Chapter Thirteen
The final horn blew, signaling the end of the game.
Alex glanced at the scoreboard. The Phantoms had won three to two in a pretty serious nail-biter.
The opposing team had tied it up with five minutes left in the third period, but the Phantoms had pulled ahead when Keisha Johnson got a breakaway with a minute and a half left, and managed to get a top corner wrist shot past the goalie.
This side of the stands had gone wild, including Em, who had jumped to her feet as soon as the puck hit Keisha’s stick and whooped at the top of her lungs when it hit the twine.
And she wasn’t the only one. Nick had been super involved in the game, too. He’d squeezed her fingers pretty hard—it had been close to bone crushing—when the breakaway happened. When the puck had gone in, he’d yelled yeah and fist pumped with his free hand. It was the cutest thing she’d ever seen.
The three of them shuffled out of the stands with the rest of the crowd.
His phone rang when they got to the lobby, and he excused himself to answer it, walking over to a slightly quieter corner.
The lobby was filled with family and friends of the players, all waiting for them to finish getting dressed so they could head home or go out for dinner.
“Mom, Keisha’s dad is taking the team out for dinner to celebrate. Can I go?” Em looked up from her phone, her eyes puppy-dog wide. The phone she wasn’t supposed to have because technically she was still grounded. Something she seemed to have forgotten.
Alex cocked her head and crossed her arms. Em’s shoulders slump. “You’re grounded, Emily.”
Em’s lips turned down in a frown that morphed into a pout.
“But, Mom…” And there was the whine, the one that grated on her nerves, like rubbing velvet against the grain.
Em seemed to realize her mistake, shifting tactics on the fly.
“If I go with Keisha, you and Nick could go out for a nice, romantic dinner.”
The way she emphasized romantic was awfully cute, but Alex refused to be swayed. She lifted an eyebrow.
“Please, Mom?” Em batted her eyelashes. Alex softened. This girl knew exactly how to wrap her around her cute, little pinky finger.
She sighed. Em grinned, knowing she’d won. She did have the sense to wipe the grin off her face pretty quickly though. There was only so much flaunting Alex would take before she was pushed a touch too far.
“Fine.” She made a shooing motion with her hands. “Go. But this just means I’m adding an extra day onto the end of your punishment.”
“Thank you, thank you, thank you.” Em leaned in and planted a kiss on Alex’s cheek. “You’re to best.”
Em pulled back, and Alex wagged her finger in her daughter’s face. “And,” she said. “Be home by ten.”
“Got it.” Em nodded. “Have fun with Nick.” She wagged her eyebrows, or at least she tried. And failed miserably. Was she the cutest daughter ever, or what?
Em spun and headed toward the corridor that led to the dressing rooms. After a couple of steps, she stopped and turned back around. “Oh, and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” The sing-songy tease echoed through the lobby.
Alex’s cheeks prickled. No doubt she was all splotchy. Em hurried off, disappearing into the crowd. The bright sound of her laughter lingered even after the door swung closed behind her.
That girl. What was she going to do with her? Except for love the crap out of her.
Nick walked over, stuffing his phone into the front pocket of his jeans. The ones that sat low on his hips and cupped his butt perfectly. Not that she’s been looking… much.
“Where’s Em?” He glanced around the lobby.
“She’s going out with the team.” She rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet. Why was she so nervous? Oh, maybe because they’d made out like horny teenagers in her car. “Looks like it’s just you and me tonight.”
He shoved his hands in his coat pockets. “Actually, the call I just got was from a friend of mine who happens to be in town tonight…” He rubbed the back of his neck and looked down at his feet.
A weird pang of defeat bounced through her. Yeah, she might be nervous or anxious or whatever, but she’d been looking forward to… more. And even if nothing happened in the sex department, she still liked hanging out with him.
“Okay.” She tried hard to keep the misery out of her voice. She wasn’t sure how well she managed. It still sounded pretty pathetic to her own ears. “Well, have a good time. I guess I’ll see you Monday.”
She spun around, hoping he hadn’t seen her disappointment.
Which wasn’t likely. She was pretty sure she was forecasting all of her emotions.
The news about the clinic yesterday had really thrown her.
She’d been hoping to use going out with Em and Nick tonight as a distraction.
Looked like she’d be spending the evening at home.
Alone.
Again.
An emotion she refused to acknowledge as sadness, welled up in her.
She tried to swallow it down, but the medicine-ball-sized lump in her throat refused to budge.
Just get to the car. Once she was safely tucked away, she could cry or scream or whatever it was her body wanted to do to process all of her wayward feelings.
She hurried around the people lingering in the lobby and out the door. The sun was shining today, bright and cheery. It should have made her feel better, but it didn’t. She just felt defeated. Beat down. Sad.
Someone grabbed her arm.
“Hold on a minute.” The concern in Nick’s voice made her chest ache in that way that always happened right before she burst into tears. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, pushing, pushing, pushing her emotions down. Forcing them away to deal with later.
She stopped but refused to turn around. It was all just too hard. Too much. She swallowed again. This time, the lump cooperated, sliding painfully down her throat to sit in her stomach like a big ball of lead.
He used his hold on her elbow to hustle her around the side of the building, out of the view of everyone. His eyebrows were scrunched together, and he had the fiercest frown on his face. “Where are you going?”
“Home?” It came out as more of a question, mainly because she’d thought it was pretty obvious.
He sighed, the sound full of exasperation. “We really need to work on our communication skills.”
She gave him what she hoped was the stink-eye. It must have worked because he shoved his hand through his hair and glanced away for a second. “Okay, so I need to work on my communication skills.” He gave a partial shrug and sighed.
It was super cute and a bit of the tension inside her—well, it didn’t ease, but it shifted, felt a little less pressing, a little less suffocating. She felt like she could maybe breathe.
“What I should have said is,” oblivious to the riot of emotion playing out inside her, he tilted his head and kept his gaze locked to hers, “would you mind if Ty came to dinner with us tonight? If it’s a problem, then that’s fine.
I can make plans to see him tomorrow morning before his flight leaves. ”
Oh, geez, jump to conclusions much? A flush of heat rose in her chest and up into her face.
She could easily blame being touchy on her riotous emotions—which was partly true—but she knew that wasn’t the total truth.
Her issues with being brushed aside, with never quite being good enough, had reared their ugly head, and she’d made an idiot of herself.
He placed his hands on her upper arms, gave a gentle rub. “Is everything okay?”
She stared up into his concerned face, his blue eyes full of some emotion she refused to name because it was too tender, too sweet, too much. Everything, right now, was too much.
To her horror, her eyes filled with tears. She opened her mouth to tell him she was fine, that everything was fine, but all that came out was a sob. And dammit, she didn’t want to cry.
Immediately, he wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight. But she didn’t want it, didn’t want to be so vulnerable, didn’t want to show such weakness.
She lifted her hands to push him away, but they seemed to have a mind of their own. They wrapped around his waist, held on tight.
He slid his hand up and down her back. She knew it was an instinctual movement, a soothing technique just about everyone used. But that didn’t stop the emotion from spilling over the edge of the dam she used to hold everything back.
She sobbed, burying her face against his chest. Why did this have to happen to her?
Hadn’t she been through enough already in her life?
She’d been happy, felt safe for the first time in forever, and now it was being yanked out from under her, all because her old lawyer didn’t negotiate a stupid clause into their contract.
And then, to make matters worse, he’d subsequently retired and moved to Phoenix, so she couldn’t even get the satisfaction of stomping into his office and yelling at him.
The sobbing only lasted a few minutes, and then she was just breathing hard, tossing out the occasional hiccup.
She should probably let go of the death grip she had on his waist, but her arms refused to move.
She’d call them traitors, but she couldn’t deny how much she liked the feel of him in her arms.
“Are you going to tell me what’s wrong?” His deep voice held a thread of concern, the kind that made the emotion in her swirl close to the surface again.
She sighed, heat prickling in her cheeks. Giving him one last squeeze, she pulled away, quickly wiping the wetness off her cheeks with the back of her hands. The wet spot she’d left on the front of his shirt stared back at her. How humiliating.
Her throat ached and her head throbbed. She should probably answer him, or at least look at him, but she couldn’t seem to get her head to tilt. Why was her body being so ridiculous today?
He slipped his fingers under her chin and tipped her face up so she had no choice. “Alex, talk to me. Please.” The raggedness in his voice almost killed her.