“Everywhere,” I bite out, eyes on the clinic windows.
“It’s not hitting you yet—no sponsors, no team chatter—but social media’s a beast. I’d rather see it die fast before it mutates.”
My teeth grind.
She softens. “It’s Eden I’m worried about. Optics like this stick. Do you want me to step in? Some good ol’ crisis management?”
I don’t answer right away. Eden’s silence, Jessica’s warning, it all presses in at once.
“Thanks, Jess,” I groan finally. “I’ll call you. Let me check in with her first.”
“Sooner’s better than later,” she reminds me.
The clinic door clicks shut behind me. The calmingsmell seeps in. Eucalyptus, lemon oil, clean lines. But the vibe’s wrong. It’s too still.
She’s at the front desk, shoulders slumped, staring at the open laptop. The screen shows her half empty calendar. Dark circles shadow her eyes, and her hands tremble slightly on the keyboard.
Her gaze lifts when I step closer. Red-rimmed. Hollow. Not the woman who teases me through treatments and fights me on everything from rep counts to playlists.
“Trouble—” I start.
She shakes her head. “Not tonight, Nate.”
Three words, flat and sharp, but her tone splinters at the edges. I cross the room anyway, every instinct screaming to haul her out of that chair and into my chest, to tell her she doesn’t have to hold the wreckage by herself. But she’s sitting so stiff it’s like she’s daring me to touch her and see how fast she shatters.
“We’ll sort this out,” I say softly. “I promise it will all be good.”
Her fingers snap the laptop shut, not even entertaining a response. We linger in the silence, frozen for a beat, until the door opens. There’s a shift of air, followed by the heavy thud of boots on polished floor. Leo steps inside, face shadowed, rage simmering beneath the bruises still blooming from last week’s fight. Broad shoulders fill the doorway, his expression granite.
He moves straight to Eden. “You okay, kid?” His tone drops low, gentler than I’ve heard in years. He crouches beside her chair, his massive hand covering her wrist, thumb brushing once-over her knuckles. “It’s a bump in the road, E. Nothing more. Business is volatile. You took a hit, you’ll get back up.”
She leans into it, shoulders sagging, head bowing under his touch. She lets him ground her.
And I stand there, mouth tight, watching my girl let someone else hold her together.
Then Leo looks up. Sees me. And the softness vanishes. “This is on you,” he snarls, rising to his full height. “I told you to stay the hell away from her. But you couldn’t do it, could you? You needed to scratch the itch. And now she’s the one paying for it.”
My fists clench, but I don’t back down. “You think this is about me getting off? You don’t understand a goddamn thing, Leo. I care about Eden.”
His stare flares, feral. “If you cared, you would’ve stayed away. I asked you one thing. To keep your hands off my sister. And now she’s the one picking up the fucking tab.”
Eden flinches, eyes darting between us.
Leo barrels on, his voice sharp as glass. “You could have any woman you want—models, actresses, half the damn arena throwing themselves at you. But no, you had to zero in on her. The one person I swore to protect. And look what it got her. Canceled clients, a reputation in shreds, dragged through the mud because you couldn’t keep your dick in your pants.”
Heat sears my chest. I bite back the word love—it’s hers to hear first, not his. I step closer, chest nearly brushing his. “You think this is about sex? You think I’d risk all this for a casual fuck? She’s not some hookup, Leo. She’s—” My throat locks. “She’smyEden.”
Leo barks a laugh, low and humorless. “YourEden? You’re a selfish bastard, Russo. The star goalie who takes whatever he wants. And this time, you wanted her. So you took her. And now she’s bleeding for it.”
“Hey,” Eden cuts in, words sharp. “You cavemen realize I’m standing right here?”
Leo’s head snaps toward her, but the fury doesn’t let up. He turns back to me, rage breaking loose. “Don’t think I didn’t see it. You drooling over her since she was barely a teenager. Every summer, your eyes tracking her like she already belonged to you. You thought you were slick, but you weren’t. My best friend looking at my kid sister like he couldn’t wait to get his hands on her. Everyone saw it.” His tone spikes, harsh enough to scrape the walls. “At Christmas, nobody was even surprised. They clapped, laughed, acted like it was sweet—while I wanted to put my fist through the wall. Because all I saw was her life being reduced to your shadow. And now here we are.”
Eden gasps, color draining from her face. My chest clamps tight, shame and rage colliding.
Leo jabs a finger into my chest. “You had no right. She was a kid, Nate. And you—” Rage has transformed him into a snarling animal. “For years, you were scheming how to make her yours.”
I snap. “Listen to yourself, Leo. The selfish bastard here isyou.Youstole the note she wrote me that last year before I left for training camp.Youstole her choice. My choice. You cost us a decade. You had no right.”
