Crossfire #2
The harsh and unfair way she delivers her words makes something inside me snap with rage.
I’m getting really, really tired of always hearing the same condescending spiel about Alicia, as if she were some kind of defective time bomb about to explode at any moment.
As if no one in this damn sport would bother to wonder how much pain, how much loneliness, and how many betrayals lie behind that tough-girl facade she’s built up to survive.
“You don’t really know Alicia, Alba,” I blurt out before my professional filter can stop me from speaking up.
“You have no idea what she had to go through at her previous club, or why she gets so defensive sometimes. You only see the surface—the distorted version of her that the media and hallway rumors have created.”
“Maybe that’s precisely your big problem,” she replies with devastating gentleness. “That you do believe you really know her. And that all that empathy is clouding your judgment.”
With that, she slowly rises from her chair, picks up her coffee, and walks away.
She leaves me sitting there, completely frozen, with the coffee growing completely cold in my hands and an unbearable, heavy, suffocating pressure crushing my chest. Because if one thing is clear, it’s that the rumors have long since ceased to be mere gossip, and I’m starting to lose the ability to protect both of us.
· · ·
Night finally falls over the complex with a calm that feels utterly deceptive to me.
The rooms reserved for staff are located in a rather secluded area of the main residential building, which makes them much quieter, darker, and more private.
However, all that tranquility outside has absolutely nothing to do with the mental chaos and whirlwind of doubts I’ve been carrying inside since my run-in with Alba.
I’ve tried everything I can to focus on the medical reports, the recovery charts, and the rehabilitation plans for next week.
Anything to keep my mind occupied and keep me from going crazy.
But it’s useless; every path, every chart, and every line inevitably leads me back to the same place: Alicia.
Her crooked, mischievous smile when she manages to make me burst out laughing despite how hard I try to stay serious.
Her magnetic gaze that seems to pierce my soul every time she looks at me.
The way she seeks me out so directly, as if I were the only person in this whole damn country capable of truly understanding her.
Suddenly, my phone vibrates fiercely on the nightstand. I look up at the screen. It’s Dani. I can’t help but slowly exhale through my mouth before swiping to answer.
“Hi, Dani.”
“You sound like you’re at a funeral,” he blurts out as soon as he hears my greeting on the other end of the line. “Can you tell me what the hell is going on over there?”
I close my eyes for a moment and let myself slump heavily against the wooden headboard of the bed. With Dani, it’s never done any good to try to pretend that everything’s going smoothly. He’s one of those very few people in the world capable of reading my mind even when I refuse to do it myself.
“I’m exhausted, really. Physically and mentally.”
“That’s a lie. You can’t fool me, Clara.”
I hear the distinct sound of a door slamming on the other end of the line, and immediately afterward, his voice returns in a much more intimate, serious, and concerned tone.
“What’s going on, Clara? And don’t even think about telling me nothing’s wrong—we’ve known each other long enough.”
I stay silent for a few seconds, pressing the phone tightly against my ear. I feel all the emotional barriers I’ve built up suddenly and irrevocably crumbling.
“I think I’m falling in love with someone, Dani.”
Finally saying it out loud, breaking the secret, makes something deep inside me tremble with uncontrollable force.
Until this very moment, I’d been panicking at the thought of giving it that name.
Carnal desire is easy to manage. Physical attraction can also be disguised.
But love… love is something completely different.
And I’ve already been through a similar ordeal in the past with Charlotte—enough to make me panic.
I hear Dani exhale slowly through his teeth, taking in the bombshell.
“Who is it, if I may ask?” he asks, a genuine hint of surprise lingering in his voice.
At that moment, I realize that I haven’t even mentioned it to him during our weekly calls, and that this whole thing with Alicia has become so clandestine, hidden, and forbidden that it even feels strange and unreal to say it out loud.
“A player on the team. The star forward.”
“And may I ask exactly how long this has been going on? Because you’ve kept it pretty well hidden. Although, knowing you and considering what happened with Charlotte, I can already imagine why you hadn’t let anything slip until now.”
I let out a small, bitter laugh that rises from my chest and sounds more like a sob held back by the pressure.
“The truth is, I don’t have the faintest idea how I got to this point, Dani. It’s gotten completely out of hand.”
“Is it that bad?”
I glance sideways toward the window, where raindrops are tapping against the glass and beginning to slide lazily down the pane.
“No, it’s not that it’s bad. On the contrary.
Alicia is absolutely incredible. Even though she can drive me up the wall in two minutes, fifteen minutes later she manages to make me feel more alive than anyone else on this planet.
I don’t even know how to explain it, seriously—I just feel things I haven’t felt in many, many years.
Feelings I thought I’d buried three feet underground. ”
“Love is that messed up, Clara. It shows up when you least expect it.”
The word love hits me in the face again with the force of a ball fired point-blank.
“You know exactly what’s at stake…”
“What exactly is at stake? Your job? What four old farts will say when they find out? Or just your heart?” he retorts vehemently on the other end of the phone. “Clara, damn it, everyone in this fucking life deserves a little happiness. Just let yourself go for once.”
“I wish I could just do it, Dani. At the club, rules are rules, and if the press finds out, they’ll come after her again.
She’s the league’s media darling, but she’s also had way too much crap thrown at her.
And honestly, I flat-out refuse to be just another brick in that pile of problems the poor thing is already dragging around. ”
Dani remains silent for a few long seconds, thoughtfully weighing my words.
“So what do you want to do? Distance yourself from her?” he asks. “Do you really think that by doing that you’re going to protect her from anything?” he continues calmly. “Do you seriously think that ignoring your feelings is going to save both of you from danger?”
I don’t answer him. Basically because I don’t have a real or logical answer to give him.
“Listen to me carefully, Clara,” he continues in that measured tone he uses when giving me advice.
“You can keep hiding, but the reality is that you’re already too deeply involved, and the longer you keep pretending, the more harm you’re going to do to yourself—and, above all, to her.
Talk to Alicia. Be honest for once in your life.
And whatever you have to decide, decide it together. ”
I feel an annoying, huge, tight lump slowly growing in the middle of my throat, preventing me from swallowing.
“It’s just that I don’t know exactly what decision to make, Dani. I’m terrified of messing up.”
“Don’t talk nonsense. You do know,” he insists emphatically. “You’re terrified to admit it, which isn’t the same thing, but deep down in your soul, you know perfectly well.”
“So what’s the solution, in your opinion?”
Dani doesn’t hesitate for even a millisecond before answering.
“Bet everything on her, Clara. Take a fucking chance already. Live, damn it, live. You’ve spent too many years just getting by, building walls around your heart so no one could get close. Alicia has come into your life to tear them all down, and that’s what you needed to start breathing again.”
I close my eyes and let his words sink deep into my bones.
In the end, Dani is absolutely right. I’ve built an impeccable professional life—secure, perfectly controlled.
But Alicia Puertas came along to show me, through kisses and flirtation, that beneath all that rigidity there’s still a woman of flesh and blood capable of falling in love until she loses her breath.