Hockey Christmas (A Holiday Sports Romance Love Story)

by Naomi Niles

  I’d like to think that Rhett was someone I could trust, but he’d proven to me on more than one occasion that wasn’t the case, so as much as it killed me to keep it a secret, I knew that it was best for everyone involved.

  So as we got into bed much later in the evening, I allowed her to drift off into a worried sleep while I forced myself to stay awake. Then once I was absolutely certain that she was sleeping, I snuck out of the room and I crept into the bathroom where I could ready myself in peace.

  I stared into the mirror for a few moments, just drinking in my stressed, haggard face. When I considered how healthy I looked the first time I saw Rhett, it was a massive difference to how I appeared now. My face was pale and sick-looking, my skin was spotty, and my entire aura was that of someone who didn’t know what the hell to do next. I was a mess, and I hated having to see him while I looked that way.

  But it didn’t seem like I had any choice, so I grabbed my baggiest, most unflattering clothes to cover up my baby bump. Maybe this repellent look would be a good thing; maybe I didn’t want him to like me anymore.

  But I knew that it was pointless even thinking that. Rhett’s adoration had kept me going through the difficult summer months, and I wished that I could be in a position to obtain that again. Obviously, that wasn’t going to be possible, so instead, I hoped that this was going to be a meeting that cleared everything up. I hoped that Rhett had all the answers as to what was going on with Brad. Maybe he had a plan to fix all of this. That would make almost everything worth it!

  As I wandered nervously down the stairs and out towards the reception area of the college, my heart pounded heavily. I kept breathing deeply, trying to keep myself calm, but it wasn’t working at all. I was already a nervous wreck–I had to hold my arms across my body, just to stop myself from falling apart.

  And then I spotted him standing there, and my entire body went into meltdown. The world fell out from beneath my feet and my head started to spin like crazy. It didn’t help that he looked so gorgeous when I felt so dreadful. It didn’t feel fair!

  Keep calm, I told myself. Just get through this.

  But the walk towards him was long and tortuous, so I kept my gaze fixed on my feet, which was the only place that they felt safe. By the time I forced myself to raise my eyes to meet his, my first thought was that he actually looked kind of relieved to see me, which I hadn't really been expecting.

  “Danica,” he gasped, stepping towards me. “Thank you so much for coming to meet me. I didn’t think you would.”

  Ah okay, he didn’t think I would turn up.

  “No,” I agreed, not able to return his smile. “Nor did I.” I felt stiff and awkward, but that was out of my control. In that moment, it didn’t feel like the amicable ease would ever return between us. It was almost as if there was too much water under the bridge now.

  “Can we go somewhere to talk?” As I really looked him up and down, scanning over the familiar body that was somehow now strange to me, I noticed that he had something in his hands. A stack of papers, which clearly meant something. It was obviously the key as to what the hell was going on here.

  “Sure,” I muttered, my curiosity getting the better of me. “Follow me; let’s go to the common room.”

  As we walked in silence, my anxiety started to eat me up. This was the weirdest situation that I’d ever been in, and I had no idea what to even do with myself. Rhett seemed just as uncomfortable with me, which left a horrible, thick silence hanging in the air. It was obvious that neither of us knew how to be around one another anymore.

  But that all changed once we got inside, and Rhett could finally unload the secret he was so desperate to tell me. He became animated as he told me all that he’d found out about Brad and his sketchy dealings–well, more bordering on criminal activity, which was an odd association. He just didn’t seem like that sort of man at all, so it was hard to put him in that box.

  At first, I didn’t believe it at all–or maybe I just didn’t want to–but the evidence was sitting there in front of me, and it was overwhelming. He really was this terrible person who had done awful things, and I actually couldn’t believe it.

  Mom had married a conman, and her entire universe was about to be shattered around her. It hurt even more that there was nothing that I could do to stop that. I couldn’t soften the blow at all.

  It seemed like my initial suspicions were right. There was a reason why the wedding had happened so quickly. I just wasn’t sure what the reason for that was. Sure, it clearly had something to do with his crimes, but what?

  Then it all became painfully obvious when Rhett explained the involvement with one of Brad’s cover up companies and her law firm. I could only assume that she had gotten too close to the truth, and he’d seduced her as a way to distract her.

  But why get married?

  It didn’t make any sense. Not really. But then again, who was I to try and figure out the mind of a criminal? There was obviously some reason that made perfect sense to him.

  But why did it have to be my mom that got caught in the crossfire? Why did the first man she introduced into her life after twenty years have to be this horrible douche bag? It just didn’t seem fair.

  “He’s left Mom,” I heard myself admitting to Rhett. “He vanished the night before last, and no one knows where he is.”

  “Oh shit.” He understood how important this was, and we both panicked about what this meant for all of us. “What do you think that means?” he asked me. “Do you think that he’s got what he needed? Or that maybe the police are getting close?”

  I shrugged my shoulders, considering both of them options. Neither of them were good; they both meant that the wedding was a scam, which meant my mom was about to get her heart broken all over again. She was going to fall apart, and all I could do was help her to pick up the pieces. I’d never felt so hopeless in my entire life.

  “She’s staying here with me,” I told him. “She’s absolutely heartbroken.”

  “I’m so sorry; this is all such a mess.” He held his head in his hands before continuing. “My mom doesn’t know that I found this out, but during this research I did, I found out that he got a little too close to the law around the time he left her, too, and I wonder if this is a similar situation.”

  “Yeah,” I muttered, panicking. This was absolutely terrifying, but I knew that I couldn’t just ignore it. “Whatever it is that you’re doing, I’ll help you.” I finally said. “Whatever we need to do to solve this, I’ll be there. I cannot let my mom get hurt for nothing.”

  As I looked at Rhett, I started to feel a stirring inside of me, so I broke eye contact quickly. I couldn’t have any feelings for him now, not in the middle of all of this.

  He and I would have to wait.

  Chapter 36

  Rhett

  There was a moment, when Danica gave me a meaningful look, that I very nearly leant in to kiss her. I even felt my entire body gravitate towards her, but I bottled it at the very last second and I fixed my eyes upon my shoes.

  Danica might not have known what I was about to do, but my body did, and it was freaking out accordingly. My heart was pounding, my mind was racing, and I was tingling all over.

  “Erm, yeah, thanks,” I replied awkwardly instead, trying to cover up my humiliation. “That means a lot.” I was glad that she was back on my side, and I didn’t want to screw that up already. Not when we had so much to lose.

  “Why did you leave?” I suddenly heard her ask quietly. My eyes flicked back up at her, and when I saw her again, all of the boldness that she’d been embracing before was gone, and it was like she was a shell of a former self. The shell that I’d left behind when I ran away.

  Guilt washed over me as I realized that after everything, I’d probably made the wrong decision after all. I should have stayed, I should have explained, I never should have cut communication. That was stupid, and I couldn’t help but regret it.

  “I… I’m sorry,” I replied sadly. “I wis
h that I hadn't gone. I should have stayed, but Dad threatened me. He threatened you…”

  “So why didn’t you just tell me that?” she snapped angrily. “Why did you just ignore me when I messaged you?” Her face flushed red, which proved just how upset she was. Embarrassed, too, which made me feel even worse.

  “He said that he was monitoring our communications, and that-”

  “Wait,” she jumped in quickly, a panicked look spread across our face. “Does he know about us?”

  “I don’t think so,” I shook my head, hoping that I was telling the truth. “I think he might suspect, but he doesn’t know for sure.”

  “Oh God.” Even that was enough to panic her. “So he has that hanging over our heads.” Her breaths were coming out laboured and stressed now, which had me worrying, too.

  “It’ll be fine, though,” I tried my best to reassure her. “I have far more on him than he does us.”

  “Mmmm,” she replied, seemingly unconvinced. I wished that I had the words to let her know that everything would be all right, but I didn’t. I couldn’t lie and tell her that we were all going to get out of things fine, because I honestly wasn’t sure that we would. “Okay, well, I better be getting back.”

  As she stood up, the awkward atmosphere took over the room once more, and we remembered that we didn’t know how to relate to one another anymore.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow?” I stuffed my hands in my pockets as I spoke, not knowing what else to do with myself.

  “Yes,” she nodded sharply. “And we’ll tell Mom everything; she needs to know now. It’s only fair.”

  “Of course.” We stood there in silence for a few moments, before I felt forced to put an end to this. “Well, I’ll see you then.” And I turned on my heels, walking away.

  As I made my way back to the hotel, the oddness of our encounter went from my mind, and instead I was left with a glad feeling that at least things had gone well. Okay, there was still a lot of danger around us all, but at least she and Lyla were safe in that dorm room. At least I knew where they both were, and Danica was talking to me once again–however strained that had been, I had to see a positive in there somewhere. Now we just needed to form some sort of plan that we all agreed upon.

  Now all I needed to worry about was the location of my father. It was so weird that he’d run away and was nowhere to be seen. It made me very suspicious about what the hell he was up to. When he’d left my mom, we didn’t see him again for years, but I had the feeling that we weren’t going to get quite so lucky this time.

  But there was nothing that I could do about that, so what I needed to do was to head back to my hotel room for a good night’s sleep, then I would meet with Lyla and Danica in the morning. I would feel much better once we had an idea about what we were going to do, and I was certain that as a lawyer, Lyla would have some good input. She would understand these documents much better than I ever could, and I had a feeling that her expertise was going to come in handy.

  A fatigue overcame me as I wandered up the hotel stairs, and I couldn’t wait to be able to switch off and sleep for a while. But of course, as was typical of my life, that was never going to happen. As I swung the door open, happy to be alone once more, I found a shadow in my room. One that was attached to the very last person in the world that I wanted to see.

  “Dad?” I gasped, desperately needing rest, not this. “What the hell are you doing here?” At least I knew where he was now. But very quickly, the fear that he incited in me was replaced with anger. “You can’t be here, you know? I’ll call the police!” I snapped, wanting him to see that I wouldn’t bow down to him this time. I’d made that mistake once before, and that felt like one time too many.

  “That would be a mistake,” he replied simply, standing up to tower over me, using his intimidation method he liked best. “I know you think that you have me in a corner, but you don’t. You’re playing with the big boys here, Rhett,” he warned.

  “What do you mean?” My heart raced. How did he seem to know that I had information on him? I’d done that totally in secret! There was just no way. And yet, from the glint in his eye, I could tell that he did know, and that I was an idiot for thinking that I could win even this battle, never mind the war.

  He watched me intently as he pulled a picture out of his bag and I snatched it from him, wanting to see what he thought he had over me. He couldn’t do anything to hurt me this time, so I was no longer afraid.

  But it wasn’t a photograph directly linking to me. He was using someone else to get at me, and that was agony. Much as I didn’t care what this psychopath did to me, I didn’t want anyone else to get hurt.

  I found myself staring at a picture of Danica, completely unaware, on the college campus. My thought that he would have forgotten about her was completely wrong. Clearly he was still very much interested in her whereabouts, and he had someone following her and taking pictures of her to prove that.

  “What?” I asked. “Why?”

  “I’ve had someone following her ever since she went back to college,” he smirked at me, knowing that this was going to upset me. “I wanted to make sure that you kept your promise and that you didn’t contact her. Which, of course you did.” He shook his head smiling. “Just can’t help yourself. Just like me, you are.”

  “You can’t just do that,” I snapped angrily, ignoring the one comment that he’d said just to rile me up. “That’s against every single one of her rights.”

  He laughed mirthlessly, which sent a bolt of anger that raced right through me. How fucking dare he? Who did this dickhead think he was? Before I even knew it, a red mist had descended and I was gunning for him. I started racing at him with my fists flying. I needed to hit him, to cause him pain, and there was nothing that would stop me.

  But I didn’t get the satisfaction that I wanted, that I so desperately needed. My dad ducked out of the way, and I ended up bashing my hand against the nearest wall, injuring only myself.

  “Fuck,” I cried out angrily, growing increasingly frustrated with myself as I showed even more weakness.

  “Do you not want to know what I found out?” he asked in a smarmy voice, as if I hadn't just tried to punch him. “It affects you, you know?”

  I half wanted to ask him, but I didn’t want him to know that he’d gotten to me, so I stayed silent and stubborn, crossing my arms across my chest to disguise my reddened hand.

  “Danica is pregnant,” he announced with pride, to which I shook my head sarcastically. He would try anything to hurt me this man. But then he handed me a photo which showed another angle of Danica, and a very clear baby bump.

  “That could just be the way she’s standing,” I said lamely, trying to justify it. But deep down, I already knew that it was the truth. It was totally obvious.

  So why the hell hadn't she told me?

  Why was I being forced to find out in such a dreadful manner?

  My heart thumped painfully, rattling against my rib cage as I thought about everything we’d been through while she was keeping this information inside. I hadn't even noticed what she was wearing when I met her tonight, I’d only been focused on her natural beauty, but thinking back, she had been wearing baggy clothes that weren’t her style at all.

  “I also found this.” Dad gave me a positive pregnancy test, which I held delicately between my fingers. “In the garbage at home. She’s known about this baby for months.”

  And if he hadn't dug the knife in enough, he continued. “Of course, the baby is yours. As far as I can see anyway, I haven’t seen evidence of her screwing anyone else, except her stepbrother.” There was a disgust on his tone, which I chose to ignore. I knew for a fact that she wouldn’t have been with anyone else; she just wasn’t that sort of girl, which meant only one thing.

  The baby was mine. I was about to be a father.

  Me, a father. It was almost unbelievable.

  I was too shocked to even reply, never mind argue. I just couldn’t wrap my head around it
all. Danica was pregnant, carrying my baby, and I’d acted like such a horrible douche bag. I went up and down, then I ran away leaving her all alone. What sort of father did that make me? No wonder she didn’t want to know me; no wonder she was so reluctant to even give me the time of day again. If it hadn't been for this horrible situation, she might never have spoken to me again, and that would have been all that I deserved.

  Dad took advantage of my silence. “If you don’t stop this little investigation of yours, things could get really ugly for you and Danica,” he warned.

  I glanced up into his eyes, and I could see just how deadly serious he was. I didn’t have to think about it too long; there was only one obvious solution here.

  “Of course,” I conceded. “I’ll stop. That’s no issue.”

  “Good,” he replied, satisfied with my answer.

  With that, he left, leaving me by myself with only my thoughts for company. I slumped down on the bed, feeling terror course through my veins. I was half tempted to phone Danica, to ask her about it, but I decided that would be better as a face-to-face conversation.

  I needed to process it first.

  Chapter 37

  Danica

  Walking away from Rhett was the hardest thing that I’d ever had to do–especially with such an awful atmosphere behind us. It was so weird that neither of us knew what to do around one another, but I hoped that would eventually subside.

  “I wish that I hadn't gone. I should have stayed, but dad threatened me. He threatened you…”

  I thought about Rhett’s words over and over, wondering what he meant by threaten. I was so blown away by his revelation that I didn’t even think to ask. I had been so determined to believe that he had just vanished because he couldn’t stand me anymore, that to learn it was something different was a massive shock.