Page 33

33

Elle

“ H ey, I’m almost ready!” I call out to Preston from the back when I hear the jingle of the front door opening. Then I step into the salon and find the last person I expected to see.

“Christian?” As always, he looks like the good ole golden boy next door, not a blond hair out of place, his jeans and tee just a little snug to show off his lean, muscular frame. “What are you doing here?” I ask him.

“I fucked up,” he says with a shrug, his hands sliding into his front pockets.

“Ah, what?”

The hot shot stands there in my empty salon, portraying the picture-perfect definition of humble. I didn’t even know he was familiar with the word.

“I’m sorry about showing up at Preston’s the other night.”

I cross my arms over my chest when I remember him strolling up to the porch like he owned it with his two teammates, trying to start shit to get Preston arrested. “You shouldn’t have done that. If you all had got into a fight…”

“I know. It could’ve landed us all in jail and out of the championships. I went too far.”

“Yes, you did.”

“I just wanted to see you and talk to you since you blocked my damn calls and messages.”

“Blocking your texts should’ve made it clear that I don’t want to see or talk to you, just like my previous texts before that specifically told you that, which you ignored.”

Christian takes two steps closer to me, and says, “Ellie, please. I didn’t know what I had with you until I lost you. Now I want you back. I’ll do whatever it takes.”

“Oh, I find that very hard to believe, Christian. You only think you want me now because I’m with Preston.”

He flashes me his panty-dropping smile. “Come on, babe. I know you two aren’t actually together. You were just trying to screw with my head because I messed up and dumped you right before the finals. I get it. I deserved it, from you and from Preston.”

When I don’t answer either way, he says, “Tell me that you don’t miss me.”

Okay, so a teeny, tiny part of me misses the prick, but with each day I’m with Preston, it diminishes. I don’t want him back, that I’m certain of, but I can’t lie. “I…I don’t know what to say, honestly.”

“How about you start with the truth? I never lied to you, Ellie. Not once.”

“You didn’t tell me you were screwing women in every city you played in, did you?”

“That wasn’t a lie. You never asked if we were exclusive. I thought you knew we were just having fun. I’ve only ever tried to be with just one woman before and that went to hell. But since you’ve been gone, I’ve missed you so damn much.”

Oh, wow. He is laying it on thicker than a brick wall. Still, I can’t help but ask, “Who was the one woman you tried to be with?”

“It doesn’t matter now.”

“No, seriously. Tell me, Christian.” When he doesn’t answer me, I go with my hunch. “Was it maybe Preston’s sister Maya?”

His eyes widen, and the man goes as still as a frozen ice sculpture. “How did you…how did you know about her? That son of a bitch told you?”

“Preston told me that you got her pregnant during her freshman year of college.”

With a scoff, he scrubs both hands down his face. “Well, now you know why he wants to kill me.”

I have to choose my next words very carefully because I will not be the one who tells him about Finley if he hasn’t figured it out for himself. “Preston doesn’t want to kill you. You two were good friends, right? He just blames himself for introducing you to his little sister, for wrongly trusting you.”

Christian’s arms fall to his sides. “I know he trusted me, and I fucked up everything! One mistake cost me my best friend and the girl I…” He stops speaking so abruptly that I have no doubt what he was about to say.

“The girl you what?” I want him to say it. If he does, then, I don’t know, maybe not all hope is lost and there’s a chance for the three of them to be a real family. I like Maya and know she’s not over Christian yet. While she said she blames being a single mother on her lack of dating, Christian is the only man she’s ever been with, as if no other man could compete with the memory of him.

“Loved, okay. I thought I loved Maya and that she felt the same about me. But after I knocked her up, Preston wouldn’t let me anywhere near her again!”

“He kept you from her?”

“Hell yes. I couldn’t even say her name to ask about her without him kicking my ass all over the ice. He literally threw me and all my shit out of the apartment we shared.”

“Can you really blame him, Christian? He’s protective of Maya and he trusted you to be safe with her. She was just out of high school!”

“I know all of that, Elle.” I’m a little surprised when he uses my actual name and not the nickname he and his son use. “And I’ve apologized. I offered to go with Maya to the doctor and shit until she made her decision. I even sent her money in case she needed it for whichever way she went. Preston told me she didn’t want anything to do with me anymore and to stay away from her.”

Could there be more to the story? More than Preston shared, that makes Christian look a little bit less like an asshole?

“I want to believe you. I do. But I find it hard to trust anything you say, Christian.”

“Funny, since there’s only one of us here who is a proven liar,” he replies with his jaw clenched tight. “Tell me the truth. Tell me you haven’t been pretending with him,” he says through gritted teeth.

Taking a deep breath, I give him what he wants. “Fine. Preston and I weren’t really together.”

“I fucking knew it!” he exclaims in triumph.

“At first,” I quickly add. “When that photo of us kissing was taken, we weren’t actually a couple yet. But then we got to know each other better and became closer. It is real now. It has been since the first night I went to D.C.”

“And you actually believe he feels the same way? He’s just using you to get back at me, Ellie! Can’t you see that?”

“I thought so at first, but it’s more than that for both of us now.”

“I find that very hard to believe. He’s turning you against me, just like he did with Maya.”

“That’s still your version of what happened, not either of theirs.”

“Then ask Maya! She knows I tried.”

“Does she?”

“Yes!” he shouts. “When my calls and texts stopped getting through to her, I wrote her actual fucking letters.”

“Letters? You wrote letters?”

He nods. “Every day for weeks until I got called up to the majors.”

“You wrote her every day, huh?”

“Handwritten letters every single day. And she never responded to any of them. I haven’t spoken to her since the day she told me…since the day she told me she was pregnant.”

I hate to admit that he actually sounds believable, like he may have really cared about her, especially if he wrote her love letters.

Jesus. The only time I’ve ever seen him with an actual writing utensil in his hand is when he’s using one to sign autographs.

Still treading very carefully, like I’m walking on a frozen lake in spring, I ask, “Did you happen to see Maya at the D.C. games?”

“Of course I saw her. It was the first time I had seen her since that day. I don’t know how many years it’s been, five or six maybe. She wasn’t at Preston’s away games where we fought. At least I don’t think she was…” He says this as if he looked for her in the stands those games. Was he unable to resist asking about her? If so, is that what set Preston off both times?

“You didn’t notice anything different about her?”

Christian’s golden brow furrows. “What do you mean? Maya looked exactly the same as she did the day we met.”

“Forget it,” I say before the subject of Finley comes up. “We got way off topic. You and I are done, so you should leave. Preston will be here any minute.”

“He will, huh? Maybe I’ll wait around to say hello.”

“Christian, please go.” I walk past him to the door, holding it open, hoping he’ll take the hint.

“Fine. But I’m not giving up on you. I won’t let him screw things up for me again. Just tell me what it will take, Ellie.”

“Just so you know, I hate the name Ellie. It makes me feel like a cow,” I inform him, even if it’s adorable when Finley says it. “And there’s nothing you can do.”

“Do you want a ring? Is that what it will take? Because I’ll do it. I’ll buy a diamond and ask you to marry me if that’s what it will take to prove I’m serious about giving up other women.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” I tell him with a roll of my eyes. “You are nowhere close to being ready to marry any woman.”

“Oh yeah? Well, I stopped fucking around. I haven’t been with anyone since the night we broke up.”

“You mean you ended things with me that morning and slept with someone else hours later?” I ask.

Christian winces. “Yes. But that was the only time. After I was with her, I realized how much I missed you. That was before I heard anything about you and Preston. I was going to come see you after the first game, and you were waiting for him at the gate. Now I know that you actually cared about me. You didn’t want me just because I’m a millionaire athlete. You knew me better than anyone. I could just be myself with you.”

“Stop stalling and go. It’s too late. There’s absolutely nothing you can say or do to change my mind. Goodbye, Christian.”

“This isn’t over,” he says as he thankfully walks away.

I wish I knew if he meant even half of what he said to me.

Not that it matters. I’m with Preston now and I…I think I’m falling in love with him. Even if I still cared about Christian more than a tiny teaspoon amount that he occupies in my heart, he wouldn’t deserve a second chance.