Page 31 of Punked By the Playmaker
After ensuring Maisie was settled in her room for the night, I dragged a reluctant Levi away. One, because he needed to return me to my car still parked outside his house, and two, we needed to have a conversation that we couldn’t afford to be overheard.
The tension grew inside the cabin of the SUV the longer we drove, and when Levi couldn’t take the silent treatment a moment longer, he dared to glance in my direction.
“Arizona, listen—”
“No.” I gave a firm shake of my head. “We’ll talk when we get there.”
His gulp was audible, and there was a part of me that liked making him sweat. He deserved it after that little performance at the hospital—the one that had the potential to blow up both our lives.
When we finally reached his oceanside mansion, he cut the ignition, and we climbed out, walking toward the door with Austin trailing behind us.
The minute we crossed the threshold, I turned to Austin. “There’s about an hour before sunset. Why don’t you go take a walk on the beach while I have my conversation with Levi?”
The teen grimaced, shooting a sympathetic look at the man in the hot seat. “Eliminating witnesses is the first step before you kill someone. You really fucked up, dude.”
“Language!” The reprimand was a reflex after years of living with Austin.
There was a mischievous sparkle in Levi’s eyes. “You’re just going to abandon your brother-in-law to be murdered?”
“Oh my God,” I groaned, pinching the bridge of my nose. “Austin, just go.”
He clapped Levi on the shoulder with an “It was nice knowing you,” before hightailing it through the house toward the glass doors to the deck, which had steps leading down to the beach.
The second I heard the quiet latch signaling his departure, I aimed the full force of my anger at Levi.
“What the hell were you thinking?” I yelled.
He shoved both hands into his pockets. “I was thinking that woman with the permascowl was going to make it so I never saw my daughter again. So I did what was necessary to ensure that wouldn’t happen. And I have to say, I’m pretty impressed with how quickly I came up with that on the fly.”
Of course he’d be proud of himself forlyingto a social worker.
“I offered to take temporary custody until you got your ducks in a row. That wasn’t good enough for you?”
Levi moved toward a bar set on the edge of the living room, pouring himself a glass of what looked like scotch but could have just as well been whiskey or bourbon. Peeking over his shoulder, he asked, “You want one?”
More than I wanted my next breath, but I couldn’t. Not if I didn’t want everything I’d spent the past decade working toward to crumble in an instant. I’d failed Austin once; I refused to do it again.
Instead of pouring out my messy baggage, I simply replied, “I don’t drink.”
His eyebrows lifted at that admission, but thankfully, he didn’t ask why.
When he turned around, he swirled the liquor in his glass, taking a fortifying sip before speaking again. “You heard Hilda. Even if the official paternity test comes back proving what I already know—that Maisie is my daughter—she’s going to tell a judge I’m not fit to keep her. What else was I supposed to do?”
I flung my arms wide. “Hire a really fucking good lawyer! It’s not like you don’t have the money to secure the best family attorney in the state, if not the country.”
“Oh, I intend to.”
Exhausted from the day’s events, I collapsed onto the couch. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done? If—no,when—Hilda finds out, it’s not just you and Maisie who will be separated. They’ll take Austin from me too.”
Levi stepped forward, taking a seat on the coffee table opposite me. “I’m not going to let that happen.”
Before I could stop it, hysterical laughter burst past my lips. “You told her we were getting marriednext week. Your little ruse is going to be over before it even begins when Hilda goes to look for a marriage certificate and there isn’t one on public record.”
A smirk tugged onto his lips. “She’ll find one.”
I gawked at him. “How?”
His smile only grew. “We’re getting married.”
