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Maybe she’s right. Maybe I just need to give him a chance to explain.

He said he never took any money. He said it turned real for him.

I want to believe that, but I was so blinded by the sting of rejection that I couldn’t still my thoughts long enough to listen.

“But even if I do listen to his explanation, how can I ever trust him again?” I eventually ask.

I chug down my wine as I search for the answer to that.

CHAPTER 45: Cash Maddox

Practice

Everyone keeps telling me I know what to do, but honestly?

No the fuck I don’t.

And that’s why I find myself calling my mother way too late on a Monday night.

“Cash?” she answers, and I’m pretty sure I woke her up.

“Hey, Mom,” I say softly. “Sorry if I woke you.”

“What’s wrong, honey?” she asks, her voice raspy.

“I just…I messed up,” I say, and my voice breaks.

“Oh, baby boy. We all make mistakes. It’s in owning up to them that we can fix them, right? So own up to it, and fix it.”

“I don’t know how.”

“Talk to me. Tell me what’s going on.”

My chest warms like it always does when I talk to my mom. She somehow knows exactly how to make everything better.

I tell her the story. The whole story, including the bet and the drunken marriage and how I really fell in love.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t truthful before about the wedding, but I was so worried you’d be disappointed in me,” I say at the end.

“You could never disappoint me, Cash. Like I said, we all make mistakes. Now how are you going to fix this?” she asks.

I blow out a breath. “I have no idea. My publicist said I already know, and Dex, that’s Ivy’s brother, he was here too and said I already know, too. But I don’t know.”

She chuckles. “Well, she probably feels betrayed, like you put your teammates over her. Maybe she feels used. Embarrassed.”

“Don’t forget objectified.”

“Right. So what can you do to counteract all of those feelings and make her feel the opposite?”

“What even is the opposite of all of that?” I ask.

“Putting her first. Making her feel like she matters to you—all of her. Her feelings, her thoughts, her dreams. Making her feel not like the object you won but the human you want to spend your life with. Showing up for her. Choosing her.”

A thought forms in my mind, but it’s wild. Far-fetched. I’m not even sure I can pull it off.

But damn if I’m not going to try.

“I gotta go. I know what to do.”