Page 65 of The P*ssy Next Door

I sighed, running a hand through the hair of the cat on my lap. “It's nothing. Just... Xander and Willa's parents.”

Jules stole the drink Willa left for me and took a long sip. “Yum. Now, what about them? Is her brother still giving you a hard time?”

I glanced over at Willa who was, as usual, charming the wits out of the person she was talking to. They'd probably offer to bring her cookies for life by the time she was done with them. But that also meant she'd be too occupied to hear, and I really needed to talk this out. Might as well get advice from some smart and savvy women about my woman problems. “Not exactly. It's more like, he's always around, you know? Constantly making plans with Willa, monopolizing her time.”

Trixie frowned, scratching the ears of the cat crawling up her leg. “That's weird. I thought Chris said he was starting to come around.”

I shrugged, my gut twisting. “I wanna believe he is. But it feels like every time Willa and I make plans, Xander swoops in with some family thing that she can't say no to. And I'm pretty sure I'm being a dick thinking she has to spend all her time with me and not them.”

Trixie exchanged a look with Jules, her expression thoughtful. “First of all, you're the least dick-ish guy I know. But have you talked to Willa about it? Told her how you feel?”

I shook my head, picking at a loose thread on my jeans. “I don't want to upset her. She's so happy. The other day she said something about how she feels like they're actually grownups now, and not acting like little kids anymore.”

Jules leaned forward, her eyes serious. “Hayes, I get that you want to be supportive. But if Xander is purposely trying to come between you two, Willa needs to know.”

“Maybe he's not doing it on purpose,” I argued, even as the words rang hollow in my own ears. “Maybe he really does want to spend more time with her. She has been out of the country for the past few years.”

Trixie raised an eyebrow, her expression skeptical. “And he has to do that by constantly interfering with your plans? Come on, Hayes. You're smarter than that.”

I sighed, my shoulders slumping. “I know. I just... I don't want to be the guy who makes her choose between me and her family.”

Jules reached across the table, squeezing my hand. “You wouldn't be making her choose, Hayes. You'd be asking her to set healthy boundaries, to make your relationship a priority.”

Our relationship was a priority to her already, wasn't it?

“Jules is right,” Trixie chimed in, her voice gentle. “And honestly, it's not just Xander. Carin Rosemount has always been kind of... manipulative, especially when it comes to her kids.”

My head snapped up, my eyes widening. “What do you mean?”

Jules nodded, her expression grim. “Don't you remember back in school, she was always pulling stunts like this. Making Willa and Xander feel guilty for having lives outside the family, for wanting to do their own thing. Willa especially. If she wasn't at every one of Xander's football games, her mom made her feel like dog shit.”

A cold sense of dread settled in my stomach as the pieces started to fall into place. The constant last-minute plans, the guilt trips, the way Willa's face would fall every time she had to cancel on me.

“I never realized,” I murmured, more to myself than to them. I'd spent long hours hanging out with Xander in high school, but almost all of them had something to do with football. I just always figured he was as focused on the sport as I was. And my family was always at my games, so it hadn't occurred to me Willa was being forced to be there. “I didn't have a fucking clue.”

Trixie reached out, patting my arm. “Of course you didn't. You were just a kid, and the Rosemounts are good at putting on a show. But trust me, there's a reason Willa was so eager to get away, to see the world.”

I sat back in my chair, my mind reeling. All this time, I'd been so focused on being the supportive boyfriend, on not rocking the boat, that I'd missed what was really going on.

Willa's family, whether intentionally or not, was slowly but surely pulling her away from me. And if I didn't do something soon, I was going to lose her.

Jules, as if actually reading my thoughts, leaned in, her expression serious. “Hayes, have you talked to Willa about Christmas yet? About her spending it with us, at the game? I'm pretty sure her dad would enjoy it. He had a lot of fun at the last home game.”

I blinked, still thinking about how much I'd fucking missed about my own friend's and now my girlfriend's lives. My answer was absent minded. “Not yet. Why?”

She exchanged a loaded glance with Trixie, her jaw tight. “Because if I know Mrs. Rosemount, she's already got some elaborate family Christmas planned. One that Willa won't be able to say no to without a huge guilt trip.”

My heart sank as I realized she was right. If I didn't talk to Willa soon, make our own holiday plans, I might very well end up spending Christmas without her, while she was off being forced to play happy family with her parents.

“Okay,” I said, my resolve hardening. “Okay. I'll talk to her tonight, make sure she knows to ask her family to join us, and how much it would mean to me to have her there at the game.”

Trixie smiled, her eyes soft. “Good. And Hayes? Don't be afraid to fight for her. Willa loves you. She just needs to be reminded that she gets to choose her own happiness.”

I nodded, my chest feeling tight.

That evening, as Willa and I sat curled up on my couch, I decided to broach the subject, hoping this went better in person than it had in my head.

“So, I've been thinking about Christmas,” I started, like this was going to be any average conversation. “We've got a home game on Christmas Day, and it's going to be a bit different this year, with me playing and all.”