Aulie’s figure comes into focus, and I squint in confusion at the video.
“Can I?” I ask, reaching for the phone. “Where did you find this? That’s not Veronica’s handle.”
“It’s a live-stream from Instagram. Apparently, Veronica posted it originally; she took it down, but enough people were watching that there are already thousands of reposts. It went viral after Veronica said she would expose the golddigger who was after her man, but it didn’t go well for her.”
“Thousands?” I croak. Oh, Aulie would freaking hate that.
Like a car accident, I can’t look away from, I watch Veronica attack Aulie, throwing last night’s video in her face. She confirms that she’s seen it, but her reaction to the video isn’t bitter. To her credit, Aulie doesn’t back down from Veronica’s accusations, and a swell of pride burns in my chest. She’s standing up for herself.
That’s my girl.
“Do you really think he’d choose someone like you when he has me as an option?”Veronica asks, her voice cruel.
Say yes, Dessy. You know I would.
“I’m not going to speak for Jack or pretend I know his true feelings for me.”
Oh, come on, you know I love you, Aulie. Right? It’s obvious.
My heart sinks as Aulie continues, making it obvious she’s not as confident in her relationship with me as I thought. I thought I had made it clear how I felt about her when I left. I thought it was obvious in how I took care of her, in how I kissed her. And yet, she’s standing there, having completely missed the mark.
A maa on screen sends a shiver down my spine, and I take a beat to remind myself that Gio is on screen in a recording. He can’t hurt me here.
“Hockey is the love of his life. It always will be. You’re a fool if you think otherwise!”
“So I’m a fool in love. And yeah, he might destroy me in the end, but at least I’ll have felt something real for a change.”
Opposing feelings spiral inside. Without her narcotics, Aulie’s still saying she loves me—but she doesn’t trust that I’d choose her over hockey, and that’s a real fucking problem.
I hand Wes his phone back. I don’t have to see any more. Aulie isn’t mad at me, and I’m thankful for that, but I need to figure out how to communicate how I feel better. She can’t be with me feeling like that. I won’t allow it. She deserves to know how devoted I am—she deserves to know how fucking much I love her.
* * *
I sit silentlyfor the plane ride home as the team fills the planes with whoops and chatter after our first good win. A win that happened because I was wrecked. Something I intend to fix when we get home.
Fuck. I hate that I have to let these guys down. It’s a terrible casualty, but I love her too fucking much, not too.
“Hey, Parkey.” Grady punches my leg. “Any reason you played out of your fucking mind tonight, and there’s a video of you with Veronica Burke.”
“Unrelated.” I shake my head, staring out the window and watching the clouds float beneath us.
“Because I love you, man, and you’re playing well. But Aulie doesn’t deserve that. Find a different way to let her down.”
“Do you think I’d be that much of an ass?” I growl.
Grady sticks his palms up in defense. “No. No. I just—fuck, dude, I meant nothing by it, unclench the jaw, draw in the claws. We’re good.”
“Sorry. I’m just frustrated about that video—I thought it was fucking Aulie last night.” With a sigh, I rake my hand through my hair.
“Ah. That makes more sense.”
“So what I don’t understand—” Coop climbs on his seat in front of us and turns around.
I groan. Is everyone going to get in on this conversation?
“Is why she said inhervideo today that she wasn’t your girlfriend and didn’t know where you stood. When you returned to the team, you seemed confident about your relationship.”
“I didn’t get that either.” I shake my head. “I thought I was pretty obvious while I was up there. You saw me, Grady. It was clear as day how I felt, right?”
