Even if Addison had only had to stay the one night, she’d still likely have been there alone overnight. When Clair was first admitted to the hospital after her allergic reaction, AJ, too, refused to leave that first night and even the next day until Addison insisted he should get back to his team. But he’d been glad to have at least been there that first night with her. She’d had her parents too, and still AJ could feel how much she’d needed him there with her.
“So, it’s really true about you and Addison?” Lorenzo asked as Isaiah took little Enzo from him. “You two broke up?
AJ nodded then kissed his sister’s head. “For now,” he said, taking a deep breath. “She’s got a lot to deal with right now. And she wants to focus on getting Clair better. But it’s not for good. I have the playoffs I need to focus on too right now, so it sort of works out that we’re taking a breather.”
Fortunately, the subject was changed when Emi and Sydney arrived, and everyone oohed over her lime-cream cheese-and-pineapple Jell-O. It was everyone’s favorite. No sooner had she set it down on the counter than the forks were pulled out and they all started picking at it.
They all ended up outside eventually, where Isaiah manned the grill. It wasn’t until Vince and Rosie arrived that the subject of Addison was brought up again. Rosie wanted to know how Clair was doing.
“She’s not still blaming you, is she?” Emi asked with frown.
“She blamed you?” Liv asked, turning to AJ.
AJ could only conclude Emi, who typically shared everything with Liv, had kept this from her since he’d been so broken up when she’d called him and he told her about it. Emi probably didn’t want to upset Liv in her condition, and the day he’d spoken with Emi about it he’d been a fucking mess.
“I’m the one who let Clair have the ice cream they think caused the allergic reaction.”
“Think,” Emi said, lifting a brow. “They still don’t know for sure, but even if that was the case, it’s not like you did it on purpose. I can understand her being so upset and all, but I still think it sucks that she reacted that way.”
“How’d she react?” Liv asked as everyone’s eyes flicked back and forth from Emi’s to AJ’s.
Emi had been the only one who’d heard him so broken up that day Addison had told him to leave the hospital. He’d later spoken to his brothers, but he’d been much calmer, and Addison had already called to apologize for her reaction.
“Like a witch—”
“Hey!” AJ said before Emi could finish.
“No offense, AJ, but don’t tell me it doesn’t piss you off if anyone hurts or messes with one of your siblings.”
AJ stared at her for a moment, pressing his lips together, because there was no way he could argue with that. He turned to Liv. “She was upset and asked me to leave the hospital when I told her about it. But as soon as she calmed down, she called me to apologize, and it’s all good now.”
“Is it?” Emi asked, peering at him. “So why are you two still broken up?”
“Because she blames herself, Em.” AJ walked around the outside bar and opened up the fridge. “She thinks her social life distracted her from her number-one priority. So she wants to focus completely on Clair. She has no time for a social life right now. I have to respect her wishes on this.”
“I know half those stories on that tabloid show TNT are exaggerated if not completely false,” she said, holding her glass out for Sydney to pour her some lemonade, “but I’m curious. What did she have to say about the photos they keep talking about of her leaving the bar down at Gaslamp with that guy the other night?”
Isaiah groaned under his breath, but AJ heard it and turned to him then back at Emi. “What photos?”
“You haven’t seen them?” Emi asked, glancing at Isaiah then back at AJ “They’ve been all over—”
“I stopped watching that shit days ago,” he said, walking over to grab the remote to the outdoor TVs mounted in the bar area and flip through the channels. “They kept repeating the same shit. What channel is that damn show on?”
“I don’t know,” Isaiah said. “But who cares; it’s probably all bullshit anyway.”
AJ put the remote down when he couldn’t find anything and patted his pockets, searching for his phone. Then he remembered he’d left it inside. Knowing how unlikely it was that Addison would be calling him, he hadn’t given a shit about missing any calls or texts.
“I need my phone,” he said, setting his beer down and stalking around the bar.
“Em,” he heard Isaiah say, as he got further away from them, then something about AJ having a playoff game in just a few days and how he didn’t need to be thinking about this stuff. As soon as AJ had his phone in his hand, he tapped away at the screen. He was pretty sure he already knew who Addison might’ve met up with, but it still pissed him off that she’d keep it from him. Not that she’d been saying a whole lot to him these last couple of days, but still.
After entering the main key words—TNT, photos of Addison Lara, Gaslamp—he waited. The moment he saw the first photo he felt his insides light up. This was not what he was expecting. He’d expected to see an annoyed or even somber-looking Addison walking out very separately from whomever she was with. Instead, as grainy as the photos were, he could make out that she actually appeared to be laughing in a couple of them. They weren’t as separate as he expected them to be. The next two were worse. While her face was a bit shrouded and she wasn’t laughing anymore, in each one she was leaning in closer to him, their faces almost touching.
Isaiah and Emi walked in the back door as he’d begun to skim through the story attached to the photos. “AJ,” Emi began to say, but he held his hand up.
“Hold on,” he said as he skimmed the story.
The photos came from an anonymous source that spotted the happy couple leaving together in the same car. AJ immediately scrolled back to the photos, but there were none of either of them getting into a car. He scrolled back down and read some more.
According to the source, the guy was Clair’s dad but the source wasn’t able to identify him. As big as AJ stretched the photo on his screen, it was at a weird angle, and the guy’s face was shrouded. It could have been anyone. As usual, it was all a bunch of bullshit speculation. Their daughter’s near tragic incident had brought the two back together and that’s why Rage Romero had been given his walking papers by Ms. Lara.
He’d already begun to roll his eyes when another photo made him freeze in place. It was a super close-up of the guy’s inner forearm with a tattoo bearing Clair’s name. It was grainy as fuck, but AJ could see the letters clear enough.
“He has a tattoo with her name?” AJ muttered, studying the close-up photo, comparing it to the other of the guy and Addison.
“It looks fake to me,” Emi said, and AJ finally looked up and away from his screen.
“Is this the only story about this?”
“They’re the first one to break the story and post the photos,” Emi said. “But now everyone else is jumping on it and adding their two cents after the fact. Those are the only photos though.”
“AJ, you know it’s all bullshit,” Isaiah said. “Why get yourself worked up about this? This might even be an underhanded tactic St. Louis is using to get you riled up. Remember other teams used to do this kind of shit way back? Try to get in your head before a big game? Anonymous source?” Isaiah’s face soured. “Really? Two days before the playoffs start? Don’t let them do it, man. Let it go.”
“I will,” AJ said, already bringing the phone to his ear after hitting speed dial and hurrying toward the front of the house. “I’ll just ask her about it.”