Page 89 of The Power Play

“Ah, I’m a much bigger hockey fan. Hockey players are the elite athletes in my opinion,” she smiles.

I tug her into my side, wrapping an arm around her while dad laughs loudly.

“I like her,” he says to me with a wink, then goes back to sit on the couch.

“So do I,” I whisper into her hair, and she shivers, looking up at me smiling. Her eyes aren’t as bright as they usually are, so I know something is still bothering her.

Although,I can tell Audrey tries to hide her discomfort during dinner, she’s lacking her typical spark and it’s only making me more impatient to get her out of here so I can find out what is really going on. After we finish eating, my mom goes into the kitchen to clean up before pie and my dad goes back to the game.

“Why don’t I give you a tour?” I suggest to Audrey, hoping it’ll give us the space to talk a bit.

She nods and follows me upstairs. My childhood home isn’t big, and really there’s no point in a tour. I lead her to my bedroom that is mostly untouched from when I moved out. My mom is sentimental and doesn’t like letting things go which is why I think she comes in here to clean but doesn’t want to change anything about it.

“Welcome to my childhood bedroom,” I sweep my arm out presenting it. The room isn’t big, my full-size bed takes up the majority of the open space and there’s posters of the Denver Dragons on my walls.

Audrey smirks and looks around, examining everything and I let her.

“Do you have some fantasy of fucking me in here or something?” she jokes lightly.

I press a hand to my chest, “Audrey Hudson, my parents are downstairs, and you know I’m a good boy. I would never.”

She chuckles, but then her smile falls, and she continues looking around the room. I step up behind her, wrapping my arm around her middle and pressing against her back lightly. She leans back into me, and I ask, “What’s wrong?”

She shakes her head, “Nothing.”

I turn her around in my arms, cupping her face in my hands so she will look up at me. I see the lie written all over her face, but especially in her dimmed eyes.

“Please tell me,” I plead quietly.

She shuts her eyes, effectively blocking me out.

I rub my thumbs along her jaw. “Audrey, please. I want to help.”

Her eyes open and it reminds me so much of when we first met. The woman who was so indifferent toward me because I stood her up. The woman who didn’t want to hear my apology and didn’t care for what I had to say. Completely guarded.

“You can’t,” she whispers.

I shake my head, not accepting this from her, “Give me a chance to try.”

She rakes her teeth across her bottom lip as she considers it. I see her debate with herself on what to say. I continue to rub my thumbs on her soft skin. I want her to let me in. Give me a chance to help.

“Not here,” she sighs. “When we get home.”

Nodding, I accept her answer. And I don’t miss the way she calls ithome.

Bringing my mouth down to hers I press my lips to hers in a soft kiss. I feel her melt against me the second our lips touch and I know that no matter what it is that’s bothering her, I won’t stop until I help make it better.

We get back homeand I’m slightly inpatient to find out what has been going on with Audrey all day, but she doesn’t seem to be in any rush to talk about it. We change out of our clothes in silence.I pull on a t-shirt and sweatpants while she puts on one of my t-shirts and some of those little boy shorts she always wears.

Taking my hand in hers, she leads me onto the couch, and we sit too far apart for my liking, but I don’t say anything about it. She settles, tucking her feet underneath her and looking down at the couch cushion. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her so…defeated. It’s unusual. Audrey is always so strong, so confident and sure of herself, but the woman sitting by me now looks just broken.

I don’t rush her to speak, but with each second that she doesn’t my anxiety ramps up. Finally, she does and it’s not what I expected.

“When I went back to my place earlier, um, my grandma showed up,” she starts.

“What?” I snap. I may not know much about her family, but I know enough that she wouldn’t ever want to see her grandma.

“Yeah, she….” Her voice trails off and she takes in a deep breath, still not looking at me. “She tried to get me to come to Thanksgiving with her, tried to spew her religious bullshit and then…”

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