CHAPTER 15
“Tristan!” Kiana’s shrill voice echoes through the house. “Where the fuck are you!”
Her heels click on the tile floor as she walks into the main living space, and she stops in her tracks at the scene before her.
Tristan stands surrounded by Kiana’s luggage, arms crossed across his chest, expression stern and unamused.
He left the birthday dinner without telling anyone immediately after leaving Tessa in the maintenance closet; drove straight home and promptly packed all of Kiana’s bags.
He continued to make himself busy while waiting for her to realize that he was gone, and purchased her a one-way ticket back to LA.
“What the hell is this?” she asks, popping a hand on her hip. “And where the hell did you go during the party?”
“I came here,” he replied, only offering a half truth. “To pack your bags.”
“Pack my bags? My flight isn’t until Wednesday.”
“Change of plans,” he said simply, taking a step forward. “You’re leaving tonight, and you’re not coming back.”
“Oh please,” she says with a huff and a dismissive hand wave. “Is this because of our fight earlier? Grow a fucking pair, Tristan. That’s what we do. We fight, I suck your dick, we move on. I don’t think you want to do this in the middle of the season.”
“You’re missing a few steps there,” he says with a humorless laugh. “You’re forgetting the part where you threaten to hurt yourself or somehow blackmail my family or my career. And I’m not falling for it this time. I haven’t been invested in this for a long time. We’re done. This is over.”
Kiana continues to stand still, arms crossed, eyebrows arched, tapping her heeled foot against the tile as if the roles are reversed and she’s waiting on him to leave.
“You should leave now,” he says with a nod of his head. “Your flight is in an hour.”
“I’m not leaving and you know it,” she says.
“Yes, you are, and if you don’t, I’ll have to call the cops.”
“Do it,” she challenges, and he gives an exaggerated groan.
“Goddamnit, please don’t make me do this. It will be all over the fucking news.”
“I’m not leaving, Tristan, and we both know you’re not calling the cops. So if you don’t mind, I’m just going to take my stuff upstairs and unpack.”
She grabs the handle of her suitcase but then freezes when she sees Tristan take his phone out of his back pocket, promptly dialing 911.
“Hi, yes, sorry to bother you all but I need some assistance. I have an ex-girlfriend that won’t get off my property, and she tends to get violent.”
Kiana stands with her mouth gaping open in shock and offense as Tristan rattles off his address and then hangs up the phone, giving her a mischievous smile.
“I can’t believe you just did that!”
“Leave now and it won’t have to be a big deal.”
“Fuck you, Tristan. If this is your new idea of foreplay, I’m not into it.”
Kiana saunters over to the couch and takes a heavy seat, crossing her legs and arms simultaneously and giving him her signature scowl.
“Alright,” Tristan sighs and rubs his eyes with the heels on his hands, exhausted and ready for this to be over.
They had a great but action-packed game, followed by Kiana fighting with him, followed by hooking up with Tessa in what has proven to be the hottest experience of his life, to now fighting with Kiana again.
“So we’re doing this, then? You’re really going to make the cops physically remove you from my home?”
“As far as I’m concerned, this is my home too. And what about the dogs?”
“Fuck off, those are my dogs.”
“They are not. We adopted them together.”
“But they stay here when you’re in LA, they’re not yours.”
“I demand shared custody.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” he groans and throws his head back. “Take them with you then,” he says. “Whatever it takes to get you the fuck out of my house, I’ll do it.”
Just then there was an aggressive knock at the door, and Tristan raises his eyebrows at Kiana, gesturing to the door behind him. “You sure? Last chance to walk out of here on your own.”
She doesn’t respond but instead keeps her arms crossed defiantly and nose in the air.
“Fuck. Alright, here we go.”
“What the hell is this?” Tessa whispers frantically to Leah, one of the athletic trainers for the team.
It is now Wednesday morning, three days since the birthday dinner where she unexpectedly crossed a major line with Tristan.
No part of her went into that dinner thinking anything beyond forlorn glances between the two of them would happen, and then she suddenly found herself spread open in a closet with Tristan’s face buried between her legs, and she’s been reeling ever since.
They haven’t spoken beyond a few hellos and casual check ins around the facility, seeing as both have been impossibly busy the past few days, and okay, yeah…Tessa’s been avoiding Tristan.
She has never experienced what she did in that closet with him.
The night she and Tristan had sex 10 years ago was perfect and one of her best memories, but she was a virgin, and he treated her as such, which she was always thankful for.
But she had spent countless nights over the years thinking about what he would be like not so slow and gentle.
She got a small preview of it last night, and it was the hottest thing she ever experienced.
To say the partners she had after Tristan were lackluster would be an understatement.
She compared every boyfriend to Tristan and was always thoroughly disappointed by each one of them.
The only one who gave her even an ounce of spark was Joseph, and she was so starved and desperate for something real that she clung to that feeling for 6 years.
But now she had a taste of grown-up Tristan Kelly; grown-up Tristan Kelly with years of pent-up frustration, and she didn’t know how much longer she could ignore him. But she had to, because as far as she knew, he was still with Kiana.
Well, until she opened her phone and saw the main headline on Twitter.
“Kiana Marie Arrested at Tristan Kelly’s Kansas City Home For Trespassing”
“What the hell is this?” Tessa asked Leah. They were seated in the back of the airplane that was taking the team to New York for an away game against the Jets.
Leah leaned over and looked at Tessa’s phone while Tessa strained her neck towards the front of the plane, trying to get a glimpse of Tristan. Why the fuck wouldn’t he tell her this?
Because you’ve been avoiding him, asshole.
“I knew it would come to something like that,” Leah whispered with a sigh before leaning back into her seat. “That bitch is crazy.”
Tessa’s eyes scanned the article quickly, picking up on the key points of the news story. He had told her to leave, she wouldn’t, cops got called, she threw a fit and was forcibly removed.
“What kind of grown woman acts like that?” Tessa whispered out loud, although it was more of a rhetorical question for herself.
“A woman with nothing to show for herself but who she’s dating. Do you know how many times she would publicly beg Tristan to propose? She has no shame; I’m not surprised she did something like that.”
“I feel like such an asshole for not knowing that this happened,” Tessa said, and Leah cocked a confused eyebrow her way. “I just have been bothering him about my boring journalism stuff all week, I feel bad I’ve been so focused on other things while he’s going through this.”
Leah nodded, seeming to accept Tessa’s answer.
Once the plane lands and all members of the team and staff are waiting for the busses that will shuttle them to the hotel, Tessa weaves her way through the crowd of giant men, finds Tristan, and gives his wrist a gentle tug.
He turns around and looks down at her, eyes immediately softening, and following her gesture to walk a few steps away from the crowd with her.
“Anything you want to tell me?” she asks, leaning in so no one else can hear their conversation.
“Like what?” he asks, shrugging his shoulders like he’s clueless.
She gives him a bored expression.
“Tristan.”
“Tessa.”
She scoffs and takes a step back from him, suddenly feeling unwanted and very vulnerable after what happened between them at the dinner.
“So that’s how you’re going to treat me, now?”
“Me?” he asks, raising his voice. She looks around and tells him to be quiet, but he doesn’t listen. “You’ve been ignoring me all week. You can barely even look at me. So that’s how you’re going to treat me, now?”
“Tristan, I…”
“Look, I get it, you didn’t want that to happen and I-”
“I don’t feel that way at all,” she interrupts him and steps closer again.
“I very much wanted that, and I think that’s why I freaked out and backed away from you.
I couldn’t allow myself to feel that way while you were still with…
her. But apparently that might not be the truth anymore.
So, I’ll ask again, anything you want to tell me? ”
“There’s not much to tell that you don’t already know from the internet, I’m sure. I broke it off and kicked her out, but she refused, so I had to take an extra step. I sure as hell wasn’t going to be the one to physically remove her. Could you imagine those headlines?”
“I’m glad you called for help instead of handling it yourself.”
He nods and there’s a heavy silence that comes between them, and Tessa shifts on her feet uncomfortably.
“Are you doing okay?”
“Are you asking me if I’m okay about breaking up with Kiana?”
Tessa nods.
“I’m doing better than okay. I’ve been trying to do that for years but was too scared to call her bluff on if she’d actually retaliate or not.
If you’re asking if I’m okay with you ignoring me,” he steps closer to her now, their noses only inches apart, and the heat radiating from his strong body feels familiar, comforting, and makes her skin feel like it’s on fire, “I am absolutely not okay with that.”
“I’m sorry,” she whispers, unable to look away from his piercing green eyes. “I’ve just been so in my head about-”