The door across the hall opened, and he disappeared into the room, the click of the door loud enough that it felt like a death sentence.
Would Carter talk? If so, there was no doubt in my mind that by breakfast, the entire team would know, and by lunch my father would hear about it.
“Bianca. Come back inside, we need to talk about this,” Evan said, gripping the back of my T-shirt.
I shook my head. “There is nothing to talk about. This was a mistake,” I whispered, imagining just how horrible this was all going to be once word got out.
“Don’t say that.”
“What would you call it? We have zero good options here.”
“What are you saying? We pretend it didn’t happen?” Evan questioned, running his hand through his hair.
I nodded. “That is exactly what we do. We pretend this never happened, and we pray Carter keeps his mouth shut.”
Evan stood there looking at me, his jaw locked.
“What if I don’t want to pretend, Bianca?”
I stood there watching him, thinking about what had happened, about the line we’d crossed. The problem was, it didn’t feel like a mistake. It felt right. It had felt like the beginning of something wonderful. I swallowed hard, doing my best to ignore the ache in my chest.
“One of us has to be smart enough for both of us. Good night, Callahan.”
I took off down the hallway before he could respond. I knew if I looked at him, I’d change my mind. My hands shook as I reached out to press the call button for the elevator. It seemed to take forever for the elevator to reach the floor, and I didn’t want Evan to follow me and demand we finish our conversation.
Yet, I wanted him to.
When the elevator doors finally opened, I stepped inside and turned around to see Evan standing at the end of the hallway, watching me as the doors closed.
When I got to my room, I opened the door, stepped inside, and then closed the door, allowing my body to rest against it. My lips still tingled from where he’d kissed me, and I could still feel his hands on my body. I closed my eyes, praying my father wouldn’t hear anything about tonight. I didn’t want to have to explain how I’d developed feelings for a player and then I’d kissed him.
I felt my phone buzz, and I pulled it from my pocket with shaking hands.
I frowned at the text from an unknown number.
We need to talk before breakfast. ~Evan.
My stomach turned as I closed down the message, only for my phone to buzz again.
It was from Evan again.I’m not sorry this happened. I’ll see you in the hotel restaurant at six. Let me know if you will be there.
I stared at the message. How one simple message could change everything and nothing all at the same time. I should just delete it, tell him to lose my number. Instead, I saved the message and placed my phone on the charger.
I flopped onto the bed and stared up at the ceiling.
I’d kissed Evan Callahan, and God had better help me, because I wanted to do it again.
I picked up my phone, opened the message Evan had sent, and denied his invitation. It was the only way I’d get any sleep tonight.
Chapter 12
Evan
We werein the lead in the middle of the second period. Nightly shot the puck toward me, lining everything up perfectly for me to onetime it into the net just like we’d done thousands of times. As I got ready, I focused, and mid-swing, pain exploded up my arm like lightning. White-hot, almost blinding. My vision blurred, and I felt a burning in my throat.
Panic flooded through me.Not here. Not now,I begged.
I caught myself against the boards, breathing hard as the pain erupted again. I heard the concerns from the crowd and then the whistle as suddenly the arena lights became too harsh, too bright. Everything I’d been hiding now felt exposed. The months of hiding unraveling right before me as I stood there trying to compose myself.
