Chapter Twenty-Three
~HENDRIX~
“My son August will be taking on the WNBA team that we have decided to call the Tampa Lightning!”
I keep on hearing the words over and over in my head. That and the sound of blood whooshing in my ears.
“August is leaving us?” Mac asks from my side.
“I… I have no idea.” I stammer out. “I had no idea this was even being announced today.”
She watches me for a beat before asking, “Are you okay?”
I don’t know what to say to that. Am I okay?
Will I be alright if he leaves us for the Tampa Lightning?
How long has he known that this was happening?
Did he know last night when he took me to the game?
Is that why he did it? So many questions flow through my mind.
I hear Cassie saying something, but I can’t focus on the words that she is saying.
“I’m sorry, what?”
I feel her do her best to pull me in for a side hug. “It’s going to be okay. Maybe he did this so that he could still date you. Maybe it’s too hard for him to date you while you’re working for the Blaze and so is he.”
I can hear the positivity in her voice, like she’s trying to keep me from going over the deep end. But it’s not going to work.
“I just want to get into the locker room and get showered off so that I can go home,” I tell them, making way out the back door and towards our locker rooms. “I’m shocked that he was okay with the players walking into his press conference,” I call over my shoulder, wishing that August and his family could hear me right now.
“I have a feeling that this was all Maxwell,” Mac says, jogging to catch up with me. “It doesn’t look like August is a part of the press conference other than being ornamental.”
I look back at him standing there, ramrod straight, looking forward with no expression on his face.
I can’t even tell if he is focusing on any of the press or if he’s even listening.
But he doesn’t have any life in his stance.
I consider that Mac might be right, but either way it doesn’t change the thoughts that are running through my head right now.
“Before you spend your normal twenty-minute shower wallowing and then waiting around to see if he comes to find you, what if we all head out to the beach? Grab some smoothies, do some window shopping? Could be fun?” Cassie says, grinning at me, like she’s praying that I’ll take her up on it.
I already know that I won’t, I just want to be alone right now.
“Nah, I have a shower in my future and then I plan on heading home to spend some time with Ash,” I lie easily, hoping that they buy it.
I can tell by the way that Cassie and Mac are staring at me that they are not.
But I just keep on pushing through. “We’ll see each other at the bar tonight,” I remind them.
“Yeah, we sure will. I just hope you don’t spiral too much by then,” Mac says, placing her hand on my shoulder. “Don’t charge him until you know exactly what he’s done. He’s not abandoning you again, Hen. This isn’t college.”
“Right,” I make my way into the locker room, head down, doing my best to distance myself from the spectacle behind me.
I’m alone in the locker room when I hear the door open.
“Hello, is anyone in here?” I hear August call out. “Hendrix? I can see that your car is outside. Are you in here? Can we please talk about this?”
I sigh. “I’m in here and I’m alone,” I call back to him. “Same place that you found me the last time you came into the women’s locker room.”
He chuckles as I hear him heading towards me. “I guess I gotta stop making this a habit.”
“You’ve been in here more times than Coach Andie and I think according to the Blaze rules that I read, she is the only one allowed in here because she’s female,” I cite the rule and see his smile spreading as he rounds the corner.
He pauses mid-step when he takes me in.
I’m standing in front of him, wearing a pair of athletic shorts and a tight tank top with built-in bra.
I’m sure the girls are on full display for him.
I can tell by the way he swallows not once, twice, but three times at the sight of me.
His sudden awkwardness makes me smile to myself, although I am sure not to let him see it.
“So, what was with the dog and pony show today?” I cut right to the chase, no sense beating around the bush.
“You caught that, huh?” he says, trying to sound casual, but the look on his face defies his intention.
“You know I did.”
He nods. “I know, I could feel you watching me,” he admits.
I want to smile that he could feel me watching him, but I remember what it felt like to see him standing up there with his father.
My mind wanders momentarily to how handsome he looked in his well-pressed khakis and Blaze polo.
I’ve seen put-together August so many times, but my favorite will always be casual August. The one who is lounging around in nothing but sweatpants and a smile.
The August that I’m pretty sure I’m the only one that ever gets to see.
“Yeah, it was weird seeing you up there with him. I saw you were partly smiling when he was talking about the family then you went rigid when he made that announcement,” I tell him.
He nods. “Yeah, wasn’t expecting that.”
“Are you leaving me?” The words fly out of my mouth before I can stop them.
He shakes his head. “I’m not going to lie to you, Hen. I have no idea.”
“You’re really doing this to me again?” I ask him, shaking my head.
I pick up my gloves that have been hanging out on the bench and start chucking them into my soccer bag.
“I can’t believe that I was so stupid.” I shake my head and say, “You fucking Cromwells, you always find a way to blow up my world.”
“I’m sorry you had to find out this way. He sprung all of this on me this morning. I had no time to warn you. But don’t worry, I’m going to fix this, somehow. I’m not leaving you or the team,” he says, attempting to reassure me.
“Didn’t you tell him that you didn’t want to change teams like that? That maybe you are happy with the Blaze!” I shout.
“Yeah, because my dad is so good at listening to what I have to say,” he reminds me.
I shake my head. “Well, thanks for sticking up for yourself. For us.”
He opens his mouth to say something but closes it, his words dying before they even leave his lips. The tension between us is stretched too tight. He looks like he’s been holding himself together for hours—jaw tight, eyes burning with everything that he hasn’t said yet.
I step toward him, it’s just an inch, but it’s enough to snap him into action.
He reaches for me as if he’s being pulled by instinct, one hand at my waist, the other brushing over my jaw.
I love it when he touches me like this. It’s so soft yet deliberate.
His mouth comes crashing down on me—urgent, unplanned and impossible for him to hold back. Like he’s been doing it all day.
I respond instantly. My fingers curl into the form of his polo, yanking him closer to me.
Like I’ve been starving for him. Because right now that’s how it feels.
It’s not gentle. It’s full of longing and need and the frustration breaking loose that we’re here in this position again.
Being pushed and pulled around by Maxwell Cromwell.
For a heartbeat, the world shrinks to only this locker room and the way his mouth feels on mine. I lean into him like I need to remember exactly how he holds me. Then reality slams back in. We’re here in the Blaze locker room, where anyone could walk in and find us.
Maybe he’s leaving me again.
Maybe we shouldn’t be doing this right now.
I pull back from his lips. We’re both breathing raggedly.
He looks me in the eye, raising on eyebrow, challenging me. Like he’s reminding me that we shouldn’t go any further in here but, damn, does he want to. Every part of me is begging for us not to stop, but I can’t bring myself to say anything in this moment.
“Hendrix, I do not want to leave you,” he finally breathes out. “I am not putting you in this position again. I promise you. And neither is he.”
I shake my head, casting off the wave of emotion that is overwhelming me. I want to give into him so badly and believe him. But I can’t.
“And yet he is,” I tell him.
“Hendrix. Please don’t. Please don’t shut me out again.
Please don’t. We can fix this somehow.” He brings his hands up to either side of my face, cupping it gently.
“Please let me talk to Drew. Let me see what I can do for us. Drew wants the WNBA team. He wants a chance to start something fresh like I got to with you. I will fix this,” he promises me.
I want to shake my head again. Instead, I just tell him what I keeping going back to. “He’s going to force you to do this. Does he know?”
“I don’t think so. I was photographed with someone last night, but you can only see your hair. There’s not a shot of your shirt or anything. So, he has no way of knowing that it was you.”
“Drew,” I remind him.
“He wouldn’t tell him. He likes you. He’s my brother.
Sure, that’s our dad, but I promise you, Hen, he has my back more.
” August pauses for a moment and then runs both hands through this brown locks.
“I’m not making the same mistakes that I made before.
I will fix this for us. I promise you. Nothing has been signed, nothing is official yet.
I’m still listed as the owner of the Blaze, and I am going to do everything in power to remain that way. ”
There’s so much conviction in his voice that I want to believe him so badly. I shake my head, but he takes ahold so that I cannot move it and forces me to look into his eyes.
“I will fix this. Hendrix do not give up on me because I am not giving up on you. This little stunt of his is just that, a stunt. I will fight this and I will stay with you. I promise you that much. Don’t turn your back on me, Hen. Please don’t.”
I can see that my silence is not helping him. It’s causing him to unravel with worry. I hate that I just have no idea what to say.
“Hen... what’s going on in that mind of yours. I can see that it’s working a million miles a minute. Tell me what I can do.”
I shake my head. “I don’t know what you can do, August. I’m just trying to figure out how we’re here again.”
He sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. “Because my father will always be my father. I hate this. I hate that it is affecting you again. Fuck!” He screams into the silence.
I feel the words I haven’t said out loud yet coming to the surface. I don’t want them to be true. Finally, I whisper, “You’re going to leave me again.”
“I’m not. I promise you that I’m not leaving you.
I can’t leave someone so perfect and wonderful that I have just finally gotten back.
” He pulls me into his arms. “You are going to have to do something that you probably have never done before—trust me. Please just place your trust in me. This isn’t over yet.
I will figure this out and find a way out of this.
” He squeezes me tightly for good measure.
I nod slowly. “Yeah, that is something that I haven’t had to do before.” I say it jokingly, but I can tell that it lands wrong.
“Because you don’t want to or because you can’t?” he asks me. “Can you trust me? Are we settling into a completely different issue than my father being an asshole?”
I shake my head and stop him quickly before he rambles again.
“August, I was trying to bring some levity to this moment, but fuck, did I fail.” I pull him in closely because now it’s my turn to comfort him.
I need to remember that this is a distressing day for him as well.
“We’re going to figure this out—together.
For once we are going to do this together. ”
He picks me up and spins me around. “Hendrix, we’re doing this together!”
I laugh out loud. “Yeah, we’re doing this together.”
“Look at us growing up and shit.”
I laugh and let him pull me into another long kiss. He deepens it and I fight the urge to stop him from pulling my shorts down and taking me here in the locker room again. But he’s August and I can’t ever say no to those lips, those eyes and that cock.