29. Smithy
Chapter 29
Smithy
Fury pumps through my veins every time I look at the man who is supposed to have my back. Wheeler and I have been through so much together.
We played college ball together and we lived in the dorms together since we stepped foot on campus our freshman year. When we got drafted, we both got picked up by the Philadelphia Pit Bulls.
We were there for each other through everything. The good and the bad. The difficult trials and the insane schedules. We always had each other’s backs… until now.
“Take a deep breath. You look like you’re about to lose it,” Liliana whispers, toying with the ends of my hair.
“How could he say those things about you?” I murmur, unsure of how she’s so focused on me after what Wheeler said to her.
“I'm not worried about it, Travis. It doesn’t matter. His words don’t affect us and that’s all I care about at the end of the day.”
She wraps her arms around my neck and cuddles close to me. Just having her in my arms helps me relax just the smallest amount.
“I want all of you to go home. Clearly, no work will get done the rest of the day. I expect you back here in the morning and be ready to work. I'm not going light on you, not after your behavior today,” Levi stands and moves his chair back to where he got it from.
“I know each and every one of you have been falsely accused of things before. I hope you remember who was trying to shed some good light on you without you even knowing it. Yet the first time you were presented with writing that made her look bad, you jumped at the chance to attack. Maybe you should think long and hard about that. Now, get out of my stadium. I don’t even want to look at your ugly faces anymore.” Owen wheels his chair back into his office without another word.
The guys start filing out of the locker room. Some say a murmured, “Sorry.” While others avoid eye contact with Liliana and me, pretending we don’t exist at all. Somehow, I prefer us being ignored. I feel like any apology is only given because it’s expected and it’s not sincere.
When the locker room is almost empty, I glance around and see it’s just the guys from the starting lineup left. There’s an awkward silence hanging in the room. I'm just about to ask Liliana if we can leave when Leo rises from his seat and makes his way over to us.
“I'm proud of you for standing up to your boss, Lils. I didn’t think the article sounded like your writing. There’s something so raw and honest with the way you present your facts and the one that was published was missing that. I'm happy to know I was right.” He leans down and gives Liliana a quick hug before he grabs his duffle bag and exits the locker room.
“I can't believe you outed my teddy bearlike qualities to all of the fans, Lils.” Covey shakes his head, but there’s a smile playing on his lips.
He wasn’t one of the players who made crude comments about my girl. In fact, the only person here who did make a comment is Wheeler and everyone knows it.
“Sorry, but I think everyone should know.” She smiles shyly up at him. “And actually, no one has read the article outside this team since my boss published something else. So, your secret is safe.”
“Thanks, Lils. I appreciate the kind words you said.” He winks before moving towards the door.
“I'm sorry this happened to you. I can't believe your boss was pissed enough to put your name on something so nasty. I hope everything works out for you,” Schmidt says softly.
“Thank you.”
He smiles then exits along with the rest of the guys. I'm not surprised when I glance up and find a line forming for everyone to talk to Liliana. They know they owe her an apology, but I'm almost annoyed they’re doing it so quickly. They should be forced to stew in their fuck ups and really have to think about what they said. Liliana’s too kind to forgive them so quickly.
Holden and Jackson give Liliana some kind words before they sneak out, leaving us with Wyatt, Charlie, Cord, Macy, and Wheeler. The exact people I don’t want to deal with right now. I know Wyatt and Cord didn’t say anything, but Liliana made comments about the girls being mad at her. I just don’t have the ability to deal with this right now.
“Let’s go, Sweets. I'm exhausted and just want to go home.” I wait for her to climb off my lap and then stand with her. I toss my bag over my shoulder and take a step towards the door when a voice stops me.
“Are you not going to give us a chance to apologize?” Macy’s voice is firm and more than willing to start a fight with me.
“I don’t know about Liliana, but I don’t really want to hear it right now, Macy. Anything you say is just because you feel forced to apologize. You don’t really mean it.”
“You don’t know how I feel and I'm not sure if we haven’t met before or if you’re just stupid, but I don’t do anything I don’t want to do.” Macy stands and marches straight towards us. “I’m sorry I jumped to conclusions. I think you know how hesitant I was to work with you in the beginning. I'm used to not trusting reporters and when I found out about the article, I just assumed I was right all along… I wasn’t. You’re an amazing friend and I'm so glad you finally got your chance with Smithy. More than anything, I'm happy you found someone willing to stand up for you. I'm sorry I assumed it was you, you deserved better and you’ve never given me a reason to doubt you before. I hope you can forgive me.”
“I thought it seemed weird for you to write those things, but I was dumb enough to believe it when I saw your name at the bottom of the article. Though I didn’t voice any of the negative thoughts swimming around in my head, I still thought them. So, I'm sorry, Lils. I know what it’s like to have lies circulating about you. I know how much it sucks for someone to claim you said something you didn’t,” Cord says softly.
Macy and Cord both give Lils a hug before they duck out.
“And then there were three,” I groan, more than done with this day. I just want to strip out of my clothes and climb into my hot tub with Liliana. Anything to help us relax and wash away this day.
“I'm not going to give you some long drawn-out apology. I was an idiot and I'm sorry. I made assumptions and I should’ve known better.” Charlie hugs her before moving out of the way for Wyatt to approach.
“The entire time I read the article, I kept thinking there’s no way Liliana wrote something like this. I'm glad I was right. We all love you, Lils. Even the people who jumped to conclusions didn’t want to believe it was true. You’ve joined this family of ours and we don’t want you to leave.” Wyatt wraps Liliana in another hug before interlacing his fingers with Charlie and walking out.
“We don’t need to talk to him,” I grumble loud enough for Wheeler to hear me and slip my hand into Liliana’s.
“That’s not fair,” Wheeler speaks up, making me pause long enough for him to take the invitation to continue. “I fucked up, Smithy, but it’s not fair for you to brush me off without letting me apologize.”
“Do you really want to talk to me about what’s fair?” I spin around and face him.
I get right up in his personal space and poke him in the chest hard enough to make him feel it. I notice the swelling already starting around his right eye and it makes me happy to know I’ve at least left a mark.
“You calling Liliana a whore isn't fair. Fuck, Wheeler! She’s been friends with you for years!” I run my hands roughly through my hair, tugging on the ends in frustration. “She stood up for you when that scandal happened last year. She had to pull strings just to get her article published because her boss didn’t want to put out something in favor of you.”
Wheeler looks past me and to Liliana. There’s so much regret in his gaze. I know he’s realizing how much he screwed up.
“I didn’t know…” He trails off, shaking his head at himself.
“You’re right, you didn’t know! Because when I found out, Liliana told me not to tell you. She said it didn’t matter and friends always stick up for each other. So, now I'm questioning if you were ever really her friend? Were you ever really mine? Because if you were friends with me, why didn’t you stick up for my girl when the others were making comments? Why were you so quick to make comments yourself?”
Wheeler opens and closes his mouth several times, but nothing comes out. I back away slowly, knowing he doesn’t know what to say. I don’t have time for this. I just want to take Liliana home and forget today even happened.
I slip into the hot water and let out a groan. I'm so tense it’s actually painful. This is exactly what I need right now.
After we ordered takeout for dinner, we watched a few episodes of something on TV. I wasn’t really paying attention, I was too lost in my own mind. I have a feeling Liliana was too. We haven’t really said much since we left the stadium and I'm not sure if that’s good or bad.
Liliana slides into the hot tub and situates herself next to me. She threads her fingers through mine and rests them on her bare thigh.
“Did you doubt me at all?” She whispers as the sounds of crickets and the jets on the hot tub fill the silence around us.
“Not even a second, Sweets,” I murmur, letting my head fall back against the side of the hot tub.
“Why not?” The confusion in her tone makes me chuckle.
“Because you don’t have a mean bone in your body. You’d never write a bunch of lies about someone, especially if they’re someone I care about. Hell, even what you said about Stubbs and Danny were kept sweet and innocent. You presented the facts and nothing else. Someone would have to be stupid to think you wrote that.”
“Thank you for trusting me. I kinda panicked when I read the article. I was afraid you’d believe I wrote it and not want anything to do with me. I wasn’t really sure what I’d do then.”
“You need to have more faith in me, Sweets.”
“I do… I just… I don’t know. I just pictured everything in my life crashing down around me, but you didn’t let that happen.”
“Nope, and I never will. It’s us against the world.” I lift our hands and press a soft kiss to her knuckles.
“You can't stay mad at Wheeler forever,” she whispers after a few minutes of silence. Her head is resting on my shoulder and we’re just enjoying being with each other.
“I can, Lils. The things he said about you… they were uncalled for. How many times has he texted you since we left the stadium?”
“The last time I checked, I think he was up to twenty-three. You?”
“Forty-seven.” I chuckle.
“That’s why you can't stay mad at him. Sure, he screwed up and said some hurtful things, but he’s Wheeler. He’s not exactly the smartest man in the world. Sometimes he’s flat out dumb. I think he was hurt and he voiced his gut reaction.”
“He needs to learn his words have consequences.”
“And I think he did tonight.” She places her hand on my chest and it slowly drifts lower. She skims over my stomach and keeps heading south. When she grazes my dick, I let out a low groan. “How long were you planning on staying in the hot tub, because I think I have a better way to release your frustration.”
I stand so quickly Liliana lets out a yelp of surprise. Then I'm tossing her over my shoulder and climbing out of the hot tub, careful I don’t slip and hurt both of us. Running through the house, she yells something about the floors getting soaked, but I couldn’t care less. All I care about is getting my girl to our bed so I can show her exactly how much I love her.