Page 68 of The P*ssy Next Door

“I have to go,” I said, my voice shaking. “I have to get to the stadium.”

Xander scoffed, his arms crossed over his chest. “And do what, exactly? It's not like they're going to let you in. You'd just be in the way.”

I whirled on him, my eyes blazing. “Give me your keys, Xander. Now.”

He blinked, taken aback by the venom in my tone. “What? No. He just got his bell rung, the big baby. He'll be fine.”

Something inside me snapped, weeks of pent-up frustration and hurt boiling over. With a growl of rage, I launched myself at my brother, tackling him to the ground.

“Willa!” my mother shrieked, her hands fluttering uselessly. “What on earth are you doing?”

I ignored her, my fists pounding against Xander's chest as I straddled him. “You selfish, insensitive prick,” I seethed, punctuating each word with a blow. “Why can't you just be happy for me? Why do you have to ruin everything?”

Xander struggled beneath me, his face red with exertion and embarrassment. “Get off me, you psycho.”

“Not until you give me your damn keys and stop trying to fuck around with my life!”

My father's voice cut through the chaos, calm but firm. “Enough, both of you.”

I looked up, my chest heaving, to see him standing over us, his expression unreadable.

“Michael, make her stop this right now.” My mother fanned herself and gave me that look. The same one I'd seen a hundred thousand times. The one that told me she loved Xander a whole hell of a lot more than she did me.

“Let them work this out,” my dad said, holding up a hand to silence my mother's protests. “This has been building for a long time. They need to get it out of their systems.”

I clambered off Xander, my hands shaking as I pushed my hair out of my face. “I don't understand why you hate Hayes so much,” I said, my voice cracking. “What did he ever do to you?”

Xander sat up, his jaw clenched. “You mean besides abandoning me, abandoning our team, to go play hero in the big leagues?”

I stared at him, shocked by the raw pain in his voice. “Grow up, Xan. He didn't abandon anyone. He worked his ass off to get where he is, and you should be proud of him. He was your friend.”

“Proud?” my mother scoffed, her face pinched with disdain. “When Xander is clearly better than he is? Proud of a man who's just using you to make your brother feel worse about not being drafted?”

I reeled back as if she'd slapped me, my stomach twisting with hurt and disbelief. “What? How can you say that? Me being with Hayes has never had anything to do with Xander. In fact, I fucking hid my feelings for Hayes for far too long just so I wouldn't hurt Xan.”

My mother scoffed. “And you just go around flaunting that you've gotten yourself a rich boyfriend. Well, you'd better hope you can rely on him to support you when you're a lonely old cat lady. Because we won't, and I won't have Xander helping you anymore either.”

My father stepped forward, his expression thunderous. “Carin, that's enough.”

He turned to me, his eyes softening as he fished his keys out of his pocket. “Go, Willa. Go be with your man. I'll be there later. It appears I have some things to take care of on the home front.”

I took the keys with shaking hands, my throat tight with emotion. “Thank you, Daddy. I'm sorry, I just... I need to be there for him.”

He nodded, pulling me into a quick, fierce hug. “I know, baby girl. And I'm sorry too, for not seeing what was going on here. We'll talk later, figure out how to make this right.”

As I raced out the door, my heart pounding in time with my footsteps, I couldn't shake the feeling that everything had just changed, irrevocably and forever.

But none of that mattered now. All that mattered was getting to Hayes, being there for him the way he'd always been there for me.

I'll admit to texting and driving, but only because I messaged Jules to find out what hospital they'd taken Hayes to. I swallowed down tears when she replied that they would be there waiting for me.

I burst through the hospital doors a few minutes later, my heart in my throat as I searched for a familiar face. The sterile scent of disinfectant and the steady beep of machinery assaulted my senses, but I pushed forward, my focus solely on finding Hayes.

As I rounded the corner, I spotted the Kingmans taking up all the available space in the waiting room, their faces all drawn with worry. Jules was the first to see me, her eyes widening as she jumped to her feet.

“Willa, you made it.”

I was engulfed in a sea of hugs and murmured words of comfort, the warmth of their embraces easing the icy grip of fear around my heart.