Not A Chance (Heartstrings #2)

38. Theo

“Baby?” I rubbed Indie’s back gently. At some point in the short call with her father, she’d separated her body from its cozy position curled up next to me.

Now, she sat with her back straight like the manners police were due for an inspection at any moment.

Indie brought the phone down from her ear robotically. It vibrated with another notification from where she’d set it on the couch beside her.

“What’s going on?” I moved from the couch to her coffee table so I could see her face. She hadn’t looked at me once during or now after the call.

Indie’s fair skin was now pale; all traces of the warm peach undertones that normally lit up her cheeks were gone.

“I have to pack.” Her gaze darted around the room, settling on Giz for a moment when the incessant buzzing of her phone caused our little pup to shift away from the machine disturbing her sleep.

“ What ?” Giz’s head popped up, ripped from her nap by my near yell .

And still, my girl didn’t look at me. I took matters into my own hands, literally. I brought both my hands to her face and firmly guided her cheeks toward me to force her to fucking make eye contact.

“Tell me what’s going on.” I stared intently into her eyes, searching for any kind of inflection to let me in on what she was feeling.

“That was my father.” Just like that, her muscles gave way like a puppet whose strings had been cut, making my hands feel like they were the only thing holding her up. “I have to fly back to San Jose in…” She picked up her phone and scrolled through the notifications. “Six hours. So yeah, I have to pack.”

“I don’t understand.” I didn’t understand anything about the moment: her total lack of emotions, the demand her father made without telling her the reasons for it, the immediate need to jump on a flight home. Not. One. Thing.

“Can you watch Giz while I’m gone?” She stood, forcing me to let go of her. She appeared like she was operating on autopilot and started listing off tasks. “I’m not sure how long it’s going to be. I’ll need to contact Jermaine when I get in. Hopefully, I still have a job to come back to, leaving like this.”

My gut clenched. As if anything about what was about to go down was her fault. Didn’t her father care that she had a life here? A job she was good at? Surely, as an all-powerful CEO, he knew you didn’t behave this way as an employee.

So why was he expecting Indie to do things this way?

“Baby.” She’d made her way to the threshold of her bedroom while I’d been lost in my thoughts. I crossed the space between us with long strides. “What can I do? Do you want me to go with you?”

That question had her turning back to me with wide eyes. “No. You can’t. Absolutely not. I need to handle this.” She turned and headed to her closet and pulled out the carry-on suitcase that we’d only just unpacked two days ago.

“Indie, please. I need you to tell me what’s happening right now.” I moved to take the suitcase from her hand, setting it on the ground before taking her hand in mine and leading her to the bed.

Her shoulders slumped when we sat down. A heavy feeling settled in my gut.

“So, the thing is. My grandmother left me a lot of money when she passed away, but it’s been locked up in a trust until now. I’ve been planning for years to start a nonprofit to help kids in need.” She looked down at her lap, picking at the nonexistent lint on her pants. Indie met my gaze quickly before looking at her lap again.

This was one of the few times I could ever remember Indie appearing so worried about anything.

“Baby,” I said, using my free hand to reach around and tilt her chin up until I could see her eyes again. “That’s incredible. I have zero doubts you can make that happen. But what does that have to do with your dad’s summons just now?”

She leaned back and kissed the palm that I held against her jaw before bringing up her own hand to hold mine in place.

“My father is threatening to use his all-powerful resources to prevent me from accessing my inheritance unless I do what he wants. He’s the reason I’m here in Toronto. He thought my last job wasn’t prestigious enough for the daughter of Gerald Layne III,” she explained.

I’d never met the man, but I already hated him. Indie was so intelligent and capable in every situation. It galled me that anyone would try to control her, but her own father doing it just confirmed what a bastard he really was.

“So, what, you’re going home to see what he wants? Why wouldn’t he tell you on the phone?” Worry had my throat feeling tight.

She shook her head. “I don’t know. But whatever it is, I don’t have a choice because if I don’t do what he wants, it will only make things worse.”

“Shit.” There wasn’t anything I could say to make it better for her.

I wanted to tell her she could give up the money. That I’d give her whatever she needed to start her nonprofit. Hell, after all these years of devoting my whole life to hockey, I had a bank account I would gladly share with her.

I didn’t say any of that, though, knowing this wasn’t only about the money for Indie. She’d been planning this idea for years, it sounded like. She wasn’t asking me to save the day for her. Her determination to face her father showed that she was set on doing this thing on her own.

I wanted to insist that I go with her.

The thing I needed her to understand was that she could rely on me. I wanted her to lean on me in times like this. If I pushed her now, it would be all about what I needed and not her.

“Okay. I get it. But I’m so sorry that you have to go through this.” I exhaled the words, trying to fight the worry flowing through my veins at all the ways this could hurt her.

It must have been the right thing to say because she turned her body toward me fully and wrapped her arms around me, letting me hold her.

I couldn’t imagine having to let her go, even temporarily.

It was 5:00 a.m., and Indie left for the airport just after 2:00 a.m. After she finished packing, we just lay beside each other on her bed in silence, neither of us even attempting to sleep.

Then, her ride was suddenly downstairs, and she gave me a soft kiss goodbye before she left.

Gerald Layne worked fast. The question remained: what did he want with Indie?

Her flight was due to take off within the hour. I picked up my phone to see if she had texted from the airport.

Indie

Made it to the gate with time to spare. Hardly any lines.

Theo

I’m glad you got there safely. I’m worried about you flying by yourself on no sleep and no food. Do you have time to grab something before your flight?

Indie

Nothing’s open at this hour except the newsstand. But I’m in business, so I’m sure they’ll feed me something before I get there.

Theo

You sure you don’t want me to hop on the next flight and follow you?

I couldn’t resist offering one more time to show how serious I was about being there for her.

Indie

No. I’m sure it will be fine. Just family stuff. Need I remind you you’re headed to New York tomorrow morning and you can’t just skip games? I’ll be back before you know it.

She was right. As much as I wanted to say “fuck it,” get on a plane, and deal with the consequences of going to see her anyway, I had a contract to abide by. Not to mention teammates to set an example for.

Theo

I already know it, baby. Counting the seconds. I love you. Text me when you get there. We can videocall.

Indie

I love you too.

I’d be lying if I denied that my heart didn’t beat a little harder in my chest every time she said (or typed) those words to me. It had become too much to hold them in any longer on Christmas morning. I never expected her to say them back, but goddamn, hearing her return my feelings had made me feel more alive than any other moment before it.

The proudest memory I had until Indie said she loved me was getting drafted to Vancouver. It had been bittersweet with losing Mom only months before. But I’d allowed myself to feel the happiness I knew Mom would have felt for me.

And now, Indie was slowly eclipsing all of my previous achievements simply by being by my side.

It had been three days without more than a few vague text messages assuring me that she was “fine” and not to worry about her.

Well, fuck, I wasn’t fine, and I was fucking worried about her and why she’d practically gone radio silent since flying into San Jose.

I’d checked my phone incessantly all through the road trip to New York. Now, the team had just arrived back at the practice arena after a humbling loss .

Coach had let us off the hook last night, knowing we all felt like shit about our playing, but he hadn’t held back once we all sat in the locker room in Toronto this afternoon. His disappointment hadn’t cooled since last night, telling us all to get our heads out of our asses before we faced New York tomorrow on home ice.

Not in the mood to deal with anyone, I’d dumped my gear and was the first one out the door when Coach dismissed us.

I was heading to the truck I’d rented for the winter months when a yell of “Yao!” had me pausing midstep. Whoever called my name was going to find out pretty quick that I wasn’t in a socializing mood.

“Shit. You can move when you want to, Yao. Where was that on the ice last night, eh?” Ryan Campbell’s infuriatingly ever-present grin greeted me when I turned around.

“I’m not in the mood, Campbell. What do you want?” I practically growled at my alternate captain. Not a good way to build camaraderie, but I needed to get home to take care of Giz and attempt to video call Indie for the third day in a row.

“Oh, okay.” Campbell put his hands up in a gesture of surrender. “Too soon. It’s all still fresh from last night. I get it.”

He didn’t get a damn thing, but since I wasn’t going to explain my personal life to anyone, least of all him, I let him think that I was upset about the team’s loss.

“Get to the point, Ryan,” I sighed, suddenly exhausted from the stress of the situation with Indie, the road trip, and getting my ass handed to me in goal last night. On top of all that, my knees were killing me. I should have gotten into an ice bath after the meeting, but I didn’t want to deal with any of the trainers asking questions.

I might do something fucking stupid like telling them how much I hurt.

“Well, shit, man. I feel bad for ribbing you. Did you have to go and pull out the first-name business? Now I know you’re really feeling it.” He took off his backward cap, smoothed his hair down, and then put it back on in an uncertain gesture. “Most of the team is headed to the bar to drink away some of our sorrows. We wanted you to join us.”

I looked over Campbell’s shoulder, seeing members of most of the lines huddled together, ready to head out.

“Thanks for the invite. But I’m going to head home. I need a good night’s sleep before tomorrow’s game. I slept like shit in New York.”

I didn’t say it was because I’d spent every moment thinking about how Indie was faring with her family instead of getting my head and body in the zone for the game.

“Fair enough, Yao.” Campbell reached out and grabbed my shoulder, offering a quick squeeze through the thick padding of my winter jacket. “See ya tomorrow.”

I briefly watched him jog back to the rest of the group before I resumed my walk to my truck.

My phone buzzed in my inner coat pocket—I’d long stopped carrying it in the back pocket of my jeans during Canadian winters—and I unzipped my jacket so fast I was surprised the lining didn’t tear.

“Hello?” The anticipation of hearing Indie on the other end of the line had me panting slightly.

“Theo.” My stomach plummeted with disappointment when I heard my agent’s voice.

“Ray. Happy New Year,” I said, just to be polite. He couldn’t have caught me at a worse moment.

“Same to you, Theo. Listen. Tough loss last night—not a nice way to start the new year for sure. I’m sure you’re already gearing up for tomorrow’s game, and I hate to put this on you now, but…” His words dropped off .

A few beats of silence followed. I waited, not interested in making small talk.

When it became clear he was waiting for me to ask him what he was referring to, I ground out a low “What is it, Ray?” to prompt him to get to the point.

“You know you’re in Toronto for a year, Theo. We talked about it being a transition year, where you considered your options .” Options was a code word for how fucked-up my knees were at any given time. “But I haven’t heard any feedback from you on the new team other than when you first got there.”

“It’s fine,” I offered, not able to get into the specifics of my experience with the Tempests right now.

“Right.” He let my nonanswer go for the moment. “Well, we’re only a couple months away from the trade deadline, and we need to strategize next steps, Theo. You know how it goes. There are already some whispers and some outright discussions going already.”

He dropped his volume by half. “In fact, Florida’s management got in touch with me about a five-year, eighteen-million-dollar contract with a no-trade clause. They have a young team, and they see you as the future captain they need to turn their guys into playoff contenders.” After knowing Ray for almost fifteen years, I could easily detect the pride in his voice. He thought he was bringing me something extraordinary.

To be fair, at thirty-one, being offered a contract most often offered to twenty-five-year-olds in their prime was an astoundingly great offer.

“Let me guess. They want to know if I’m interested right away. ‘Off the record,’ of course. How long do I have to think about it?”

The thought of having to decide my future in the league, at this moment, sat like an anvil in my gut .

“Think about it, Theo?” Ray’s voice bristled with impatience. “It’s not going to get better than this. In fact, I’d say it’s going to get a lot worse. With your age and, uh, other factors at play, you could see your last years in professional hockey bouncing from one team to another, each less money than the last. What is there to even think about?”

My family. My health. And most importantly, Indie.

There was a lot to consider, but I wasn’t capable of explaining any of that to Ray at the moment.

“Let me get back to you, Ray. Give me a couple days.” As much as I didn’t want to sour the potential relationship with a new team, I couldn’t give him the answer on the spot like I’d been able to do so many times over the years.

“Fine. Theo. I’ll hold them off for three days. If I don’t give them something positive to take to head office for the salary cap planning, they’re going to move on.” I respected that he didn’t try to push me further right now.

“Got it, Ray. Three days.” I disconnected the call as I reached my truck. I unlocked the doors and got in, immediately leaning back onto the headrest. With my eyes closed, I tried to separate all the conflicting interests, of which joining a team in Florida was no small part.

Five more years just about as far across the country from Indie as I could get.

Fuck.