Chapter 24
Frost
“He did what? ” Storm’s face was a fascinating shade of pissed off. If he was a cartoon character, he’d have steam coming out of his ears.
“Nothing yet,” Chelsea said. “He freaked out. It happens.” She sat cross-legged on the couch, both hands curled around a cup of coffee.
“It’s the ‘yet’ I’m worried about,” Storm said. “You got the impression he was going to insist the GM not hire you? What kind of bullshit is that?” His gaze flicked over to me. It wasn’t that long ago we considered asking for the same thing. That Chelsea not work for the team. At the time, that was to keep her away from guys like Atlas. It might not have been such a bad idea after all.
“He was just reacting.” She looked down into her coffee.
“I’ll react back at him,” Storm snapped. “With my fist.”
“I’d help if that would change anything,” Dallas said. “It won’t. It’ll make things worse.”
“It’ll make me feel better,” Storm said. He stomped away towards the window and stood looking out, silent for a while.
I moved over to sit beside Chelsea. “You okay?”
She shrugged. “I got a front row ticket to Ice Blue Roses. I should be grateful for that.”
“Doesn’t sound worth it to me,” I said. “If you didn’t get to enjoy it because of him.”
“I shouldn’t have said anything.” She sighed, making her coffee ripple.
“Of course you should,” I said. “It’s part of your life. If he cared about you, he’d understand that.”
“It’s not that simple,” she said. “Do you ever wonder what would happen to you if the team found out what I did and connected you to me? What it would do to your career? All of your careers. Maybe he was right to walk away. It might be better for everyone if you walked away from me too.”
“I don’t care what they say about me,” I said. “I’m not leaving you. You’re stuck with me, whether you like it or not.”
“Me too,” Dallas said. “If the team doesn’t like it, they can fuck off.”
“You say that now, but if it happened, it wouldn’t be that simple,” she said. “You love rugby. You have years left to play.”
“Exactly,” I said. “Only years. We have decades left to be with you. Seems like a no-brainer to me.” She was right in one regard. I wanted to retire from playing when I was ready, not under a cloud of scandal.
“If I don’t work for the team, no one has any reason to go digging into my past,” she said slowly. “I could work at the hospital, or one of the GP clinics in town.”
Storm turned around and leaned his back against the wall. “That would be like spending years trying to get signed by a team, then working in the supermarket stacking shelves instead.”
“I used to stack shelves in the supermarket,” I pointed out.
“Yeah, but you didn’t choose it instead of playing rugby.” Storm cocked his head at me, his anger having simmered down somewhat.
“No,” I agreed. “Some days, when Coach has us training hard, I wondered if I made the right life choice.” I smiled, hoping to get one out of Chelsea. I hated to see her so bummed. Especially over Atlas. Of all the guys, he was the one I would have guessed would understand why she used to dance.
“I’m sure you did,” she said. “Which is why I need to make the right choice now. I’ll contact the GM in the morning and withdraw my application.” Tears glistened on her lashes.
“You will not,” Storm said. “You belong with the team.”
“I agree with him,” Dallas said. “We want you there, working at the stadium. Travelling with us.”
“Close by when Dallas needs to get off,” I teased.
He looked at me evenly and nodded. “That too.”
I shook my head at him, indulgently, then turned back to Chelsea. “I want you there too. We can deal with whatever happens. For all we know, Atlas will feel different in the morning. Or in a few days. If you walk away from the job now, it might be for nothing.”
“It might be, and it might prevent a shit storm,” she said. “I don’t want any of you caught in the middle of that.”
“We could deal with Atlas, if that would help,” I offered.
“Don’t,” she said firmly. “That would upset Daze. Believe me, you don’t want to do that.”
“I don’t want you upset.” I put a hand over one of hers. “I love you, I want you to be happy.”
She smiled faintly. “I want to be happy too, but me being upset doesn’t usually end up with people dying.”
“Usually,” I said teasingly. “If Atlas is going to make life difficult for you?—”
“Don’t kill Atlas,” she said. “Promise me.” Her blue eyes were firm.
“I won’t kill him unless I have to,” I said. I didn’t want to kill him, not really. I did want to find out what the hell was going on in his head though. Could he come around to understand? It wasn’t that big a deal, was it?
Her gaze lingered on my face, but finally she nodded. She also understood we didn’t know what the future held. I might, some day, find myself in a circumstance where I had no choice. If that was the case, making a promise to her now, might mean making a promise I’d have to break. I never wanted to do that to her. Not if I could help it.
“I don’t promise not to punch him in the face,” Storm said. “I told you he was an asshole. Once an asshole, always an asshole.”
Chelsea swivelled around. “Don’t do anything rash. Give him some time to think about things. He knows it’s not in the team’s best interests for him to go public with this. Once he calms down, he’ll realise my dancing wasn’t a big deal.”
“And if he doesn’t?” Dallas asked.
“Then we’ll handle whatever happens,” she said. “If that means I walk away from the team, then so be it. I don’t want you to be rash and I won’t be either. Let’s give it a little while and see what happens. Okay?”
“Okay,” I said. “I could try to talk to him. See where his head is at.”
“It might be a good idea to leave him alone for now,” she said after a few moments thought. She glanced down into her coffee which must be getting cold by now.
“What is it?” I asked.
“This wasn’t how I hoped the night would go,” she said.
“At least you have us,” I said. “We won’t walk away from you or let you down.”
She looked up and smiled. “I know you won’t. You three are amazing. I’m grateful to have you in my life.”
“Not as grateful as we are,” Dallas said. He leaned forward to squeeze her knee.
“What they said,” Storm said gruffly. He still looked ready to rearrange Atlas’ face, but he’d keep his temper in check for now. At least until he saw Atlas again. I had a feeling things might get ugly then, regardless of any promises he made now.
“Let us show you,” I said softly. I took the cup from her hands and placed it on the coffee table. I helped her to her feet and, without warning, scooped her up in my arms and carried her into her bedroom.
Chelsea
I woke slowly. Surrounded by three warm, muscular bodies. I didn’t want to move, but I had to get up and use the toilet. I grabbed some clothes on the way. Frost’s track pants and Dallas’ T-shirt. I squirmed into them and headed into the kitchen to start making breakfast and coffee.
While the kettle started to boil, I took my phone off the charge and glanced at the screen. The blood drained from my face.
“What is it? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
I hadn’t seen Frost enter the kitchen until he spoke.
“It’s Bruce Fergus, the GM,” I said slowly.
“He wants to see you?” Frost asked.
“No.” I looked up at him and shook my head. “He’s dead.”
Thank you for reading! The story continues in Twisted Ruck .