Chapter 26 #2
The second message, I send to Elliot. He’s been traveling for work these past two days, so I haven’t seen him, but I did tell him I was going to the gala. He offered to send a car to come and pick me up. As payment, I offered to send him a picture of me all dolled up.
Elliot doesn’t reply right away, which is fine. I didn’t expect him to, but hopefully, he responds soon. I’m a little desperate to hear what he thinks.
Is he going to love it just as much as Isabella did?
Is he going to call me gorgeous? Hot? Sexy?
Will he want to fly back from wherever he is and peel the dress off me?
God, I hope it’s a combination of everything.
Since the car should be coming in the next five minutes, I grab my clutch and the shawl that came with the dress and head downstairs. Within minutes, I’m in the car and making my way to the gala in downtown Chicago.
I’ve never been to an event like this, and I’m excited for it. Maybe since Grayson is letting me come tonight, I should put in the effort to attend one of his team’s games. I spend the majority of the ride trying to figure out how the hockey season works.
As soon as the car pulls up, I text Sophia and let her know I’m here. Right away, she gets back to me and gives me directions.
The second I step inside, I am in awe. The venue itself is spectacular—everything about it screams opulence.
When I walk into the ballroom after getting checked by security, I’m enveloped in everything Knight related. There are blacks, reds, and grays everywhere; it almost looks like the team sports store puked everywhere. I get that this is a team event, but this might be a little overkill.
Are events always like this? I feel for the person who has to clean it up.
“Aria!” My name is called out, and I instantly turn toward it.
Right away, I see Sophia waving me over from the other side of the room. How I heard her with the music being so loud is beyond me, but I did, and I make my way over.
With her is a tall man with curly, dirty blond hair that I know is her boyfriend, Blake. Soph has showed me a ton of pictures of the two of them together, and I’m able to point him out.
With them are a few other people I’ve never seen, but they look nice enough.
“I’m so glad you made it!’ Sophia squeals as soon as I’m close enough, wrapping me up in her arms. She looks absolutely stunning in her dark green dress.
“Me too! This place is amazing,” I tell her, hugging her back.
“It is. Let me introduce you to everyone.”
She guides me around the table as she introduces me to Blake, Liam, and Chloe, Christian and Eliana, and then two gentlemen who look like they want to be anywhere but here—Logan and the new guy, Ethan.
All the men are handsome, but they look like beasts I wouldn’t want to piss off. I’m sure more than a few hockey players are terrified of playing against them. From the looks of it, though, Liam, Christian, and Blake are all softies when it comes to their women.
It’s absolutely adorable.
Since I don’t want to be a third wheel with Sophia and Blake, I decide to make friends with Logan and Ethan.
“Are guys okay with being my besties for tonight?” I ask both the men when I make my way around the table.
Both of them look over at me. Ethan smiles, and Logan gives me a shrug.
“I’m fine with that,” Ethan says.
“Anything to make this horrible event move faster,” Logan says, right before taking a drink of clear liquid. I doubt it’s water; the dude looks like a vodka man.
“I’m guessing these events aren’t your thing?” I say to him, waving down a waiter and taking a champagne flute from his tray.
He grunts. “I’d rather not wear monkey suits.”
“But you look cute wearing a monkey suit.” I smirk as I take a sip of my champagne.
Ethan lets out a snort. “I wouldn’t use ‘cute’ to describe Volkov here.”
If I wasn’t standing next to them, I would have missed it, but Logan shoves Ethan enough to move him a few steps back.
“I can be cute,” he grunts, sounding almost offended.
“You haven’t been cute in all the time I’ve known you.”
“Which has been, what, two days? I can be cute at times so shut your mouth, Bettencourt.”
I like these two. They are a little rough around the edges, and Logan seems like a man of very few words, but I get the feeling they can be big softies with the right person.
“Touchy. Who knew all a person had to do to get more than a grunt out of you is say you couldn’t be cute,” Ethan snarks, sending a smirk in Logan’s direction.
The man in question grunts, much to Ethan’s amusement, and downs his drink.
“I’m getting another drink,” Logan announces and walks away.
When it’s just Ethan and me, I give him a smile. “I like you two. I made a good choice in making you my besties for the night.”
Ethan gives me another smile. “I’m glad we’re able to help. Do you work for the team? I just signed on, so I don’t know who is who, outside the players.”
I shake my head. “I actually don’t have any affiliation with the team.”
“Oh? Then how did you get invited to this shindig?”
Shindig? Who even says that anymore?
“I’m a nurse and Sophia and I helped Grayson Lane, the owner, with his knee surgery recovery a few weeks ago. Sophia asked if I could come, and he said yes. Now, here I am.”
Ethan gets a weird look on his face. “I didn’t know Gray had surgery.”
“Yeah, I guess he sustained a knee injury when he was younger and they went in to repair some ligaments,” I say, but I can’t really get a read on his expression.
“He got hurt when we were teenagers. I didn’t think he would have more than that first surgery, but I’m happy I was proven wrong,” Ethan explains, his eyes drifting off, as if traveling back in time or something.
“So you and Grayson go back?”
Ethan just shrugs. “I was more of his brother Elliot’s friend, but we bonded over hockey, and I was around when he got hurt.”
He was Elliot’s friend. The past tense doesn’t escape me. I wonder if that’s why when I ask Elliot about his friends, he just shrugs and tells me he doesn’t have much time for friends.
Curiosity gets the best of my mouth, and the question that should have stayed in my mind sneaks out. “Are you and Elliot still friends?”
I should have just taken the ‘was’ and let it be, but no, I had to go ask a question that probably is going to make my new friend uncomfortable.
Ethan shakes his head. “He kicked me to the curb a few years back.”
“Why?” Again, the question escapes me. I need to learn to control my curiosity and my mouth when I drink. “Sorry, you don’t have to answer that.”
“You’re fine. I did something that hurt someone he loved, and in return, he ended the friendship. He had every right to.”
The need to ask for more details is on the tip of my tongue, but this time, I actually keep myself from asking.
“I’m sorry to hear that. I hope your time playing on Grayson’s team isn’t awkward.”
I get a shrug. “Grayson and I are somewhat cool. I just have to keep my fingers crossed that I keep my distance from the one Lane who’d love to see my head on a pike.”
I have no idea who he’s talking about, but I still give him some encouragement. “I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you.”
“I appreciate that.”
From there, he shifts the conversation and asks me about work. I spent a good five minutes talking about pediatrics and the kids on my rotation. It’s a good conversation.
Eventually, Logan comes back from the bar and joins in. Well, he mostly just stands there and offers an occasional grunt, but he’s contributing, and that’s something.
Around twenty minutes after I arrived, we were asked to take our seats. I end up right between Logan and Ethan—Logan’s idea, because he said he wouldn’t be able to sit next to the fucker and not punch him. Anything to stop a fight, I guess.
As the nine of us make ourselves at home at the table, I take a moment to people-watch.
There are a lot of people here; I’m guessing they all work for the team in some capacity. As my eyes dance around the room, I notice I haven’t seen Grayson just yet. You would think, since this is his team, he would be here by now, but from what I can tell, he isn’t.
I look around some more, taking everything in, when someone at the entrance catches my attention.
Well, two someones.
Elliot and a woman. A gorgeous woman.
I watch as he guides her to a table a bit away from me, and I feel my shoulders sag in disappointment.
He was supposed to be traveling.
When I told him I was coming to this event, he didn’t mention a single thing about him coming too. Did he think I would skip out and that it would be the perfect time to bring another woman?
Or am I the other woman?
There were no signs that he was seeing anyone else, but I was naive to fall for the deception and promises once. There is no doubt I could fall for them again.
He’s out of Chicago a lot, it’s a perfect way to hide a significant other.
I’m so fucking stupid.
We’re not together, there aren’t any labels. I shouldn’t be feeling this way.
We’re not together, no, but I thought we had an agreement of exclusivity, an understanding. I thought he cared about me just as much as I cared about him, but I guess that was a lie too.
Moving my eyes away from Elliot and the woman, I take out my phone out of my clutch and check to see if he had sent me a message, but there’s nothing. No response to my photo, no message telling he was coming—nothing.
That asshole.
I should leave. I don’t want to be subjected to him being with someone else, but I stay seated. I’m not a secret, so I’m staying. I’ll hit him where it hurts.
With the woman he’s with finding out about me with his wallet.
He did say I can use his credit card for anything I wanted, so I might as well take advantage.
It’s wrong, I know that, but what he is doing is worse. I warned him after all to not piss me off. This is payback.