“Besides, I need you to trust me right now. There’s not a soul in this world that I can trust besides you.”
“What about your family?”
“I said in this world, and by that, I meant the sports world. I can always trust my family, but I also have to protect them by not dragging them into this. The less they know, the better off they are, and I don’t want my parents worrying about me. They’ve got enough on their shoulders running a restaurant, my brother and sister-in-law are trying to have a baby, and my sister is as unhinged as they come.
“She’s looking for a reason to whup Muffin’s ass, and if I give it to her, she’ll be in county next. One of the things my fatheralways prided himself on, is his kids not having a record. I’ll be damned if I’m the one to break that. The other things are his risotto, classic Margherita pizza, and his wines.”
“Your dad owns a winery?”
“He does.”
“I learn more and more about you the more that I’m around you.”
“Yeah, well, you’re about to learn just how protective I can be now that you’re in someone’s target. Just like I didn’t let anybody fuck with Muffin, that same protection now applies to you.”
She reached over and patted my hand. “I’m so sorry. With everything that happened, I forgot to ask how you’re doing. I know that it had to be hard for you playing that game tonight.”
“What do you mean?”
“I read that your divorce was finalized. That can’t be easy, and I’m sorry this is happening to you.”
My heart squeezed and filled with gratitude. Along with Amélie, some of my teammates thought we should go out and celebrate. Finally, someone who understood.
“It wasn’t. But being here for you has pulled my thoughts away from it.”
Titan barked. She looked back at him and smiled.
“As handsome as you are, don’t get offended. But damn, you and your dog look an awful lot alike.”
I laughed. “I’ve heard that before, but what the hell does that mean?”
“Your big heads, expressive faces, muscular bodies, and smooth appearances.”
I shrugged, laughed, and patted Titan’s head. “What can I say . . . I’m a dog, I’m a mutt,” I sang the lyrics to the song “Mutt” by Leon Thomas III and Chris Brown.
“You’re crazy.”
“No, that’s what the blogs are claiming me to be.”
“Somehow, I doubt that,” she declared with a smile that ripped my heart to pieces.
The driveto our destination took a little under three hours, but we ended up in the beautiful North Georgia mountains at a luxury two-story cabin. I was nervous about being in a location that was so far from home and unfamiliar to me. I hadn’t seen another cabin for a few miles, which terrified me.
Here I was with a man who, though he was very familiar to me, in some ways was still a stranger. Not to mention I had someone stalking me, and I had no idea who it was. I was far from the security of everything I knew such as my family and friends.
“You okay?” Ashton asked, looking at me as he turned the ignition off. I held the seat belt strap tightly in my hand asI looked around at the landscape. Snow covered everything, glittering like tiny diamonds on a pristine carpet of white.
It covered the roof, the balcony of the deck and railings, and made the trees beautiful.
“Um, . . . yeah.”
Ashton reached over and touched my hand gently. “I know that this is scary for you, being so far away from what you know, but trust me, you’re in a safe space, and I know all my neighbors, even though they are not extremely close.
“I know. I just need a night to figure some things out.”
“Did you not hear me when we were at your house? I told you that you needed to get enough to last for a while. What’s going on here is going to take more than a night to get to the heart of. That won’t happen overnight.”
“I’m sorry for inconveniencing you.”
