Page 129 of The Wildest One

“We have weight training at nine. That means we’ll probably hit the ice around eleven. I’m sure we’ll have some meetings after. Coach is going to want to talk about the Vancouver game since we haven’t yet.” He put his hand behind my head, his hazel eyes focused on mine. “What time do you plan on getting there?”

I drew in a big breath. “Probably really early. I’m sure my desk looks like a tornado hit it, and my email certainly needs some TLC, which will take me hours to get through. I want to review the footage that was shot while we were away and see what we can use for promos. Rather than being there all night, I prefer to just start before the sun rises.”

His fingers spread out, covering almost half of my head. “Promise me something?”

I nodded. “Sure.”

“No matter what is said between you and your father, you’ll tell me the truth. You won’t hold anything back from me. And whatever happens, it’s not going to affect us.”

My stomach flipped, and I wished I hadn’t eaten all that food because now I was nauseous. “Those are some big promises, Beck.”

He rested his head on the back cushion. “How much do you care about me?”

The wordlovecould easily slip through my lips. That was how much I cared.

But for some reason, “More than anything,” was what came out.

His hand moved to my chin. “Then promise.”

My eyes closed, the tears building and burning behind them as I whispered, “I promise.”

I couldn’t sleep.

There was absolutely nothing worse than tossing and turning in Beck’s bed, staring at walls, the ceiling, my mind a racecourse that never stopped circling, fearing that I was keeping him awake.

Instead of hoping I would at some point fall asleep and finally get some much-needed rest, I climbed out of bed at around five in the morning and quietly took a shower and got ready for work.

Before I left, I went over to his side of the bed and nuzzled my face in his neck, whispering, “I’ll see you at the arena.”

He reached his arm back since he was facing the opposite direction from where I was standing, and he put his hand on my cheek and groaned, “I’ll see you later.”

I kissed his fingers as I removed them from my face, and I let myself out of his house and drove to the arena. I gripped the strap of my bag as I headed inside, taking the elevator to the executive-level floor.

As I was walking down the hallway toward my office, nearing my father’s, which I had to pass on the way to mine, I heard, “Jolene, come in.”

I stilled from the sound of my father’s voice.

“And shut the door.”

THIRTY-THREE

Beck

Mark

When you get to the arena, come to my office. I want to speak to you.

That was the first thing I saw on my phone when I opened my eyes and reached for my cell on the nightstand and looked through the notifications that had come in overnight.

Boss man wanted to talk.

I could only guess what this conversation was going to be about.

Since Jolie had left just a few minutes ago and I couldn’t really fall back asleep, I saw no reason to drag out this impending conversation any further. If Mark wanted to speak to me, he was going to get me bright and early.

I threw on some workout clothes, took a premade protein shake to go, and drove to the arena, parking directly behind Jolie’s Wrangler. I sipped the shake while I took the elevator to the top floor and walked down the hallway that led to the executive offices. The arena was silent, only one overhead lightwas on, and it shone directly over the ice. And aside from Jolie and, I was assuming, her father, only a few other people were here—the engineers who maintained the building and the rink and a couple of security guards.

As I got deeper down the hallway, I heard Mark’s voice, and the closer I got to his office, the louder he became. From the midway point between the elevator and the office at the end, I could see Jolie’s closed door, and there wasn’t any light coming out from beneath it. Which told me the conversation, which I figured they were having now, was in his office.