We hold each other for a while until she steps back.
“Your jaw,” she says, placing those soft hands on my cheeks. “I need to…”
I place my hands on hers, my mind registering the throbbing ache from Marcus’s punch. But it can’t be compared to the warm feeling growing in me. I stare into Ivy’s eyes.
“I’ll go to the doctor.”
Then I peck her forehead and walk out of her office.
The parking garage is dark when I finally leave the facility. Practice ran long after the fight with Marcus, Coach making us skate drills until everyone was too exhausted to throw punches. Marcus avoided me entirely, which is probably for the best.
My ribs are screaming, jaw throbbing, and all I want to do is go home and text Ivy as both versions of myself.
"Declan."
I turn to see Gregory leaning against a concrete pillar, unsettling eyes assessing me. He gestures to my face.
"Rough day?"
"Nothing I can't handle."
He pushes off the pillar and moves closer.
"I heard about your altercation with Chandler. Care to explain what that was about?"
"It's a personal matter."
"Personal matters that result in locker room brawls become team matters, and team matters become my matter." He steps into my space, a power play I refuse to acknowledge. "So, I'll ask again. What was the fight about?"
"Like I said, it's personal."
His eyes narrow. "This wouldn't have anything to do with Marcus's sister, the researcher I told you to stay away from?"
Ice floods my veins, but I keep my face blank.
"Why would you think that?"
"Because I've known you since you were nineteen years old, Declan."
"I'm not..."
"I have access to your schedules, finances. Your communications." He pauses deliberately. "I know your whereabouts last night when you drove Dr. Chandler home from the facility."
The surveillance shouldn't surprise me. Gregory has always been controlling. But hearing him admit his monitoring so casually makes my hands curl into fists.
"You're tracking me."
"I'm protecting my investment. There's a difference." He straightens his cuffs. "Senator Ashford is pleased with your relationship with his daughter."
I frown. Are they now calling that facade a relationship?
"Endorsement deals are being discussed and will soon be closed. Your image is finally clean."
"My image was never dirty."
"It was horrible. Now, it's not." His voice hardens. "And I won't allow you to compromise that by pursuing an inappropriate relationship with a researcher who happens to be your teammate's sister. The optics alone..."
"I don't give a fuck about optics."
