“No, don’t even start with me. I let you have your little vacation from reality, but it’s over. You’re going back to school, and that’s final. I’ll set up an internship in the meantime with one of my friends, and you are by no means allowed to see him anymore.” He points toward the door, where I know Levi is waiting outside. “And you’re moving back in . . .” He turns on me. “Wait, where have you been living? With him?”
I wince, and that’s all the indication he needs.
“Jesus Christ, how long has this been going on? This whole fucking time? Have you just been having some sort of sex vacation away from school?”
“No, Dad,” I say. “It isn’t like that.”
“It isn’t?” he yells. “Then explain to me what it is because right now, it seems like you’ve been ignoring your responsibilities to fuck one of my players.”
“I haven’t been ignoring them,” I say, angry at his assumptions. “I’ve been working my ass off—”
“Doing what? Fucking my player?”
“No,” I yell as I stand from my chair. “I wasn’t just fucking him, Dad. I love him.”
His brows shoot up before he starts shaking his head. “There is no way you love him. You’re too young to understand what love is.”
“Too young? Dad, I’m twenty-two. I’m old enough to make my own decisions, date whoever I want, and live with whoever I want.”
He shakes his head and laughs, which in return dials up my anger. “You have no idea what real life is, kid. You’ve been blessed to have a successful father who has provided for you your entire life. You are clueless as to what the real world really is.”
“Really? How would you know?” I ask. “You rarely talk to me anymore. You’re so busy with your own job that you’ve failed to realize that I’ve been trying to have a relationship with you, but you refuse to acknowledge it. I’ve called, texted, and attempted to show you that despite the dictator role you’ve taken up rather than a fatherly one, I still love you, and I still want to have a bond with you. But you can’t see that. You’re so blinded by your own hurt that you’ve switched off your ability to show affection to your own daughter. God, you won’t even accept it from your daughter.” I move toward the door. “And you know what? I’m done trying. I’m done with all of this. Send me the bill for my tuition. I’ll pay it off with my own money that I’m earning from an art job I just secured. Every month, send me a bill, and I’ll pay it immediately. Other than that, don’t bother communicating with me. Your chance at having a relationship with me is done.”
And with that, I walk out of his office where I find Levi leaning against the opposite wall. I walk up to him and place my hand on his chest. Whispering, I say, “I love you. Nothing is changing that. It’s you and me, okay?”
He nods, but I can feel his nerves rattle him.
“Say it, say you love me,” I plead.
“I love you, baby.” He cups my cheek.
“And nothing is splitting us up . . .”
He wets his lips. “Nothing is splitting us up. I promise.”
And then he lowers his mouth to mine and presses a very soft kiss. As he pulls away, I hear a throat clear. When I look to the side, I see Andie, the GM, looking at us.
Oh no, that can’t be good.
“Posey,” she says. “I think we should have a conversation with Will.”
Levi nods, offers me one more kiss, and moves toward the office. He glances over his shoulder and says, “Have Sandie pick you up. I’ll see you at home.”
“I want to wait.”
He shakes his head. “Please, Wylie, meet me at home.”
From the sincerity and pleading in his expression, I know he’s serious, so I nod and move away from the office. I then text Sandie and ask her to come pick me up.
I wait outside, my anger and my nerves coming to a crashing point, making me feel all kinds of nauseous. What’s going to happen to Levi? Is he going to get in trouble? Will he be traded?
The thought of him being traded really makes me want to throw up. But could they trade him over this? Andie didn’t look too pleased, but then again, she was called into the office late at night, probably not wanting to deal with this. Either way, I don’t think it will be good for him, and he’s going to take the fall. I know he will. That’s the kind of man he is.
If he wasn’t one of my dad’s players, I’d be in there with him, standing up to my father with him, but I know this situation runs deeper than that. This very well could be a conflict of interest. I have no idea.
Ugh, what was I thinking?
My dad was right about one thing. I wasn’t thinking. I was just so happy, so excited. I wanted to celebrate. I wanted to be with Levi and show him how much I appreciate his support. And I was positive there was no one else here. Looks like my dad parked somewhere else.
Thankfully, Sandie doesn’t take too long to pick me up since she was already out and about from dropping me off.
I meet her outside the players’ parking lot since she doesn’t have access like I do, and when she pulls up, I hop into her car, turn to her, and burst into tears.
“Come here,” she says as she pulls me into a hug. “What’s going on? Did he break up with you? Because if he did, I will make sure he feels the brunt of my wrath.”
“No.” I shake my head as I pull away. I didn’t tell her anything, just asked her to pick me up as soon as possible. “My dad caught us,” I say. “It was stupid, and I shouldn’t have done it, but when I saw him, I just needed him so—”
“Oh God.” Sandie winces. “He saw you guys doing it?”
I nod, tears falling down my face. “In the locker room. He lost it completely and said some really awful things to me.”
“Who? Levi?”
“No, my dad. Levi has been . . . God, he’s been amazing. I know he’s taking the fall for all of this right now, and I can’t stomach it. He told me to meet him at home.”
“Do you think this is going to hurt you guys?”
“I really hope not,” I say. “He told me he loved me before I took off.” But then worry races up my spine. “Do you think he’s going to break up with me?”
“I don’t know,” Sandie says. “What kind of trouble is he in?”
“I have no idea. He just said he’d meet me back at home, but God, what if he’s kicked off the team and resents me? After everything he’s done for me, I couldn’t forgive myself.”
“How about this,” Sandie says, placing her hand on my hand. “Let’s not put unrealistic thoughts and ideas in our heads. Let’s just go back to your place and wait for him to return. No use making yourself sick over the what ifs.”
My lip wobbles as I nod. “Yeah, you’re right.”
“It will be okay,” Sandie says reassuringly. “Everything will be okay.”
Chapter Twenty
LEVI
“He violated the code of conduct,” Coach Wood yells, still not letting up.
“Unfortunately, Will, we don’t have a code of conduct regarding sharing relations with family members of staff or players,” Andie says, clearly wanting to be anywhere but in the middle of this.
“Then what the fuck am I supposed to do?” Coach Wood asks. “There has to be something. He was fucking my daughter in the team locker room.”
“Yes, and we’ll issue a warning for using team property in such a manner, but unfortunately, that’s all we can do.”
Coach Wood picks a mug off his table and slams it into the wall before sitting in his office chair. He stares at me in a menacing way. “I hate you,” he says. “I fucking hate you. I never should have trusted you in the first place. I should have known you were going to be a horny motherfucker and take advantage of my daughter.”
“Hold on a second,” I say. “I did not take advantage of her. Everything between us has been strictly consensual.”
“Really? Consensual? My daughter said that she loves you. There’s no way she came to that conclusion on her own. You’ve manipulated her.”
“I didn’t,” I say. “We just . . . we fell for each other. Is that too hard to believe?”
“Yes,” Coach Wood shouts as he stands again. “It is. You are not worthy of her. You’re a dumbass jock with a right hook. You’ve only been kept on this team because you’ve held your ground on the ice, taking the punches so other players, especially Hornsby, our leading defenseman, don’t have to. You’re overrated, and trust me when I say, I’ll do everything in my goddamn power to make sure you’re off this team.” With that, he charges out of his office and slams the door behind him.
Fuck.