“Saige, please sit down. I want us to come to this decision mutually.”
I narrow my eyes as though I didn’t hear him right. “Well, Aiden, I don’t want to break up, so there is no mutual in this.” I wave my hand. “Go ahead and say what you want.”
He shakes his head. “I don’t want to do this, but it’s my career. Everything I’ve worked for. Everything I know. If I’m not a hockey player, who am I?”
“You’re Aiden Drake.”
“You know what I mean. I can’t jeopardize everything this close to trade deadline. Joran suggested you and I hold off until the off-season to kick things into high gear.”
“Joran?” I ask. He’s taking relationship advice from a guy like Joran, who doesn’t understand the meaning of the word relationship?
“Yeah, and he has a point.”
I hold up my hand. “So you’re willing to break this off and I’m free to date whoever I want?”
“Well…”
“Yeah, you didn’t think that part through, did you? Do you expect me to sit around while you do what you want, then when hockey isn’t in the picture, I’m supposed to drop everything and come running?”
He shakes his head. He may play for the Fury, but he doesn’t know the meaning of the word. Fury is this feeling swirling through my veins right now, like I might spontaneously explode if I don’t release some of this pent-up anger.
“You know what? Let me save you the effort. You don’t have to explain. You can leave, and I wish you all the best with your hockey career. And I do mean that. I hope you get everything you dreamed of. But once you leave here, that door is closed. In season, off-season, whenever, it’s closed, and Aiden Drake is barred from entering ever again.”
His dark eyes barely meet mine. “This isn’t what I want.”
“No, Aiden, you want everything the way you want it, all the time. I’m not some toy you pick up and play with when you feel like, then put back on the shelf when you’re done. I’m a fucking human being.”
He walks over to me, his hands out and ready to touch me. I step back because if he makes contact with me, I’m going to crumble.
“Just go,” I say.
“I’ll give you a few days and hopefully you’ll see that this is the right move right now.” He turns and pauses at the door.
The silence is so thick you’d need a chainsaw to cut through it. For a moment, I wish he’d turn back around and say he was wrong and he’s sorry. But he opens the door, walks through, and shuts it.
I fall to the floor and bury my head in my hands, finally allowing the tears free.
“What are you doing?” Tedi comes and sits down on the steps at the end of my row.
I’m in the nosebleed section of the Fury arena because I couldn’t not come and see if me not throwing a drink in his face made a difference, if everyone was right and I was the distraction in Aiden’s game.
“Torturing myself?” I offer her my best guess.
“Saige,” she sighs. “Tweetie says Aiden’s a mess. That he’s screaming and yelling at all the players. He’s being more demanding of them and the entire locker room is at odds.”
“I don’t care. He broke up with me.”
She puts her hand on my knee. “And I get that, but why be here then?”
“How did you find me?” I ask.
“I’m your assistant. You bought the ticket online, and they sent it in an email.”
“And you’re down in the first row?”
She says nothing at first. When Tweetie was told Tedi was a distraction, he didn’t break up with her. Because that’s what you do when you really care about someone.
“I’ll gladly go home with you,” she says.
I shake my head.
Tedi stands and I hope she leaves because then I can enjoy my pretzel with extra salt in peace. Instead, she hands two tickets to the guys next to me. “Here. Front row seats. Go.”
I shake my head. “Tedi, don’t.”
“If you’re sitting here, so am I.”
“Seriously, ma’am?” the guy says.
“Call me ma’am again and I’ll rip them up right in front of your face.”
They scurry away and she sits down next to me, tears off a piece of my pretzel, and brushes off some salt. What a waste of salt.
The lights go dark and everyone in the crowd cheers, getting excited knowing the team is about to be introduced. They introduce everyone—Maksim, Ford, the rest of the guys, and when Tweetie is announced, Tedi screams, “That’s my man.”
“And last, our captain and center, Aiden Drake,” the announcer says.
He skates out, raises his stick, and leads his team to skate around the ice before heading to their bench.
Once all the fanfare is over, Aiden comes out in the first period and scores a goal, assisting in another. That seals it. I am the problem.
“It means nothing,” Tedi whispers.
A girl in the row in front of us looks at me and whispers to her friend next to her. She thinks she’s being sly, but she keeps glancing over her shoulder at me.
Second period, Aiden is everywhere, but the score doesn’t change. He steals the puck a bunch of times and gets it down to the net enough, but can’t get it past the goaltender.
“Are you her?” the girl in front of me asks.
Tedi twirls her finger at her. “Turn around.”
“You are, aren’t you?” her friend says.
“Am I who?” I ask.
“Aiden Drake’s girlfriend,” the first girl asks. “I recognize you from the pictures.”
“You should be in the first row, or is he hiding you?” the other says.
“Why would he hide her?” Tedi asks. “Mind your business and turn around.”
“We’re not together anymore,” I admit, and Tedi sighs.
“For now. It’ll change,” Tedi tells them. “So keep your clothes on.”
I give Tedi a pleading look and she stops.
During the third period, I get up to leave after Aiden scores.
“Come on, you cannot believe in all this bullshit.” Tedi follows me.
I head into the bathroom. As luck would have it, those two girls are in there, putting on their lipstick. Probably so they can go wait with the other women for Aiden and his teammates after the game.
“Did you break up because of the Instagram post?” one of the girls asks.
The other girl shhs her, but I stop before going into a stall. “No.”
“Because if you did, I was going to say those people are just jealous and you shouldn’t let random people who hide behind a screen ruin something for you.”
“I had the same view until I read those things about myself. It makes it hard.”
The girl nods. “I know.”
I stare at Tedi. See? Not every woman wants our men. “But we broke up because of something else.”
“I’m sorry,” she says.
“Thank you.”
I look at Tedi. “Take me home.”
She puts her arm around my shoulders. “I’m the best date ever, you just wait. I’ll stop at any fast-food place you want, and I’ll let you watch whatever movie you want while I trash talk your ex.”