Page 52 of Unleashed

I entered the makeshift space the organization had given theUnleashedcrew. Let the door slam behind me with a crack that echoed off the walls. Lily stood at a folding table with her back to me, shoulders pulled bowstring tight.

When she turned, the sight of her gutted me. Shadows bruised beneath her eyes, her skin sickly pale under her usual tan. That messy bun I loved to unravel now pulled tight against her scalp, severe and unforgiving.

“Jack.”

My name slipped from her lips, a thin and hollow whisper that sent an icy spike down my spine. “What’s going on, Lily?”

She wrapped her arms around herself, curling inward like she could physically hold her pieces together. “I need to tell you something.”

“Funny way of showing it, avoiding my messages” The thundering in my head drowned out everything else. “Riley says your show tonight is about me.” My gut clenched as devastation flashed across her face. “Thought I made it pretty clear I wasn’t interested.”

Her gaze flicked up, met mine for a heartbeat before dropping away again. That split second showed me everything—guilt, fear, desperation. My chest squeezed until breathing hurt.

“I messed up.” Her whisper hung in the space between us.

“You messed up?” Fire erupted in my chest, blazed up my throat. Seventeen fucking years maintaining a captain’s composure through injuries, losses, press conferences—worthless now. Her fumbled explanation shredded what remained of my trust, cut deeper than any hit I’d ever taken on the ice. “That’s what you’re calling this?”

She reached toward me, fingers quivering in the empty air. “Jack, let me explain—”

“Sure, go ahead.” I invaded her space, the smell of her citrus shampoo mixing with the acrid burn of betrayal. “Lay it out for me. What kind of bullshit explanation could possibly validate you going against me?” My fingers raked through my hair, scalp stinging with the violence of it. “No, wait—explain how you went behind my back after I explicitly said I wanted nothing to do with your idea. Better yet, explain how you fucked me all the while knowing you were fucking me over.”

Color rushed to her cheeks, painting blotchy patches across her skin. “It wasn’t like that. You know—”

“No?” I huffed out an angry excuse for a laugh. “Then tell me what it was like, Lily?” Her name tasted sour on my tongue. “Tell mehow you justify this shit. Getting close to me, crawling into my bed. What—did you think I’d change my mind if you spread your legs? That I’d just magically sign off on your little expose? But you never even worked up the balls to ask again, did you?”

She dropped her arms, fists clenched at her sides. “Dammit, Jack. I didn’tneedyour permission to do the episode; the Aces organization authorized everything. I had nothing to gain by sleeping with you. You’re mixing things up.”

My teeth ground together, pain sparking in my jaw. “You didn’t need my permission.” The words landed low and rough, scraping against the raw edges of my anger.

She pressed shaking fingers to her lips, her eyes glassy. “Mark was threatening to pull the plug on the show. We needed something big for the playoffs and he killed all my other ideas. Then I messed up, let Mark know what I’d seen at Lady Bird Lake...”

The laugh that ripped from my throat burned. “Ah, I see. Your career on the line, so fuck everyone else. Is that it?”

“That’s not fair.”

“Fair?” I closed the last bit of space between us, towering over her. “You want to talk aboutfair? An episode about me after I told you no? After I made it damn clear I didn’t want this kind of attention? I trusted you, Lily. Let you close. And you—” The words jammed in my throat, harsh and cutting. “What’s even in this thing? How bad is it going to be?”

She lifted her chin, steel flashing through the hurt in her eyes. “I had a job to do. Malone was making demands. I did what I could to—”

I barked out another laugh, sharp enough to slice.

She flinched, dropping her chin, her shoulders rounding. Her voice lost its fire when she spoke. “You signed the same contracts and releases as everyone else, Viggy. You’ve been notified of the cameras, you know me and my team are constantly talking to the players, the coaches, everyone involved in the organization. Nothing we did broke any rules.”

“That’s why you’ve been avoiding me?” I exhaled hard, my pulse slamming against my ribs. “Because youknowyou didn’t break any rules?” I shook my head, the rage simmering into something sharper, heavier.Colder.“You knew exactly what you were doing. You knewexactlywhat it would cost.”

Her throat bobbed as she swallowed hard. “I knew you’d react like this, yes! I knew you’d hate me, and I couldn’t stand—” She cut herself off, dragging in a ragged breath.

I waited. Gave her a chance to defend herself. To tell me she’d at leasttriedto do right by me. That it wasn’t the evisceration I expected.

But she didn’t say it.

She didn’t fucking say it.

Something in my chest twisted, hard and brutal.

I exhaled slowly, controlled, even as my hands curled into fists. “What’s in the episode, Lily?”

Her gaze darted away.

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