Page 47 of Through the Five-Hole

“Have as many copies as you want.If you publish that article?—”

“If I publish the article, what?”she asked, crossing her arms in front of her.“I’m sure you want things to get better for you, so I’ll leave?”

I turned away from her, dropping the boxers I’d held in my hands down on the bed.

“What did I do?”she questioned.“I’m simply showing them a side of you?—”

I whipped around to find her right behind me.She looked up at me, and I looked down at her.

“Listen, I’m telling you, that is not to be printed.I mean it.”

“I don’t understand.If you’d just allow this side of you?—”

“If I’d just allow this side of me what?”

“If you’d just allow people to see the real you?—”

“Look, I won’t tell you this again.You can do your best to fix this situation for me, but I’m going to ask you to stay out of my personal private life and keep your mouth closed when it comes to it.Got it?”

“But, Colton, you don’t get it?—”

“No, you don’t get it.I’m in the light enough.People don’t need to know every time I take a fucking breath.They don’t need to know about my personal struggles.”

I had no clue what had come over me, but as I stood there looking down into her face, I saw fear in her eyes for the very first time, and that look said it all.Maybe she was right.Maybe I was just like him, and if that were the case, that meant I was just like my father, because this anger, this attitude I had, was exactly how my father would have reacted.

I slowly backed up, making room between us, and then I grabbed my wallet and my keys.

“Colton, please stay and talk to me.I don’t understand,” she said, taking a step toward me.

“No, Emma,” I said, shaking my head.

“Where are you going to go?”

“I just think that maybe we need some space.Have a good night.”

I pulled the door open and allowed it to slam shut and made my way to the elevator.I didn’t care what she thought or what her rules were.There was no way in hell I wanted any of that information getting out, nor did I care if she didn’t want me drinking.I was going to wind down and enjoy my brothers’ company, and I knew for a fact that the beer was going to go down well tonight.

Chapter Twelve

Emma

I satin the dimly lit room working away on organizing the upcoming interview withThe Blue Line Bulletinand had also spent time working out the details for the in-home interview withOff-Ice Affairs, the newest and hottest magazine publication in the hockey world.

When I was finished sending off the final email asking for the interview date for the in-home interview, I filled my mug with the last of the tea I’d ordered and sat down on the edge of the bed.

I grabbed my phone, flipping through every article I could find about Colton Fox, because I couldn’t help but wonder why he’d kept telling me that people didn’t need to know about his personal struggles, but no matter how much I read, or how many years I went back, there was nothing more than the mention of the gambling, which in my eyes wasn’t really as bad as they’d made it out to be.I’d seen many other sports stars in worse situations than that.

It was close to two by the time I decided to shut everything down and crawl into bed.I’d hoped that Colton would have been back before now so we could have had a conversation, but he wasn’t.

I got ready for bed, crawled in and had just drifted off when I heard Knox and Dylan giving Colton shit outside the door.I lay there staring up at the ceiling, listening to him swear and then laugh.

“Shhhhh…” he said, laughing as he pushed the door open.

“Get your ass to bed,” Dylan whispered, pulling the door closed.

“Yeah, go get her, big guy.”Knox chuckled.

“He isn’t going to get anything in the shape he’s in.”Dylan laughed.