Page 146 of Playing for Keeps
He nods. “Call me if you need me.”
We walk Nash out through the back garden, watching as he disappears down the side of the house.
Beside me, Wyatt exhales, his shoulders sinking as if some of the weight from the last twenty-four hours is finally easing.
He turns and pulls me into his arms.
“I think this nightmare might actually be coming to an end,” he says, pressing a kiss to my forehead.
“I really hope you’re right,” I say. “You’re not going to get in trouble for skipping training, are you? I didn’t even think about it until Cleo brought it up.”
He shakes his head. “It doesn’t matter. I needed to be here with you. That’s what’s important to me. Everything else can wait.”
We stand together on the back porch, wrapped in each other, and for the first time in days, the chaos doesn’t feel all-consuming. There’s a glimmer of hope, and it finally feels like we’re on our way back to the life we were building.
God, I hope that’s true.
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
Ivy
“I’m so nervous! Aren’t you?” I ask Wyatt as I pace around his apartment, glancing at my phone every few minutes to check the time.
It’s been a few days since we met with Nash at my parents’ house, and since Cleo reached out to the woman blackmailing Wyatt. Today’s the day she’s supposed to meet her face-to-face.
We might already have a lead. The woman agreed to meet with Cleo but said she’s no longer in Phoenix and asked her to come to L.A. instead. Nash suspects that’s where she’s really based. He’s already been in touch with the local police, and they’ve agreed to assign someone to the case. He and Cleo flew out early this morning, and Nash is assisting with the surveillance.
I grabbed a lift to Phoenix with Nash yesterday, and while Wyatt has a training session in just over an hour, I’m hoping we’ll hear something before he has to leave.
“You need to stop pacing,” Wyatt says, taking my hand and guiding me into the living room.
I glance over at him. “You’re not nervous?”
He gives me a small smile. “Not nervous, exactly. I’m just ready for all of this to be over. I want our life back.”
“I want that too.” I smile, letting him ease me down onto the sofa beside him. “I want to come and watch you train again.”
“Then come with me today,” he offers. “You can sit in the family section. It might help take your mind off everything.”
I wrinkle my nose. “I don’t know. Won’t the press be there?”
“They will,” he admits, “but you won’t have to deal with them. We’ll go in through the players’ entrance, and the family area has its own private access. No cameras, no questions.” He hesitates, then adds quietly, “It would really mean a lot to me. I’ve never had a girlfriend come to watch me train or play. And I know you were there last week, but I didn’t know then.”
His eyes search mine, full of hope. I hold his gaze for a moment, then nod. “Then I’ll come,” I tell him.
I might be nervous about going out with all that’s happening, but I know how much this means to him, and I want to be there.
An hour later, we’re in Wyatt’s car, heading toward the stadium. It’s still radio silence from Nash, not that we really expected anything so soon, but I’d been clinging to the hope that we might get a breakthrough. He did warn us it could take time. I just want this all to be over.
Wyatt’s hand slides onto my thigh, his warm touch instantly calming the anxious swirl in my chest.
“You okay?” he asks, glancing over at me.
I turn to him and smile. “Yeah, I’m good. Kind of excited to see you in your kit, actually.”
I raise my eyebrows suggestively, earning a laugh from him.
“Oh, yeah?” He grins.
