He picked up on the second ring, and I didn’t hesitate in admitting…
* * *
“Daddy, I need your help.”
NINE
JAX
Sophie walked back to the table. She was out on the balcony forever, making me lose whatever little patience I had with this situation. I was minutes away from just throwing her over my shoulder and locking her in my house until she agreed to marry me.
I didn’t know why I thought this was going to be easy, nothing with her ever was.
When she started walking toward the door, I snapped, “Where do you think you’re going?” Waiting for her to haul ass out of here.
She knew more than anyone that I had no fucking problem chasing her down and tackling her to the ground if I had to.
“I’m not going anywhere,” she replied, opening the door.
I blinked, and she revealed the man I least expected. Acknowledging him, “Thanks for coming, Dad.”
“Dad?” Caleb exclaimed. Frozen in the spot he was sitting. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me?”
Sophie smirked, locking eyes with me. “You know my dad, right? I mean…” She shrugged. “Afterall, he is your new football coach.”
“Oh shit,” Autumn rasped, looking back at me.
“I thought you know everything, Red.”
Her surprised stare didn’t waver from mine. Although she remained calm and collected, I could see the wheels turning in her head. Immediately going into damage control, thinking how she could spin this and use it to our advantage.
Sophie’s father didn’t delay. He walked in with two men by his side dressed in suits. Nodding to Autumn, he ordered, “My lawyers want to see that contract.”
She handed it right over to him while my lawyer informed, “My client has every right to his son.”
Her father’s eyes met his as he passed the contract off to his men who went right to work. They walked out of the room, taking the agreement with them.
“I’m just trying to catch up here. I was in town for some business with my lawyers,” he explained, his gaze looking at all of us including his daughter. “Sophie and Ben were going to have dinner with me this evening, and now I’m hit with the news of Ben being yours. I want to start off by saying that all of this is news to me. I didn’t know you were Ben’s father. If I did, this circumstance wouldn’t be happening right now. I had no clue. Sophie only told me about half an hour ago. Up until then, I thought Ben was the result of a one-night stand.”
“He was,” Sophie agreed, only further pissing me off which was never a good thing.
Her father was my new coach, and the last thing I needed was to get on his bad side, but I wouldn’t surrender.
It wasn’t in my nature.
“You said you barely knew the father, Sophie.”
“I didn’t, Dad.”
“You lived with Jax. How long had this been going on?”
“Since the moment I saw her step out of her mom’s car.”
She glared at me before looking back at her dad. “I didn’t live with him. I lived in his guesthouse.”
I resisted the urge to remind her she also loved to sneak into my bedroom. I lost count of how many times she was waiting for me, laying on my bed. Ready to talk until the early hours of the morning. It was always our time together, when the world was sleeping, and we were wide awake.
“Someone needs to start talking and tell me what the hell is going on? Sophie says she’s being blackmailed into marrying you?”