Chapter 38
Chapter
Thirty-Eight
Jayne
I’ve just changed into jeans and a pretty top, in anticipation of my date with Bodi, when there’s a knock on the restroom door. Then it opens and Bodi cautiously sticks his head in.
“Hey.” He looks tired.
I can’t quite tell what’s wrong but his expression is a combination of fatigue and…defeat. That’s the only way to describe it.
“Are you okay?” I ask automatically, rushing over to him and putting my hand on his cheek. “What happened?”
“Your Dad knows,” he says quietly.
“Oh, shit. What did he say?”
“Well, let’s just say practice lasted a lot longer than usual and ended with me puking in the locker room and him giving me an ultimatum.”
No no no.
This is exactly what I was afraid of.
Dammit.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper, tears stinging my eyes. “What can I do? Should I talk to him? Tell me what to do.”
“I don’t think we have many choices, baby.” His voice is quiet, the look in his eyes inscrutable.
“Me or your career,” I say, reality hitting me as hard as a physical blow. My stomach turns, my heart twists, and all I can do is stand here, staring at him. It’s like the world goes from color to black and white, everything in my field of vision blurring from the impact of his words.
“I’m not sure what to do,” he says gruffly. “I tried talking to him, explaining that I love you, that this isn’t some casual hook up but he was…”
“Irrational? Completely inflexible?”
“So pissed off. I mean, I told him I’d take care of you—even pay for your last semester of school—and he just lost it. It was…weird.”
I frown. The one thing my dad’s been bitching about has been money, so removing me as a financial burden should make him happy. That it doesn’t makes no sense.
“I don’t get it either,” I admit. “You’d think he’d be glad to get rid of me at this point. All I can come up with is that his pride is bruised. And now he’s going to take it out on you.”
“I came right here after practice,” he says, pulling me close. “But I’m going to call my agent and then I may even reach out to Ms. Barrowman, the owner of the Phantoms. She may not be able to help me right away, but if I can get picked up somewhere else, will you go with me?”
I blink.
Is that even a question?
“I know it might screw up your internship,” he continues before I can respond, “but we’ll find you another one and I’ll pay for it if you have to repeat the semester.”
Is he serious?
I don’t even care about the internship at this point. I just want him—and us—to be okay. Together.
“I’ll go anywhere you want me to,” I whisper, resting my head on his chest.
He rubs his hands up and down my back.
“Everything is going to be all right. I just need a few days to come up with a plan. I’d say let’s get you out of there, but it might be better if he thinks we’re broken up, so he doesn’t go around talking shit about me around the league and ruining my chances of getting traded.”
“Of course.” I nod quickly. “Just let me know what you need from me.”
“Basically, be ready to get the hell out of there. The minute I get a reasonable offer from another team, we’re gone.
” He pauses, reaching down to lift my chin with two fingers, forcing me to look at him.
“The thing is—it’s not always immediate.
It could take weeks for a trade to go through.
You have to trust me and be patient because we may not be able to see much of each other while I try to work things out. ”
“I trust you,” I say softly. “You do what you have to do, and I’ll be ready to go the second you say so.”
“I’ll update you on what’s happening.”
“Okay.”
He stares at me with those beautiful blue eyes I love so much and then drops his lips to mine. I kiss him back almost desperately, anxious to bask in his warmth and touch, because it may have to last a while.
“I’ll call you soon, baby.” He takes one of my hands and brings it to his lips, kissing the back of it, the inside of my wrist, and then my fingers.
There’s a brief hesitation, as he continues to stare into my eyes, like he wants to say something else, but then he winks, backs out of the bathroom, and is gone.
I thought sure he would tell me he loves me, but he didn’t, and despite what I said, I’m a little worried.
I get home late. Kelly took me to dinner and let me vent for a while before driving me home.
She offered to help me with learning to drive since I’m probably not going to be able to use West or Bodi in the near future, which will be helpful.
She’s also offered to pick me up on the days I go in early.
She’s become a good friend and I’m really grateful for her.
The light is on in my father’s den and though my goal is to slip past unnoticed, he’s with Lourdes and I can’t help but pause just outside the door.
“…you have to keep her away from Bodi and his sister! God only knows what Rome has told them about me. And us.” Lourdes sounds upset. “You know how much he hates me.”
“I’m doing my best!” Dad huffs. “But you cheated on him—what do you expect?”
“I cheated on him with you. So, what I expect is for you to protect me.
“Lourdes, I spend half my life doing nothing else. At some point, enough has to be enough. Enough with the spending, enough with the lies, and enough with the drama. If I can’t focus on the team, we’re not going to have shit.”
“You have your little hero-worshipping Blaze telling you everything going on, so we’re in good shape other than this Jayne situation.
Can’t we just ship her off to graduate school somewhere in Europe?
Keep her the hell away from what we have going on here?
If she finds out about the money we stole…
” Her voice trails and I press myself against the wall, heart hammering as I try to wrap my head around what she just said.
“Who’s going to pay for her to live in Europe?” he demands. “I know you have trouble with this concept, but I’m not made of money, Lourdes.”
“Which is why I’m doing interior design.” She says it like it’s a given.
“So far, I haven’t seen any money coming in from that.”
“I have to build a portfolio! You know that.”
“What I know is that I can’t keep going the way I’ve been. Someone is going to find out and if I can’t repay—”
“Hugh. Honey. Relax.” Her voice turns sweet and sugary, dropping to a breathy whisper that I can’t hear.
Ew.
I hear my dad rumble out a laugh, more muttering I can’t decipher, and I’m pretty sure they’re making out.
Gross.
I can’t stay here another second and I quickly turn, and the floor creaks beneath my feet.
“Jayne? Is that you?” my dad calls out.
I slip out of my shoes as quietly as I can so I can pad across the marble tile and up the stairs without him hearing me.
I’m not sure what I just heard, but information is power.
If he and Lourdes stole money—I truly can’t wrap my head around that information.
Ugh.
All I can do now is hang tough and hope my father doesn’t try to ship me off somewhere before I can be with Bodi. I don’t know how he would do that—I’m a freakin’ adult. He can’t just force me to get on a plane or whatever.
Can he?
Worry winds through my gut and though I want to tell Bodi that we may have to up our timeline, but I don’t want to stress him out.
He’s doing what he needs to do to provide for our future—and there’s no telling what my Dad could do to him professionally if he thinks that I—and Bodi by extension—know what he’s been up to.
The best thing is for me to keep my head down until Bodi has a handle on what he’s going to do about hockey. I don’t want him worrying about me unless and until it’s absolutely necessary.
If we get to that point, I’ll tell him everything.
If I can get more details about this money my father stole, we might even be able to use it as leverage. I just have to figure out how.