Page 23 of Your Biggest Downfall (Ravens Hockey #3)

nova

I woke up to my phone repeatedly ringing. My head was throbbing. I was tired emotionally and physically. I didn’t have to report to work until Monday, and it was Sunday.

“Mami,” I said, the oxygen leaving my lungs as I frantically pawed at my sheets looking for my phone.

I picked up the phone without looking at the caller ID. “Hello?”

“We’re in a fucking crisis. Your contract is extended, and you need to get to the arena immediately.”

It was Iris. She was panicked, and I could hear her rifling through papers. This meant only one thing. There was a PR nightmare.

“Okay. I’ll be there within the hour.”

I hung up, grateful my contract was extended because of this crisis. Truthfully, I was even more grateful I heard Luna wrestling out of her bed.

“Who was that?” she called out from her room.

“Iris. Some PR crisis. I gotta go in, but good news, I’ll be able to pay the rent.”

“Whoo,” Luna said, and I laughed.

I pulled up my social media app to see what the heck was going on before I grabbed my clothes and headed out, and the moment I pulled up the team’s account on the video app...

“Luna,” I shouted. “Luna. Luna.”

At the same time I screamed for her, there was pounding on the front door.

Luna was in the doorframe, looking between me and the door. “This feels like what happened last night. What the hell is going on?”

I jumped out of bed and shoved my phone in her face. When she grabbed it, I turned around and ran toward the bathroom, where I puked into the toilet.

The pounding on the door continued as I hurled up my stomach contents.

“It’s him,” Luna shouted. “How the fuck did he get here so fast?”

“He stayed the night,” I responded.

I’d seen him before I went to bed through the peephole. He’d passed out sitting up against the door. I thought about telling him to come inside, but I wanted him to suffer a little.

Now I was the one suffering.

I got up from the ground, splashed water on my face, and looked at myself in the mirror. I took a deep breath and walked back into the living room.

The only noises in the apartment were the pounding on the door and the shuffle of my feet as I moved toward Luna.

“The comments don’t know who the girl is. Everyone is saying it’s a puck bunny.”

I nodded, taking my phone back. This would be okay. This had to be okay.

“Do you think Iris is inviting me in to fire me?” I asked.

Luna shook her head. “No. I don’t think she knows.”

I hesitated and looked at the photo. “My tattoos are visible.”

We both stood there while the pounding continued, and I zoomed in on the photo. They were there, but the photo was so blurry it was hard to make them out.

“You don’t wear short sleeves at work. Iris has never seen your sleeves. I’m the only person right now who knows, and it’ll stay that way.” Luna hugged me tightly.

“Nova,” Austin screamed from the other side of the door. “Please. I didn’t know.”

“I have to deal with him. He won’t stop.”

Luna sighed. “I take back what I told you yesterday. He’s no good for you, Nova.”

She gave me a quick hug and then moved to my dresser, taking out one of my work outfits for me and laying it out before disappearing into her bedroom. I closed my eyes, surprised that I hadn’t cried this morning.

I opened the door, and Austin almost fell forward. If I thought he looked like shit last night, now he looked terrible.

“Nova. I won’t ever say anything. I’m so sorry. I had no idea?—”

“Stop.” I spoke calmly but sternly. “Did they call you for a meeting?”

“Yes.”

“You’re going to the meeting. You will be there and then go wherever they want to send you.”

This wasn’t the first time this sort of thing happened in professional sports. Plenty of guys got caught with their pants down. If anything, my professional self thrived in this kind of setting, which was probably helping me maintain my cool.

“I want to make it up to you—” he started to say, but I shook my head.

“No,” I said coolly. “You’ll go wherever they want to send you because that might be the only way to save your career.”

He nodded and tried to reach out to me, but I stopped him, throwing his hand away from my body. “We cannot be friends, Austin. I won’t allow you to drag me down with you.”

“Nova. I don’t know how to say sorry.”

I closed my eyes. “Listen to me.” I paused and opened them again. “Are you listening?”

He nodded frantically.

“My tattoos are visible in this photo. While I cover most of them up for work, you can still see them?—”

“It’s blurry,” Austin said.

“Shut up. It’s my turn to talk.”

“Okay.” He took a step backward and looked down.

I felt bad for a fleeting second, but I also felt like this was the first time anyone in his life had ever given him pushback. His mom babied him, and all last year, she’d had to travel with him because he’d gotten caught with that fake ID.

“Do you care about me?”

He just stared down.

“Do you?” I repeated.

His eyes snapped to mine. He looked exhausted, but a smirk spread on his lips. “I thought I wasn’t supposed to talk.”

“Austin,” I snapped. “I’m being fucking serious.”

He threw up his hands. “Okay. Okay. I’m sorry.”

He walked a little bit closer, and I pulled him inside by his shirt and shut the door behind him. “I don’t want my neighbors to hear and record this.”

He nodded. “Good idea.”

He reached out, and this time I didn’t pull away. I let his fingers touch my cheek. He was soft and warm, even with his calloused fingers.

“So much, Nova. So fucking much.”

“Don’t tell them who the girl is.”

He pulled away and nodded. “I wasn’t planning on it. I promise on my life. I told Ledger, who already called me, that it was a puck bunny.”

The words hurt me, him reducing me to some fuck toy. So much about last night was unresolved, but this overshadowed the pain from yesterday.

“If I leave.” His voice shook. “Will you wait for me?”

I closed my eyes for a moment. He sounded so young and innocent—almost childlike. I slowly shook my head. He reached for me, and I didn’t pull away when he rubbed the back of my hand.

“No,” I said softly.

“Please,” he begged. “No one in my life has ever waited for me. Everyone sees me as this failure. You understand.”

I did. I knew why he did drugs and drank, but he treated people like shit, and there were consequences for his actions.

“Take responsibility for this, Austin. Show empathy and compassion, and maybe you’ll learn something.”

He nodded and swallowed audibly. “Okay.”

“You should go.”

He turned toward the door and grabbed the knob.

“Walk down the block before you call a ride share.”

“I will.”

My heart splintered. “Austin?” I called out as he stepped into the hallway.

He turned around but kept his head hung low. “Yeah?”

“You can do this.”

A slow smile spread on his face before disappearing. “You’ve always believed in me, Supernova. Even when you shouldn’t.”

He disappeared down the hall, and I shut the door, letting myself breathe while I processed what had happened. I wasn’t going to let this tear me down. I was good at my job, and Iris didn’t know that. So I could be one step ahead of her.

I grabbed a shirt that Luna had laid out for me.

It was a basic white button-down, and I added a long-sleeve thermal underneath.

I didn’t give a fuck that it was almost summer and I was going to sweat.

I was determined to cover my tattoos and not let anything peek out.

I pulled on my black work pants, swiped on mascara, and said bye to Luna.

I was not going to fall apart.

Today was going to be my bitch .

Yes, there was a photo of me on the internet with a famous hockey player, who was illegally in a bar, doing coke off my ass, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me.

Yes, I lost my virginity yesterday to said guy.

And yes, the guy I was kind of falling for was going to cover for me, get sent away, and possibly lose his entire career for one night that I was one hundred percent a part of.

No. I refused to let myself think about any of that. I inhaled deeply as I opened the door and walked down the hallway.

I could fall apart later.