Page 77 of Passing the Red Line
“Has Eliana mentioned anything to you?” Coach asks, starting to pace the length of his office.
I try to think.
The only thing that I can come up with is the night that she walked in on Adrian and the strange woman. She told me about her relationship with Kalen that night, but I had felt like there was still more to it. You don’t just hate someone that deeply because they cheated, they had to have done more.
There is no doubt in my mind that Kalen has done more to her than both her dad and I know about.
“Not directly, but when she told me about their breakup, I definitely felt like there was more to the story, but I didn’t press her on it,” I tell him, feeling anger toward myself for not doing so.
Coach stops pacing and comes over to me and places a hand on my shoulder. The man looks fucking pissed and he has every single right to be. Someone is using his daughter. Or at the very least is trying to.
I feel the same way. Someone is trying to use my girl and my blood is fucking boiling. She doesn’t need that shit in her life and she sure as hell doesn’t need it from someone like Bradford.
“Maybe youshouldpress her on it. It might be the only way we will find out what the fuck Bradford has. And the sooner we do, the sooner I get him off my fucking team.”
“I’m not going to make any promises on getting that fucker off this team, but I will try with Eliana.”
“That’s all I ask.”
CHAPTERTWENTY-ONE
Eliana
I should have takena mental day.
Ever since my dad told me about the Knight signing Kalen, it feels like my mind and body have been working over time.
Last night at the Detroit game, I could barely concentrate on work but I was able to power through and get the best pictures that I could in the state that I was in. But then we landed back in Chicago and it felt like my concentration had depleted completely and the only thing that I wanted to do was beat myself up for letting an ex, that I haven’t even seen in ten years, control my life so damn much.
And that’s what I did.
I did it in the car as Christian drove us to his condo. I did it in the way-too-long shower that I took when we got home and I did it again when I pretended to be asleep so that Christian wouldn’t ask me any question the second that he got into bed. I hated doing the last part, I knew he was going to ask questions, I knew that he was going to want to know more, but I wasn’t ready to give him that. I should, though.
Christian and I may have only been together for a short period of time, but he deserves to know every single thing about me, including this. He deserves to know about those pictures and the weight that they still hold on me, even if I don’t even remember what the hell I was wearing in them or if I had my hair up or down.
I thought about doing it last night when he got into bed, but I couldn’t make myself say the words. I got scared. For a split second I thought that if I told Christian about these pictures, he would judge me for it.
He hasn’t judged me yet in all the time we have known each other, at least not like this, he has teased me, but I was scared that this was the time he would. So I didn’t tell him a single thing.
And now I regret it.
I needed someone to talk to and he was the perfect person. Yet I’m keeping everything inside and just trying to make it through the work day without having a breakdown.
I was able to make it through the morning skate and take a few pictures from different parts of the rink, but ninety percent of the time, my mind kept finding number ninety-three on the ice.
From where I was standing, he looked angry, and I could say with confidence that he was angry because of me and because I haven’t told him anything.
I just need to get through today and I will tell him everything. From the pictures, to the threats, to the call I received all those weeks ago as I was leaving the Quake arena, absolutely everything. I want things to go back to normal, and that is the only way to do it.
After morning skate finishes up, I head to the media space we have on the lower level to get ready for a photoshoot for the newest Knight. I tried to see if I could pawn off this shoot to someone else on my team, but unfortunately nothing panned out, so now I’m in charge of Kalen’s welcome to Chicago photoshoot and I’m going to hate every single second of it.
But it is still my job, so I have to actually go through with the shoot without thinking of ways to make it as torturous as possible.
It’s going to be hard, but it’s very much possible.
After walking into the media room the team has here in their practice facility, and making sure that it was clean enough, I spend the next twenty minutes prepping the room and having the equipment assistance bring in Kalen’s jersey.
Eventually, everything is all set to go, all I need is Kalen to show up so that we can get the show on the road.
