The Captain's Dirty Little Secret

Chapter 216: Chapter 216 - You Never Came

Zac stood inside his bedroom with blood running from his split lip.

His jaw throbbed where Nathan had hit him. Every breath pulled against the pain spreading through his ribs. Broken glass covered part of the floor, and the Tennessee papers remained scattered beneath the desk.

Arthur held the letter.

Miranda had gathered several pages against her chest. She kept looking at Zac’s handwriting as though she could find the sentence where Roxie had ruined him.

”Downstairs,” Arthur said.

Zac wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. ”You already read everything. Say whatever you want here.”

”You will come downstairs when I tell you.”

The command sounded exactly as it had when Zac was ten.

Stand there.

Stop moving.

Look at me when I speak to you.

His fingers started curling.

Zac forced them open.

Coach Hayes had trained him to control the first reaction. Breathe before the snap. See what was actually happening. Make one decision instead of responding to every movement around him.

He pulled air slowly through his nose.

Arthur watched him as though taking a breath before answering was another form of disrespect.

Zac glanced toward the hallway. Mia’s room was only a few doors away. She had probably heard the fight already.

He stepped around the broken glass and walked past his parents.

Nathan was waiting in the living room.

He stood near the couch with a towel pressed against his cheek. Blood had dried along his lower lip. Holly stayed beside him, one hand wrapped around his arm.

Nathan dropped the towel the moment Zac reached the bottom of the stairs.

”You’ve got some fucking nerve.”

His entire body moved forward.

Holly stepped in front of him and pressed both hands against his chest.

”Nathan.”

”He comes down here after putting his hands on you like we’re supposed to listen to him.”

”I’m okay.”

”No, you’re not.”

Nathan tried to move around her.

Holly caught his shirt and planted herself in his path.

Zac stopped near the stairs.

Miranda moved immediately to Holly’s side.

Arthur remained several feet in front of Zac with the Tennessee letter in one hand.

The room divided without anyone saying it.

Nathan stood with Holly and Miranda.

Arthur faced Zac.

Zac stood alone.

Arthur looked at the marks across Holly’s arms.

”Did you attack her?”

”She went through my desk. She kissed me after I told her to leave.”

Nathan pulled against Holly’s hands.

”You lying piece of shit.”

Arthur looked at him. ”What did you see?”

”I found him holding her arms while she was trying to get away.”

”That’s all he saw,” Zac said. ”He came out after she kissed me.”

Nathan laughed without humor.

”You expect me to believe Holly forced herself on you?”

”I expect you to ask why she was inside my bedroom in the middle of the night.”

”I already know why. You asked her to come in.”

Zac looked at Holly.

She lowered her eyes and held Nathan’s arm.

”She told you that after you caught us.”

Nathan shoved Holly’s hands aside.

She caught him again before he reached Zac.

”You keep talking about her like that and I swear to God.”

”Like what? Like she lied?”

”She trusted you because you’re my brother.”

”She broke open my drawer.”

”And you grabbed her.”

”She refused to leave.”

Nathan pointed at him over Holly’s shoulder.

”You put your hands on my woman. I should’ve broken your jaw upstairs.”

Zac’s chest tightened.

He folded his arms because his hands had started shaking.

Arthur barely glanced toward the staircase.

”You will apologize to Holly.”

”No.”

Nathan surged again.

Holly braced both hands against him.

”Say it again,” Nathan said.

”I’m not apologizing for rejecting her.”

Nathan fought against Holly’s grip hard enough that she stumbled.

He caught her before she fell, then looked at the marks on her arms.

His anger changed.

It became sharper.

”You think this is some joke?”

Zac kept his breathing slow.

Nathan stepped closer with Holly still holding one of his arms.

”They gave you everything,” he said. ”Football, the truck, freedom to stay out whenever you felt like it. They let you throw your future away for Roxie. You still found a way to come home and put your hands on my fiancée.”

”She kissed me.”

”Keep saying that.”

”I will.”

Nathan’s face twisted.

”You’ve been a shitty son every chance you got.”

The words landed beneath Zac’s ribs.

Arthur said nothing.

Miranda looked down at the pages in her hands.

Zac stared at his father.

”Your favorite son could punch me through a wall, and you two will let it go.”

Nathan pushed past Holly before she caught his arm again.

”Stop talking about me like I’m the problem.”

”You hit me first.”

”You shoved me after touching Holly.”

”She touched me.”

”You expect anybody to believe that?”

Arthur raised one hand.

”That is enough.”

Nathan looked at him.

”He attacked her.”

”I heard you.”

”You’re going to let him stand there and lie?”

”I said enough.”

Nathan paced toward the window instead of returning to the couch. Holly followed and kept one hand around his arm.

Arthur unfolded the Tennessee letter.

”You accepted this offer without telling us.”

”I made my decision.”

”You allowed us to arrange an academy interview while you were planning to leave.”

”You arranged it before asking me.”

”We were trying to secure your future.”

”I already had one.”

”With Roxie,” Nathan said from across the room.

Zac turned toward him.

”Leave her out of this.”

Nathan laughed sharply.

”She’s written across every page.”

”I wrote those pages.”

”Because she got inside your head.”

”She didn’t choose Tennessee.”

”She made sure every plan included her.”

”She argued against depending on me.”

”And you believed her.”

Zac’s arms tightened across his chest.

Miranda lifted one of the pages.

”You planned your entire life around taking care of that girl.”

”It’s my life.”

”You are eighteen,” Arthur said. ”You have no understanding of what it takes to support another person.”

”I know what Tennessee offered me.”

”You know what a football coach promised you.”

”A scholarship.”

”A scholarship based on a game you already failed to finish.”

Zac stopped breathing for a moment.

Arthur looked down at the letter.

”That state championship loss should have taught you that football cannot be trusted as your future.”

Zac pressed his tongue against his split lip.

The pain helped him stay inside the room.

Nathan turned from the window.

”You lost because you couldn’t finish the job. Dad didn’t make you fail.”

Zac looked at him.

Nathan’s swollen face held no hesitation.

The person who had taught Zac how to cook stood across the room and looked ready to hit him again.

Zac forced his eyes back to Arthur.

”You were waiting for me to fail.”

”That is ridiculous.”

”You looked relieved after we lost.”

Miranda shook her head. ”Zac.”

”You thought I’d finally have to become whatever you wanted.”

Arthur folded the letter once.

”I should never have allowed you to join that football team.”

The anger inside Zac became quieter.

That was usually when it became dangerous.

Arthur continued.

”Football made you believe talent excused everything. Coaches praised you because they never had to deal with your lack of discipline. Your teammates treated you like you were important because you could throw a ball.”

Zac stared at him.

”Football was the only place anyone noticed when I showed up.”

Nathan threw his hands outward.

”Here we go again. Nobody loved Zac enough.”

Zac ignored him.

He kept his attention on Arthur.

”How many times did I stand on a field looking for you?”

Miranda’s grip tightened around the papers.

Zac heard his voice rising.

He forced it lower, though the effort made his jaw shake.

”My first varsity start. The football banquet. Awards. I kept looking toward the seats.”

”We were working,” Miranda said.

”You were always working when it was me.”

Arthur stepped closer.

”We paid for everything you needed.”

”I know.”

”Private training. Camps. Equipment. School fees. Vehicles.”

”You keep listing.”

”That is what providing for a child looks like.”

”You paid the fee and bought the equipment.”

Zac swallowed the blood collecting inside his mouth.

”Then you acted like that meant you’re the best parents. You did the bare minimum.”

Nathan moved away from the window.

”You ungrateful bastard.”

Holly caught his arm, but he kept moving until she stood partly between them.

”Do you hear yourself?” Nathan asked. ”They gave you more than most people could dream of. You had coaches, teammates, half the town cheering for you, and you’re angry because Mom and Dad missed a few games?”

”I needed them to come.”

The words left Zac before he could stop them.

The room went quiet.

Nathan stared at him.

Zac looked at Miranda.

”I needed both of you to come.”

Her mouth opened, but she said nothing.

Arthur’s face hardened.

”We worked to provide the life you had.”

”You were there when you wanted to punish me.”

Arthur became completely still.

”You were disciplined because you needed it.”

”You used a belt.”

Miranda lowered the papers slightly.

Nathan’s expression changed from anger to disbelief.

Arthur’s voice became colder.

”You were impossible to control.”

”I was a kid.”

”You were old enough to know better.”

”I remember being told to hold still.”

”You fought every correction.”

”I remember every time you told me to stop moving.”

Miranda looked like she might cry.

Zac turned toward her.

”You stood there. You watched him hurt me.”

Her lips parted.

Nothing came out.

Nathan stepped closer to her.

”Leave Mom alone. She tried to stop you from making it worse.”

Zac stared at him.

He believed Zac had caused every punishment that happened to him.

”You sound exactly like him,” Zac said.

Nathan’s face changed.

Holly caught him around the arm as he moved.

”Keep talking,” Nathan said. ”See what happens.”

Zac nearly stepped toward him.

His body wanted the fight because anger was easier than standing there and remembering.

He looked down.

His nails pressed into his palms.

One breath.

Then another.