Page 44 of Over the Moon (Rosewood River #3)

thirty-one

. . .

Clark

“Dude,” Weston said, as he came into the locker room where I was talking to Scotty. He was feeling down on himself after his showing on the ice today.

I looked up at Weston and immediately moved to my feet. He looked pissed off, and he was not a guy who reacted unless something was seriously wrong. “You all right? What happened?”

“Doc just got escorted out of the building.”

“What? By who?” I was already moving, and he was right on my ass.

“Bullet just escorted her to her car. Her face was swollen, and she was obviously crying and upset.”

“Motherfucker,” I hissed, and I was jogging now.

Wizz and Lefty were just coming out of the lounge, and they followed us. “What the fuck is going on?”

“Doc just got escorted out of the building. We don’t know,” Weston said.

But I knew.

I fucking knew.

I turned the corner and saw Bullet walking ahead of me, and I shouted at him. I met him last year, and he was a good guy. He used to be a Navy SEAL with Wolf and came to work security for the team after he retired from the military.

“What the fuck, Bullet? You escorted her out of the building? Are you fucking kidding me right now? She’s a part of this team.”

“Do not come at me, Chadwick. This was not my choice. I was called up to Sebastian’s office and asked to take her to her car. That’s all I know,” he said, his hands up as if he had no choice.

He was clearly just doing his job.

I gave him a nod and started jogging toward the elevator. Toward Sebastian’s office. Weston, Wizz, and Lefty were right beside me.

“What’s going on, brother?” Weston asked when it was just the four of us on the elevator.

“Too much to explain right now,” I said, as the doors opened, and I moved right past Sebastian’s assistant, who was probably still processing that we’d run right past her without stopping.

I pushed the door open to find Coach Gable, Randall, and Scarlett all sitting in chairs, with Sebastian behind his desk. Randall was seated on the other side of the office, which was odd. There were papers on the floor, and I quickly realized that they were copies straight out of our notebook.

My eyes found Randall. “You petty motherfucker. You couldn’t help yourself, could you?”

He moved to his feet and stepped toward me. “You are fucking an employee, Chadwick. And she happens to be your coach’s daughter, you dumb motherfucker.”

I pulled my arm back on instinct, ready to knock him through a wall, when Weston and Wizz both grabbed me, holding me back. Sebastian came around his desk and moved between us. John was there now, standing beside me, as well.

“Chadwick, that is not going to help anything,” Sebastian said.

Scarlett was on her feet, looking pale and stressed out, and it was apparent that this had been a heated meeting long before I arrived.

I turned to look at Coach, dreading the look that I was going to see there.

He just stared at me.

Disappointment and hurt were easy to read.

“I’m sorry, Coach,” I said. “I wanted to talk to you. We wanted to talk to you.”

“Yet you didn’t.” His voice was low, and he sounded exhausted.

“What was he going to tell you? That he was banging your daughter?” Randall said from behind me, and I whipped around again, dying to lay into the fucker.

Lefty moved to stand in front of Coach, while Weston and Wizz held on to me.

“Clark, you need to calm the fuck down,” Weston hissed.

I scrubbed a hand down my face, turning to face Eloise’s father. “We were afraid to involve you. This is not something casual. I love her. She loves me. We want to be together. But this fucking contract had her nervous that she would lose her job, that she would embarrass you.”

“Well, she’s correct about that,” Randall said.

This fucking guy.

“Listen, if you want to fire her, then you should be cutting me from the team, as well. We both broke the contract. And I promise you, if she leaves, I will not be signing with this team next year. I’m a free agent after this season, and I will not stay here if you choose to fire her because we fell in love.

I’m not the first person on this team to meet the woman he loves,” I said, still facing Coach.

“You should have come to me,” Sebastian said, and I turned to look at him.

“We were going to. We haven’t been back that long. We were trying to figure it out. Her father is the coach of this team, and she was concerned about how this would affect him.”

“You’d leave this team for a fucking woman?” Randall got in my face, and Lefty stepped so close to Randall that it forced him to step back.

Sebastian groaned and picked up the phone, requesting security again.

“You don’t have to have me escorted out of this building, Sebastian. I will happily walk out on my own, as Eloise would have done, as well.” I turned to look at him.

He moved to the door just as there was a knock, and Bullet stood there, looking between us.

“Please escort Randall to his office for his things, and then walk him to his car. He is not to stop and speak to anyone. Randall, I’ll be in touch.”

“Excuse me? You’re escorting me out of the building? Your father will have your ass, kid.” He moved toward Sebastian, squaring his shoulders.

“I don’t think so, Randall.” Sebastian arched a brow.

“Not with all the people who have come forward about the affair that you’re having with a staff member, not to mention the fact that I’m fairly certain you went through Eloise’s desk and took that notebook, taking the time to make copies of something that wasn’t your property.

You’ve broken a dozen violations all on your own.

So I’d stay very quiet right now and walk away before you make this worse for yourself. ”

I was surprised that Sebastian had put Randall in his place.

Randall glared at him and then did the same to Coach and me, before storming out of the room, bumping his shoulder aggressively into Bullet.

“You touch me again, and we’re going to have a problem,” Bullet said as he left the office with Randall.

“Weston, Wizz, Lefty, you can all leave. I appreciate you coming here with Chadwick, but I need a few minutes alone with him and Coach. I’d appreciate it if you’d keep what’s happened between us,” Sebastian said.

“Just know, if he goes, we go,” Wizz said.

“Damn straight. We’re a team. And Doc is part of that team now, too. Remember that.” Weston winked at me.

I nodded before staring down at my hands because I fucked up royally by not coming forward. I should have insisted. I should have been a man and handled this.

Eloise had been in this room dealing with all of this without me by her side.

When the door closed, I glanced over at Coach, but he just stared straight ahead. No emotion on his face.

“Listen, this is a mess. I need some time to figure out how to handle this. Randall is not going to drop this, and rules were broken,” Sebastian said. “Let me speak to Wolf, and I’ll let you know how we want to proceed.”

“Wolf, the man who is married to our chief legal?” I said, leaning back in the chair and crossing my feet at my ankles because how could they have a problem with something they’d already done?

“Yeah. That’s the one,” he chuckled. “So, what are you going to do? Marry Eloise to prove your point?”

I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees, offended by the question.

“I wouldn’t marry anyone to prove a point.

But I’d marry the woman I love if she said yes, so sure.

I’d marry her tomorrow if she wanted to.

I’d walk away from this team to protect her.

So you best realize that this is the real deal, and I’m not walking away from her for you, for this team, or for anyone.

I’ll play somewhere else if I have to. She’s my priority. Got it?”

“I believe I understand now.” Sebastian nodded, pushing to his feet and motioning for me to do the same. “You can leave. I just need a moment with Coach first, and then I’ll reach out to my brother.”

I turned toward Coach Gable. “I’m sorry, Coach. I should have come to you. I respect the hell out of you. I just love your daughter, and she was not ready to tell anyone. She knew this would fall on her, which in turn meant it would fall on you. But I owed you more, and I apologize.”

He looked up at me, narrowing his gaze, and then gave me the slightest nod. He still didn’t speak, and I couldn’t tell what was going through his mind.

I left his office and dialed Eloise at least a dozen times as I drove to her apartment.

It went to voicemail every damn time.

When I pulled up in front of her building, I jogged to her door and knocked several times.

“Open up, Weeze.”

When the door pulled open, my chest squeezed at the sight of her.

Eyes swollen.

Nose red.

Lips trembling.

I wrapped my arms around her and held her close. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t there when you got called in. I didn’t know that was happening.”

She broke down, sobbing, and I just held her there.

And then she pulled back and looked up at me.

“Randall found our notebook. He printed it up for everyone to read,” she said. Her words broke on a sob, and she placed her hand on her chest. “My father read it. He couldn’t even look at me.”

“Randall is a fucking asshole. Your dad will be okay. I briefly explained that this is not some casual fling.” I reached for her hand.

“Did they call you in after me?” She moved to sit on the couch and buried her face in her hands.

“No. Weston told me that he saw you, and we found out you’d been in Sebastian’s office. I went there to straighten this out and find out what happened.”

Her eyes were red and puffy, and she shook her head. “Randall accused me of trying to ruin your career. He also accused me of sleeping with other players on the team. I told you that this would be different for me being a woman.”

“Baby, we’re going to figure this out.” I tried to pull her onto my lap, and she pushed to her feet.

“I’m going to lose my job. My father can’t look at me.

We are not going to figure this out, Clark.

” She shook her head. “They didn’t even call you in.

You aren’t the person everyone is mad at.

And trust me, I’m relieved that you aren’t in trouble.

I really am.” She cried. “But right now, I am in this alone. I need to figure out how to walk away from this without taking my father down and without hurting your career.”

Tears streamed down her face, and I felt completely helpless. I pushed to my feet and moved toward her. “Weeze, I’m in this with you. You aren’t alone.”

“What if my father loses his job? What if I have to leave, and you remain on the team? How will you work with my dad now? Everyone read our letters. There were intimate things in there, Clark,” she said, and she was crying so hard that she was gasping for air as she rambled off every fear that she had.

I tried to wrap my arms around her, but she pushed me back. “I need you to go.”

“What? I’m not leaving you.” I reached for her hand, and she pulled it away. “I want to be here for you, Eloise.”

She looked up at me, swiping the tears from her face. “Randall probably has someone watching us right now. We’re making this worse. If you really want to help me, you need to leave. I want to be alone.”

“Weeze,” I whispered. “Don’t do this.”

“Please, Clark. You need to go. Even being associated with me right now is not a good idea. I’m sure they are packing my desk as we speak. We need to take some time apart.” She sighed, lifting one shoulder as if it were the only option.

“Fuck them. I’ll leave. I’ll quit,” I hissed.

“And that helps how?” Her voice was hoarse, and she sounded exhausted.

“That hurts you. That hurts my father. Hurting the two men I love most in the world is not something I strive to do. Just go home, Clark. I need to figure out how I salvage my relationship with my father and hope I can find a job somewhere else after all of this.”

“You’re not going anywhere.” My gaze locked with hers, and I saw it there.

She’d made her decision. She wasn’t going to change her mind, at least not tonight.

She wanted me gone. She was hurt and humiliated, and I’m sure it didn’t feel good that I hadn’t even been called in. I just happen to walk in all on my own.

No one had called me out or humiliated me.

They saved it all for her.

“Please, baby. Tell me what I can do to fix this, and I’ll do it.”

“You can give me the space I need right now. That’s all you can do for me.” Her bottom lip trembled. “I’m asking you to respect that. I can’t talk about this anymore tonight.”

Fuck. The one thing she needed from me was the one thing I didn’t want to do.

“All right. Yeah, if that’s what you want.” I took a step back, trying not to sound wounded. She didn’t need to worry about me on top of all she was dealing with.

“It’s what I want.” She walked to the door and pulled it open.

“I love you, Weeze.”

But she didn’t say a word. She just closed the door the minute I stepped outside.

As if she couldn’t wait for me to be gone.

I basically just ruined her life.

Who could blame her for wanting me gone? But I couldn’t do nothing. If she didn’t want me there, she needed to have someone there.

I climbed into my truck and pulled out my phone.

Because I was determined to fix the mess I’d made.