Chapter 41
Forty-One
MALAKI
It’s a breath of fresh air seeing her sitting up in the stands during my practice. Emory, having the best vantage point from the ice during drills, waited until we were done to tell me, knowing I’d be distracted.
It doesn’t take a genius to know that something was up with me as soon as practice started.
I didn’t make a single joke or even crack a smile.
Which, according to Lars, means the world has tilted on its axis.
More like just my world.
“Hey, Dimples,” I say, meeting her eyes.
A swallow pushes down my throat when she turns and walks over to the stairs, climbing them one by one until she’s standing right in front of me.
“Fiancé,” she says in response, a barely there smile on her pink lips.
My eyebrows rise in surprise. “Fiancé, eh? Having a change of heart?”
She shrugs before crossing her arms over her thin shirt.
“Are you cold?” I ask, ready to shed my own. It’s sweaty, but at least it’d be another layer.
“I’m sorry,” she blurts.
She’s sorry?
I try to think of a reason why she thinks she should be apologizing to me.
“I didn’t even ask you about the game last night,” she adds.
As if on cue, she begins nervously chewing on her lip, eyes anywhere but on me. Without thought, I grab a hold of her chin and pull on her lip so it plops out from behind her teeth. Those brown eyes send something warm into my chest, and I think I may be addicted to her.
“You have nothing to be sorry for. Me losing a game is nothing compared to your situation.”
She huffs sarcastically. “It was selfish of me.”
My eyebrows cave with anger, and my grip on her chin tightens. “Stop.”
Her long eyelashes flutter as she peers at me. “Stop what?”
“Belittling yourself.”
Her gaze skitters away with a long, drawn-out sigh. “I’m still sorry.”
“Well, don’t be.”
We stand there in the quiet of the arena with my hand on her chin, her eyes staring at her feet.
I’m desperate for her to tell me exactly what happened in the mediation, but I know Reese better than before. She’ll tell me when she’s ready–if she’s ready.
“Is that why you came to my practice?” I ask.
Surely it wasn’t just to apologize about something she has nothing to be sorry about.
She finally swings her attention back to me. I beg to know what’s going through her mind. So many quiet truths and worries trapped behind her brown eyes.
“No,” she breathes the word out. “I came because…”
With a shaky hand, she grabs onto my wrist, her fingernails digging into my skin to garner my attention.
“I came because I need you.”
My world stops spinning.
She needs me?
I stare down into her eyes with my chest threatening to break open so I can hand her my heart.
“You need me?” I repeat. Did I hear her right?
Reese nods softly, her cheeks ripening with a flush. My mouth curves as my other hand snakes around her waist. I pull her into my chest, a quick breath leaving her mouth.
“I’m here,” I utter. “What do you need?”
“At the moment? I think I just need you.”
“You have me, Dimples,” I say.
Without missing a beat, I pick her up, cradle her legs in my arms and take a seat. She sits on my lap and holds on tightly to my neck. I shoot her a crooked smile, and she laughs quietly.
The moment doesn’t last long, though.
Reese’s grin fades into a somber look. She relaxes on top of me, her hands landing in her lap. “Today didn’t go well.”
“I assumed as much,” I say. “I already have a list of family lawyers who come highly recommended ready to go.”
She jerks backward. “You already have a list?”
Of course I do.
Then she shakes her head. “They’re going to be too expensive.”
“I don’t care how expensive they are.” I start to get up, holding onto her tightly. “The list is on my phone. Let me go get changed and grab it–”
“No!” she blurts.
I sit us back down. “No?”
She shakes her head, strands of her long hair falling from her messy bun. “I mean, yes, I want to see the list, but I don’t want you to think I only came here to ask you to help me with a lawyer.” She stares out at the ice. “I don’t know if a good lawyer will even help at this point.”
“These lawyers are highly recommended–”
Reese peers at me, her thick eyelashes batting against her cheeks. “He lied up and down during that mediation…he was convincing too. I probably would have believed him if I didn’t know firsthand that what he was saying was completely false.”
I let her go when she scooches off my lap. She stands in front of me, her arms crossed defensively. “I mean, he lied so well that, at one point, I started to wonder if I did the things he said.”
“He’s manipulative. He knows how to get you riled up.”
And I have to admit, I don’t fucking like it.
Reese huffs and tilts her gaze to the ceiling of the rink. “He painted me out to be an unfit mother, showing the mediator text messages that weren’t even from me.”
I sit up tall, my hands gripping the edge of the chair arms with force. “What? That would never stand in court.”
“He brought up my father, even though I haven’t spoken to him in years. I mean, he doesn’t even know I have a daughter! Which is exactly what I said, and you want to know what he did after that?”
I’m not sure that I do.
I nod anyway.
“He threatened to tell my father about Charleigh. His reasoning was that it’s my father’s right to get to know his granddaughter, just like it’s his right to get to know his daughter. Never mind the fact that I’ve given Benedict multiple opportunities. I’m not keeping her from him on purpose.”
My teeth clench together.
The more Reese rehashes everything from the mediation, the more riled up she becomes.
Once she starts to nibble on her thumb nail, I know it’s time to put a stop to the frenzy. “Hey,” I say, trying to soothe her.
She continues to chew on the end of her nail. “He only threatened that because he was trying to scare me. He knows I don’t want my father anywhere near Charleigh.”
Now, she’s pacing.
“Reese.”
When she doesn’t stop, I wait until she’s right in front of me, mid-stride, and grab onto her waist. I spin her, the long stands of her hair whizzing past her face.
“Take a breath, Dimples.”
A line of worry or anger, maybe both, etches in between her eyebrows. She attempts to inhale deeply, and the only thing I want to do is give her air.
“I can’t!” she exclaims. “Zoe told me to get angry, and now that I am, I can’t seem to stop! I just sat there in that mediation and let him walk all over me. With every half-truth and snarky jab, I felt myself grow smaller and smaller until I couldn’t take it any–”
Unwilling to let her keep going, I stand abruptly with my hands still on her hips. I pick her up effortlessly and bring her legs around my waist before sitting us back down.
“What are you–”
My lips seal against hers mid-sentence, stealing every last word off the end of her tongue. It takes her no time to catch up. She opens her mouth, and she lets me in with a sweet whimper. Lost in the kiss, I move my tongue against hers in slow strokes, begging her to relax.
I break the kiss when we’re both gasping for air. Reese’s hands press into my shoulders.
“What are you doing?” Her soft voice sends chills to my arms.
I adjust us on the chair, my already hard cock brushing against her jeans. My fingers slip beneath her long-sleeve shirt, her flesh hot to the touch. “Building you back up, Dimples.”