Page 113 of Bagging the Blueliner
Standing, Coach moved to my bedside, his eyes cold and calculating. “Of that, I have no doubt. I witnessed firsthand tonight the depths of my daughter’s feelings for you. ”
Hannah was over-the-top on her best day. I could only imagine how crazed she got when I’d gone down.
Swallowing against the anguish of knowing I caused her even an ounce of pain, I whispered, “I love her, sir.”
The great Ace Moreau, whom I’d idolized my entire life, let out a heavy sigh. “Hannah is my baby girl. She always will be, no matter how old she is. It’s my job as her father to protect her. Seeing her hysterical tonight ripped the heart right out of my chest.” He paused, appearing pained by the memory. “The only reason her meltdown isn’t airing on every media outlet in existence is because I had the foresight to lock them out of the tunnels when you were injured. Listen to my words carefully, Cal. Ineverwant to see my daughter in a state of distress like that ever again. Do I make myself clear?”
I knew Coach would be upset when he found out about us, but I never saw this coming. Sure, I imagined getting traded or benched, but was he asking me to break things off with Hannah? He could punish me all he wanted, but I wouldn’t let him hurt her.
Maintaining eye contact, I laid my cards out on the table. “What if I retire?”
“If you made that decision, there would still be a possible fourteen games left this season,” he stated.
He was taking this too far. “So, you’d have me break her heart on the off-chance I suffer another bad injury in the next month? The odds of that are slim to none.”
“But not non-existent,” he countered. “Sometimes in life, we have to make the hard choices. Her broken heart will heal.”
What about mine?
Nodding, satisfied he’d gotten his point across, Coach headed for the door to my hospital room. Pausing at the threshold, he looked back. “I wasn’t here tonight. Is that understood?”
Any respect I held for the man was lost entirely when he implied that he wanted to keep his hands clean while I blew up his daughter’s life. This wasn’t how you treated the people you claimed to love. I couldn’t tell Hannah that her father’s hand was guiding the knife I was about to sink into her heart.
Ace Moreau was nothing more than a coward.
“Get out,” I forced out through gritted teeth.
Without another word, he left me alone, and the gravity of the past few hours hit me in full force.
I’d had plans to tell Hannah that I loved her tonight, but instead, I was being forced into letting her go forever. What a cruel twist of fate.
Hannah’s body came into view, led by a nurse who looked at us both, warning, “Twenty minutes. That’s all I can give you.”
Swallowing, I steeled myself for what I had to do. The clock was ticking.
The nurse left us, but Hannah stood just inside the door, twisting her hands. “Cal?” her voice called out, hoarse, no doubt the result of hours spent crying.
Reaching an arm out to her, I beckoned, “Come here.”
Faster than I could blink, she ran across the room, launching herself into my arms. She began to shake as sobs racked her body, and she buried her face in my chest. For a moment, I just held her, committing the feel of her body against mine to memory. In such a short time, Hannah had become a part of me, and severing our connection was a wound I wasn’t sure would ever heal.
“Shh, it’s okay, baby,” I murmured, trying to comfort her.
Lifting her head, she stared at me with glassy blue eyes, before reaching up to cup my cheek. “I was so scared for you.”
“I’m so sorry.”
For so many things.
This would put us right back to the start of our relationship. Hannah would hate me, and I would secretly pine for her. Only this time, it would be worse. I loved her. I wanted a future with her, and she wouldn’t be able to stand the sight of me. There would be no coming back from what I was forced to do in this dimly lit hospital room. She would never forgive me.
Offering me a small smile, she pressed her lips softly to mine before cuddling back into my chest. “You know, if you had been less selfish and let someone else score, all of this could have been avoided.”
My heart squeezed inside my chest, and I banded my arms around her as tightly as I could.
Hannah was right—more than she could possibly know.
If I hadn’t scored the game-winner and gotten injured, her dad wouldn’t have found out about us and demanded I end our relationship under the guise of protecting her.
