Page 60 of Trouble in Love
“Go get your girl, but for fuck’s sake, don’t let Evie see you. Me mauling your balls off will be the last of your problems if she does.”
“Right.” I nodded in agreement and pushed past Asher, who was returning with ten gallons of water.
I was grateful I wore jeans as my Not So Little Luca swelled, straining against my zipper with every step. Whoever she was talking to was out of view, but Polly’s back, her ass, was to me. I didn’t care if it was Elias. Fiancé or not, Polly was leaving with me.
Passing giant pumpkins, watermelons, and kiwi, I drew nearer. After the last few shoppers passing between us cleared, my mood, my world, tilted on its axis to see him roughly spin her to face me. “Just leave me alone. I said no.” Whoever the asshole with his hands on my girl was, he was about to be feel a lot of pain.
Blinded by rage that far eclipsed what I felt when squaring up against Dallas fucking Brookes, I marched up behind him. Polly saw me, the brief flicker of relief that crossed her face vanishedas quicky as her eyes darted to her hands. Mine followed and my heart stopped. The fingers on her right hand were bent at the knuckles, forming a right angle she was digging into the palm of her left and pulling it toward her. It took a second but then I realized. The pub. The Auslan Polly taught me. Yes. No. Thank you. Cheekily cake, for when I was hitting on a guy, and help.Help. That’s the sign for help.
“The lady said she wasn’t interested. Back the fuck off.” Before he had the chance to react, I gripped the bastards throat and squeezed.
He wriggled and whined like a pathetic weed and managed to eeek out, “Fuck off, Yank. No one asked you.”
“Please! Let go of him, Luca,” Polly pleaded, latching on to my elbow with one hand and wiping her tears away with the other, “Go back to your friends. He was just leaving. Weren’t you, Luke?”
“The fuck I was.” He coughed. “We were just getting started.”
Like the Auslan, it took a second, but when it did, it hit with the force of a nuke. Luke. Luke Bailey. This was the guy who ….
Sweat seeped from my every pore as my grip tightened, his pulse thundering beneath my fingers. “Is this him?” I choked out.
“Luca, don’t,” Polly cried, again attempting to pull me away as Luke grunted, trying to free himself from my grip.
“Answer me, Princess. Is this him? Yes or no.”
“Yes.” Her reply, a broken sob, cracked something inside me. All sense and reason disappeared, and I was slamming my forehead into his nose. The bone-splintering crunch was deafening. The blood was gruesome … andallhis, or so I thought. A clenched fist connected next, knocking the coward off his feet and onto his back with a thud. My right foot was about to be acquainted with his ribs when Nate and Finn clambered ontomy back. Teddy and Evie piled in behind them, all trying to drag me away from disaster.
It was Toronto all over again. Me out of control, risking everything, fighting over a girl I wasn’t sure even wanted me.
Once I was under their control, Luke scrambled and pointed toward Polly. “You’re a fucking slut, just like you always were.” He then ran, looking over his shoulder every few steps, blood still pouring from his face. I fought tooth and nail to free myself, my legs demanding I give chase. But barely audible over the thundering of my heart was Nate and his voice of reason drifting into my ear.
“Dude. Whatever this is, it’s not worth it. Think of what you’ve got at home.”
Home. Fuck.I should have panicked. Been concerned for myself, my future at least. Engaging in a physical assault of any type was never okay, but when you’re a professional athlete that’s hanging onto your career by the sharp metal edge of a blade,andyou’re in another country, it’s fucking reckless. But honestly, I had zero fucks to spare. All I cared about was standing before me, trembling, pleading with her eyes.
“Breathe, baby.” She whispered, “Breathe.” And I did. We did. Together. My baby and me. Eyes locked, fingers entwined. As one, the rise and fall of our chests synchronized and slowed.For that stolen moment in time, it was just us. Bound together by secret tragedy.
Nate was the one to penetrate the silent space between us with a cracking slap to my pec, before sliding from my back. “I thought you weren’t much of a fighter? Dude that was fucking awesome. Good job, big fella.”Then, he did something I would never have expected something that showed the true character of the man. “You okay, Pol?”
“Yes,” she replied, her voice a meek shadow of its normal self. “Yes, I think so.”
Glancing around, he nodded. “And are you here alone?” When she made no reply, he stepped closer, tapping gently on her upper arm. “Polly, are you here by yourself?” Any remaining color in her beautiful face faded to grey and with a blink, her body crumpled in on itself. “Shit!” Nate and I scrambled to catch her before he turned to face Teddy, Ash, and his less-than-impressed-looking wife, who was hovering behind him. “Eves, I know you’ll be pissed at me for the rest of my life, but I need you, Ash, and Teddy to deal with that blood on Luca. I’m taking Polly home.”
Evie shot daggers between Nate and Polly but nodded in agreement.
“I’m a hockey player for fuck’s sake.” I protested as a big, wet, blob of red dripped from my nose, landing with a splat on my wrist and hers.“This is nothing.”
“Yeah?” she growled like a mother bear about to eat one of her cubs, “Well you’re not on the ice now, are you? You’re here, for some reason defending her, and I want answers.”
Resigned to my fate, I pushed myself between Nate and Polly, cupped her face in my hands and kissed her hard and deep. “You will be okay, Princess. I’m so sorry he got so close.”
“Go mate. I’ll look after her.” Nate said, tugging me away from the only thing I wanted as Evie watched on in silence. It was … unnerving, and I suspected temporary.
It’s probably best if you just don’t look or say anything to her unless she speaks to you first.
Shifting in my seat, my hands tapped at my thigh as Asher and Ted’s words of warning repeated in my mind. Evie was grumbling to herself with an ice pack pressed to my foreheadwith her left hand, while gripping the steering wheel with her right. She’d just watched me, a guest in her home, and her husband defend and care for her nemesis. As if that wasn’t enough, Teddy, one of her best friends, had wrapped Polly in his arms, sweetly kissed her on the forehead and insisted she let Nate and himself take her home. I could only imagine the bruising betrayal she felt.
“How long?” she asked, finally cracking the cone of silence threatening my sanity. “The whole time you’ve been with us? Even after you knew who she was?”
