“And I'm sorry about that,” Noah said as he closed the door behind himself, ignoring the box in front of him. Melanie couldn’t just think she was going to kick him out for something like this. “I wasn’t paying attention to the time, and the coach had been riding us hard.”
“So, that means I have to wait for hours for you? I don’t think so. You know I hate it when you’re late.”
“So, you’re trying to kick me out because of that? What? Do you need some space?” Noah asked, perplexed by everything that was happening. This morning they were perfectly fine, and they had talked about this before at the cabin. He thought she would understand now that him being late wasn't a sign of him disrespecting her or not loving her, but because hockey was important to him. Melanie had gotten upset with him before about his tardiness, but that was when they weren't in a relationship. That happened when they didn't mean anything to each other, but now, they were everything to each other.
“I’m not kicking you out,” she said, and Noah sighed in relief before Melanie continued. “We’re breaking up.”
“What the fuck, Melanie? Are you fucking serious?” Noah spat in disbelief as he dropped his bag to the floor. “Are you really going to break up with me for being late?”
Melanie didn’t respond as she continued to look at the ground. Noah couldn’t understand, and it only made him more frustrated.
“Why aren’t you looking at me?”
She sighed, tapping her foot against the floor with impatience before she finally looked at him. There was a tiredness in her eyes that hadn’t been there before when he left her this morning. She looked weary, and Noah wanted to know what had led her to this point.
“We’re breaking up, but it’s not just because you were late. It’s because of other things too.”
“What other things?” Noah asked. “You never told me you had any complaints. How am I supposed to fix them if you don’t say anything—”
“Because these aren’t problems that can be fixed!” she snapped, stepping forward before she bit her lip, tamping down her anger. “Look, Noah. I just realized that a relationship probably isn’t best for us when our futures are different. I'm not getting any younger, and I want to get married… and I want to have kids and... I’m not going to be able to do that with you.”
“Why not?” Noah asked as he grabbed her arms. Melanie's desires were all news to him, but Noah assumed that most women wanted these things. It wasn’t something Noah could give her now because his priorities were on something else, but in the future, he could imagine calling Melanie his wife and having children with her. He tried to explain the same to her. “I wouldn’t mind having those things with you—”
“You’re too young,” Melanie said. “Don’t you get it? You’re supposed to be having fun with your friends, and soon you might be in the league. You don’t have the time to worry about those things.”
“Where is all of this stuff coming from?” Noah asked. “Why are you doing this, Melanie? This isn’t like you. Anything you want, you can have. Maybe it can’t be now, but it can happen later. What happened to our plans? We decided to be together, right? We decided that we would work through everything together. Maybe I can’t be the man you need today, but I will be. Iwill. Don’t do this to us.”
Melanie tried to look away, but Noah grabbed her chin, forcing her to look at him. “Don’t break up with me,” he pleaded. He felt like their relationship was something he couldn’t grasp anymore and was slipping away by the second. He didn’t know what was wrong, what he had done to push her to this point, but all he needed was some time to talk to her. He watched as she pinched her eyes shut, and Noah wondered what was on her mind, and how he could change it, what he could do to reason with her because for the life of him, he didn’t want to lose her. He had never felt this way about anyone before, had never chased after anyone before, and here he was begging and pleading with her to not leave him. She couldn’t leave him.
Noah pressed a kiss to her forehead before holding her tight in his arms, wishing that he could keep her there, wishing he could melt away every single worry she had in her mind. If only he could just hold onto her a little bit tighter.
“Things change,” Melanie whispered against his chest, and Noah squeezed his eyes shut as he felt them begin to water. “I want to break up.”
Noah held onto her until Melanie pushed herself from his grasp. Noah opened his eyes and looked at the determined expression on Melanie’s face as she grabbed the box with his things in it and opened the door before she pointedly looked outside of it.
Noah gritted his teeth before he snatched his bag up and grabbed the box, leaving out the door with a bruised heart. When he heard the door slam behind himself, he gulped down the heat he felt in his throat. Melanie just kicked him out and broke up with him, and Noah had no idea why.
Noah kissed his teeth in frustration before leaving with a heavy heart, uncertain of whether this was truly the end or not.
CHAPTER
46
NOAH
“W
HAT THE HELL WAS THAT, WALKER?” Coach Benson yelled as they stormed back inside the locker room after the game. They had won by the skin of their teeth with a score of 2-3, no thanks to Noah. His game had been bad. He couldn't remember the last time he played like that out on the ice. It was like he had no control of the puck anymore. He couldn’t get the puck to the net no matter how hard he tried, and twice, he had been sent to the sin bin for fighting with the opponents too hard. The game had gone terrible, and to be honest, Noah was surprised they had won.
“Where the hell is your head at, huh? We almost lost the fucking game!” Coach Benson yelled. No one else in the locker room said a word, not even Anderson, who usually relished in the moments Noah got reamed out by the coach. But after a game where they only won by the skin of their teeth, no one was in a good mood. Coach Benson continued to rage, and Noah said nothing. He had nothing to say, no excuses to make. Of course, mistakes were made in the game. It happened all the time, with you missing a clear shot or a pass. You weren’t always going to get it right. You weren’t always going to make that lucky shot. But this wasn’t just about mistakes. Noah had made more than one in one game alone, and he never did that, ever, until now. Everyone on the team knew it as they kept their heads down.
“Get in the fucking showers. Tomorrow, come in here at 6 am,” Coach Benson yelled, and groans were made in response. Noah snatched his towel out of his locker and made his move to leave, but Coach Benson stopped him.
“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” Coach Benson growled out. “I’m serious, Noah. I want to know what was on your mind out there. If it weren’t for your teammates, the game would have been lost.”
Noah was teetering off the edge with anger, and usually, he could deal with Coach Benson ragging on him, especially when he was in the wrong. But right now, Noah didn’t care for it. He didn’t care for anything. And the annoying buzzing of Coach Benson's fucking voice in his ear pissed him off.
“I’m not the only fucking player on this team!” Noah barked. “I did what I needed to do. Get off my fucking back.”
