Chapter 23
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CATALINA
"Don't tell anyone, but this is one of my favourite parts of the job." I pulled off the pink wig and tossed it into my bag.
"Dressing up like a princess?" Cruz gave me the side eye.
"Like you weren't having as much fun as I was." I returned his look, with added smirk. "I saw you singing Twinkle Little Star with the kids."
"The things we do for publicity." He brushed purple glitter off the front of his hoodie. "You like it so much, maybe you should have been a clown. Oh, wait, you already are one."
I flipped him off. "You like visiting the sick kids in the hospital as much as I do. You say you don't, but you're full of shit. Right, Dean?"
"Sounds right to me," the goalie said. "I'd rather deal with kids than paparazzi any day."
"When do you deal with paparazzi?" Cruz asked.
Dean shrugged. "I haven't yet, but we will be soon."
I grinned. "True that. You know what they say, when assholes like that follow you around, you know you've made it. And when you get invited to spend time with kids here." I gestured around the hospital corridor.
"Yeah," Dean said with a grunt. "I gotta go. Catch you guys later."
"Boxing training?" Cruz asked. Dean recently took it up as an extra exercise, as if he didn't get enough already.
"Yeah, boxing." Dean glanced at his watch. "I'm gonna be late." He hurried off down the corridor.
"I think he needs to get laid more than I do," I remarked.
"Which is saying something." I hadn't been interested in a woman since I met Cat.
The taste of her still lingered on my tongue.
The sound of her coming echoed in my ears.
Hearing her was better than the cheer of the crowds when we won a game, but it did nothing to ease the ache in my balls.
"If you're expecting sympathy, you've come to the wrong fucking place," Cruz said. "The universe keeps giving you opportunities and you don't take them."
"I told you I was taking my time," I said. "Anyway, the universe has been short on opportunities lately."
I hadn't seen Cat at the rink or anywhere in town since I got back from Melbourne.
I hadn't had time to hunt her down either.
I hoped she'd come to me. She felt the electricity between us, we both knew it.
Sooner or later, she'd give in and insist on giving herself to me. That was what I wanted, for her to beg.
"She's learned to stay out of the team's way, I call that a win," Cruz said.
"You giving up on the bet?" I asked. "I accept your gracious defeat if you do."
He gave me the side eye again. "I ain't giving up anything. She can stay away from the team at the same time as wanting my cock. She's probably hiding in her room thinking about me and getting herself off. Come Friday night, she'll be at O'Reilly's, ready for the taking."
"By me," I said. We'd win our game and I'd win the bet. And her.
"Dream on." Cruz smirked.
I glanced into a hospital room as we walked past.
Froze.
"What the fuck?" I turned back around.
"What is it? More purple fucking glitter?"
I shook my head. "No." I walked back to the doorway and stared.
Shaw Moss was slumped in a chair in the corner, beside the window. I barely registered his presence. My attention was all on the gorgeous redhead lying in the hospital bed.
Cat's face was covered in bruises and one of her legs was covered in plaster from her ankle to just above her knee.
"Holy fucking what?" Cruz asked, gaping the same way I was. "What the hell are you doing here? What the fuck happened?"
Her eyes widened as she registered our presence.
A moment later, Shaw was up in our faces, anger flashing in his hazel eyes.
"What the fuck you doing here? She doesn't want to see you. Either of you." He glanced out into the corridor before glaring at us again.
I shook my head. "Get out of the way, Moss. She can speak for herself." I shoved past him and stalked over to the side of the bed. "Did you get in some kind of accident?"
Where her skin wasn't bruised, was so pale her freckles stood out more than usual. Even like this, she was so fucking cute.
She recoiled from me when I put out a hand to brush hair off her face.
Recoiled.
What the hell?
"As if you don't know," she snapped.
I glanced back at Cruz, who was clearly as confused as I felt. He stood in the doorway beside Shaw, who looked ready to punch both of us.
I looked back at her. "Sweetheart, I have no idea. If I did, I would have been here sooner." What in the ever loving fuck was going on?
"I'll call the cops," Shaw said.
"Wait, what?" I held out a hand before he could pull his phone out of his pocket.
Shaw growled. "Since you're determined to play dumb, I'll tell you. She was attacked in the car park outside the rink. Beaten and her leg smashed. With. A. Hammer."
It took almost a full minute for his words to register. When they finally did, I didn't believe them.
I shook my head slowly. "You think I did this?"
"You or Cruz are at the top of our list," Shaw said.
I blinked hard a few times. "What the fuck do you have to do with any of this?"
"I found her," he said coldly. "If I hadn't, she could have died."
Now it was my blood that was cold. I turned back to Cat. I saw fear and accusation in her eyes.
"I didn't do this to you. I would never do something like that. I…care about you."
This wasn't how I wanted to tell her, but from the look on her face, I may never get another chance.
"You care about me?" She snorted in disbelief. "That's why you made a bet on who would fuck me first? Why you told your whole team what we did? And you." She nodded to Cruz. "And Dean. He was in on that bet too, wasn't he?"
"It was never meant to—"
She interrupted me. "Never meant to do what?
Never meant to humiliate me? Never meant to make me feel like a piece of meat?
Never meant to encourage the whole team to treat me like I was a fuck toy?
I'm a person with actual fucking feelings.
With hopes and dreams. A person who will never race again because of this.
" She waved towards her leg. "Because you felt the need to treat me like shit to boost your egos.
One of you did this to me, directly or indirectly. "
"My guess is directly," Shaw said.
"I swear on every hockey stick I've ever owned that I didn't do this," I said.
I turned back to Cruz. He was the one who wanted her away from us the most. Away from the team.
Away from the ice. Isolated so he could take full advantage.
This was a stretch, even for him, but I wouldn't put it past him.
"The fuck, bro?" He raised his hands to either side. "You think I did this? That's bullshit and you know it. I save my aggression for the ice."
"Where were you three nights ago?" Shaw asked. He addressed the question to both of us.
I glanced at Cruz while thinking back. "Watching a movie at home. I got halfway through and went to bed. Remember?"
"Maybe you went to bed and maybe you went out for a while," Cruz said.
"Maybe you went out after I went to bed," I countered.
I turned back to Cat. "I admit we were assholes. That whole bet was a stupid idea. The locker room talk was bullshit. But I promise, we didn't do this, and we sure as fuck didn't ask or encourage anyone to."
The idea of anyone touching her made me want to break their arms. The thought of them hitting her made me want to kill them. The expression of disdain and mistrust on her face made me want to kill them, bring them back to life and kill them again.
Okay, I wasn't innocent, but if she hated me because of this, I was going to find who did it and make them regret ever taking their first breath.
"You might not have told them to do it outright," she said. "But you made me feel like shit." She paused for a moment. "My attacker told me to stay away from the team. That started with you." She looked pointedly at Cruz.
"It didn't end there," Shaw said. "They were both very open about fucking around with you." There was no doubt who he blamed.
"We screwed up," I said softly. "It was meant to be a bit of fun between friends."
Which she was never supposed to know about. Shaw telling her didn't help anyone. Except him. What was his game? He wasn't in on the bet, but he seemed defensive of her now. Was he trying to muscle in on what was mine? If that was what was going on, I wasn't going to let that go without a fight.
"How do we know you didn't do this?" I stared him down. "I didn't hear you telling us to shut up about her."
"As if you would have listened," he scoffed. "Cat knows I didn't hurt her. That's all I need." He gave her a glance that revealed everything. The motherfucker had it bad. I wanted to smash his head in.
"Do you know that?" I asked her. "You believe him when he says he did nothing to you?" I wanted her to say she trusted him as much as she trusted me right now. Not at all.
"Yes, I believe him," she said. "He's been looking out for me. Which is more than I can say for either of you." She glared at me, then at Cruz.
I rubbed a hand over the back of my neck. "What do I have to do to prove I didn't hurt you and never intended to hurt you?"
"Me too," Cruz said. "I might have gotten a bit out of hand with the whole rink thing. It went too far. I'm a big enough guy to admit that. It ends here. The bet too. It's off. Done."
"Too little, too late," Shaw muttered.
I ignored him. "Cruz is right. The bet is off. Locker room talk is off. We fucked up. I fucked up and I'll make it up to you."
Shit, she was supposed to be begging me, not the other way round.
Yeah, I made a small mistake, but what happened to her to put her in the hospital and end her racing career, was nothing to do with me.
Nothing I was ready to admit to. I was Easton Grant, up-and-coming hockey god. I'd find a way to make her forgive me.
"Stay the hell away from her," Shaw growled. "You can both get out. She doesn't have anything else to say to you."
"You don't get to decide that," Cruz told him.
"Shaw is right," Cat said. "I don't want to see either of you again. Get out of this room and stay away from me."
I glanced at Cruz. He looked angry, but it was directed at Shaw and himself, not her.
I looked back at Cat. "I'll find out who did this to you. When I do, I'm going to tear them apart with my bare hands. If you want, I'll give you his head in a box." That was extreme, but I didn't care. No one touched my woman without facing the consequences.
What if it was Cruz? I'd figure that out later.
I gave Cat a long, intense look before I turned and left the room.