Chapter 38 – Victoria
thirty-eight
Victoria
“It’s been over an hour,” Lexi notes, holding her wine in her hand and looking over to the door of the bar. “They are never this late.”
The knots in my stomach that were there the entire game are not gone, even after the big win.
Something was happening and I couldn’t put my finger on it.
I pick up my phone and turn it over to see if Zane texted me.
My last text to him was right after the game. Actually, two texts, both three words.
Me:
Proud of you.
Me:
I love you.
Both of them said they were read, both of them still unanswered. “It shouldn’t be much longer,” Ariella reasons. “If it is, I’m going to have to go and one of you will have to drive him home.”
“I can drive him,” I offer her, “but I’m sure he’ll want to see you more than he wants to see me.
” Ariella smiles at me. “I called him today to wish him luck,” I inform her.
“He told me to never call his phone again with that message since I’ve never once in my life cared until I started dating his coach.
” She laughs. “He hung up on me and then sent me a text to tell me to fuck off.”
“He didn’t mean it.” Ariella leans across the table and puts her hand on mine.
“I hope he did because I then told him to go fuck himself, and I was taking back the luck.”
“You know what that means now,” Kylie says, taking a sip of her water, “every single game you have to repeat that same thing.” The whole table nods their heads.
“Knox and I had sex once before the game and they won, and he thought every single game thereafter I had to have sex with him before the game.”
“They travel.” I gasp.
“Yeah, he thought I would go with him. Sneak in his room.”
“I did that.” The girls stare at me with their eyes looking like they are going to pop out of their sockets. “It was in the beginning.”
“When?” Kylie asks me.
“It doesn’t matter. What does matter is I didn’t get caught. But Knox did show up at the door and I had to hide.” I laugh and then the laugh stops midway when the door opens and two guys walk in. The whole table holds our breath to see if it’s our guys and it’s not.
“This is getting to be ridiculous,” Lexi pouts. “It’s like doomsday and we are seeing who is returning home unscathed.”
“Okay, well, for one, no one died,” Ariella states, “so there is that to celebrate.”
The door opens and more players come in, all of them acknowledging us with a chin lift, and I’m so nervous that my leg is bouncing up and down. “I’m giving them five more minutes,” I mumble, “and then I’m going back.”
I pick up my phone and I’m about to call him when the door opens, Knox and Kirby come in first, both in their suits minus the ties. They look around the room, coming to us. Lexi and Kylie both get up to greet them. “They’re coming,” Knox says, his voice monotone.
I know something is wrong; I can feel it in my bones.
I look over at Ariella, who gives me a smile, and I don’t know if she’s trying to comfort herself or me.
The door opens and I’m on my feet before I can even think about it.
Jaxon comes in first, looking around and then seeing me and Ariella.
He nods at me then goes to Ariella. I don’t even care, my feet make it to the door when Zane walks in.
His head is down, and I feel like my heart is going to either come out of my chest or my throat.
His eyes find mine and I can see so much turmoil in them, it’s making it hard for me to breathe.
I don’t stop until my arms are around his waist and my ear is to his chest, listening to his heart beating. “Hey, baby.” He wraps his arms around me and the heat from his body should make me feel warm, but I’m shivering inside.
“Hi,” I say, looking up at him. “Are you okay?”
“No,” he replies, “but I’ll explain later. Right now, I want to show my face so we can get the fuck out of here as soon as possible.”
“But it’s a celebration.” I rub his back.
“I want to be celebrating another way.” His voice is low, and I look over my shoulder.
“We should leave now then,” I tease, and he laughs for the first time since he walked in.
He lets go of me but his hand slides into mine as we head to the other side of the bar, saying hello to the guys who came in before.
“Good game out there.” He slaps them on the shoulder with his free hand, never once letting my hand go.
When we finally make it to Jaxon and the other boys, the door opens behind us, and I can tell by Jaxon’s face he’s shocked. “What the fuck,” he swears, and I look over my shoulder at the guy in a suit coming in. He’s followed by another guy I’ve met before, but I don’t remember his name.
The first guy looks around the room, his scowl then turns to a smile when he takes it all in. His eyes find Zane’s, and I can feel his body tense as his hand squeezes mine a bit before the two men make it over to us. “Zane,” the guy says with a smile on his face, “I was hoping to catch you here.”
“Brad,” he says his name, “it’s a surprise to see you here tonight.”
“Thought it was fitting to come by and congratulate the guys on a well-fought win.” He looks at me. “You must be Victoria.” He holds out his hand and I have to let Zane’s hand go to shake his. “I’m Brad, the VP of Operations,” he mentions his name and his title.
“It’s nice to meet you, Brad.” He grips my hand to shake it.
“Victoria,” the guy beside him says, “I’m Ken. We met at the end of last season.”
“It’s nice to see you again.” I nod at him.
“Impressive game tonight,” Brad praises Zane. “I’ve been briefed on what went on, and I’m here to give you my full support.”
I slip my hand back into his and lean into his side. “Thank you.” He nods at Brad, who looks over his shoulder at the guys as he moves away from Zane.
“It’s going to be a busy day tomorrow,” Ken shares. “You should get out of here.”
“We were just leaving,” Zane says, looking at me and I nod my head.
I turn to grab my purse and my phone, giving them all a little finger wave as we walk out of the bar into the coolish night. “That was intense,” I say to him as he picks up our joined hands and kisses my fingers.
“Well, considering I quit after the game, I guess so.” I stop in my tracks and gasp.
“You what?” His hand slips out of mine and he stops mid-step. “You quit?”
“Yeah,” he confirms, looking at me and then coming back to stand in front of me. “It was either me or Cam.”
“What the fuck happened?”
“What happened is, I found out why we’ve been fucking up so much on the ice,” he explains, telling me everything that happened with Cam. “The guys stepped up and confirmed everything I was saying. He was then terminated from his position.”
“That rat bastard,” I hiss out.
“You know what this means, right?” he asks me, pushing the hair that is flying around my face back, as he cups my cheek. “The next couple weeks and months are going to be crazy.” I hold onto his jacket. “I’m going to be either tied to my desk or my head will be in an iPad.”
“Okay,” I reply, not sure where he is going with this.
“So, I promise when all this is over and done with, I’ve got a vacation for just the two of us planned. Sun, sand, and no interruptions.” He kisses my lips.
“Are you going to come home to me every night that you are in town and sleep by my side?” I ask him.
“Try to stop me.” He puts his forehead on mine.
“Then I’ll be by your side every step of the way, cheering you on or listening to you rant.
” My hands go from his sides to his chest. “Through all of that, you never mentioned sex,” I point out and he smiles big.
“Is sex in any of that? If it’s not, I think tonight is going to be a very long night if I’m going to have to store it up. ”
“Then I suggest we get home.” He kisses my lips softly, turning and gripping my hand as he moves toward his SUV. I have to jog to keep up with his big strides, the sound of my laughter filling the night. The night ends with us celebrating the big win just the two of us.