Page 67 of Hat Trick
All I did was lay in bed all night, with Lil wrapped around me, tears falling down my cheeks as hers landed on my chest. Eventually, exhaustion won out and she fell asleep in my arms. But I stayed awake. Staring at the ceiling wondering how in the hell I was going to fix this.
First I was understanding. I get why Dominic is so upset. I really do. He’s pissed at himself for forgetting his dad, for not being there for his mom, and for disappointing himself. I think that has more to do with his running away than being afraid ofus,at this point. He was all in yesterday. I could feel it. He was letting go of his fears of loving and losing. He was willing to take the risk. But forgetting his dad… that’s not a risk he’s willing to take. He thinks of us as a distraction.
A fucking distraction.
The more that word rolled around in my head, I slowly went from understanding, to sad, to actually pretty fucking pissed off. And now as I rummage around Lil’s room getting dressed for our Monday morning practice as she does her best to get herself ready for work, while muffeling her sobs behind the bathroom door, the more angry I become.
Sitting at the end of her bed, I wait for her to be ready. I’m not leaving without kissing her. But this isn’t going to be goodbye. It’s a see you later.
Because I’mgoingtofix this.
Fuck the rules.
We literally haven’t followed a single one, so why this one?
He loves us, and I’m not going to let him run away from it. I’m just not.
Finally, the door to the bathroom opens, and I drink her in. She’s wearing a pair of pale-pink scrubs with her hair pulled into a low bun. Her red-rimmed eyes are swollen and puffy from spending the last eight hours crying, and her cheeks are pink from our day spent in the sun yesterday. Our perfect fucking day.
I want more of those days.
I’m getting more of those days.
“Come here, baby.” Even at her lowest, she takes my breath away. I have to stop myself from rubbing at my sternum to dull the ache in my chest as her sad form makes her way over to me.
Standing between my legs, she threads her fingers through the hair at the nape of my neck. I close my eyes and lean into the feeling.Fuck,I love when she doesthis. Eventually, I open them and look up at her. “I’m going to fix this. I promise.”
“What-what if there’s nothing to fix?” Her voice is so soft, so reluctant. It fucking kills me. “I don’t want to give both of you up. I-I don’t want to be alone anymore.”
Goddammit, Dominic. “You won’t be, Sweetheart. We’re not giving anything up.”
“But the rules?”
“Fuck the rules. We’re so far past those stupid fucking rules it’s not even funny.” My hands move up and down the backs of her thighs. I know right now might not be the right time to say what I’m about to say but I can’t take it anymore. “I love you, Liliana Campos.” She inhales a sharp breath, but I don’t stop. “I love the way that even on your darkest days, your light shines brighter than mine. I love that you hate mornings as much as I do. I love that you let me take care of you. I love the way you make me feel like the most important person in the room. But most of all. I love that, even in the silence you make me feel heard. You make me feel like I matter.”
?1 A single, small tear falls down her cheeks. “Emerson, I?—”
“No. Don’t say it now. Not yet. I just needed you to know how I feel. I need you to know so you can trust that I’ll fix this. Iwillfix this, Lil.”
She runs one hand down theside of my face. “I trust you,” she replies softly before bending over and giving me one last kiss.
After Lil heads into work, I realize I have a little bit of extra time to kill before practice, so I run into town to grab her a coffee and drop it off at her suite before I head to the rink. If she’s as tired as I am she’s going to need it.
But when I finally walk into the locker room twenty minutes later, he’s not there. “Hey, anyone know where Dom is?”
Patty looks up from lacing up one of his skates. “Heard coach say he’s out sick for the day.”
My anger from earlier resurfaces all over again. Is he fucking serious right now? Digging my phone out of my duffle bag I pull up his contact and call him. It rings twice then goes to voicemail.This motherfucker just denied my call.I try one more time and it doesn’t even ring. Just goes straight to voicemail.Dick.I do the only other thing I can think of. I call Mary Foster.
She picks up after just a couple of rings, because of course she does. She’s a saint. “Good morning, Honey. Is everything okay?”
“Have you talked to Dominic today?” I try to keep my tone level so as not to panic her.
A heavy sigh sounds through the phone. “No. I’m assuming this is about yesterday? I was wondering when this was going to happen.”
“When what was going to happen?”
“When he’d have something more important in his life.”
