Page 40 of Not A Chance

“Indigo! Hello.” Dr. Kaya was the first to recover, completely ignorant of the utter storm of tension that’d been brewing between Indie and me since our encounter in that hotel hallway.

Indie stepped into the room just enough to cross the threshold. She moved against the closest wall and not a step farther. It was enough room for me to leave and prevent herself from getting stuck in this room longer than necessary. Her rigid body language made it clear she wasn’t here to chat.

“Hey, Dr. Kaya. Um, sorry to interrupt. I just came from a meeting with our team, and Coach Reyes asked me to come get you. He wants to triple-check with you that Andrews is safe to play tonight. He’s still worried about that hit Connor took in Monday’s game.” Indie kept her eyes locked on Dr. Kaya.

“I’ll go see him now. I swear, that man is worse than a mother hen. I can’t wish he was any other way with you boys, but he drives me up the wall sometimes. I already signed off on Andrews.” She gave me a warm smile as if I hadn’t seen her fret about us the same way Coach did.

She tossed my chart onto her desk and headed out into the hallway, hands still in the air in good-natured frustration.

Indie made a move to sneak out the way she came but not before I had the door shut within seconds of the good doctor’s exit.

“What the hell, Theo? What is with you and doorways?” The professional facade dropped as she turned her glare on me.

“If you weren’t so hell-bent on hiding from me, I wouldn’t have to take such drastic measures to talk to you.” I shrugged, completely unrepentant. If she accidentally put herself in my orbit, I was going to use it to my advantage.

She looked like she wanted to put hands on me. The kind of hands that resulted in blood and hospital visits, not orgasms.

“Fuck off, Theo. I don’t hide from anything.” Her lips pressed into a tight line.

Not wanting to engage her in her clear pattern of avoidance of what was brewing between us, I took a different route.

“So Andrews, hm? Poor kid hurt his head the other night? I bet he’s all better if you’ve been nursing him back to health.” My tone was laced with false sympathy.

While I spoke, I closed the small space between us to mirror our positions from that damn hotel run-in a few days ago.

My forearms resting above her head once more, I could catch a close-up view of what my words were doing to her.

Indie was a fascinating study in contrasts. Her fierce scowl was tempered by the pinkening of her cheeks. Those who didn’t know her would assume the flush was coming from anger at me, but Indie went ice-cold when pissed off. When she was angry with you, she’d either dismiss you or dismantle you piece by piece with her words.

Her beautiful skin heated, and her breathing increased, bringing my attention to the skin of her face and neck as I scrutinized her features for her real feelings for Andrews.

Her tan from the summer sun now fully faded from the drearyfall weather’s lack of sun, her skin took on a creamy, delicate tone. Her Irish heritage had her skin almost translucent it was so fine and delicate. My gaze traced the soft sweep of her skin down to the crisp collar of her blouse.

“I haven’t…” she began.

I whipped my eyes back to hers. I was so distracted by her proximity I’d almost forgotten my question about her new boyfriend.

“Haven’t what? That boyfriend of yours doesn’t want you talking about the fact that you’re dating someone on the team?” I baited her.

“Jesus Christ, Theo. Give it a rest. It’s none of your business! When are you going to get that through your head? Have you taken too many hits with a puck to hear what I’ve been saying to you? Have you told Dr. Kaya about your selective hearing?” she asked.

She put her hands on my chest to push me away, but I just leaned further forward, capitalizing on our significant weight difference.

“No, Indie. I want to know. What’s so special about this kid that you’re willing to risk locker room gossip and sneak out of hotel rooms in the middle of the night?” My volume dropped with our proximity. We moved incrementally closer with each word that passed between us.

Indie’s hands had grabbed handfuls of my T-shirt while I spoke. Her knuckles were white from squeezing the fabric. I could imagine she wished it was my neck.

Fists still clenched, she pushed into my chest, hard.

“Oh my god. You aren’t going to let this go, are you, Theo? We’re just friends, okay? I’m not seeing Connor!” She spoke through her clenched teeth.

My surprise at her admission that they weren’t dating had my body surrendering to her next shove more than the momentum she caused. I staggered back a couple of steps, giving her room to throw her arms out to the side in frustration after she released my shirt.

“You’re not? But what about the night at the bar? The hotel?” The images of them with their heads bent together, laughing intimately, were burned into my memory. A day didn’t go by that I didn’t feel the gut punch of regret of them getting together.

“We did have a drink together but decided to be friends. And for god’s sake, I just fell asleep in his room watching a movie with him. Nothing has happened between us. Can you stop acting like my big brother and let it go now? I don’t need you to protect me from the big, bad world. I’m more capable of protecting myself than you could possibly imagine.” Her tone was defiant, determined to get me to butt out of her business.

Her arms had dropped to her side while she spoke. But now, she brought her hands up to her face, stopping only millimeters from her eyes when she remembered she was wearing makeup.

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