Free Unrestricted by Kimberly Bracco Page B

didn’t ask for it.
    I take a step back and put my hands on hips. “Tell me why I should care that you want to fix this, Tanner. Why? So your conscience can feel clean and you can focus on football?” I ask in my most irritated tone. I’m irritated with Alex for bringing me here and with Tanner for being an asshole and now wanting my help.
    “Because I love her, Quinn,” he says, looking me directly in the eye. There’s no hint of bullshit reflecting back at me, and that realization knocks me for a complete fucking loop.
    “Fuck! Did you just finally say that out loud?” Alex asks, looking shocked. “Took you damn long enough…”
    “You have a funny way of showing love, Tanner. If you treat all the people you love the way that you’ve treated Ashley, remind me to never get close enough to you for you to love me,” I say sarcastically.
    “Excuse me,” Alex says, smacking my ass.
    “Shut up,” I tell him. “I’m trying to make a point here.”
    “You think that I don’t know how bad this sounds?” Tanner asks, his hands burying themselves in his hair. Everything about him radiates frustration. “I do. I made a mistake. Hasn’t something from your past ever made you question everything and react badly? When she said she was pregnant, it felt like I was right back in a place I swore I’d never end up again. It didn’t matter to me that it was Ashley. I couldn’t see that. I spent that entire drive back to your place that day worried to death about her. She was so sick, and I just wanted to make her feel better. Then she didn’t even want my help because she didn’t want me to get sick. I knew that she was different and that I was sunk even then. I knew I was falling in love her…” He sighs, sounding defeated. “Then she dropped one of my worst fears in my lap. I know I was wrong, and I’m trying to make it better. I don’t want to only be able to see my child every other weekend and holidays. That’s not a way for a family to live. Are the three of us supposed to suffer forever because I had a temporary lapse in judgment?” His voice is the saddest, most pathetic one I’ve ever heard a grown man use before.
    He’s playing to my weaknesses too, whether he knows it or not. I know what it’s like to have one person ruin the way you look at things— to have your judgment clouded by one stupid asshole. And he just said the three of us. He’s including the baby—a baby that means the world to Ashley and a baby that I’m looking forward to meeting. That baby shouldn’t have to grow up without a father, especially if he has one that wants nothing more than to be a part of his life.
    “Fine, I’ll help you.” I say, taking a seat on one of the couches. “But only because you admit that you were wrong and I know that before everything went haywire, Ashley was very much in love with you. Every child should have their father.” I probably shouldn’t have mentioned Ashley being in love him… Oh well!
    Tanner’s eyes are suddenly full of hope. “She loves me?”
    Yup, I definitely shouldn’t have told him that…
    “Loved. She loved you until you broke her heart. Now? Now she hates you.” I feel bad saying it, but the truth is the truth, and he’s the one to blame.
    “Hate is good. I can work with hate because that means that she still feels something for me. Just help me get her to realize that she doesn’t hate me, that it’s just anger. She has every right to be angry, but she needs to let me back in so I can make up for everything. I’ll make up for it forever if she just lets me,” he pleads.
    Jesus, how can I say no to this?
    “Okay, what do you have in mind?” I ask, conceding to the fact I’m now plotting against my best friend behind her back. I can only hope this is for her own good.
    “I have no idea.” He sighs. “I don’t even know where to begin.”
    “I’ll tell you this—that baby means everything to her. That might be your way back in. But I swear to God