26. Eloise
26
ELOISE
“ M om!” Adler runs through the front door, startling the shit out of me.
“Adler.” I throw my hand over my chest. “Are you trying to give your mom a heart attack?”
“Sorry, Mom. Dad sent me up because he forgot his wallet. I asked if we could stop in the pub next door for one of those giant pretzels, and now he can’t pay.”
I look across the room, and sure enough, his wallet is on the foyer stand beside the door. “Okay, I guess we better go bail him out.”I grab his wallet. “Next time, we can call an order in and have it delivered. Your dad is exhausted after games.”
“I know, but he said he was hungry too. Did you see the game tonight? He was a beast. He scored one goal, and since we won two to one tonight, that’skind ofa big deal, Mom.”
“Yes, buddy, I had the game on. I didn’t miss any of it,”I say as we take the elevator downstairs.
The Kings are in the playoffs, and I’ve missed the first two games so far. It sucks. On the first day, I wasn’t dischargedin a timely manneras expected. They kept me overnight for observation, but when I woke up with a sore neck, the doctor wanted to have it X-rayed.Needless to say,I missed the game, but it wouldn’t have mattered anyway because the last place a person with a concussion needs to visit is a stadium packed full of screaming fans.I’m so upset I could cry, but I’m trying to put on a happy face for Adler and Cal.My dad and Iverson haven’t left because, well, duh,Cal is playing for the Stanley Cup, and they wouldn’t miss a game for the world, but still, I wish it were me attending with them.
“It’s cold outside,MissEloise,”Jenkins says when he sees me coming innothing more thanjeans and a sweater.
“I’m aware. We’re just going next door. Apparently, Cal can win hockey games, but he can’t remember his wallet.”
“Oh, I wonder why he didn’t just put it on his tab?”Jenkins comments.
“You’re right, that’s a good?—”
“Come on, Mom”—Adler pulls me out the door—“the foodis going toget cold, and Dad’s tired.”
“Adler Michael, why do I feel like you’re up to something?”I ask as I pull open the door to the pub, only to be drenched in darkness. “What in the world?”
“Surprise,”is whispered in a hushed chorus as the lights slowly dim onand my family and our friends greet me.
“What is all this?”I smile as Cal pulls me into his side and hooks his arm around my shoulders. He must have rented the place out for the remainder of the night.
“We knew you were upset you couldn’t make it to the games because of your accident, and we wanted to celebrate with you,” he says, gesturing toward our guests.
“And we got you these,”Roe says, handing me a pair of noise-canceling headphones.“Nowyou can come to the game tomorrow.”
“You guys, this is too much. Really, you didn’t need to do all of this for me. You should be focused on winning the game tomorrow. Thisis the Stanley Cup.”
“Nonsense. Cal is family, which makes you family.He’snot playing his best when his mind is worried about you, and in case you haven’t figured it out, we need this guy in tip-top shape to beat the Stars. They are out for blood.”
Moon steps up to Roe’s right and elbows him in the side. “Plus, Cal said he’s buying the food tonight.”
I spot my dad in the corner with a tall glass of amber liquid and an endless gaze that says she told him. My mother left town this afternoon and the wayhe’sstaring into nothingness tells me she must have finally mustered up the strength to share her secret.
“Hey, I’ll catch up with you guys in a minute and grab a celebratory drink. I need to talk to my dad for a second.”
“You got it, crash,”Moon says and my brows pinch together before I put together the meaning.
“What, too soon?”
I laugh. “You’re ridiculous. Get out of here.”I jab him in the shoulder.
“Hey.”Cal pulls me back as I start toward my dad. Wrapping his arms around me, he nuzzles his face into my neck the way he always does when he greets me after we’ve been apart. Inhaling deeply, he says, “I missed you.”
“I missed you too. I watched the game. I saw the goal you scored againstSullyand the hit you took after.”
His lips find my neck. “Then you saw my O.”
“I did.”I smile. “Thank you.”I turn in his embrace. “I think my mother told my dad about Dash.”I nod to where he’s sitting in the corner. “I want to talk to him.”
Before Cal can let me out of his embrace, the bell on the door behind us rings as it opens, and Austin walks in with a gust of cold air on his heels.
“Did you invite him?”
“Not exactly, but I won’t make him leave either. He’s on my team.”
He walks straight for us. “Can we talk?”
“Sure,”Cal says as he reaches for my hand, and we follow Austin to one of the booths across from the bar. Austin takes one side, and we slide into the other. “What’s this about?”
Austin’s eyestake their fill ofthe side of my face, and he winces. “I’m sorry about what happened to you the night of the gala… before and after.”He folds his hands on the table. “I’ve never seen that side of Blair. She’snot like that around me. I’ve known Blair for a long time.”
“You have?”I narrow my eyes. “I thought you only started dating a year ago.”
He quirks a brow at me. “Have you been Googling me?”
“Something like that.”I break eye contact.
“I played for Blair’s father in college. That’s where we met. We didn’t start dating until I got drafted to the Kings and her dad was no longer my coach.”The way he anxiously taps his thumbs on the wooden table, I can tell he’snot surehow to approach whateverit ishe’s about to say.
“Did Blair send you here tonight?” I ask, wondering if he’s here to do her bidding since she ran home with her tail between her legs as soon as she got wind of my accident.
“No, but I’m here because of her.”
“Austin, if you’re here looking for our help, you came to the wrong place. She’s done nothing but make our lives hell?—”
Austin holds up his hand, stopping Cal. “It’s not like that. Look, let’s set the record straight.”His eyes hold Cal’s.“Coming to the Kings, I didn’t like you because I wanted to be you. I wanted your spot, and then I found out you had history with my girl and that dislike turned to hate. It didn’t matter what kind of history you had. I didn’t like it. I went along with her plans because I knew they’d piss you off, and pissing you off is my favorite pastime, but it wasn’t until the night of the gala and the car accident that I realized just how deep the feud between the three of you ran. I care about her, but I’m also not trying to see anyone die.”
“How considerate of you,”I mock with a small smile.
His lips quirk to onesidefor the smallest of seconds before his dark gaze returns to Cal.“If your dad is behind this and you hate him, and me telling you what I know helps the two of you and her, then I want that.” He leans back, settling into the tufted leather booth. “Blair received two calls the night of the accident, one from her mom and the other from her aunt. Her mom told her to come home immediately, and her aunt said, ‘I’ll make sure he never lays a finger on you. I’m sorry.’”
“Thanks for letting us know,” Cal says.
It may not seem like it, but it does help. We now knowhermother andheraunt were aware she was caught up in Lucas’s web. If she hadn’t been, they wouldn’t have made the connection so quickly.
He nods. “Good game tonight.”Austin puts his fist up for Cal to bump.
“Yeah, you looked good out there. Why don’t you stay and have a drink? They’re on me.”
Austin looks toward the bar. “In that case, maybe I’ll stay for one.”
Austin slides out, and once he’s far enough away, I say, “Is it possible Blair was never the villain but rather a martyr? Was Keely crying for help through her, trying to gain an alliance with you through her niece?”
“That’s a stretch. Blair said it herself: some people are rotten to the core. She may have set out with good intentions in whatever deals she made, but if anything’s true,it’sthat she got caught in my father’s web.”
“It’s never good when you’re dating and can’t stand the in-laws, but I really hate your dad.”
Cal chuckles. “At least we’re on the same page. I hate him more. Iverson’s helping me locate him…”He grimaces. “God, I can’t believe those words just came out of my mouth. The last thing I want to do is find my father, but it’s necessary for our plan to work.”
“You think he won’t see it coming?”
“Your mother left today. If he’s watching how I believe he is, I don’t think she stayed long enough for him to suspect that she told us anything about the past. I think your mother is still acting a part. By leaving, it looks like everything is status quo. We don’t know about my inheritance, the blackmail, or Dash being your half-brother. This means whatever he’s planning for my birthday is still scheduled as planned. If we know where he is, we can tip off the Feds, and the second he makes his move, we got him.”
“It sounds like a solid plan, but I don’t know,” I say, unable to keep the skepticism out of my voice.
He pulls me close. “Look, I know it sounds too easy.Trust me, I’ve doubted that it couldreallywork, but I think that’s becausethe idea ofputting all of this to rest feels surreal after everything we’ve been through.We deserve our happy ever after, Eloise, and I know we’ll get it. Have faith,blondie.”
I give him a soft smile. “Oh, I have faith. I want this to work because I’d rather not have the weight of a brake problem on my shoulders.”
He kisses my lips. “If it comes to that, it would never be your burden. It would be mine.”
I nod to my father sitting alone in the corner. “I should probably go over there.”
“Yeah, go talk to him. Wait…”He looks around. “Where did Adler go?”We both hear his laugh simultaneously. Sure enough, he’s sidled between Roe and Moon at the bar. “I should have known he’d be with them. I’m going to say hi to Coach Beck, and then I’ll collect our son.”
Imake my wayto my father, and he’s so lost in his thoughts he doesn’t see me coming.“Hi, Dad,” I say as I help myself to the empty stool beside him. He raises his glass and gives me a small smile. “Dad, I’m not sure there’s a right way to approach this question because it’s a conversation I never thought I’d have, but?—”
“Your mother told me.”
“She did,”I say more as confirmation than a question, but he replies all the same.
“She did. I know Dash Westin is my son. Seeing Keely Balfour stumble her way into my bar recently makes more sense now.”
“Recently… when exactly did she visit?”
He takes a long pull off his glass. “I guess about the time you came up here to work things out with Callum. She wasn’t in town long. A woman like that doesn’t go unnoticed. She was there for less than forty-eight hours and then was gone.”
“Did you talk to her?”
Gah, I want to scream, but I shove it down.My mother left, and nowI feel likeshe may have taken more secrets with her. She failed to mention in her confessions that Keelypaid a visit toCopper Falls. I’mnot surewhy I expected my mother to leave no stone unturned and reveal everything. She hasn’t done that once in the past twenty-five years. Why would she start now?
“Nope, Ihad no reason to, and I stilldon’t.”He takes another heady drink. “Dash is an adult. There’s no co-parenting required.”
“Are you mad?”
I’m sure a million scenarios and thoughts are running through his mind. The entire course of the past twenty-four years is now shaded differently. With everything that’s surfaced between Cal and me since I arrived in Toronto, I believe I know exactly what he’s feeling, but I also didn’t find out I have a child I never knew existed.
“I’m not sure mad is the correct word. I feel many things. It’s hard to settle on one.”
“Do you still want her back?”
For the first time since I’ve occupied the stool beside him, my father’s eyes float to mine. “Always.”
“Idon’t think Mom ever stopped loving you. She walked away because she believes she doesn’t deserve it.”
He swirls the amber liquid in his glass. “I know.”
“What are you going to do?”
He furrows his brow in thought and I pick up his hand, the same hand that held mine in the hospital.
“Dad.”I turn over his wrist and hike up his sleeve. “Dash has this same birthmark behind his ear. I know he’s not Mom’s blood, butI thinkif you give him a chance, you’d love him no differently than you love me and Iverson.”
He shakes his head. “I’m sure I will. I intend to be in his life if that’s what he wants.”His hand covers mine. “But, Eloise, I need you to let it be. I’ve known the Westins for many years. Adopted or not, Dash had a good life. You, of all people, know we can’t rewind time. Had I known, our lives would look soverydifferent, but that wasn’t the hand we were dealt. But there’s something much worse than wishing you could rewind time.”
His soft brown eyes, Dash’s eyes, find mineandI ask, “What’s that?”
“Missing everything you have around you now,”he says as he nods down the bar.
I look over my shoulder and see my son sitting at the bar, wedged between his dad’s best friends with Cal at his back, all of them wearing big smiles as they listen to my brother tell a storyandthe sentiment in my father’s words affects me profoundly. We only get to live reality once. The second a moment passes, it’s in the past. It’s a memory. I don’t want to lose any more time than I already have.
“Thanks, Dad.”I hop off my stool and squeeze his shoulder. “I’m always here if you need an ear to bend.”I kiss his cheek. “I’m going to go soak up everything I have around me.”
I’m getting a second chance. I don’t plan on messing it up.
“ C al,”I whisper when I feel him pull me against his hard length in the middle of the night.We’vebeen alone for weeks, and he’s used to getting laid whenever and wherever he wants, but Adler is here now, and he fell asleep in our bed watching a movie tonight. “We can’t,”I moanwith disappointment. We haven’t slept together since I’ve been home from the hospital, which isn’t terribly long, but when you’re used to getting it every day, it feels like a drought.
His hand slides up my nightshirt, and he cups my breast before pinching my nipple. “I carried Adler to his bed, so unless you have another reason you don’t want to fuck your fiancée, I need to be inside my girl.”
He pumps his cock against my ass, and I reach back to stroke it over his boxers. “He’s a light sleeper. We’ll have to be quiet.”
I’m on my back before the words have finished leaving my mouth. “God, I’ve missed these,” Cal says, pushing up my sleep shirt before sucking one of my nipples into his mouth.
“Mmm,”I moan as I buck my hips into him. “I’ve missed your mouth on them.”My hand tangles in his hair as he moves to the other one. “Cal?”
“Hmm,”he moans against my breast.
“Come here,”I say.Hiseyes flick up to mine and narrow beforehenips and suckshisway up my chest until finally, his lips land on mine, where he kisses them softly.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing is wrong.”I pull his mouth back to mine, kissing him long and slow and savoring the feel of his lips on mine, his weight on top of me, and the love between us. This is all I ever wanted, and it’s easy to gain everything and forget all the years we prayed for all the things we have now. I don’t want to forget. I want to remember every day what I have. I release his mouth and run my fingers through the hairs at the base of his neck. His amber gaze studies mine as he tries to get a read on what’s going through my mind. “Our son is asleep in the other room, and I have his father in my bed.”
“His father is trying to do more than share a bed.”He presses his length against my needy center and takes my mouth. His tongue strokes longingly against mine before he pulls back. “I’ve only ever wanted to be this man. Your man.”
“I’ve only ever wanted to be this girl. Your girl,” I echo his sentiments because nothing has ever been more true.
I feel his hand snake down my stomach, where he pulls my shorts and panties to the side before bringing the tip of his cock to my entrance. “You’ve always been my girl. You were mine before I ever knew your name. You ran away with my thoughts until one day, you ran away with my heart. I should have told you what you meant to me from day one.”
He slowly pushes into me as his lips hover above me.
“How could you have told me? You didn’t know.”
“Blondie, I knew from the moment I met you—you were different. We were different. It’s why I couldn’t stay away. I love you, Eloise Grey.”
“I love you too,”I say as he fully seats himself.
His lips brush against mine, but he doesn’t kiss me as he slowly starts to move inside of me. These past years have been hard, but we made it through the thorns, scars and all. He’s my everything, all I need and more. With every thrust, I feel him get deeper, I feel his heartbeat against my chest, I feel his love, and I know I won’t last. Sure, we’ve fucked, and yes, he’s had me long and slow, but having this way after the accident, after unveiling all the skeletons that lurked in our past and kept usapart,this time feels different. This time feels like forever. With every plunge, his tip charges deeper, dragging over the spot that drives me crazy. I wrap my legs around his back as my toes begin to curl. “Don’t stop.”
“Icouldn’tif I wanted to. You feel too good,”hesays,hiseyes lidded and tone raspy ashehovers above me. “I want to give you another scar.”
“What?”I pant breathlessly, his words not registering.
“Give me another baby.”
I slide my hands around his neck. “I neversaidno the last time.”
“But you’re on the pill.”
I shake my head no. “I didn’t refill my prescription last week.”
His lips crash to mine as his hips thrust into me hard as he dives deepandwe both groan, lost in the ecstasy of how we feel together and our shared dreams of stepping into our future and building our lives together. His knees spreadwider, and he drives harder, reaching new depths with every stroke. My walls start to contract, and his mouth falls away as his breaths come in shorter. He’s on the edge, just like me.
“That’s it, baby, fucking take it.”
My nails dig into his back as I come hard, and he follows a split second behind, grunting his release as he shoots ropes of cum deep inside of me, coating my walls before lying on top of me, completely spent. I lazily run my hands through his hair as I feel his heartbeat against mine and try hard to fight the sleep that’s tugging at my mind because, for once, my reality is finally better than my dreams.
“ E loise, can you hear me?”My father waves his hands in front of my face as we sit in the front row for the third game of the Stanley Cup.
I smile and give him a thumbs-up. “Yes, I can hear you.”The headphones aren’t entirely noise canceling; they mostly bring down the sound a few considerable decibels. If people didn’t know who I was before, they do now. Our accident has been all over the news, and if constant coverage wasn’t a big enough target, I’m confident my headphones and my scraped-up face are. It doesn’t help I have Iverson with me. The two of us together at any event never goes unnoticed. I can already see tomorrow’s headline:
The Beck Heir & Heiress Spotted at the Kings Game.
Does the future of High Tower have two successors
at the helm?
I try to block it out. I’m not here to play into media hearsay. I’m here to support my man. My brother originally had box seats for the series, but when I told him I wanted to be in the front row, he pulled some strings and made it happen. The box would have been better for my ears, but I want Cal to see me and his son sitting in the front row for the biggest game of his life. Adler pulls on my hand and points as we watch the team skate around the ice as they enter. Cal has been a different man out there in the last few games. The past two nights I watched him on TV, I could tell he was taking the hate in his heart for his dad and leaving it on the ice. I knowhewants retribution, but I’m trying to get him to remember that the best vengeance isn’t served but lived. Every day, he continues to ignore his father and leave him the past in pursuit of living his best life, he’sdelivering the ultimate blow.He is his mother’s hope, and despite all of his father’s dark, Cal is light.
Cal breaks his pre-game trance and mine and skates up to the glass where Adler smiles from ear to ear as his dad approaches the glass and puts his hand up to give him a high five before meeting my gaze and mouthing, I love you.
Two periods later, both teams are playing their hearts out, as would be expected in the Stanley Cup. We’ve been tied two and two for what feels like a small eternity, and the guys are playing dirty tonight. Everyone is pumped. Theyall want to win. This is game three. The Kings have narrowly won the first two games by one point, and the Diamonds are looking to end their streak tonight. My emotions have been all over the place the entire game. Cal hasn’t taken any hard hits, andno signals have been flashed, but I’m on edge. There are only five minutes left in the game, and I’ve felt like I’m seconds away from vomiting for the past twenty. The angst I’m feeling tonight is next level, and Cal isn’t even on the ice right now. He was sent to the penalty box for hooking, which was a bullshit call. His stick was a little high, and the other guy ran into it right before they collided. Either way, his short break in play did nothing to settle the swirling in my stomach.
“He’scoming back, and you know he’s going to come out guns blazing after that crap call,”I faintly hear Iverson telling my dad as Adler stays glued to the glass where he’s been the entire game.
Just like we all knew he would, Cal returns quickly, anxious to even the score and help lead his team to victory. The Diamonds’ power play ends, and Cal quickly gets back into the mix, gaining possession of the puck and making plays. In the two minutes he sat out, the Diamonds had two shots on goal, and it’s clear they’re out for blood. I’ve seen more collisions and hits tonight thanI’ve seenall season. So when Cal gets a breakaway, I’m out of my seat.He’sflying down the ice at well over ten miles per hour with the puck on his stick, ready to add another highlight reel goal to his collection when suddenly, number fifteen catches him with his head down and delivers a bone-crushing body check right before two other players slam into him, unable to stop.
Roe goes after number fifteen for throwing the body check, but my eyes are on Cal as the other two guys get upandhe doesn’t move. Why isn’t he moving? My heart beats out of sync, its rhythm echoing loudly in my headphones when the white ice beneath him turns red.
“Dad,” Adler screams, and Iverson swoops him into his arms.
“Hey, it’s okay, bud. Your dad is going to be fine.”
The referee stops the play, and two medical team members rush to the ice. Give me a signal, Callum. Give me a signal. My eyes stay laser-focused on his unmoving hands. This isn’t fucking happening. I didn’t survive a near-death car accident to watch you die on the ice in front of our son. Give me a damn signal. I get dizzy when two more medical staff come onto the ice with a backboard. “No,” I speak the words out loud, manifesting them into reality. “You’re going to be okay, Callum Balfour. You’re coming home with me and your son. You’re not leaving on a damn stretcher.” I pull my noise-canceling headphones off and turn around. Distraught, I rub Adler’s back as Iverson keeps a hand over his head to keep him from turning back to the ice. “Daddy’s going to be okay, buddy.” I force a strength I’m struggling to hold onto into my voice for my son. “Follow me,” I say as I cut a line for my family and me straight to the bench where I know they’ll exit through the emergency tunnel.
“Ma’am,I can’t let you through,”one of the security guards says when I try to slide past one of the metal barriers.
“You’ll let her through, or I’ll have you fired,”Iverson says at my back. “This is Eloise Grey, and Callum Balfour is her husband.”
I resist the urge to correct him, knowing the words aren’t true even if I want them to be. The guard hesitates for a split second before letting us by just as the stretcher comes down the tunnel. We all flatten against the wall as we watch the medical staff wheel him by before following hot on their heels.
“What hospital are you taking him to?” my father asks.
“Is he going to be okay?”Adler cries. “I want to go with Dad.”
Iverson turns Adler’s view away from the stretcher, and I take his face in my hands. “Look at me, buddy. I know it’s scary, but all those people around Daddy are there to help him.” I wipe the tears that have made their way onto his cheeks. “Daddy has a bad owie.” I push my hair back so he can see the scrapes on my face. “Just like the one I had. Sometimes we need doctors to help make it better… okay?”
He squeezes his blue eyes closed and nods.
“I love you, buddy. Everything is going to be okay.”
As I follow behind my brother carrying Adler, I catch a glimpse of Cal’s limp hand on the stretcher as everyone rushes after the only man I’ve ever loved, and I fall behind as everything starts to blur. I can’t hold it down any longer. I run to the trash can and lose it. As I heave my guts up into the trash can, I slowly start to get a grip. The endorphins from my body’s stress reaction give me a renewed sense of vigor. I wipe my mouth and look up in time to find Iverson running back down the tunnel.
“What happened?” Iverson asks.
“I got sick. I’m fine.”
“You sure?”He grabs my shoulders, and his eyes flick between mine.
“Yes. Where’s Adler?”
“I had Dad take him when I noticed you weren’t behind us anymore. They’re taking Cal to St. Catherine’s. Dad is pulling the car around.”
“Is he stable? Did you see them load him into the ambulance?”
His eyes soften. “All I know is his heart is still beating, but, Eloise. Hear me when I say this. His heart is still beating. He’s a fighterandI know he’s fighting his way back to you.”