In fact, it mattered so much, I had no choice but to say, “You need to leave.”
A frustrated breath left her lips, and she shifted on her feet. “I’m in trouble, Penn. And you might be too.”
I clenched my jaw. Didn’t respond. I’d been in trouble for years and knew a day of reckoning was coming. It’s what consumed my thoughts when I wasn’t on the ice.
“I just…” She sounded pitiful almost. “I don’t have anywhere else to go.”
She looked up at the camera again, her blue eyes glassy. She wasn’t faking it. She was afraid.
The part of me that still held somewhat of a human conscience wanted to open the gate. Wanted to hear her out. But I couldn’t.
Because the last time I got involved, I wasn’t the hero.
I was the fucking villain and I wasn’t ever going through that again.
I didn’t answer her plea. I hardened my heart and shut off my phone, effectively disconnecting the line to the security box. Shewouldn’t know I was gone. In fact, she was probably still trying to talk to me, unaware that I could no longer see or hear her.
She had no clue that I’d shut her out, but she’d figure it out eventually. She’d give up and leave.
Eventually.
I got up from the chair and padded into the kitchen. I unloaded my dishwasher, rearranged my pantry and threw away some expired items from the fridge. All busy work that I hate doing, but it forced me to disregard my phone for a good ten minutes.
When I finally turned it on and pulled up my security app, I saw that she was gone, and yes, I was relieved. Definitely a bastard for it, but a weight lifted.
Something brushes my arm and my eyes jerk open, causing me to fall headfirst back into the present. Someone’s sitting beside me and I’m not surprised to see King.
He witnessed the altercation between me and North, but that’s not why he’s encroaching on my space. He’s here because while North is starting to piece things together, it’s Jack “King” Kingston with whom, in a moment of weakness, I shared the truth of my story.
He’s the only one who knows exactly why I am the way I am and the sins I’m running from. Since that day I bared my all to him, he’s seemingly kept his promise not to tell a soul. That was never more evident than back in the terminal where North took wild guesses based on a few events that have happened since the season started and perhaps a little sleuthing into my past. Most of it is public record, but there’s no way North could ever figure out the full truth.
I shift, keeping my eyes forward, but I feel King’s gaze. Assessing. Calculating. I listen to my music, relishing in the fact I can’t hear a damn thing other than that.
King elbows me and with a sigh, I look his way. He motions to my headphones and I reluctantly take them off. “What?” I snap.
“You’ve got to get this under control,” he says quietly.
I exhale slowly. “I’ve got it handled.”
King watches me. “That shit you did with North… that’s not acceptable. You turn on your teammates, you’re going to take this team down with you. And I’m here to tell you, I will not let that happen. I can see that championship. I want it and so does everyone else. But you’re going to tear this team apart because of what happened to you in the past. You will ruin a lot of dreams in the process.”
Fuck… that’s a gut punch. I have to force my gaze to stay on him when I really want to hang my head.
“That girl,” King says quietly. “She part of it?”
I don’t move. Don’t react. But my fingers tighten slightly where they rest on my thigh. I don’t know what he’s heard about Mila outside of me screaming at North about her a few minutes ago. I don’t know if he knows she came looking for me. While he knows what happened to me when I played for the Wraiths, I didn’t tell him about Mila. She wasn’t pertinent at the time.
He’s never asked for details, never pried into the parts I wasn’t willing to talk about. But now, with Mila showing up, I sense he’s trying to get the whole story.
And for some reason, I let myself answer honestly.
“She was part of it.” He can draw his own conclusions from that statement.
King doesn’t say anything at first. But after a long moment, he shifts beside me, adjusting in his seat. “Then you need to decide what you’re going to do about it. And you need to decide soon.”
CHAPTER 4
Mila
