I gritted out through a clenched jaw, “For how long?”
It was Autumn who answered. “Until the end of the season. It’ll be about half a year.”
“Oh my God, I can’t believe this is happening. How is this happening?”
“I don’t want to hurt you, Soph.”
I looked up at him. “Then why are you? Ben doesn’t even know you. Can you think about him for one second?”
“Now you’re concerned with Ben? What about him being raised without a father? That didn’t concern you?”
“What kind of father would you have even been, Jax? You see your lifestyle! You’re with a different woman every night, and how many of them have claimed you knocked them up? I didn’t want him to just be another name on your roster, okay? You live and breathe football. You have no time for him, and I refused to have you hurt him in any way. Especially for your time. I didn’t tell you because I was trying to protect him. All you do is use people, exactly how you’re trying to use me right now, and I won’t stand for it!” With that, I abruptly stood from the table and knocked my chair over in the process.
I needed a minute to compose my thoughts and figure out what I was going to do. Instead of continuing this pointless argument, I walked out to my balcony to breathe in the fresh air. Leaning against the railing, I laid my head on my hands.
My heart was pounding, and my head was aching.
I was screwed.
“I know how hard this is for you, Sophie,” Autumn sympathized as she was suddenly standing next to me, leaning against the railing, mimicking my position.
“You have no idea what you’re asking.”
“Actually, I do. I know exactly what you’re going through because I went through something similar with Julian.”
“Yeah, I heard.”
“I imagined you would. We were front-page news, but that wasn’t the true story. Julian being Julian, spun it to his advantage.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s a long story, but cliff notes version is he didn’t know we had a daughter after he’d left town.”
I jolted back, not expecting her to say that.
“You have your reasons as to why you didn’t tell Jax, and I respect that. He doesn’t have the best reputation with women, and there’s probably a woman every other month claiming she’s pregnant with his kid, but I can assure you you’re the only baby mama he has.”
I scoffed out a chuckle despite still wanting to wring his neck.
“I know how hard it is to feel backed into a corner, and I promise I’ll be on your side the entire time, Sophie. Whatever you need or want, I’ll make it happen, but you have to do this for him.” She shrugged. “You owe him, don’t you think?”
“There’s more to it than just Ben, Autumn. I have a career—”
“I know.”
“What do you mean, you know?”
“I know who you are.”
“And here I thought Jax was the one with all the surprises.”
“I’m a publicist, Sophie. It’s my job to know everything.”
“How long have you known?”
“A couple of days. I found out after I found you.”
“You found me?”