Lavinia looked up at me, tears brimming in her eyes. “I hadn’t realized then. I’d been so scared after my surgery and the recovery, I couldn’t focus on anything. Those entire two years are a blur to me. It’s only now that I’m starting to realize what happened.”
I saw it in her sometimes, the skittishness and fear of making a mistake. I used to see it with my mother all the time. Then she started drinking and stopped giving a fuck about what my fatherthought. Reese’s idea was sounding more and more brilliant by the second.
I felt a kind of all-consuming rage that I’d never felt before, not even for my father. If I ignored him, I could put him out of my mind. But I can’t do that with Josh. There’s this murderous rage inside me at seeing Lavinia’s tears, and the only thing that will quell it is Josh’s blood on my hands. Some of that rage was directed at myself as well because I didn’t see it sooner.
I pulled her close into the safety of my arms.
“I’m so sorry, baby,” I said hoarsely. “If I had known, I’d have gotten you away from him sooner.”
“It’s not your fault.” Lavinia shakes her head. “If I’d understood what was happening sooner, I’d have left him. Now, it’s giving him the chance to twist everything around.”
“We’re going to find a way to fix this. I promise,” I’d told her.
This morning, she’d gotten two emails from her agent cancelling two brand deals. People are so quick to believe a woman is at fault if the word is coming from a mediocre man famous enough to make them believe anything.
They don’t want to see anything past the fact that Josh is Philadelphia’s golden boy. Whatever Lavinia has achieved in her career means nothing to them.
“There, all set.” She pats my chest before helping me put on the jacket that goes with my suit.
“How can I convince you to stay home?” I ask.
She sighs with frustration. “Roman, I’m not going to hide at home. That’s not like me and it’s probably what Josh expects. Why do I need to hide when I haven’t done anything wrong? Besides, the Snack Pack is going to be with me the whole time.”
“Are you sure? I can be very convincing.” I slide my hands under her top and against her bare skin. She’s so soft and warm. I don’t want to leave her and go play with a bunch of sweaty guys.
“I’m sure you think that,” she says, her lips tilting up into a smile. “But I have yet to hear a convincing argument from you.”
“I convinced you to stay married to me,” I counter.
She shrugs, waving that off. “I did that for my own selfish reasons.”
“Was one of the reasons I’m incredibly handsome and you find me utterly irresistible?” I lean in, sucking on the skin below her ear. As I expected, she squirms.
“Maybe. Most of it was that I didn’t want to ruin my good reputation by being the girl who got drunk and married in Vegas. I feel stupid now.” She puts her arms around my shoulders, kissing me. “You’re the best thing that’s come of this whole ordeal. And you’re utterly irresistible.”
I try to deepen the kiss, but she pushes me away, reminding me that I’m going to be late. I pick up my bag, kiss her and the kitties goodbye. As I’m about to walk out the door something occurs to me, and I turn to her.
“What the hell is a Snack Pack?” I ask, incredulously.
Her mouth tilts up into a crooked smile, some of the light finally returning to her eyes. “It’s our girl group. Like you have the HoBros.”
“That’s such a good name. Reese is going to be jealous.”
I close the door to the sound of her laughter.
I’min the arena walking towards the dressing room when I see who’s standing in front of the door. Literally the last person I ever want to see, and my body is immediately on high alert. As I walk up, my father shakes hands with Coach Cross and turns to me. His expression is neutral, but I’ve known the man long enough to see the anger in his eyes that he’s trying hard to hide.
“I’ll give you two a minute to talk,” Coach Cross says. “Maddox, when you’re done, come see me in the office.”
I already assumed a talk was coming. He’s not going to let me onto the ice without warning me about my actions. The only reason I’m going to be civil tonight is because Lavinia expects it of me.
Once Coach walks away, I turn to my father. When I was little, everyone told me that I looked like him. But his anger and narcissism has twisted his face so that he’s completely unrecognizable to me. Every day is a battle to become nothing like him.
“What are you doing here?” I knew he was coming to my games, but we haven’t exactly spoken to each other in person. He comes to save face, to make sure I’m behaving, not because he wants to see me play.
“I came to make sure you don’t fuck everything up,” he hisses. “It took a lot of goodwill to get you here, kid. I’ve watched you destroy all the good reputation I spent years working for and I’m not going to stand back anymore.”
My body goes rigid. Is he suggesting he’s the reason I’m here? My father pulled strings to make sure I was traded here.
