by Celia Wild
“Why don’t you tell me what is going on?” She asked. “I can tell something is bothering you. You can talk to people. It’s okay.”
Chance stared at her blankly for a moment. “No,” he said, pushing her hand away from his wrist. “It won’t be okay if I tell you all the fucked up things going about my head about you. Let’s just keep this fake like we’re supposed to.”
He ignored the flash of pain in Arabella’s eyes by hurrying through the front door, shutting it harder than he intended. The late summer air swallowed him as he walked back to his car aroused and frustrated with himself and everything else. He sucked in deep breaths to calm the storm brewing within him.
Once behind the steering wheel, Chance put the car into drive while scrolling through his contacts for Liam.
“I’m at the club,” Liam said. “I’m about to leave though, bro. I gotta get away from this one bitch.”
“Just wait,” Chance said, flying down the interstate. “I’ll be there shortly.”
He pulled up to the club’s parking lot a few minutes later to find Lindsey stumbling back towards the club. A headache pounded at Chance’s temples as he approached the dark haired woman.
“Where’s Liam?” He snapped out.
Lindsey whirled around on teetering high heels to face him. “Liam left. He left me here at the club.”
“He left?”
“Yes, he left me here.”
“Bastard,” Chance grumbled out, fed up with the night in general. He started to walk back towards his car when Lindsey shot forward. The force of her weight caused him to stumble into the hood of a car with Lindsey pressed up against him.
“He is a bastard,” Lindsey breathed out, the smell of vodka thick on her breath. “And you are too, but I don’t care.”
Repulsion filled him. Pushing away her wandering hands, Chance grabbed her by the elbows to push her away as well. “I don’t think so. I don’t go cross lines with my teammates or friends.”
Lindsey’s eyes narrowed at him.
“If I were you, I’d take the opportunity now before it passes. We both know Arabella won’t ever fuck you. She won’t ever fuck another guy ever.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Chance asked, thoroughly irritated with Lindsey’s wandering hands. They weren’t soft like Arabella’s rubbing at the side of his neck, and he swatted them away.
“Oh come on,” Lindsey slurred out. “Don’t tell me you don’t know what happened to her.”
“No. I don’t know, so why don’t you share?”
“You have to kiss me first,” Lindsey said, pouting her lip glossed lips at him. “Arabella would kill me if I told you, so make it worth it.”
Chance opened his mouth to reply when the flash of a camera took him by surprise. He whirled around to see a group of paparazzi standing on the sidewalk, cameras angled right at them. The pit of his stomach dropped.
“Fuck,” he swore, pushing Lindsey away from him. “Get away from me, Lindsey. Some friend you are to Arabella.”
Ignoring the several yells directed at his back, Chance slipped back into his car. His heart pounded hard in his ribcage.
“Fuck,” he said, pounding the steering wheel in frustration. “Fuck, fuck.”
There was no doubt that tomorrow morning those pictures were going to surface everywhere. He was screwed beyond comprehension, and all because Arabella had to be so damned stubborn about everything.
***
Chapter Eight
Arabella
Something was wrong.
Arabella couldn’t shake the dread building in her stomach the moment she woke to find several missed calls from Lindsey throughout the morning hours, and an urgent voicemail from Robert to come in as soon as possible.
And it was about Chance. Even if no one said it, she could feel it in her gut that something drastic had happened over the weekend after Chance’s abrupt visit to her house.
She shoved all those thoughts away as readied herself for a potentially bad day. Thirty minutes later, her phone rang on her way out the door. Arabella glanced down at the caller ID to sigh in irritation before answering. “Mom, not a good time. I don’t know what’s going on, but—”
“I know what’s going on,” June said. “And honey, I’m so sorry. These football players are just scum sometimes.”
Arabella pinched the phone between her shoulder and ear while climbing into her car. Her heart thudded painfully against her ribcage as she turned the engine on.
“What is it?” She asked. “Everyone has been calling me all morning. What happened? Is it Chance?”
“It’s about Chance.”
A cold wave crashed over her. “What happened?”
“It’s all over the news this morning. He was seen with some women at a club Saturday night. There’s pictures all over the news.”
“Shit,” Arabella muttered, sitting back in the driver’s seat with a sigh. She honestly didn’t know what else to say. A part of her had expected it to happen eventually. There was a brooding side to Chance that no one could ever predict.
Tears sprang to her eyes. It was obvious that Chance’s physical needs were dictating the logical side of his brain along with the empathy of others. He obviously didn’t think twice about his actions, or what it would do to the people around them.
“You didn’t know about it?”
“No, I didn’t,” she replied, shakily. “Robert is going to be furious.”
“Are you sure you’re okay honey?” June asked, concern thick in her voice. “I know this whole thing wasn’t easy for you. Your father and I pushed you into it. For that, I’m sorry.”
She sucked in a long breath to calm the hurt in her chest. “Don’t worry about it, mom. I made the decision to go through with it. My job isn’t on the line, or my reputation. It’s Chance’s.”
A swarm of cameras crowded the front office doors when Arabella arrived fifteen minutes later. She groaned when they all turned to look at her before the flashes started.
“Arabella!”
“What do you think about the woman in the pictures last night?”
“Is it true that you and Chance are dating?”
Her head pounded at the flood of flashing lights and questions. They gathered around her, but to Arabella immense relief, it was Robert who came outside to rescue her from the crazy energy surrounding them.
“What happened?” Arabella asked once Robert ushered into the safety of the office.
Robert locked the front doors before turning to level a gaze at her. “You haven’t seen the pictures yet, have you?”
“No,” she said, her throat clenching. “How bad is it?”
His lips thinned into a frown.
“I think you need to see the pictures first before we go in to talk to Chance,” he said.
She followed him past the conference room to see Chance sitting in there already with his head resting on his folded arms. He didn’t look up as they passed by to Robert’s office.
“I want you to know that Chance is skating on thin ice,” Robert said, handing over an iPad to her. “He has been for a while with his antics, but this has nearly pushed him off the edge of his professional career.”
Arabella cradled the iPad carefully in the palm of her hand before looking down at the crystal clear photograph of Lindsey pushed up against Chance provocatively on the hood of a car. Her heart dropped to the bottom of her stomach, thudding there painfully.
How could Lindsey do something like this? She scratched that question. Lindsey’s heart had been broken far too many times that it made her reckless. With Chance, it was the fame and something else that fueled all this on. He was powerless against it.
“I can’t believe this,” she whispered, handing it back to Robert. “After all the hard work we’ve done…”
“I know,” Robert said, gravelly. “Listen, I want you to think about what you want to do about this. I’m not going to force you into something that you don’t want to do.
Especially with all the media hype around this story now.”
“What about Chance? What’s his punishment?”
“Undecided at the moment. I’m going to have a talk with him along with Coach Adams. Things like this cannot happen anymore.”
“Agreed,” she said.
Robert gazed at her for a moment. “I’m sorry, Aria. I shouldn’t have asked you to do this. I was hoping that Chance would calm down with someone like you in his life. It seemed as though it did for a moment.”
She forced herself to summon a smile, and to fight back the tears. “It’s not your fault. It’s all on him at this point.”
“It is. Take the rest of the week off. Consider it a paid vacation because the media is going to go crazy with this story.”
Arabella exited his office to find Chance standing in the hallway, blocking her way out. Just the sight of him made the pit of her stomach churn. Images of Lindsey pushed up against him flashed through her mind.
“Get out of my way,” she said, quietly.
“Just let me explain,” Chance said, ignoring the request. “It wasn’t what it looked like. It—”
“Oh really?” Bitterness swelled up in her chest quickly. “Because it looked like you were hooking up with my best friend in the parking lot after coming to my house and kissing me.”
Chance’s gaze never deterred from hers. “I didn’t kiss Lindsey. I didn’t want her at all. She practically jumped all over me.”
“That’s not what it looks like in the picture. Pictures are worth a thousand words.”
“I didn’t do anything,” he insisted, a fire now blazing in his eyes. “Just give me a chance to explain what happened.”
“I don’t want to hear it,” Arabella snapped at him. “Because of you, I have cameras being shoved into my face. Because of you, I look like a complete idiot in front of millions of people. This whole thing was to help you, and you literally just took a big dump all over the people trying to save your ass from being let go.”
She went to shove him out of the way, but Chance quickly grabbed ahold of her wrist tightly.
“I’m not stupid,” he said, darkly. “I know you’re here to help me, but you’re not so innocent out of all of this either.”
“Chance—” Robert started warningly.
Anger burned through Arabella’s skin. “What the hell have I done?”
“If you’d just let things go the way the way they want to go then none of this would have happened.”
“You’re kidding me right?”
It hit her hard then and there that Chance fully intended to use their “relationship” as a means to satisfy himself in the process because of the media scrutiny. “You’re unbelievable. I would never sleep with you just because you can’t have a piece of ass outside of this whole mess.”
“Right,” Chance said, “and you’re going to be celibate for the rest of your life because of some sort of heartache that happened to you in the past? And I’m the fucked up one?”
Slap.
Arabella’s hand stung from where it had collied perfectly in the center of Chance’s cheek. He let go of her wrist, reaching up to touch his cheek. An even darker expression filled his rugged face that had yet to be shaved.
“Don’t ever hit me again,” he said.
“Don’t ever talk about what you don’t know,” she replied, breathing heavily from the intensity of her emotions.
She turned to look at Robert who stood paralyzed in the hallway.
“I’m done,” she said. “I’m not going to do this anymore. That’s it.”
***
Chapter Nine
Chance
The week only got worse with the media shit storm that followed Chance to practice and afterwards as well. The only thing that had saved him from being benched for the entire season was Lindsey’s account of what happened. Robert wanted to do a press conference with himself and Arabella over the entire thing, but Arabella wasn’t reply to anyone. She even ignored his own phone calls and texts apologizing for what he said. Everything else around him seemed to falling apart too— including his concentration at practice.
After his fourth overthrown pass, Coach Adam’s pulled him off to the sideline.
“I know that you’re going through a lot right now with this pressure,” he began, shaking his head at the camera’s that were in the bleachers, “but, you need to get shit figured out here. We can’t risk you starting in a game if your head isn’t in it.”
“It is in it,” Chance said, ripping his helmet off in frustration. “Can people lay off me for a moment? I’m trying to get shit figured out, but no matter what I do, it’s not right.”
Unfazed with the frustration, Mark continued on steadily. “Robert and I are pushing you to succeed at this sport. Part of this sport is dealing with this type of pressure when it surrounds you on a business and personal level.”
“The way I deal with it is turning the lights off and find somebody to be there when the lights are off.”
“That’s where your problem is at. You don’t have any mature ways of coping with any type of pressure. That’s where we are trying to help you.”
“By putting me in a fake relationship with a woman who refuses to even touch me no matter how hard I try?”
To his immense surprise, Mark grabbed him roughly by the jersey. A glint of danger filled Mark’s eyes as he stared at a bewildered Chance.
“You listen to me, Chance Lawrence. That woman has been through a scarring event in her life pertaining to men. Robert thought you two would be a good fit for one another because it’d help her move on, but it’d help you slow the fuck down from this train wreck of a life that you’re steaming through. If I find out that you tried to make her do something that she was uncomfortable with, consider yourself off this team despite your contract.”
“I never forced myself on her,” Chance said, aghast with the idea. He might have manipulated women into his bed, but never once had he ever forced himself onto anybody. “Why do people keep saying shit like that? What happened to Arabella?”
“That’s not for me to say,” Mark said. He let go of Chance’s jersey. “I’m glad to hear that. Just think about your life, Chance. You’re going down a pathway that isn’t going to end well for you. Fame kills people.”
After practice, Chance cornered Liam before he could disappear from the locker room.
“Do you know?”
Liam fumbled around with the strap of his duffle bag. “Know what?”
“What happened to Arabella?” He watched Liam’s expression grow guarded. Suspicion immediately filled Chance at that. “You do know, don’t you?”
His best friend let out a sigh. “Look, bro, I promised Lindsey I wouldn’t say anything when she told me. It was an accident of how it came out.”
“I want to know what the hell happened,” Chance said. “Since when do we keep secrets from each other?”
Liam looked away guiltily at that. “I know,” he said, “but this isn’t something that should come from me or from anyone else. Why don’t you just go ask Arabella yourself?”
“Just tell me what happened,” Chance said, impatiently. “I won’t even say it came from you if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“It’s not that,” Liam replied, looking at him intently for a moment. “Is this relationship real or fake between you two? It’s hard to tell at times.”
Chance opened his mouth to reply, but he couldn’t even find an answer himself. It felt real at all times. He couldn’t deny the attraction that burned in him like a wild fire, and he was confident that Arabella felt the same burning sensation from the times she had kissed him back. She held his future in the palms of her hands. The thought was disconcerting, and it didn’t set well with him.
“I don’t know,” he replied, honestly. “I have no idea what is real or what isn’t anymore.”
“I don’t mean any disrespect when I say this because I consider you my brother,” Liam said,
clapping Chance on the shoulder, “but you’re father has fucked you up in a lot of ways that aren’t right. I hear you say it over and over that he pushed you to be who you are, but you’ve gotta let that go and be who you want to be. I know that ain’t the best role model here because I’ve slept with tons of women too since arriving here, but I can see now that it doesn’t do the both of us any good. We’re role models for people out there watching us. Who do you want to be? I ask that because I don’t even think you know who you are right now.”