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“Reed, I hate to even bring this up, but have you thought about measures to protect yourself?”

Shock hits ?”

“There’s no doubt that little boy belongs to you But is Ari going to use your love for hi to come after you for money or extort the story in the public?”

“Are you fucking kidding me?!” My blood starts to boil

“Don’t look so shocked! You are a rich, faht about it”

“No, Mom, I haven’t Ari doesn’t have a vindictive bone in her body She would never come after me for money”

“Maybe not now, but—”

“What the fuck does thataround and just tellto say”

“Right now, things are new and fresh You’ve reconnected with an old girlfriend and found out about your son But the newness is going to wear off and your lives are so different How is she going to handle it when football season starts and you don’t have every day and night to dedicate to them? What about when you don’t have a posh beach house to offer for the summer? You need to be careful how you handle this If you start dating soainst you I think it would be smart to take measures to protect yourself Call your lawyer”

“Unfuckingbelievable” I hiss

“I hardly think I’ to protect you”

“Respect, mom, but you’re out of line Let me tell you about yesterday Ari’s best friend Luke came over to tell me he tried to intervene on my behalf a feeeks before the draft You knohat he did? He took a chance and went straight to Jack, telling hiave him the choice to tell me Jack chose not too because he wanted to ‘protect’ me from a scam So I’m a little hesitant about the people who supposedly loveto protect me”

“You can’t be serious Jack chose to keep that from you?”

“Motherfucker had the balls to ask me if Davis was even mine”

She sucks in a breath and stares at me

“Let me tell you now, Ari isn’t after ht she wanted one, I would buy it for her I don’t think you understand Ari’s the one who should call a lawyer I’ I wouldn’t do for her Apparently, I didn’t e but I was in love with her She wasn’t a fly by night girlfriend that was a filler until I went pro I had planned on proposing to her as soon as I knehere I was going to end up She was going to uproot her whole life to followeveryone kno much she meant to me”

“I had no idea”

“Piece of advice, Mo to be harsh Don’t ever disrespect Ari like that again Not only did it hurt me, but also if she knew you felt that way about her, it would severely dae your relationship She holds all the cards here and I stand by her If you want to know your grandson, you’d better have a better opinion of his mother”