Chapter 15
Knox
I walked into the locker room before the game and threw my shit off the bench and down onto the floor. I was glad I was the only one in here. I didn’t need razzing from the guys tonight. My phone hadn’t stopped going off with notifications and emails. It seemed every damn sports blog in the world had gotten word of the article about Lorelai, and now they were smearing both of us all over the place.
“Hey, man, how you doing?” Dylan asked, walking into the room and dropping the bag he was carrying on the floor.
“Don’t want to talk about it,” I said, taking a seat on the bench I’d just cleared in the centre of the room and stretching out my hip.
“That bad, huh?”
“Yes, it is that bad. Guess you didn’t see the latest?”
Dylan shook his head. “No, I was with Aurora last night and most of today, since she had the day off.”
I pulled my phone from my back pocket and showed him the newest article that had come out. Dylan studied the screen, his brow furrowing.
“Shit man, get PR on this.”
I glanced down at the screen and read the headline again, Knox Evans - cheater extraordinaire, now beat at his own game.
I remembered when the media had gone down the cheating rabbit hole with me when I’d been single. Every chance they got to share a picture of me with another woman, they had. This was why I protected Lorelai every time we’d been approached in public. I didn’t want this to come to her, but it appeared it had.
“They are, trust me.” I threw my phone down on the bench and continued stretching.
“Did you go over to see Hugo?” Dylan questioned.
“Nope, she refused to let me. Absolutely put her foot down.”
“Probably for the best. The last thing you need on top of all of this is to beat the hell out of someone and have charges pressed against you.”
The door to the locker room opened and John, Pamela’s assistant, stood there. “Evans, can I see you for a moment?” he questioned.
Dylan looked over at me. “What the hell could PR want?” Dylan questioned. “He looks pissed too.”
“Who the fuck knows?” I said, throwing my water bottle down on the floor. “I do know, I’m fucking sick of it.” I muttered as I pushed the door open and stepped out into the hall.
“What!” I barked.
“I just got off the phone with the clothing line that just signed you for representation.”
I could already see what was coming. I was going to lose the contract because of all the shit floating around. This was the biggest contract I’d signed.
“Okay?” I said, swallowing hard.
“They are going to hold off for now.”
There it was, exactly what I expected.
“What?”
“Unfortunately, because of the shit in the media right now, they are going to hold off for now.”
“They are cancelling?”
“Not cancelling, just waiting to see what happens, I guess. They aren’t sure you are the right one to represent them. We are in talks.”
Anger boiled inside of me. If Lorelai thought I was going to stand by and let Hugo ruin my career, she was wrong. He needed to be taught a lesson, and I needed to be the one to give it to him. I glanced at my watch, noticing I had fifty minutes before we needed to be on the ice. I didn’t have time to go take care of anything right now.
“Don’t worry, Knox, we are gonna take care of this for the both of you. Now, go play your best game,” John said, turning around and heading down the hall away from me.
I stood there, anger almost boiling out of me. Go play my best game? Easy for him to say. I turned to go back into the locker room, but before I did, I took a punch and slammed my fist into the locker just outside the door.
* * *
The game was going for shit. My mind wasn’t on it. It was on everything but. Dylan passed me the puck, and that was when the largest player on the opposing team rammed me into the boards. Adrenaline shot through my body as I fought to regain the puck, and when I did, another player hooked my foot with his stick, sending me flying.
The ref called it, and just as I got up, the same player got into my face. I wasn’t backing down; I needed to get rid of the rage that had built inside of me, and I took a swing at him and missed. He fought back, taking a swing at me, clocking me right in the jaw. I grabbed him and gave him a couple hits to the ribs just before I felt the ref grab me and pull me back, sending me straight to the box.
Tonight, hadn’t been my best game. This was the type of player I’d been before, always getting into fights on the ice, but the older I got and when I’d come to the Dominators, I’d calmed that side of me, until tonight.
Dylan punched me in the shoulder as I skated past him over to the box, where I’d already spent most of tonight.
My hip was killing me from the shove into the boards and the trip, and just as I was getting to the door of the box, the coach stopped me.
“Evans, come here!” he yelled.
“What?”
“You’re done. Get out of here,” he gritted.
“No way, coach,” I shot back, getting into his face. “That was an unfair play, fucking hooking me.”
“What the hell was the fight with the other player then?” he yelled.
“That was justified,” I spat.
“I’m not telling you again. You’re out of here now!” he said, getting right into my face, not backing down for a moment.
“I won’t.”
“Evans, I’m not fucking around. Get out of here now. Get your fucking head screwed on and don’t make things worse for yourself. Now go!” he said, pointing down the hallway toward our locker room.
I glared into his eyes ready to take him on but luckily thought twice. Throwing my stick down, I proceeded down the hall on my way to the locker room, shedding my gear as I went.
Instead of heading to the locker room, I made my way to the medical area. My hip was now on fire and throbbing from being smashed into the boards. It was also the same leg they hooked, so no doubt I’d done some sort of damage to something that was already fighting to heal. Stacy immediately came over, giving me some ice, and had me lie down, taking pressure off that side, while she examined me.
I groaned as she moved my leg in different ways and closed my eyes to try and take my mind off the pain. The moment she finished I lay there for a moment then opened my eyes to see Lorelai, watching us. She softly smiled at me and then came in, cautiously approaching me.
“Are you okay?” she questioned, placing her hand on my cheek and looking down into my eyes. She then bent down and kissed me gently on the lips before whispering to Stacy to leave us for a few moments.
“Not really. I lost my shit out there.” I said, running my fingers through my hair.
“That you did. I saw it all on the screen in my office. So, I figured I’d come down here and see how you were.”
“It’s just everything with the gossip blogs and the articles got inside my head. Right before the game I found out the largest deal I’ve ever signed wanted to hold off, to make sure I am the ideal representative for their brand.”
Lorelai studied me for a moment before she bent down and met my lips with the softest of kisses. As she pulled away from me, I caught this unsettling look in her eyes.
“It will all blow over. Just give it time,” she whispered against my lips. “Now, let’s look at this hip.”
I lay there as she examined me as well, feeling uneasy about the look I’d caught in her eyes, her words said one thing, but that look said something completely different.
* * *
After she did a little work on my hip, I hobbled to the locker room where I showered and changed, then I met her outside in my car. We both climbed in, and I drove over to her place.
She’d been quiet the entire drive there, including the elevator ride up to her condo. She unlocked the door, and we stepped inside where she flipped on the lights over the island in the kitchen.
“Want anything to eat or drink?” she questioned, opening the fridge and looking inside.
I didn’t want anything to eat or drink. I wanted her in my arms, so I went to make my way over to her, but she shut the fridge door and slipped out of my grasp, moving over to the pantry and opening it, looking for something to eat there.
I took a couple steps and went to grab her hips, only she once again slipped from my grasp, going to the opposite side of the kitchen opening the cupboards.
“Is something wrong?” I questioned, clearing my throat.
“Nope. Crackers?” she asked, pulling down a box from the cupboard.
I shook my head and studied her eyes.
“What is it?”
“Nothing.” She shrugged, shoving a cracker into her mouth.
I made my way over to her only to have her move to another spot in the small kitchen.
“If it’s nothing, why won’t you let me near you.”
She avoided my eyes, looking down at the floor.
“Lorelai, what is it?” A knot was forming in my stomach.
She looked up at me, tears in her eyes, and shook her head, still refusing to tell me.
I wasn’t sure if I should go to her or stay where I was, so I followed my gut, not moving, waiting for her to tell me what the problem was.
Tear-filled eyes stared back at me. “I think it’s time we take…” She inhaled deeply, wiping her eyes. “A break from each other.”
Her bottom lip trembled as she looked at me, and my stomach twisted in knots. I didn’t want this, not in the slightest. I did my best to calm myself.
“Why is that?”
“You know why.”
“I don’t.”
“Look at everything that is going on. Our names are being smeared all over the front page of every sports blog, magazine, and app there is because of me. You are losing contracts because of me,” she said, pointing to her chest, her breathing uneven.
“It’s not because of you,” I answered.
“Yes, it is. If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t face losing these contracts. Your name wouldn’t be smeared.”
“First, I’m a big boy, I can handle it. Second, it’s not because of you. It’s your ex-boyfriend. Not you.”
“He may have caused it, but I am the one who caused everything else. If it hadn’t of been for my breakdown on the plane to Hawaii, we’d never be involved, which again, is because of me and my inability to stand up for myself.”
I wasn’t losing her. I also wasn’t going to stand here and listen to her completely belittle herself and blame herself for someone else’s doing. This was ridiculous. I pushed myself off the counter and made my way over to her, pulling her into my arms.
“I think for tonight, we should just head down the hall, crawl into bed together, and go to sleep, look at everything with fresh eyes in the morning.”
When she didn’t wrap her arms around me, I knew she’d decided. She was done. There wasn’t anything I was going to say or do to change her mind, either.
“I think it’s better if you just leave,” she said, her voice shaking. She pushed herself out of my arms and stood there staring at me.
Fuck, this wasn’t what I wanted. This wasn’t why I’d shared with her what had happened tonight, for her to blame herself more. Yet this was the result of that. I’d made her feel like it was her fault, when that wasn’t what I was saying.
“If that is what you want, then fine.”
She started to sob. “It is.”
I backed away from her and grabbed my keys off the counter. I opened the door to her condo but before leaving I turned and looked at her tear-stained face one more time, before I slipped into the hallway and closed the door behind me. I stood there in the hallway, listening to her sobs, then turned and walked down the hall with my head down. I hit the button for the elevator and stood there waiting. When the door opened, I was about to step inside when I heard Dylan’s voice.
“Where the hell are you going?” he questioned.
I looked up to see both Aurora and Dylan standing there, looking at me, confusion on their faces.
“She wants to take a break,” I muttered, my heart feeling like it was going to break into a million pieces any second. I’d never felt like this before, and I knew I had to get out of here before it happened.
“What?” Aurora questioned, glancing down the hall toward their unit. “What do you mean?”
“Don’t worry about it, if she needs a break that’s fine. I’m heading home. I’m going to give her some space and see how it all pans out.”
I stepped into the elevator and hit the lobby button, putting on what I imagined was a real smile, when in fact it was probably pitiful, as both Aurora and Dylan watched me. When I got downstairs, I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket, and without looking at the message that was left, I turned the power off, climbed into my car, and made my way home.