“Ewen…”
“I promise, Ewen. I’ll call when I get…” I started to say somewhere safe, but instead, I said, “where I’m going.”
“You better, or I’ll be tracking your ass down.”
I jumped in my Jeep and peeled out of the parking area in front of what I still didn’t know if it was a house or a restaurant. As I spun the Jeep around to head back down the drive, I saw Alex… Sasha step out on the front porch of the enormous, stately building, Hawk at his side.
I gunned the engine, putting as much space between him and me as I could as fast as I could. At the end of the driveway, I turned back toward town, tapping my phone to restart the GPS to guide me to campus. As the robotic voice confirmed the destination, my phone rang. Shane’s face filled the screen, but I ignored him. I couldn’t talk to anyone yet. I needed to shut myself away, curl up under the blankets, and hide.
The phone rolled to voicemail only for it to start ringing again immediately, and I groaned. Shane never could take a hint. I knew if I didn’t answer, he’d be in his car headed this direction. And his not knowing where I lived wouldn’t matter. He’d stand outside the dorm screaming my name while blowing up my phone until I showed my face.
When the call rolled to voicemail the second time, I waited. Maybe I’d get lucky…
No such luck. At least not for me. This time, the ringing was for a video call. Sighing, I swiped the screen to answer the phone.
“If you’re with the sexy Daddy that rocked your world, I’ll hang up and you can answer my questions later, but I have a sneaking suspicion that’s not the case.”
“You’d be right. The sexy Daddy that rocked my world is none other than Sasha Storm aka my freaking coach.”
“Holy shit.”
“Yeah,” I agreed.
“Holy shit, dude.”
I nodded, swiping my hand over my forehead and into my hair, giving the long strands a tug to remind myself this wasn’t the worst damn nightmare there was. But it was.
“Holy fucking shit. This is bad.”
“I’m aware, Shane. You repeating it isn’t going to make it suck big hairy ones any less.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I don’t fucking know. Offing myself is not an option. Althoughit kind of feels like it should be now, you know. Cause I slept with my coach.”
My voice wavered and I sucked in a deep breath, holding it there so I didn’t lose it.
“Okay, so it’s bad. We’re in agreement there, but it can’t be that bad. Because like he slept with his player too, you know.”
“True.” Then I thought of where we’d been when we met and again today. “People saw us together, Shane. A lot of people. And not just last night at a club. Today. Like 10 minutes ago, we were in a lip lock in the middle of Sunday Munch.”
“Oh, yeah, so that’s bad.”
“You think?” Sarcasm dripped from my words like honey from a hive.
“Where are you now?”
“Where do you think? In my damn Jeep headed back to school.”
The outskirts of campus came into view as I made another turn. I could just make out my dorm. That feeling you get when you’ve been on the road for ages and the destination is in sight but feels like it’s still so far away washed over me. I wanted out of the car. I wanted to hide away and lick my wounds.
“Okay, so this is really damn bad because you’ve used multiple curse words and youneverdo that.”
“I swear to God if you say okay, this is bad one more time…”
“What the hell do you want me to say? You fucked your coach! The guy’s a former NHL superstar. How did you not recognize the man?”
“He looks nothing like he did when he played. And you think I don’t know that? I still feel the man. And I don’t know what I want you to say. Maybe give me some advice? Something. I’ll take anything.”
