11. Chapter Eleven #3
Lennon stands beside the driver’s door, keys clenched tightly in her hand, staring straight ahead like she’s forgotten how to move.
She doesn’t get in. Doesn’t leave. She just stands there.
And I just know that something isn’t right.
I clear my throat, cringing as she startles, her head snapping up to meet my eyes.
Her mouth opens before it quickly shuts as a frown settles over her features.
“What the fuck do you want, Holden?” she says, the calm demeanor she’d had before in the locker room is gone, and in its place is the wrath she’d managed to bury during our one-sided conversation has clawed its way back to the surface.
“You looked good out there, today.” Real smooth asshole. What was supposed to sound casual, came out all creepy and wrong. An attempt at trying to get some of my balls back after ripping them clean off with my word vomit earlier. She scoffs, rolling her eyes.
“And you look like fucking shit, Woods.”
“Okay. Ouch.” A critique and the last name all in one.
“I’m tired. I heard you. I listened. And now I’m going home. If you’ll excuse me.”
“I came to the city, you know,” I interrupt, inwardly berating myself because I’ve already done this, and going around in circles isn’t going to be good for anyone. But it’s the truth. And in the name of being honest, I can’t lie to her anymore.
Her brows narrow, a confused expression replacing the blank one she’d just been wearing, but there’s an edge of surprise on her face now, so I keep going despite myself.
“I went there a few times actually. Spent the entire off season there.”
Lennon is silent for a moment as she processes my words. I hadn’t told anyone about where I was or what I was doing. I didn’t want anything to get back to her. Not until I got to say all of this to her in person.
“Why?” she questions, her voice barely above a whisper, but I hear them.
“I had to know that you were okay. I wasn’t there to protect you any longer. I had to know that the place you were staying was safe. That the media couldn’t break into your apartment while you were at work.”
She scoffs bitterly, “Oh, so only you are allowed to break into my apartment?”
I don’t answer. She already knows what I will say without even having to open my mouth.
Is it okay? No. Would I do it again? Yes.
Only this time, it won’t be to torment her.
It would be to protect her. We are her fucking scent matches.
We are the only ones other than her friends who should have that kind of access.
While we might not be together, it’s still our job to see that no harm comes to her.
“Your uncle. Brett. He can’t be trusted. I know he’s your only family, but you can’t trust his intentions. He is money hungry and I know given the chance, he will deceive you.”
She nods thoughtfully, chewing on her lip. “And how do you suspect he will do that, Woods? Ruin my nest with a dead bird? Take pictures of me in the shower while I’m naked. Threaten to be the end of me? Been there, done that. Now, if you’d kindly fuck off so I can go home...”
Her words spray me like bullets but I stand firm. I can’t crumble, even if it’s the easiest way out.
“I heard him speaking on the phone to someone a while back. You guys met at a restaurant near your firm. After you left, he got a call. I heard him talk about wanting to buy the team. That he would do that by using your inheritance.”
“Yeah, well. Look how that turned out for him. Do you see him here, Holden? No. You and your pack made the mistake of underestimating me before, it seems you’ve underestimated me yet again.
I don’t need protection. I don’t need your help.
What I need is for you to play hockey. And to do a hell of a lot better than you did today. Understand?”
Lennon’s eyes only seem to darken in anger with every single word she speaks. But for once, her ire isn’t directed just at me. I’ve hit a nerve there where her uncle is concerned. Maybe I’m a little slow. Maybe something has already happened.
“You deserved to know.”
“You don’t get to tell me what I deserve, Holden.
You failed in that department. Like everyone else.
You failed me. How are you any better than the rest of them?
” She closes her eyes, her knuckles whitening as she grips tighter to her keys.
She’s trying to calm herself down but it is futile.
She is turning feral. The build up of everything is too much.
I did this to her. This, this reaction is because of me.
I lean in, bending to her eye level, but she still doesn’t give me her attention, completely gone to her anger.
I don’t blame her. But I refuse to walk away while she’s like this.
I won’t abandon her again. I’m not like the others.
I’m certainly not like her piece of shit uncle, even if I’m doomed when it comes to her and I being more than colleagues.
It took everything in me not to kill that motherfucking uncle right where he stood. But I couldn’t do that to her. That’s the only reason he’s still breathing. I don’t want her to think I just walk around plotting her family’s death for the fun of it. I’m nothing like Patrick.
I move, picking her up, and turning, throwing her over my shoulder before she can register what’s happening. Like I had expected, she immediately starts fighting me. Good. That means she isn’t completely gone. At least not yet.