Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 82651 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 413(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82651 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 413(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Right down to the hotel lobby.
And then I’m confronted with my worst nightmare.
A sea of reporters all waiting for me when I get off the elevator.
All wanting to know the answer to the question I’ve asked myself over and over again.
Am I anything like Arco?
Chapter 26
Simone
Tears are streaming down my eyes as I point the remote at the TV to turn it off. There’s a little over two minutes left of the game but there’s no sense watching anymore.
The Cold Fury are getting ready to win their second Stanley Cup. They’re up by four goals and Vancouver pulled their goalie. It’s pretty much sealed up. I linger a moment longer, just so I can get another look at Van. He’s currently on the bench, but his line will be taking the ice soon. When he steps out there with his team, I smile at the TV through my tears and then turn it off. I can’t be happier for the team—my brothers, Van—that they won. But I don’t think I can bear to watch that smiling celebration on the ice as they carry the Cup around.
The final series went seven games as predicted. They lost the two last week in Vancouver when the article about Van came out, not that that was what caused the losses. Vancouver is just a damn good team, and with home advantage, they beat us.
But they only beat us by one goal each game. When they played us in Raleigh, we beat them each time by several goals. Thus, when just a week after the article came out and the Cold Fury was back in Raleigh for game seven—the championship game—I was confident we’d win.
My parents begged me to fly to Raleigh with them to attend the game, but I just couldn’t. I’d been back home in Quebec City for days now and I felt safe and secure there. It was the best place for me where I could distance myself from everything that was Van.
When he walked out of the hotel room last week, offering to let me keep the room and enjoy the game, I’d wanted to toss my shoe and hit him in the back of his head as he left. The door was barely closed and I sprang into action.
Shower. Clothing. Packed bags. Quick text to Lucas and Max that I was leaving.
Then I was gone.
Changed my flight and took the next available one back to Raleigh.
There, I worked efficiently. Did some laundry, repacked my bags, and went to sleep. The next morning, I drove to Lulu’s and gave my immediate resignation. Collecting my last paycheck, I then drove straight to the airport and booked a flight home. By that afternoon, Mom and Dad were opening up the front door and welcoming me home and into their arms.
That first night, I just wanted to be left alone. The Cold Fury was playing the second Vancouver game, but I went to my room and slept. I was exhausted from the cross-country travels and mentally frayed from Van pushing me away. Part of me wonders if I did a disservice by not fighting harder, but something inside of me told me that he had to figure this out himself. Until he did that, I wasn’t sticking around.
The next morning, both of my parents were waiting in the kitchen for me with coffee, pastries, and looks that were both worried and determined. They were going to find out what caused their daughter to come running back home.
So I told them everything and I didn’t hold back on anything but the actual sex details. But I did make it clear that I was the pursuer. The aggressor. That it wasn’t anything but casual, but then my feelings got caught up. I told them what I knew about Van’s history, since it was all out in the open now, and last, I told them how he pushed me away day before yesterday.
My mom cooed all over me, and my dad cursed in French, and since I was fluent in it, I knew that he had some nefarious plan to string Van up by the balls.
But then it was over. They were aware of my heartbreak and that I really just wanted to hang at home for a while and figure things out. That day, I went out and started applying for jobs. Until I figured out what I wanted to be when I grew up, I had to start making some money to pay my parents back. I also needed to pay Lucas for the car he bought me, which was sitting back in Raleigh. Perhaps he could sell it, and I didn’t need it here with such great public transportation.
So here I was watching game seven by myself. Mom and Dad had gone to Raleigh to be there for their sons’ victory. They tried their hardest to get me to come, but I refused. I knew Lucas and Max would understand, but I just couldn’t be there…close to Van. As far as I was concerned, being in the same state with him was too close.