Playing for More (Love on the Court - Book #1)

36. Everything is fine

CARTER

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It's too damn early for this.

I slick back my sweaty hair, striding into the locker room. Usually, it's buzzing with noise. It's loud—guys shouting at each other, cracking stupid jokes, and strutting around like roosters.

Right now? It's dead silent. Too damn silent.

Silent enough that I snap my head up to take a look around. And everyone's staring at me. Phones in their hands. What the hell's going on? My shoulders tense up, and I square them as I eye them all.

They've got that look in their eyes. I know that look. It sends a jolt of panic through me, heat rising in my lungs like I'm about to puke. I've seen that look plenty of times.

Mostly at the hospital. Around my mom.

But it can't be that.

So I try to push it aside, tamp down the anxiety clawing up my throat. It's gotta be something else.

"What are you looking at?" I bark out, trying to sound sharp, but even I hear the tremor in my voice.

No one responds. It's like time has frozen, and I'm left standing there, trying to make sense of the chaos unraveling around me. My chest tightens, and I struggle to draw in a breath. This can't be happening. Not now.

Alex's movements break through the eerie stillness, his approach measured, his expression grave. The weight of his unspoken words hangs heavy in the air, suffocating me with their implications.

When he extends his phone toward me, I almost recoil. I don't want to see it. I don't want to know what's on that screen. But I force myself to take it, my fingers trembling as they wrap around the device.

The screen illuminates with a harsh glare, and my eyes flicker over the words, trying to make sense of the jumble of letters. But it's the title that catches my attention first, sending a shockwave of disbelief coursing through me.

My heart lurches, a sickening sensation churning in the pit of my stomach. Addison's name stares back at me from the byline, and I feel like I've been punched in the gut. Addison. My Addison. How could she?

But even as doubt creeps in, a voice in the back of my mind protests. No, she wouldn't. Addison wouldn't betray me like this. She wouldn't use me, she wouldn't do it. She wouldn't sleep with someone to get a story...

I refuse to believe it. She wouldn't. She couldn't. Not Addison.

My head's spinning faster than a top, thoughts careening off the walls of my mind. Inside, it's like a damn tornado, tearing through everything I thought I knew. Was it really a long con? It just didn't add up. She met my mom, and she... But who else could've been in on it?

"Carter..."

I shake my head, the words caught in my throat as I hand Alex his phone back. "Nah."

"Why didn't you say anything?" His voice is softer now, but I can still feel the sting of his disappointment. What was I supposed to tell him? How could I explain the mess without digging an even deeper hole?

"I-"

There's no answer that'll make this right, no magic words to fix what's broken. I'm stuck in the middle of a shitstorm with no umbrella.

"CARTER!"

The locker room erupts in chaos as the door flies open, revealing a sight I never expected. My old man, barging in like he owns the damn place. He looks like a mess—something that's completely out of character for him.