There was nothing more I could say. She was right. I had done this to myself, but that didn’t mean, I had to sit back and accept it. “Isn’t there anything that can be done? Can’t you do something?”

Sighing, she pushed a stray strand of hair up over her ear. “First, we have to get you out of here. Are you ready to go home and fight the right way? My partner is downstairs right now doing what she can to get you out of here. In the meantime, hang tight. Keep your mouth shut. Try to keep your hands to yourself. I’m going to Hillary’s. Hopefully, I’ll get there before the demon and her entourage do.”

I nodded, my throat so full, I was unable to speak. There was nothing I could do but sit there, feeling sorry for myself. If I’d done what I’d planned to do, none of this would be happening.

After a couple of very long hours of sitting in a cell with no way of communicating with anyone, I was going crazy. Wild thoughts went through my mind. A large part of me wanted nothing more than to get out of there and find Stephanie. If I gave her what she wanted -- money, fame, fortune -- I was sure she’d give up on this crazy crusade to hurt me. She didn’t care about Edge. She didn’t know him. If she’d truly loved him, she wouldn’t have vanished from his life. A real mother would have made an effort to know her son. I wasn’t dealing with a brokenhearted woman. I was dealing with a sadistic, money hungry bitch.

“I need to get out of here!” I yelled.

“Hey, big time football player, you’re all over the news. I bet that will get you a lot of endorsements,” a guard responded as he walked over to my cell door and opened it for me. “Your entourage is here for you with cameras and a lot of commotion outside the building. Good luck with that.”

“What’s on the news?” I asked. “What are they saying?”

He didn’t have to answer. As we walked to the area where I’d be processed to leave, I caught a glimpse of a television in one of the offices. Sure enough, my face was splashed all over the screen. The volume was low but I didn’t have to guess what they were talking about. I’d provided the media with enough fodder to keep them busy for years to come.

“Hey, why did you get divorced? You’re ex is hot. Is she married now?” the guard asked with a smug grin on his face.

“You can have that bi--” I stopped myself, remembering Kelly’s warnings. I didn’t need to see one of the guards on television detailing every word I said while I was in here. While I knew that would happen eventually, I hoped they’d at least give me a little time to get my affairs in order before they ripped me to shreds again. “I think she’s single. I don’t really know. I don’t care, to be honest.”

“Well, the paperwork is ready. You can go out and see your adoring fans now. Best of luck, pal. You’re going to need it.” He led me to a set of steel doors. “You might want to start caring, though. You got a kid to think about now.”

Yeah, I didn’t need advice from a rent-a-cop who didn’t know a damn thing about me or my life. No one really knew anything about me. No one at all. People knew what I wanted them to know and no more. My childhood was my business. My private life was my own. What people thought they knew about me was due to the shit storm I always managed to land in, but they didn’t define me. Not the real me anyway.

“Ready?” Kelly’s law partner, Claire, shook my hand.

Normally, I would have said something dirty to her when I ran into her, but this wasn’t a joyful occasion and I was not interested in making her panties wet. To me, she had always been another blonde woman with eyes for any man who had a little bit of money. That’s the vibe she put out to the world. She would get all googly-eyed when I’d run into her, but I never let it go beyond that. Kelly would have been all over me if I had and, contrary to popular belief, I did have respect for some people.

“What happened with Edge? Where is he? Have you heard from Kelly?” I didn’t care to make small talk with her. I wanted information and to get the hell out of there as soon as possible.

“He’s fine. I’ll explain when we get to the car. For now, you’re going to walk out of here with your head held high. No stupid smiles. No bravado and absolutely no back talk. Act like a damn human being for once in your life and I’ll get you out of here. By the way, your security goons suck. I called them and no one called me back. How much are you paying them to be useless?” Claire had obviously been working with Kelly for too long because now they sounded exactly alike.

She was right about my security team. They were paid too much money to do what essentially amounted to nothing most of the time, but when they did have something to keep them occupied, they did their jobs well. They were good for crowd control and, truth be told, I always drew a crowd everywhere I went. People adored me. I was a walking wet dream.

“Hello? Did you hear me?” Claire tapped the heel of her black pumps on the floor underneath her.

“I heard you. I know what to do. You don’t have to tell me. Just get me out of here,” I said.

One delay after another almost made me have a conniption. They were dragging things out as slowly as they could, while my life was ripping at the seams. No one cared. Their only interest was in watching me fail. Most people would say my demise was inevitable. One thing I knew for sure wasn’t inevitable was that I’d lose my son. That wasn’t going to happen. Not now. Not ever. I’ll be damned if I let the money-hungry bitch take my son away to a bunch of strangers who hadn’t once bothered to get to know him or learn anything about his life. Fuck them; I never liked to lose and I wasn’t about to start now.

“What
 
do mean? I have permission to have him here.” I clutched the door frame, pulling the door in tighter to block their view. “E.J. asked me to watch him.”

Behind the group of social workers and police officers, I heard Kelly’s voice. “Let me through! I’m Mr. Razor’s attorney!”

Oh, thank God!

“Ma’am?” An officer ignored Kelly’s demands and continued trying to strong-arm me in order to get to Edge. “Open the door. Let’s not make this any more difficult than it already is. The judge has issued the court order. You can talk to your attorney and hash it out later, but for now, let us do our jobs.”

I don’t know what came over me or what I was thinking beyond knowing I had to do something to stop this. I hadn’t even realized I’d slammed the door shut in the officer’s face until Kelly replayed the whole scene for me in a panicked state. “Why did you do that? Open the door before you get yourself arrested.”

My hands shook wildly. I knew I’d made a huge mistake in closing the door. What was I thinking?

Kelly noticed my shaking hands. Pushing past me, she said, “Let me handle this. Sit down. Sit on your hands, if you have to, but whatever you do, don’t let them see you acting like a nervous wreck. Geez, am I the only with a brain these days?” She smoothed her blouse before opening the door for the officers. Before she had a chance to say anything, the officer and his cohorts, shoved past her and made a beeline for both me and Edge, who sat with his back to the door, watching television.

“I’m sorry,” I started, but no one seemed interested in my apologies. “Wait; please,” I tried to no avail. “Please, don’t do this. I swear, I have permission from his father.”

The officer whose face I slammed the door shut on snapped his neck at me. “You don’t have permission from his mother. You do know the kid has a mother, don’t you? That’s usually how it works. Kids have a father and a mother.”

Edge recoiled at the officer’s sarcastic tone, obviously bewildered by what was happening. The poor little guy’s world had gone completely out of control and there was nothing I could do to stop the chaos.

Kelly tried to intervene. “Wait! Let me see the order! No one is taking my client’s son until I see the damn paperwork!” Her broad shoulders slumped as she reviewed the paperwork. We were going to lose this battle. I could see it written all over her face. With her pencil-thin eyebrows nearly intersecting over each other, she looked directly at the social workers and asked, “Where are you taking him?”

The social workers exchanged glances. One adjusted her glasses as she answered, “He’ll be safe.”

“Wait. What does that mean? He’ll be safe, where? I thought his mother wanted him. Isn’t that what this is all about?” I asked, my heart aching.

Kelly stepped in front of Edge, blocking his view of the social workers and the police officers. “Is this really necessary? You can’t take him to a foster home. You can’t put him in the system. My God, he has a home. He’s lived with his father his whole life.” Her voice broke as she pleaded with them to do the right thing.

“I’m sorry, ma’am…” one of the officers started.

“No! Don’t tell me you’re sorry. Tell me why you’re doing this. Do you have any idea who his father is? Do you even know his name?” Tears filled Kelly’s eyes.

The officer tried again. In a low, soothing tone, he said, “I’m sorry. There’s an order. We’re just doing our jobs here. He’ll be fine. He’ll go with these ladies from social services. They’ll contact his mother and sort all this out. Now, please, work with us on this. Everything is going to be alright.”

Of course, he could say that. He wasn’t the one who had a child being taken away from him. He wasn’t the one who would be destroyed. Why would he have any reason to care? None of this had anything to do with him. It wasn’t his problem.

Kelly turned her attention to Edge. I had no words. I didn’t know how to comfort him. This whole moment didn’t feel real. I felt outside of myself, watching one of the most horrific scenes I’d ever witnessed unfold in front of me. I was helpless, useless in the moment.

Surprising everyone in the room, Edge reacted with excitement. “I’m going to stay with my mom? Does she have a big house? Does she have toys there?”

What remained of my shattering heart, cracked some more. Here we were panicking and all Edge was concerned with was whether or not there were toys at his mother’s house.

Kelly knelt down next to him, wrapping her arms around his tiny waist. “Honey, you’re going to go on an adventure first.” She turned to look over her shoulder at the social workers. “Those nice women are going to take you somewhere--”

“Where? My mom said I could go to her house.” Edge looked up at me.

“She told you that over the phone?” I asked.

Kelly released her hold on him. “What? When?” Her eyes bored into mine. “What’s he talking about?”

I swallowed hard. So much had happened, I hadn’t had time to explain things yet. “He had a cell phone. He was talking to someone. I… I thought it was E.J., but I guess, it was his mom. I didn’t know. I--”

“What the hell?” She rolled her eyes. “Where’s the phone now?”

The social workers sighed, shifting where they stood.

“Oh, hold onto your panties, ladies! I’m trying to figure out what happened here. Give us a minute,” Kelly snapped at them for their impatience. To me, she ordered, “Give me that phone. This is such bullshit.”

The officer grunted. “Look, we need to finish up here. Whatever investigation or whatever it is you need to do can happen later. C’mon, little guy, let’s get your stuff.” He motioned for the social workers to get to work.

Edge jumped up and down. “Cool! I have my suitcases in the room.” He ran off to grab his belongings, while Kelly and I stood watching helplessly.

As soon as Edge and the social workers were out of earshot, she said, “Get that damn phone. I can’t believe this.”

I reached into my pocket and pulled the cell phone out for her. “I’m so sorry. I was going to tell you, then, all this happened. Does E.J. know?”

She scrolled through the phone. “He does now. I had my partner bail him out. They should be here any minute. God, I hope he doesn’t lose his shit over this.”

I hoped the same thing, but I thought I knew what his reaction would be. If it were me, I’d be out of my mind. I wasn’t him and I felt like I was losing my mind. “What do we do?”

Still scrolling through the phone, she muttered, “How did this bitch get to him? How did she find him without anyone finding out?”

“Was Edge hiding him from his mother?” I asked. No one had filled me in on what had transpired between E.J. and Stephanie. “Doesn’t E.J. have custody?”

The front door flew open. E.J. rushed in, anger in his eyes. “Where is he?”

The police officers tried to stop him, but he barreled through them, calling out his son’s name. “Edge? Edge? Where are you?”

It was like E.J. didn’t see us. He continued on, ignoring the officers, ignoring Kelly’s demands. A flustered woman followed a few seconds behind him. She gave us a couple of head nods as she rushed past us to catch up to E.J.

“She’s your partner?” I asked, sensing something horrible was about to happen. Something bigger than what was already happening.

The expression on Kelly’s face shifted from anger to fear. “My law partner, not my lover. We don’t have time for this. Stop your boyfriend before he kills someone.”

Nothing like the fear of death to get the heart pumping!

I yelled E.J.’s name. “Edgecott, stop right now! Think about what you’re doing!”

E.J. stopped in his tracks, his balled up fists slowly clenching. “I’m trying to save my son!” His tone softened as he realized Edge was still in my apartment. “Come here, son,” he beckoned to him, but the social workers formed a wall to block them from each other.

“Please, don’t do this. It’s not good for your son,” one of the social workers pleaded with him. “We have an order. You can straighten this all out in court, but for now, he needs to come with us.”

A silence fell over the tension-filled room. I held my breath as I watched a range of emotions play out on E.J.’s face.

After a moment, he addressed Edge. “Come here, buddy.” To the social workers, he said, “Let me talk to my son. He’s just a little boy. Let me say something to him, please.”

Kelly spoke up on his behalf. “You can let him speak to his son. He’s not a monster. Don’t you people have hearts?”

The social workers agreed to give them a minute to speak, but refused to leave Edge’s side. I used the wall behind me to brace myself as I watched their exchange, tears flowing freely now.

“Sir?” A social worker interrupted E.J.’s conversation with Edge. “We have to go.”

I couldn’t bear to listen any longer. How could they come in and rip a little boy from his family? My tears turned to anger as I watched E.J. clutch his little boy’s hand. This wasn’t happening. It couldn’t have been happening.

The social workers led Edge out of the room with the police providing interference between them and E.J. Kelly did her best to keep a level head, but I could see she was also fighting back tears. Her law partner was the only one showing no reaction. She and I locked eyes for a moment, but there was nothing in hers. They were vacant.

A low whimper caught my attention. Standing in the doorway, clutching the frame, E.J. stood, crying as he watched them walk his son out of my apartment, out of his life for who knew how long.

I walked over to him, placing my trembling hand on his back.

“Don’t,” he said, pulling from my touch. “Just don’t.”

I refused to move. I refused to give up.

Turning to me, E.J. grabbed me by my waist and pulled me to him. I didn’t resist. I waited it out, knowing he needed me. He squeezed tighter as he sobbed, resting his head on mine.

Kelly sighed behind me. “We’ll get him back. I promise you; we will get him back.”

I don’t know if E.J. heard her. He wailed louder now, clutching me tighter to him. “They took my boy. They took him.”

My heart ached for him. I wished I could make all that had just transpired go away. I wished bad things never happened. While we both cried, I prayed for something -- a miracle, a dream, anything to make it all go away. “I’m so sorry. I’m sorry,” I said to console him and myself. “I’m so sorry this happened.”

“This is bullshit!” Kelly slammed her fist on the wall. “We’ll get him back. I need to get out of here. Hillary, can you stay with him? Don’t let him out of your sight.”

She didn’t have to ask me. I had absolutely no intention of letting E.J. leave my sight. He needed me as much as I needed him. There was no way I’d leave his side.

“No. I don’t need a damn babysitter. I need my son,” E.J. protested. Pushing himself out of my embrace, he said, “I’m going to get that bitch. She can’t take my son from me.”

“E.J., don’t--” I started.

“You don’t tell me what I can and can’t do. You don’t know anything about this. He’s all I have. You don’t have anyone.”

His words hit me like a slap in the face. I couldn’t move. I had no words. He was right; I had no one.