Page 111 of Irresistibly Risky

Running around the building in a frenzy, I’m not sure what to do or how to find her. That is, until I think a bit deeper, and then I smile, because I think I know where my girl is. Spinning on my heels and using my forearm to wipe at the fresh coat of sweat on my brow, I push through the men’s room door—the bathroom where I ran into her for the second time—and sure enough, she’s here.

Her hands are pressed onto the counter, her shoulders hunched forward, and her gaze is directed down as she stares at her phone with the streaming video of the press conference pulled up on it. When she hears the door, her head snaps in my direction, but before she can open her mouth and tell me to fuck off, I have her by the hips, and I’m hoisting her up and then dropping her onto the counter.

I step between her legs and cup her tear-streaked face in my hands. “I was never going to take the trade deal to LA,” I start, my words rushing past my lips, desperate to get them out. “I didn’t sign any contract or approve of any deal. The night Mason was sick and Joe followed me to the pharmacy, he threatened me and told me he was going to have me traded at the end of the season.”

She sniffles, staring up at me through watery, furious eyes. “And you didn’t feel that was something I should know? You told me about what happened between you and Joe at the pharmacy, but you left out that huge fucking part of it. How could you not tell me that you were going to be traded at the end of the season? You knew that was one of my major concerns. A very solid reason why I was so reluctant to get involved with you. You let me be blindsided by this.”

“I’m sorry.”

She gives me a shove, demanding distance. “I’m sorry is a crappy response. How on earth could you ever imagine I’d be okay with that? Was that why you didn’t tell me? Because you thought I’d end things?” Her face twists with anger and frustration, her features hiding none of the hurt I’ve caused her.

“I don’t know. Maybe that was part of it,” I admit truthfully. “There was a lot going on at the time and Joe had just learned about Mason and Mason was sick and I was overwhelmed and frankly, crushed by the notion that Joe was trying to get rid of me. I didn’t want to tell you until I had things figured out, because I knew you’d freak out on me when you learned of Joe’s plan.”

“That was two weeks ago.” She shakes her head incredulously. “Jesus, Asher, you should have told me you were going to be traded. I knew it was a possibility, but not a certainty.”

I hold her face steady, not willing to let her slip away, even an inch. “I should have told you. You’re right, and I was wrong for not doing that. At the time, I thought it would only upset you more. I didn’t want you to doubt me, and I was worried you would. I thought I was handling it.”

“Without me.” She shoves me away for a second time. “Did it not occur to you that this involves me too?”

“I was trying to protect you.”

“Fuck you!” she snaps. “You don’t get to decide what I need protection from and what I don’t. That’s my call to make, and I can tell you unequivocally that lying and hiding things—as I’ve already told you—are about the worst things you can do with me. That instantly kills my trust when trust isn’t something I’m ever quick to hand out.”

I take a step back and spin in a circle, my hands on my head, the air in this bathroom stifling and unsettled. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. So very sorry. Please, you have to know that I’m not going anywhere you’re not.”

“I don’t want to move.”

“You don’t have to.”

“Oh really? That’s not what it looks like right now.” She blows out a flustered breath. “It’s more than just this trade deal. It’s that you hid things from me. Important things. And I know you’re hiding more.”

I nod. I am hiding more. “I have no excuse,” I admit, turning back to face her and throwing my hands up in defeat. “I don’t know why I did it. I thought I was doing the right thing. I thought I was protecting you because that’s all I ever want to do. Joe is a sneaky motherfucker, and I needed time to formulate a plan while other things fell into place. I was worried you’d lose faith in me, but that’s exactly what happened anyway, and I have no one to blame for that but myself.”

I take a step in her direction, and she holds her hand out to me, stopping me.

I frantically search my brain for a way to fix this when it might already be too late for that. “Don’t leave me, Wynter. I can handle losing a lot of things, but you aren’t one of them. Don’t end this. Let this be something we work through, not something that tears us apart.”

“I don’t want to end this,” she declares, another tear slipping out and then dancing down her cheek. “But I don’t know how to be with someone who hides things from me. That’s what Joe did with my mom, and I won’t be that woman. I won’t live that life. You knew that when we got involved and yet, you did it anyway.”

“I’ll tell you everything,” I plead, my hands out in front of me, desperate to touch her. “Every last detail. Right here and now.”

She laughs sardonically, flicking disdainfully at the tears on her face. “Oh, I know you will. Start with this trade, Asher Reyes, and pray I take pity on your soul because right now, I’m a hot second from walking out of here and never coming back.”

My stomach knots up. “You know I’d never let that happen, right? I’d always chase after you.”

She slashes the air in front of us. “Shut up. I don’t want you to be alpha, and I don’t want you to be charming. I want you to be honest.”

Fair enough.

“What happened is, the morning after my encounter with Joe, I went into Randolph’s office and told him all about it. I also told him that I wanted to stay and he told me that Joe had called him right after he and I spoke in the pharmacy and demanded that I be traded as far from Boston as possible. Randolph told him he’d only consider that if he could get a good deal and I was agreeable. I told him I wasn’t, but with Joe trying to get rid of me, I wasn’t sure where to go from there. I did have my agent, Hunter, putting out some feelers to other East Coast teams. Places where, if I had to leave the team, at least I could fly home to you and Mason easily enough. Then this morning Randolph called me and told me that LA wanted to discuss the particulars of a mid-season trade for me. That the key players on their end had already been lined up and were agreeable.”

“LA is Joe’s previous team.”

I tap my nose. “Exactly. LA had been informed by Joe that I wanted out, and they were anxious to make a deal. Going so far as to send over a preliminary contract for us to look over. Somehow the press got wind of the contract and then assumed it would be put on hold with Leo getting hurt. It’s not going to happen. Any of it.”

She squints bewilderedly. “Then why are they reporting that it is? They made it sound like it’s a done deal.”

“It’s not. That’s all I can tell you. I told Randolph this morning I wouldn’t do it. LA is too far, and I won’t consider any team on the West Coast. Joe took liberties he had no right to take simply to get rid of me. Randolph told me we’d discuss it all after the game. Then everything else happened.”

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