“Do you mind?” I glared and took a step further away.
“Fucking bullshit. Tucks, go steal someone else’s girlfriend,” Roger yelled at the phone.
“I’m not your girlfriend anymore. Now, please go away.”
“Are you okay?” Gabe asked quietly.
“Yes, I’d love to have dinner tonight. Can I bring anything or are we going out?”
“Do you need me right now?” he asked, his voice tight. My chest squeezed at how he immediately wanted to help, but he also wasn’t demanding to show up and pound his chest or some shit.
“No, I’m fine with going out. Maybe dessert at your place?” I glance over to see Roger fuming.
Asshole.
I dropped the phone slightly to say, “Go away, Roger. It’s over and you harassing me is not a good look.”
“Dani,” Gabe started, but I was beyond annoyed that I kept having to deal with this jackass.
Roger crossed his arms. “And you jumping from one hockey player to another in a week isn’t a great look for you, either.”
“When you know, you just know.” I smiled sweetly. “And we’ve been done for almost two months.”
“You can be such a bitch,” Roger said, still glaring.
“What the fuck? Give him the phone, Dani,” Gabe shouted.
“Nope, I’ve got this.” I took the phone fully away from my ear and glared right back at Roger.
Roger scoffed. “Please, what’s that second-rate goalie going to say to me? I could take him all day, any day.”
“You are pathetic and this is over. Leave me alone from now on.” The last few words were almost a shout, and a few people looked over at us.
“Is that Roger Jensen?” I heard someone say.
“Dude, it is,” someone else responded. “Hey, Jenzy.”
“Are you okay?” another person asked me.
And then the fans were approaching us. I nodded to the one person who asked if I was okay. “I’m fine.” And I walked away, not once looking back at Roger.
“Dani! Dani, are you okay?” Gabe’s voice carried up from the phone in my hand, and I brought it back to my ear.
“Yes, sorry. He’s behind me with his fans. Shit, that was annoying.”
“Are you afraid of him?”
“What? No. I mean, yeah, he’s taking this further than I expected, but I don’t think he would physically hurt me. I guess you never know though, huh? Well, shit.”
I hated that my heart was racing and that I was grateful I’d taken self-defense classes a few years ago. I mean I knew that I couldn’t easily take down a very athletic two-hundred-plus-pound man. I shook my head; no, it wasn’t going to come to that.
And yes, I knew I wasn’t the first woman who had said that and naively believed it.
“Do you need me to come over there?”
“What? No. I’m fine, it’s fine.”
“I grew up surrounded by women. Not to be stereotypical or anything, but I know that fine is never fine.”
