I opened up the envelope, finding a packet with lots of fine print.
“I’m not signing anything,” I said, handing it back to him.
He pulled his hands away, refusing to take it back. “Then don’t sign it. But for the love of God, look at it. You’re basically one huge bucket of untapped talent. You’re twenty-three now, but let me tell you--it ain’t gonna last forever.”
I brushed the back of my neck with my hand.
“I can’t leave. I’d be letting the whole community down. They need me here.”
“Is that what you tell yourself?”
“What on earth does that mean?”
He put a hand on my shoulder. “Sounds a lot like you’re just more comfortable here, that’s all.”
What with his uninvited touching and his shit-talking of my town, I felt my blood starting to boil.
But in stressful situations I sometimes had to ask myself, what would Louisa have me do?
“I’ll think about it,” I said reluctantly, tucking the contract into my inner coat pocket.
“Hey,” the man said, his voice raspy. “For the record, I actually admire what the hell you’re doing here. Towns like these have been losing hope lately. All their good talent heading to the cities and whatnot. I see where you’re coming from. I hope you make the decision that’s right for you. That heart you’ve got, along with the killer instinct on the ice reminds me of one of the all-time greats in the sport. You think you’re a role model now? Think about being one on a national scale.”
I shook his hand before I headed out the door, offer in hand. I appreciated the genuine sincerity of the comment, and I respected the effort the guy made to come all the way out here just to stake out a rec league game.
But there was still no way in hell he was getting me to leave.
Outside, a blizzard was brewing. I’d seen it in the news every day this week.
When I unlocked my phone to see how many inches of snow we were going to get, I saw I had a text from my buddy Jared, who had left the game to head to the bar.
Jared: Holy shit. You’ll never guess who just walked into fucking Midnight Owl.
My stomach clenched. I knew what he was going to say before I even hit reply
Shane: Who?
Jared: Natalie Fucking Toft.
Jared: Finally, we can make her pay for everything that happened and get some justice like we talked about. Looks like me breaking into her place and busting her heater last night got her out of the house.
I ran my thumb and forefinger along my forehead, and my heart pounded.
Fuck.
We’d talked about this day forever.
Joked.
Part of me knew it would come to this, but another part of me hoped she’d get scared off by Jared messing with her heater and get the hell out of here.
Or maybe she wouldn’t even consider the option that her place had been broken into by those doofuses, just to mess with her. Jared and Bob were like loose cannons waiting to blow. Breaking her heater was a harmless stunt. Who knew how far they’d go though? Or if they were all talk?
Natalie didn’t know the kind of danger she was in.
Walking into that bar, especially on a night like tonight, she might as well have been a lamb walking into a lion’s den.
But still, after looking her in the eye yesterday and the day before, she didn’t deserve what Jared and company had planned for her.
And you, you fucking idiot.
I had been a part of the planning, I reminded myself. But it seemed like cloud talk when she was thousands of miles away in Florida. And the whole conversation had been years ago, when Louisa had just passed and I was grieving, looking for someone to blame.
Now, it looked as if Jared and Bob might actually carry out the plan.
My heart only sank further.
Just then, my phone rang.
I’d typed Natalie into my phone as The Brute’s Daughter so I’d always be reminded of what had happened to me as the result of her family.
If anyone had the right to revenge, it was me. I’d certainly suffered the most, losing two blood relatives.
But Jared got this crazy look in his eyes sometimes when we’d talk about what we would do if she ever inherited her father’s fortune from the mine he built on the backs of our fathers.
Our now dead fathers--and that was Mr. Toft’s fault.
I’d fucked up by losing control at her place. For God’s sake, I almost crossed a line with her. No, did cross a line. Hell, I wanted to go all the way with her.
I realized in that moment, as her eyes were begging me to take her right there on her dad’s kitchen counter, if I fully unleashed myself with her, I might not be able to stop it.
But it didn’t matter, apparently. In spite of the hate that still bubbled underneath my surface for Natalie’s family, I couldn’t help but see her as the innocent offspring of an evil, greedy man.
I answered the phone and my voice crackled, all gravelly-like.
“The fuck do you want, Florida?”
8
Natalie
I’D SPENT the last hour drinking a gin and tonic and trying to calm the nerves I had, thinking about the question I was going to ask Shane. But when I heard his deep voice over the phone, I couldn’t help that the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. I momentarily forgot my grand plan of attack for smoothly asking him if I could stay over at his place.
After thinking it over, it was the only logical option. I didn’t know another soul in town at this point, and I couldn’t stay at the motel or at my dad’s house since it was simulating the arctic tundra.
Shane was the only one left in town who I had even loose ties to.
“You could just say hello, you know,” I fired back, my stomach already on fire. Why did just the sound of his voice make my heart flutter?
“Why would I do that?”
“Why do you love fucking with me so much?”
“Is that the reason you called? To ask me why I love fucking with you?”
My body heat rose when for a moment my mind skipped over the with part of his sentence and only heard I love fucking you.
Clearing my throat, I upped my resolve. “No. But I do need a favor, as a friend.”
“A favor,” he chuckled.
“Yes, a favor. So, the heat isn’t working at my place tonight. How do you feel about me crashing at your place for one, max two nights until the heating guy can come by?”
“Are you fucking serious?” he muttered. “Your place was hotter than Death Valley yesterday. Now it’s freezing?”
“Yes. I think my heater is bipolar, because today it was Antarctica. Pretty please? The one motel in town is booked. I know no one else here. I’m desperate, Shane, and I’m asking you. I don’t know what happened yesterday, but we can talk about it, or never mention it again. This is just me asking you for a place to stay. As a friend. There will be no funny business.”
“Christ,” he muttered, and I heard him let out a deep breath.
“I’ll make you that peanut butter and jelly sandwich I owe you,” I joked.
He laughed, and that made me feel better.
“I just don’t know if this is a good idea.”
My throat caught. Why was he intent on being such a dick to me. “Please?” I could no longer mask the desperation in my tone.