Razor's Edge: A Bad Boy Romance (Bad Boys of Football Book 2) (11 page)

The
 
room spun around me, but I didn’t care. I sat up, knocking empty cans of beer off the bed onto the floor, where they fell on top of a layer of empty whiskey bottles.

“He lives!”

I jumped off the bed, nearly falling flat on my face in the process. “What the fuck!”

“You passed out,” my teammate, Dominic Porter, said as he helped me get to my feet. “If you keep this shit up, my girl is threatening to leave me and take all my money with her.”

“What happened?” I asked. I had no memory of anything beyond driving all over town to find my ex-wife. I figured, she had to be nearby. That was the kind of person she was. She’d want to watch me fail.

Dominic laughed. “You partied like a rock star last night, except there was no music and absolutely no women because my girlfriend refused to accommodate me. She doesn’t get it. We’re football players. Women are what we do, right?”

I didn’t have time for jokes. I needed answers. “Whatever, man. For real, how did I get here? What the hell happened?”

His face turned serious. “Okay, well, you showed up at the clubhouse last night after practice. You were already drunk. How many drinks did you have before you got there anyway?”

“That’s what I’m asking you. What the hell happened?” I looked at myself in the mirror. I looked like hell. “They took Edge.” It was all coming back to me now. “Damn, they took him.”

Dominic looked over his shoulder at the open door. “Hold on. Don’t say anything yet; she’ll hear you.”

“Who?” I had no idea who he was talking about. As far as I knew, Dominic lived alone. “Who else is here?”

He hushed me. “I told you. My girl is here and she’s threatening to cut me off if you cause any problems.”

Now I was angry. “What the hell is that supposed to mean? They took my kid!”

“I know, they did. We all know they did. It’s all over the news. Your face is all over the news. Look, I don’t know what you did, but your ex has a hard on for you. After you caused a scene at the clubhouse, I tried to get you home, but man, you wouldn’t let up. You were out of control, so I brought you here. My girl--”

“What girl? Who the hell are you talking about? That stripper from the club? Man, I told you, those women are no good. Look at what happened to me.” I forced myself to my feet. The room spun under my feet. “How much did I have to drink?”

“Enough to nearly get kicked off the team,” Dominic answered. “What were you thinking anyway? You should have heard what you said. You wanted to find your ex and do who knows what to her, like that was going to do you any good.”

I hoped I didn’t do anything stupid. “So, you brought me here?”

“I sure did. I didn’t know what else to do. You were out of control; someone had to do something to stop you. By the way, your kid’s teacher is on the way over here to pick you up. You might want to think about cleaning yourself up before she gets here,” Dominic said, pointing to my wrinkled clothes.

That’s all I needed was to get yelled at by Hillary. How was that going to fix anything? “Why is she on her way? Who called her?”

Dominic shrugged. “You did!”

Of course, I did. I was fast becoming an expert at making my life more complicated than it already was. “Why did you let me do that?” I asked him. “Damn, I don’t need this shit right now. I have to get out of here and find my son.”

He tried to block my way, but I was ready for him. “Get out of my way!”

“You can’t do this,” Dominic said. “Calm down. What are you running from? Think about your son. Think about what you’re doing.”

I stopped. He was right. I had to focus on Edge and getting him back. Defeated, I said, “I don’t know what to do. Tell me what to do.”

Dominic was a man I thought I could count on. He always had my back on the field, but right now, he looked like I’d beat him. He was out of answers for me. If he couldn’t help me, who could?

From the other side of the door, Dominic’s girlfriend called out for him. “Dom, the teacher is here for Razor. She’s in the kitchen. Get him out here.”

I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. I looked like I’d just come off a month-long bender. “Great,” I groaned.

“What’s the deal with this girl anyway? Does she live here with you?” Dominic asked.

The door sprung open. “Did you hear me, Dom?” His girlfriend’s eyes opened wide as she took me in. “Your friend is here to see you. What do you want me to tell her?”

“I don’t know. Tell her, I’ll be down in a minute, I guess.” I stood up, the room spinning around me. “I need a minute.”

She nodded, giving Dominic a stern look. “Okay, well, don’t take forever. I don’t know what to say to her. She has some kind of attitude, like she’s better than me or something.”

Dominic tried to warn her to keep quiet, but she continued on. “Where did you find her anyway? She acts all hoity toity, like she didn’t come from the hood or something.”

I tried not to react. I tried to ignore her comments, but my temper got the better of me. “Shut your damn mouth. You don’t know anything about her. By the way, she acts like that because she is better than you. You’re some stripper from nowhere and she’s… she’s... “ I started.

“Stop this. What are you doing, Razor? You’re going to talk about my girlfriend in front of me now? Is that what you want to do?” Dominic folded his arms in front of him.

“Is everything okay here?” Hillary’s voice startled us. “E.J.?” She peered around the corner. Her eyes met mine. “What happened to you?”

Her question didn’t warrant a response. It was obvious what had happened. I looked and felt like hell. As I walked past her headed for the front door, I heard her inhale quickly.

“Are you going to be okay?” Dominic asked as he ran to catch up with me. “What do you need me to do?”

“Keep… No…” I took a deep breath. “Do me a favor and don’t mention to anyone what I said to you last night. Make sure your girl doesn’t say anything to anyone either, okay?” I didn’t need another scathing report against me. I already had enough working against me. “Thanks for not letting me do something stupid last night. I’ll catch up with you later.”

Hillary marched out of their place with rage in her eyes.

“Watch out,” Dominic warned as he closed the passenger side door for me.

“I’m not worried about her,” I grumbled.

“Well, you must not be too smart then, because you should be worried about me. You should be worried as hell.” Hillary didn’t bother to say goodbye to Dominic before starting the engine and peeling off down the street. “What were you thinking? Do you realize how I scared I was? Kelly and I spent half the night looking for you!” Hillary scrubbed tears from her face.

“What are you crying about? Nothing happened to you,” I said as I clutched the door handle.

Slamming on the breaks, Hillary yelled, “You’re such an ass! This is happening to me too! You brought me into this the moment you left your son in my home. Do you realize how much trouble I could be in because of you? Do you know what you’ve done to my life?”

She was right. I had dragged her into my mess. She didn’t deserve it, but it was too late now. What could I do? “I’m sorry. I didn’t know it would get this bad. I honestly had no idea she’d ever pull something like this. I understand if you want to walk away now. I would, if it were me,” I offered.

The car blocking traffic, the drivers behind us honked. “Walk away? I’m sorry, but explain to me how you expect me to walk away like nothing has happened. Let’s see, last I checked, I was out of a job, living off my savings, accused of kidnapping one of my students, and--”

I grabbed the wheel. “Step on the gas. Let’s get your car out of the way. You’re blocking traffic.”

Hillary looked at the line of cars behind us. “And, you’re doing nothing to help yourself.”

“Please, move the car, Hillary,” I begged. “Park it over there so we can talk about this.”

The cars sped past us, a couple of drivers flipping us the bird as they passed.

“What? What is it you have to say?” Hillary threw the car into park. “You took off last night and didn’t bother to let anyone know where you were going and what you planned to do. Do you know how worried I was--”

“
You
were?”

“Um, no. Yes. I’m so confused.
We
were all worried about you.” She hung her head, avoiding eye contact with me.

“I said, I was sorry.” I reached out to touch her hand with mine, but she retreated from me.

“No, you don’t get to touch me. Not now. I feel like you used me. Why would you do that?” Her voice shook.

The magnitude of all that had gone so horribly wrong finally hit me.

Hillary draped an arm over my shoulder. “I’m so sorry.”

Tears fell from my eyes at such speed, I could no longer see in front of me. “She took my son.”

“I know. We’ll get him back. Kelly’s working on that today for you. We’ll get him back.” Hillary held me, rubbing my neck and back.

“We?” I thought I’d heard her wrong.

Something registered in Hillary’s eyes. Fear, maybe? “Yes, we. This is going to sound crazy, but I can’t walk away now. Too much has happened. I don’t know why and I hope I don’t regret it, but what I do know is, how much you love Edge and how very much he loves you.”

I had no words. No one -- no woman -- had ever wanted to go to bat for me. I was humbled by her willingness to stick around after the way I’d treated her. Regardless of what happened between us, I knew I’d never ever be able to repay her for willingly returning to my chaos.

“Do you want to go home or--” Hillary started.

I swallowed hard. “Home. I have to be home in case she comes to her senses and brings him back.”

Hillary kissed my cheek. “Okay, then, let’s go.”

I squeezed her hand. “Thank you. Thank you for everything.”

As
 
much as I tried to convince him, E.J. refused to get some sleep. He tossed and turned on the sofa as did my best to console him. Kelly had made several phone calls to Stephanie’s attorneys but they weren’t very forthcoming with information. They wouldn’t even tell her whether or not Edge was with Stephanie or in the custody of the state.

“Try and sleep.” I rubbed E.J.’s back.

“I can’t do this. I have to get out of here.” He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and stepped out into the hallway.

“Where are you going?” I’d promised Kelly I’d keep an eye on him and do my best to keep him out of trouble.

“We need to talk” he said to someone on the phone. “Can you meet me at the spot?”

I waited while he continued his conversation, but I had the feeling whatever he was up to would ruin any chance of him getting his son back.

“I’ll be back later. Can you stay here in case something happens?” E.J. asked.

“Where are you going? Who were you talking to?” It felt so strange to ask him those questions, but the last thing he needed was to do something he might regret. I didn’t want to see him lose everything because he was angry.

“Not now, Hillary. Just stay here and wait. I’ll be back,” he said as he rummaged through a cabinet. “Where are my damn car keys?” He looked around the living room as he screamed for his business manager, “Annie! Annie! Where the hell are my keys?”

“I don’t think she’s here. I think, Kelly sent everyone away. I heard her talking to one of your security guys earlier.” I hoped I could stall him long enough to make him change his mind.

“Why did she do that? I need security here!” E.J. dialed another number on his phone.

“Why do you need security now? I thought you told me you don’t like having people around? Kelly thought--”

He turned his back to me and started screaming into the phone. “Why the hell did you send my team home? Who told you to do that?”

“Calm down, please. She didn’t do anything wrong. She was trying to help.” My words went unheard because Kelly was yelling loud enough to drown out the sound of my voice.

E.J. stormed out of the house without saying another word to me. By the time I made it to the front door, he was already peeling out of the drive, out of earshot.

I guess, I’ll wait here, I thought.

Being alone in E.J.’s home gave me an uneasy feeling. I didn’t know what to do with myself. I felt out of place. I needed someone with me, so I grabbed my phone and called Felicia.

“What in the world is going on? Your boyfriend is all over the news!” Felicia didn’t bother with saying hello. She cut right to the heart of the matter. I loved that about her.

“They took Edge away from him.” Hearing the words come out my mouth made it all more real for me. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”

“Where are you? I’ll be right there. Hold on, okay?” Felicia remained on the line while I tried to pull myself together to give her directions.

While I waited for her to arrive, I walked the floors to burn off some of my nervous energy. Every room I walked into was filled with photos of Edge through every stage of his young life. I could see how much he was loved. It made me sad for E.J. I couldn’t imagine having a child taken away from me. I loved kids; that’s why I became a teacher. I loved being around children. I hoped to have children when I married Sam.

“Have you been crying?” Felicia asked when I opened the front door for her.

“You could say that,” I said, hugging her. I was thinking about Sam and--”

“Oh. Are you okay?” Felicia hugged me. “Where’s E.J.?” She stepped in, taking in the large home.

“He left. I don’t know where he went. I don’t know when he’s coming back. All I know is everything is really messed up and wrong.” Fresh tears spilled from my eyes. I wasn’t cut out for this kind of thing.

“How did all this happen? Who took him?” she asked.

I led her to the living room and pushed the blanket aside so we could sit on the sofa. “I guess Stephanie filed a complaint. She said E.J. attacked her. The next thing I know, he asks me to watch him while he straightens things out and the police are at my door, accusing me of hiding Edge from his mother.”

“So, is he with his mother? Where does she live?” Felicia turned the television set on. “Listen to what they’re saying about him on the news. They’re talking like he did something awful to her.”

I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear what they had to say, but at the same time, I needed information and since E.J. was too consumed with grief and anger to function right, I’d have to rely on the news media for the time being.

We stopped talking as soon as E.J.’s face appeared on the screen. The reporter said, “The fall of The Arm. Is this latest incident the beginning of the end?”

“What are they talking about?” I asked.

The reporter continued, “We have an exclusive interview with the victim of the alleged assault, Stephanie Razor.”

“That’s his ex-wife?” Felicia started to laugh. “Where did he find her? She looks like a streetwalker.”

My jaw clenched. What was she going to say? What story had she come up with to warrant tearing apart a child’s life -- her child’s life?

Felicia raised the volume up as she started to speak. “... and now some other woman is raising my son. I don’t know her, but I’ll tell you what; my attorneys told me she used to be his teacher, but they fired her when they found out she was banging his daddy.”