“So,” Alec began slowly, looking between the two women who seemed to be communicating with just their eyes. It was obvious they had been friends for a while. “What’s the plan, then?”
After sharing one more look with Seraphina, Clara turned her attention to Alec. “I’m going to do my job,” she told him. “I know I don’t look like much, but I promise you, Alec – can I call you Alec? – I’m damn good at it. All you need to worry about is… well, whatever it is you hockey players have to worry about. Like the playoffs.”
“Don’t pretend like you don’t know what hockey players think about,” Seraphina teased.
Clara’s cheeks turned red and she shook her head so her long red hair fell into her face and masked her profile. “That was years ago,” she muttered. “Years. I never thought he would come back… Anyway, that’s not a discussion for now. I’m with someone. And I’m happy.” She looked at Alec and blinked, almost as though she had forgotten he was there. “And it’s probably something you don’t particularly care about, what with everything you’re going through.”
“You know he took a pay cut, right?” Seraphina asked, giving her friend a look. “Yes, he was a free agent but Florida was open to resigning him. He refused, took a pay cut, and is here with us.”
Clara shook her head. “I’m sure that has nothing to do with me,” she said. Alec was surprised to hear how shy she sounded after a good twenty minutes of feeling confident. “He’s from here, Sera. His family is here.”
“You’re here as well,” Seraphina pointed out. “I’m just saying. Have you guys seen each other yet?”
Clara shook her head. “Absolutely not, and I intend to keep it that way,” she said. “We shouldn’t be talking about this in front of the client, Sera.” She shifted her eyes over to Alec. “I swear, I’m way more professional than your boss is making me out to be.”
Alec chuckled. “Don’t worry about it,” he said.
“Anyway,” Clara said, drawing out her voice, her eyes dropping to her lap. “To answer your question, focus on your game. I know it’s easier said than done but don’t stress out this. I promise you, one way or the other, this will be taken care of. Do you believe me?”
Alec nodded his head. “I believe you,” he told her, and he meant it.
“Good,” Clara said. “I’ll hopefully have something to work with in the next couple of days. Since Seraphina was the one who hired me, I’ll be in contact with her but I’m sure she’ll reach out to you to relay the information. If not, I can call you both.”
“We can have another meeting so Alec and I get the information at the same time,” Seraphina suggested.
“Whatever works for you guys works for me,” Clara said with a nod of her head. “Do you have any other questions?”
When neither of them said anything, she smiled. “Perfect,” she said. “You’ll be hearing from me in a couple of days. It’s a pleasure meeting you, Alec. Good luck with everything.”
“Thanks,” he said. He needed it.
Chapter 11
Alec brought home Chinese food that evening. He had to hop on a flight at the crack of dawn the next morning but Madison was just grateful that they might actually have a solution to their problem. Alec said that Clara Daniels seemed like she knew what she was doing and had solved every single case she worked on, though not always in her clients’ favor. At least they would have some type of closure on this whole thing.
Madison remained quiet during dinner. She knew how tense Alec was, how this whole thing was bugging him regardless of his playful nonchalance. That was one thing she wished Alec would work on about himself; sometimes, he refused to speak on his actual feelings and make a joke or deflect with something funny.
Except, Madison did not think this thing was funny at all. And, at least, Alec seemed to know that, so instead of cracking a joke and pretending this was all water under the bridge and it wasn’t affecting him, he stayed quiet.
“So,” Madison said after swallowing a mouthful of Diet Coke. “You have a good feeling about this?”
Alec nodded. His mouth was still full of kung pao chicken and there was sauce on the corner of Alec’s lip. Madison reached out and wiped it off of him with her thumb before sliding the tip of her thumb into his mouth. She watched as Alec’s eyes darkened at the gesture, his mouth seemingly temporarily incapable of chewing. He shook his head and swallowed his food.
“You know I love when you do stuff like that,” he muttered, more to himself than to her.
Madison smirked but said nothing. Instead, she perked her brow, indicating she wanted to hear the rest of Alec’s answer.
He cleared his throat. “I do,” he said. “Clara Daniels is a lot younger than I thought. She’s probably a couple years older than you are, but she knows what she’s talking about and she must be pretty damn good at her job for Seraphina to have faith in her the way she does. At least someone is looking into this, you know? It’s not like the cops are going to hear my side of the story and try to disprove the so-called victim.”
Madison nodded her head, leaning back in her chair. She had had enough Chinese food for the night and hoped Alec would focus on what had happened at the meeting with Clara and Seraphina. Not that she wanted to be nosey. She knew he only had so long here with her. He might not even talk about it. He might prefer to wrap himself up in her while he could.
She wouldn’t blame him if he did, and she would be perfectly fine with it.
“I think…” Alec pressed his lips together, crossing his arms over his chest. “I think it’s better than nothing. And if Clara is as good as Seraphina thinks she is, I think we’ll be okay.”
Madison felt a weight she hadn’t realized had been sitting on her shoulder lift. She sighed with relief and felt her lips curl into a grin. “I’m glad,” she said. “I just want you to be all right, Alec.” She paused and tilted her head to the side. “You know,” she started slowly. She stopped herself from talking to head over to Alec slowly, pushing her hips out as she did so. She watched as Alec’s midnight blue eyes got even darker as they took in her movement, and without fully realizing it, he licked his bottom lip, shooting lightning bolts straight down her pelvis. “I could help you, too. We wouldn’t need to use Clara Daniels. Your name would be cleared up in a second. Why don’t you just let me go to the police and tell them that you were with me the whole time – which is the truth, Alec. It’s not a lie. I’m not covering for you. You were inside of me the past few hours the minute you got home.”
Alec grinned. “I know,” he told her. His midnight blue eyes were serious; it was a rare gleam that stained the irises. Madison had only seen it a few times in their entire relationship but it always made her pause and consider what he was about to say next. “And I appreciate that you would do that for me. But I won’t let you do that.”
Madison pressed her lips together, hoping to keep herself from getting defensive. She didn’t want to start a fight with Alec, not when he was going through so much. Not when they only had the night to spend together before he had to hop on another plane. He had to focus on his play. He had to focus on the sport. She refused to make this about her.
Except, he was adding this stress to himself when she could be the one to take it all away. Didn’t he understand that?
She was caught. She could help him but he wouldn’t let her. He was adding more stress to himself but not letting her when he should only be focused on his play. And she didn’t want to push it because he was under stress. Stress she could take away.
It was an entire cycle she wanted to break, but no matter how she chose to act, she knew he wouldn’t be happy about it.
“Alec,” she tried again, causing him to pick his eyes up from his food and look at her once more. He was silent, didn’t push her to speak if she wasn’t quite ready to. She always appreciated that about him. His patience with her when she couldn’t put into words what she wanted to say. “Listen, I know you don’t think it’s a good idea to tell them the t
ruth but I’m trying to understand –“
“Madison.” Alec looked away, his eyes hard. “I only have a few hours with you. I really don’t want to talk about this. I want to spend them with you. I want to get my mind off of this.”
“Yes, but you realize you could get your mind off of this simply by letting me help you,” Madison pressed.
“If I went down to the station and I told them my story, the truth, they would be forced to investigate it. Alec, this would all be over. We could go back to not worrying about whether or not this is going to affect your play and you could just focus on hockey. Nothing else but hockey. You shouldn’t be focused on anything other than that.” She clenched her jaw, forcing herself to wait and let Alec speak. She was rambling, and when she rambled, she overshared or said something wrong.
“I already said no,” Alec said. Madison could tell he was trying to keep his patience with her, but that it wasn’t working. She detected a defensive edge to his tone, one he rarely used with her, and she found she didn’t like it. Not one bit. Not at all.
“What makes you think you’re in charge of what I do?” Madison asked before she could stop herself. She knew he was never the sort of boyfriend to boss her around. He wasn’t her father. However, she could not help but react in such a way simply because he would not let her fix this. He would let Seraphina hire a PI and he would deal with the stress and the burden by himself. But for whatever reason, he was keeping her out. He was holding her back. And she did not understand why. “You couldn’t stop me. If I wanted to go to the station and tell them anything, you couldn’t stop me.”
“I’m doing this for you,” he told her. His voice was loud but he wasn’t shouting. He seemed genuinely frustrated with her. “I don’t want you to go and tell them because then our relationship would be completely exposed to the public. Everyone would know, including Seraphina Hanson. Your family. You would probably be fired. Everyone would think you were a puck slut. Why do you think there’s such a high turnover for Gulls Girls? Because they can’t handle being Gulls Girls. They can’t handle how the public treats them, especially the ones I’ve been with.” He looked away. Madison couldn’t be sure, but he almost sounded… shamed. “So I don’t want you to do this. You can be pissed off and frustrated and upset. I don’t care. I will not let you be publicly humiliated, fired from a job you love, because someone from my past is feeling like a vindictive bitch.”
“You think it’s someone from your past?” Madison asked, still tense, still fuming over how helpless she felt.
“It’s the only thing that makes sense,” he said. “The officers knew where I lived. They knew where I was.”
“Yeah, but anyone can find out that information if they really try,” Madison pointed out. She flashed her fierce eyes at Alec. “What if I told you I didn’t care? That I would deal with whatever they wanted to call me, I would find another job, I would do whatever it took as long as it cleared everything up. As long as it ensured that you went back to the way things were. That you were okay.”
“Madison,” Alec said, wrinkling his brow. “Things aren’t going to be okay. Instead of worrying about the game, I’d be worrying about you. You think players won’t make comments about you to throw off my game? I don’t want to have to worry about you.” Madison’s brow shot up and Alec shook his head. “That’s not what I meant.”
“If you don’t want to worry about me,” Madison said, ignoring him, “then maybe I should just go. At least until this whole mess is sorted.” She furrowed her brow so deeply she was certain she was going to get a headache. “You know, I didn’t ask for this. For your past to come and screw with your present. Your choices affect you, but they also affect everyone else around you. I understand that. And I’m not blaming you for your past. But I am frustrated that you refuse to let me help you. Seraphina and Clara can help you, but I’m the one person who can solve everything and I’m not allowed. Do you know frustrating that is? Honestly?”
Alec opened his mouth but Madison cut him off.
“No, you don’t,” she said, “because when I needed help with school, you stepped in and offered a scholarship. And I didn’t say no. Because saying no would mean going back to South Haven and leaving you. Leaving my friends and school. Leaving my home. You could go to prison, Alec. Based on what someone said about you. You get that one juror that’s a Stars fan or who hates entitled rich playboys who think they can do whatever to whoever and you’re done. Why risk it?”
“I’m innocent,” Alec said. “I’m innocent and Clara Daniels knows how to do her job. I need you to trust me, Madison. I need you to trust me.”
Madison clenched her jaw, feeling it pop. She looked away from Alec, too frustrated to think. She wanted to trust him. She had been doing what he asked her the past week. But she wasn’t sure she could sit back and wait, not when the press caught wind of it now.
“I do trust you,” she said, her voice quiet. “I just don’t understand why you won’t let me help you.” She took a breath. “Listen, I don’t want to ruin your night. It probably already is.” She chuckled, a mirthless sound, and shook her head. “I’m going to go back to my dorm for the night. We both need to cool off. Have a safe flight, okay? I’ll, uh, I’ll miss you when you’re gone.”
Before Alec could say anything else, Madison placed a quick kiss on his lips and headed for the door. She didn’t want to look back because she knew if she did, that would be it: her resolve would crumble, she’d rush back to his arms, and do anything he asked of her.
This way, she could put some space between them. This way, he would be forced to consider what she said.
Chapter 12
Madison woke up in the middle of the night to the blaring sound of her phone ringing. Unlike last time, she checked the caller id and saw that her father was calling her. She was not in the mood for him so she sent the call to voicemail and forced herself up anyway. She had some writing to do. That, and she wanted to take a hot shower to wake herself up.
After her small tiff with Alec, she decided to spend the night at her dorm in order to not cause any further tension between them. She knew things would be hard and she was trying to be as supportive as she could. The problem was, Alec refused to let her be his alibi, even if it was the truth. And that infuriated her to no end. They were supposed to be partners, which meant they didn’t have to go through things alone. Alec didn’t want to involve her, and she did understand why. In his mind, he was protecting her. But by doing so, he was preventing her from doing her job and protecting him. It wasn’t fair that Alec felt the need to deal with this alone, on his terms.
It was stupid and downright petty but why was Seraphina Hanson allowed to use her resources to help him but Madison couldn’t do the same? She had been with Alec since the Uber dropped him off. They had had amazing sex for hours until the police arrived at Alec’s door. Madison could prove that. His semen was inside of her – as too much information as that was, she would have no problem having a doctor prove that.
Was that insane?
Probably. But she would do anything to get Alec out of the mess he was in. He didn’t deserve this.
She rubbed her lips together and pulled out her laptop. She had a paper tonight, and it was going to be a long one.
Madison woke up to someone softly kissing her neck. She didn’t need to open her eyes to know who it was. His kisses were notorious and always caused her body to react, no matter what. She smiled through his kisses until he rolled her on her back. She cracked her eyes open.
“Alec,” she murmured, her voice still heavy with sleep. “What are you doing here?”
“Is that any way to greet your boyfriend?” he teased.
She felt herself grin at the feeling of his hard body hovering over hers. Even though she was taller than most women her age, Alec was stocky and taller, which meant he made her feel small and safe underneath him. Of course, he caused a thrill to shoot up and down her spine as well as due to the fact that there was an edge
of danger to him hovering on top of her.
“You used your key?” Madison murmured against his neck as he began to trail kisses across her exposed collarbone. It was hard for her to get the words out, hard for her to even breathe.
“Why have a spare key if I don’t ever use it?” he asked.
“Because people are Gulls fans here,” Madison managed to say as she felt his fingers dance across the skin of her stomach, slowly easing her oversized t-shirt up. “And they’d probably say something if they recognized you and saw you use a key and get into my dorm.”
“That would be a good thing,” he said in a low voice. “Everyone would know you’re mine and then they’d back off because I would beat the shit out of them if they decided to try anything.”
Madison swallowed but her throat remained dry. She loved when he talked like this. She had never been the type of girl to like it when a guy got territorial over her, but Alec was different.
“They would also wonder why you were coming to my room,” she managed to get out, even as he lifted the shirt over her head, revealing a completely bare torso. “They all know I’m a Gulls Girl.”
“You’re my girl,” he murmured before capturing a hard nipple with his mouth.
Her eyes rolled to the back of her head and her mouth dropped open. She thought she managed to get out a soft yes before reaching up and burying her fingers deep in his hair, tugging at the roots to let him know how good that felt.
His big hand slid between the boy shorts she wore to bed and it wasn’t long before his fingers slid between her folds and straight to her apex. He groaned when he felt her and ripped away from her, his eyes heavy and hooded.
“Is that for me?” he muttered, his growling.
“It’s always for you,” she told him, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.
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