Page 83 of On the Line
Was that for the best? Some small, long-forgotten piece of his heart whispered,yes, it is. Let it go.
He had his phone clenched so tightly in his hand that the vibrations from incoming texts sent jolts all the way up his arm. He dared a glance at the screen and wished he hadn’t.
Endless notifications of texts and calls poured in, completely overwhelming his already overloaded emotional circuit board.
Mitch threw his phone against the wall, shattering it, effectively silencing the endless beeps and buzzes from the onslaught of texts.
Formerteammates.
Because he had been fuckingtraded.
To fuckingCalifornia.
Mitch had been aware this was a possibility for the past few weeks leading up to the trade deadline. The rumor mill was a deadly beast, and he’d assumed that’s all the talk was: rumors from someone out to cause him emotional distress.
He never thought it’d actually happen.
“This is such bullshit,” he said to his empty condo.
He had been in Detroit for five years, and in a blink, it was all wiped away. Five years he spent becoming a family with the men he went to battle with every night—five years of sticky-floored dive bars, of late nights at the loft or the casino in Greektown.
Two years of Lexie. Not long enough. Notnearlylong enough.
It was almost hard to believe it had been almost two years since that day he turned around at the bar to find Berkley and Lexie standing behind him, waiting to get a drink. Had he known his life was about to change so drastically, he might have acted a little differently.
But then again, it had always been Lexie for him. He had learned that early on, and there had never been any sense in fighting it. So he hadn’t, even when she had.
But God, when she stopped, when she had finally given herself to him completely, it had been the best day of his life.
The last year spent with her by his side, his in every way, had been nothing short of bliss. The life and love he’d always dreamed he would one day call his own.
And now, here he was, living a nightmare. Losing Lexie and his brothers in the same week. Destroying his phone had been stupid. He wouldn’t be able to say bye face-to-face—his heart couldn’t handle it—so a phone call would’ve had to suffice.
But, thanks to the shattered phone, that was out of the question.
Mitch couldn’t help thinking maybe it was for the best. He would miss his teammates, absolutely. And he loved Detroit. The city had become more like home to him over the last five seasons than Georgia had ever been in the fifteen years he lived there.
And, of course, there was Lexie. A bright spot, but also a giant thorn in his side, especially after their last fight, when she told him she couldn’t love him the way he deserved and kicked him out of her life.
So maybe leaving wasn’t all bad. He’d get the chance to start fresh, to move on from the woman he loved who didn’t want him back.
Lexie was scared. He knew that. Her childhood had certainly not been easy, and it made it difficult for her to be vulnerable with anyone. After meeting her parents, he now understood how deeply those emotional scars ran.
Join the fucking club, he thought.
That didn’t give her the right to make decisions for him. But she had, and there was apparently no coming back from that. Not for her. It devastated him, left his heart bleeding and broken on the floor, but he had no choice but to accept it. For the last three days since their fight, he’d tried. Tried calling, texting, showing up at her building, and doing whatever he could to make her talk to him. To fight for her.
Every single time, she blew him off, going so far as to have the security guard at the desk of her building not even let him upstairs when he went there yesterday.
He was done fighting.
Moving methodically around his apartment, he blindly tossed clothes and toiletries into his duffel bag, thankful something nudged him to bring his skates home after their game the other night. Normally he wouldn’t have, but now he was glad for it. This way, he wouldn’t have to go to the rink to pick them up before going to the airport.
Just in case, he remembered thinking. In case he never came back.
He couldn’t believe this was happening.
His flight took off in about three hours, which meant if he wanted to make it to the Verizon store to get a new phone and number, and get through security to reach his gate on time, he had to go now.
