Weak Side (Bexley U)

by S.J. Sylvis

“I’m sorry, but how⁠—” I stopped mid-sentence as I tried sorting through the confusion, but that was when I saw it. The flicker of fear ran across his features. When he opened his mouth, he paused before looking away. “Well, Theo…she’s my daughter.”

Claire and her mother had struggled from the beginning. She told me her mother had never been able to recover emotionally or financially since he left them. Claire had been killing herself this semester by working, attending classes, and dancing to win the scholarship because of the financial strain, and to think that this man, who was wealthier than most of America, was the reason?

Tom finally spoke, splitting the ice around the room. “None of that is true. I didn’t seek you out because of her. I have had my eye on you since your sophomore year because of sheer talent and your drive to succeed. You remind me a lot of myself at that age, and I’ll admit, if you had been late for any reason other than making sure my daughter was okay, I might have reamed you just as hard as your coach. But how can I be angry with someone who has a piece of my soul in their best interest?” My mouth opened, but I stopped myself so he could continue. “And I give you props for defending her, even to me, but you have it wrong. I didn’t abandon her. They abandoned me.” “Wh–what?” I asked, bending forward to place my elbows on my knees. “Sit back,” he demanded. “Because we have a lot to discuss.”

Taytum’s hands wrapped around my upper arms. “No, Claire.” Her blonde waves bounced as she shook her head. “Your mother’s financial situation is not your burden. What do you think she’d say if she knew that Chad had cheated on you and then pretty much blackmailed you into staying in some sort of fucked-up relationship with him just to save her job? That’s ridiculous, and if your mother is deserving of all that you’ve given her, she’d never ever stand for that kind of disrespect. Are you willing to give up what you feel for Theo for her?”

“To what? Have your cake and eat it too? Because no matter how I see it, Chad is going to try to destroy you and your mother if you don’t do what he says. He’s a narcissist, and he’s using your selflessness to trap you in a future that you will regret for the rest of your life, and to be honest, Theo deserves to know what’s going on because that hunky jock has fallen hard for you.”

“See?” Taytum whispered. “And don’t you dare tell me that you haven’t fallen for him. I hardly recognize you when you look at him—and that isn’t a bad thing.” I let out a soft breath and smiled down at him. I’d ruin the world for Theo Brooks, and it was about time I told him.

“Hey,” she whispered, taking a step closer to me. I tugged her in closer and wrapped my hand around her waist. “Hey,” I breathed down into her space. Damn, she was like a fucking drug. “I miss you.” Her mouth opened slightly from the truth spilling from mine. “You do?” I nodded, moving my hand from her waist and cupping the side of her face. “Can I kiss you?” “Since when do you ask?” She grinned, but I didn’t have it in me to smile. Instead, I bounced my eyes back and forth between hers and dipped down, pressing a soft kiss against her mouth. Since the beginning, our touches and kisses had been to fool other people and were fueled by none other than desire and lust. But this moment was different.

I slowly sat down with her straddling me and peered up at her sweet face as her brown locks surrounded us like a veil. I wanted to say I love you, but I didn’t because it didn’t feel right after knowing what I knew and hiding it from her. So instead, I would show her.

“You’re perfect,” I whispered, peeling her panties down her legs as she lifted up. We were skin on skin. Bare. Just the way I wanted it. “So are you.” Claire sat back down on my lap, and my blood ran hot. Her mouth fell to mine, and the kiss was soft and slow with meaning behind it that I couldn’t put into words. Neither one of us said anything else.

And I knew we needed to talk. We really needed to talk, especially after what just happened upstairs because that, my friends, wasn’t just a fuck.

“I’m not telling you this so he will join my team. That doesn’t matter to me as much as it probably means to him. I’m telling you this because it's obvious that he loves you, and love is hard to come by in a world like this.” My eyes welled up, but I only nodded at him before turning my back and heading into my meeting to think of nothing regarding dance and everything regarding my mother, Tom, and the guy who literally threatened to give up his dream for me.

Aasher had no idea what had really gone down between Claire and me, and Coach had no idea that I’d all but told Tom Gardini to suck my dick if he thought I would play on his team after he came into my life and took away the one thing that made me do a double-take.

“Chad, one day you’ll find someone that you won’t want to change. You’ll find someone that you’re willing to give up every last dream and hope for, even when they tell you not to.” I tapped the top of his hand. “That’s love, Chad. Not this.”

“I wanted to rip you out of the booth so fucking bad I couldn’t see straight. I wanted to take you back to our room and kiss you until you fully understood how I felt about you, but instead, I got inside my car and forced myself to drive away so I didn’t turn back around and pummel his smug face because goddamnit, Claire. He doesn’t deserve you! You deserve better.”

“Can’t you see your worth? He sure can’t. You deserve someone who will do anything to make you happy. Not someone who likes to watch you hurt for their own sick games. You need someone who⁠—" I stopped him mid-sentence. “Someone who refuses to join their dream team in the NHL because he thinks the owner of the team hurt his fake girlfriend?”

“You have never just been my fake girlfriend, and you know it.” “You’re not giving up your dream for me, Theo. That’s ludicrous.” He scoffed, his hand shaking against my face. “You don’t know me at all if you think I’m going to play for someone who hurt you.”

My heart began to pulse something hot through my body, and the thought of letting him stand here, thinking that I didn’t care for him in the way he cared for me, made me want to double over. “No, I’m not gonna stop,” he urged. “You don’t have to be mine, but I’m yours, and you’re just gonna have to deal with it. My dreams and goals mean absolutely nothing if you leave this room thinking I wouldn’t give up every last one to show you your worth.”

“No.” “What?” “I was sitting at The Bex with Chad to tell him that whatever he thought he felt for me wasn’t love. It wasn’t love when I stayed with him to secure my mother’s job, and it wasn’t love when he threatened me into allowing him to go off with other girls until the end of the school year because of the money my mom owed his family. But I’m so thankful he did, because now I know what love is.”

“Tell me you’re mine, Bryant. Tell me you trust me, and tell me that you can feel how much I love you just from the way I look at you.” “I’m yours, Theo. I always was.” Theo swooped me up and threw me onto his bed before pinning my arms above my head. “And by the way”—he brushed his lips over mine—“we were always meant to last, Bryant.”

“Your father was right. One of the first things he said to me after twenty-two years of being apart was, ‘Theo Brooks loves our daughter.’”