Page 45 of Your Biggest Downfall
“Your mother cannot stop crying, Austin. Why did you do this? Who is the girl?”
“Some fucking puck bunny.”
I owed it to her to protect her. On top of everything going on with her mother, no one needed to know it was her. I scrolled the comments, and everyone was trying to figure out who it was. Thankfully no one knew.
The only person who knew was Luna, and she’d never say a word to anyone because of how fiercely she protected Nova.
“Your career might be over,” Ledger added.
“I’ll see you in two hours,” I said and then hung up.
My life may have been over, but I wasn’t dragging Nova down with me.
I stood up and pounded on the door.
18
nova
I woke up to my phone repeatedly ringing. My head was throbbing. I was tired emotionally and physically. I didn’t have to report to work until Monday, and it was Sunday.
“Mami,” I said, the oxygen leaving my lungs as I frantically pawed at my sheets looking for my phone.
I picked up the phone without looking at the caller ID. “Hello?”
“We’re in a fucking crisis. Your contract is extended, and you need to get to the arena immediately.”
It was Iris. She was panicked, and I could hear her rifling through papers. This meant only one thing. There was a PR nightmare.
“Okay. I’ll be there within the hour.”
I hung up, grateful my contract was extended because of this crisis. Truthfully, I was even more grateful I heard Luna wrestling out of her bed.
“Who was that?” she called out from her room.
“Iris. Some PR crisis. I gotta go in, but good news, I’ll be able to pay the rent.”
“Whoo,” Luna said, and I laughed.
I pulled up my social media app to see what the heck was going on before I grabbed my clothes and headed out, and the moment I pulled up the team’s account on the video app...
“Luna,” I shouted. “Luna. Luna.”
At the same time I screamed for her, there was pounding on the front door.
Luna was in the doorframe, looking between me and the door. “This feels like what happened last night. What the hell is going on?”
I jumped out of bed and shoved my phone in her face. When she grabbed it, I turned around and ran toward the bathroom, where I puked into the toilet.
The pounding on the door continued as I hurled up my stomach contents.
“It’s him,” Luna shouted. “How the fuck did he get here so fast?”
“He stayed the night,” I responded.
I’d seen him before I went to bed through the peephole. He’d passed out sitting up against the door. I thought about telling him to come inside, but I wanted him to suffer a little.
Now I was the one suffering.
