Sydney sighed and started walking towards her bag of clothes.
"Sydney?"
She stopped at turned to Ryan, who was staring at her with dark eyes.
"Did you ever call him?" Ryan asked.
"You talked to Andy?"
"I talked to Andy," he replied. "So did you ever call him?"
Sydney ducked her head and stuffed her hands in the pockets of Ryan's robe. "No, I didn't," she said. "But he seemed more mad at me than he should be just because I didn't call him."
"Sydney, I don't think it was about that." Ryan put his hands on his hips and stared at her. "I know you slept with Andy."
"Oh," she replied quietly. "Does that bother you?"
"No! No, it's just…" He trailed off as he ran his fingers through his hair. "I know I'm hardly someone to be giving romance advice, but he likes you, Sydney, and he wants to be with you."
"So what does that have to do with the way he was acting?"
"Are you serious?" he asked. "You're standing in my apartment in my robe and you just hugged me and thanked me for giving you want you needed."
Sydney could feel her entire body go cold as the realization began to hit her. Andy didn't know why she was there. He didn't know about the government agents in her apartment. He didn't know why she was at Ryan's place in Ryan's robe. He just left thinking…
Oh fuck.
Sydney bolted for the door and threw it open. Maybe she could catch him and he wasn't on the elevator yet. But the hallway was empty. Completely empty.
She slowly went back in to Ryan's apartment and closed the door behind her. Her limbs started to lose their feeling, and she leaned against the back of the door before sliding down as her legs gave way. Then she started to cry. Ryan sat down next to her and put his arm around her, which just made her cry more.
"I'm sorry," she said in between sniffles.
His hand tightened on her shoulder. "It's OK, Sydney."
"I can't believe this," she muttered. "Crying twice in your apartment."
"To be fair, Gretzky was a pretty awesome goldfish," he replied with a hint of amusement in his voice.
She laughed through her tears. "I wish that was the worst of it," she said. "I've got the S.E.C. in my apartment, and Andy is gone."
Ryan pulled her closer. "Don't worry, Barton. I don't know anything about finance or lawyers or whatever, but I promise I'll find a way to help you fix this thing with Andy."
Chapter 19
Maybe he was wrong, but maybe he wasn't. In that moment, Andy really didn't care. He was just glad the elevator was quicker than usual and swept him away from all of that as fast as it possibly could. As the doors opened on to the cold underground parking lot, he was thankful it was deserted. He couldn't deal with people right now. Instead, he climbed in his car and slammed the door.
He was so stupid. He didn't need to go to Ryan's apartment and tell the rookie that he had finally been cleared to play. Andy could've just picked up the phone and called him. There was no need to be there in the first place. But he wanted to be there because he wanted to have an excuse to see Sydney. He had played it all our in his head.
"Oh, I was just over at Ryan's to let him know he could play again. How are you?"
He wasn't going to ask about why she hadn't called since he left her place a week ago. She probably had her reasons. He knew the case against her former boss was still hanging over her. Or maybe she would rather talk to him in person. Or maybe she somehow lost his card or didn't see his card or…
Or maybe there really was something going on between her and Ryan after all. Maybe they were hiding it from him to spare his feelings or they didn't want other people to know. At the very least, he had become well aware that Ryan didn't want him to know about Sydney.
Andy specifically remembered the look on Ryan's face as he started asking him questions.
"Is your shower running?"
Ryan's eyes had darted around nervously. "Uh, yeah," he said before throwing a completely fake grin on his face. "You told me I may be cleared to play so I started playing again, if you know what I mean." He added a wink to the end for extra emphasis.
"Yeah, sure," Andy said quickly. "Well, anyway. I just wanted to let you know that the team doctor cleared you to be back in the line up."
"Cool." Ryan had nodded his head way too much. "Cool, cool, yeah, cool."
They both heard the water shut off, and Ryan immediately started to look nervous, as if he was trying to find a way out of the conversation. Andy would've let him out too, but there was something amusing about stringing along the nervous rookie. Besides, something was up with the girl in the bathroom. Ryan rarely got nervous talking about the women he had slept with. Hell, he was more than happy to brag about them in the locker room. So this particular woman must be different. Maybe he actually liked her. Could that even be possible? Could Ryan McCloud be in a real relationship?
And then Andy heard that voice. Her voice. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up as the woman came into view.
"Thank you," the woman said quietly. "I needed that."
Sydney.
She had looked at him so innocently, as if she hadn't noticed that she was talking to a man she had slept with only a week earlier. A man she had never tried to contact since then. A man who wanted so badly to trust her and believe she was different than the other women who only wanted to get closer to his players.
She was standing in Ryan's apartment in Ryan's robe with the most innocent look on her face, trying to act like nothing was wrong with the situation.
Andy banged his head against the steering wheel, which accidentally hit his car horn, the noise causing him to jolt up. For fuck's sake, he couldn't even be mad properly without messing something up. He just needed to get the hell out of there.
He finally started the car and drove out on to the streets of Detroit towards the arena. There was a game tomorrow night and he had to make sure the trainers room was all set and ready. The team had been on the road for a week. There were travel crates that needed to be unpacked and cupboards that needed to be restocked. There were things he needed to do, not because they had to be done now but because he had to push Sydney out of his mind.
The S.E.C. was gone by the time Sydney had pulled herself together. She had been at Ryan's place for four hours and had finally stopped crying after about the second one. She had pulled on her clothes and gave Ryan his robe back. She had even made them scrambled eggs as a way to encourage Ryan to keep telling her this was all going to be alright.
But based on Lucy's reaction to her when she finally walked back in the door, that wasn't enough. Lucy was straightening out some books on her shelf when she came in and dropped her bag on the floor. Her friend turned to give Sydney a welcoming smile, but it immediately looked serious when she saw Sydney's face.
"Listen to me," Lucy said reassuringly. "This is exactly how you left the place, and I made sure those idiots took as little as possible." Lucy took Sydney's hand and pulled her over to the sofa. "Don't freak out."
"I'm not freaking out."
"You look a little worn out is all."
Sydney turned to her friend. "How bad do I look?"
Lucy gave her a tight smile and took her hand. "You were in much better shape when I got here than you are now."
Sydney pulled her hand back and rubbed her face. "I messed everything up, Lucy."
"I'm telling you that you didn't mess anything up," she said. "You cooperated with the S.E.C. the best that you could. They only took a few papers from your desk. They can't come after you for being a hostile witness or something."
"This isn't about the S.E.C.," Sydney replied glumly. She took a deep breath and stared down at her hands. "I took a shower at Ryan's, and I walked out wearing his robe, and Andy was there."
Lucy leaned back against the sofa with her mouth open in surprise. "You have got to be kidding me."
"Nope," she said. "And I was so worried about what was going on here that
Ryan was the one who had to point out to me how bad the situation looked."
The silence stretched on, and Sydney stared aimlessly in front of her, trying her hardest not to have a repeat performance of her water works at Ryan's place. If only she had called Andy a week ago, none of this would be a problem. She over analyzed his motives and that stupid business card. She kept putting off a call to him every time she saw her old boss in her lawyer's office. She kept thinking it was already too late to call him so why even bother.
If she had just trusted Andy enough to pick up the phone and actually talk to him, she wouldn't be in this position now. But she was here because she hadn't done any of that. She had been a coward, and now she had to pay for it.
Lucy put her hands on her knees and stood up. "Do you have wine in your fridge?"
"Of course," Sydney replied.
"Good," her friend said. "I'm going to go get that, and then we're going to talk. And after that we'll probably drink some more, if that's OK with you."
She smiled. "That sounds good."
Chapter 20
Andy had been doing his best to keep busy and not think about Sydney Barton — and definitely not think about her standing in Ryan's apartment. The rookie had already come over several times to apologize and explain that it wasn't what he thought it looked like. Maybe that was the truth. OK, more than likely it was the truth. But no matter what the truth was, things didn't look good for Andy. He either tried to trust a woman who jumped in bed with a hockey player he took care of — and that wouldn't be the first time — or he had made a complete ass out of himself by assuming that's what happened when it really hadn't been the case.
Yep, he had screwed up, and he had himself to blame. There could only be one outcome after all of this, and it didn't include Sydney Barton.
Instead of dwelling on what he had lost, Andy decided to occupy himself with work. He spent an entire day looking up experimental food plans for athletes and new exercise techniques to reduce injuries during the season. He reorganized the cupboards in the trainers room, which is something he kept saying he would do but had put off. He stayed late one night when the arena was practically deserted to do inventory of the store room and figure out what needed to be ordered before the playoffs started. His work life was more than productive to make up for his lack of a personal life.
Friday's practice was thankfully uneventful — only a few bruises and scrapes needed to be tended to after the players got off the ice. Then there was Ryan. Andy had thought about handing his case off to one of his assistants so he didn't have to face the rookie but decided against it. He had followed Ryan's case this long, had stood with him from the moment he collapsed in the locker room.
Sure enough, Ryan came walking into the trainer's room with a towel wrapped around his waist after getting out of the team's shower.
"Hey," he said apprehensively.
"Hey." Andy tried to respond as cheerfully as he could, determined to put this Sydney thing past him, and what better way to do that than to pretend that nothing happened. "So how was practice today?"
"Um, good," Ryan said apprehensively. "Mark said you wanted to check my incision."
"Yep! Hop up on the table."
Ryan did as he was told while staring at Andy like he expected him to just say something or do something. But Andy had nothing to say about any of it and decided he would rather just go down the checklist.
"Can you let me see the incision real quick?" Ryan loosened his towel a bit, and Andy gave it a quick check. "Looks good. How does it feel?"
"Fine," the rookie replied.
Andy pulled the towel back up and walked over to his iPad on the counter with his checklist.
"Does it hurt when you move?" he asked.
"Not anymore."
"What about when you played this week?"
"A little, depending on how I move."
"And how about when you got boarded the other day? Is there still any pain lingering from that?"
He heard Ryan sigh behind him and turned to see the rookie still sitting on the table with his head ducked down.
"Ryan, it's OK if there's still a little pain when you get hit," Andy said. "I'm not going to suggest you stop playing for something minor like that."
"That's not what this is about," he replied. "Are you just going to ignore what happened the other day at my apartment?"
He shrugged in reply. "I would prefer that."
Ryan jumped down from the table and walked over, his hands on his towel-clad hips. "I don't blame you for not trusting players around your women, especially after what happened. I mean, Dylan is a great backup goalie but a dick for stealing your woman."
"So now you feel sorry for me?"
"No," Ryan said defiantly. "But you need to at least give Sydney a chance."
A chance? Even if this was all just Andy overreacting for no reason — and he knew that may the case — even if that was all it was, this was a bigger problem than just Sydney. But he wasn't going to get into all of that with Ryan.
"We'll see," he said calmly.
Ryan shook his head in disbelief. "I'm just trying to help, Andy."
"I don't need your help," Andy said.
"Fine, then I won't," he replied with a smirk. "But you can't stop me from trying to help Sydney get her man."
And with that, Ryan turned and walked out without listening to another word from his trainer. To be fair, Andy wasn't sure what he could say. He just needed to move on, find a woman who didn't know anything about hockey and didn't know any hockey players.
Sydney looked at herself in the mirror and smiled. It had been weeks since she got ready without having to be anywhere. It was just a natural decision for her regardless of whether she had to be somewhere or not. For some reason, today was the day when she officially hit the wall and could no longer support the idea of sitting in yoga pants for every hour she was in her apartment. So instead of crusty clothes, it was a pair of dark jeans and a pink fuzzy sweater. She even did her make-up and straight ironed her hair.
Luckily, she actually didn't feel gross or embarrassed to answer to her door that afternoon when someone knocked.
Ryan smiled as soon as she opened it. "Wow, you look nice."
"Are you saying I didn't look nice before?"
He gave her a skeptical look. "You and I both know those yoga pants need to be burned," he said.
"True. Come in."
She moved out of the way to let him into her apartment, closing the door behind him. Like Sydney, Ryan was looking better than he had in the past few weeks. He was on his way to the arena for a game so he was dressed in a tailored charcoal gray suit that accentuated all his hockey player curves. Plus, he was moving almost as well as he did before he had the surgery and was smiling more lately. But he was more subdued and solemn again as he pulled a white envelope from the inside pocket of his suit jacket.
"I know you're going to say it's none of my business or you can handle it yourself or whatever, but I told you I would fix this."
"Andy and I just weren't meant to be," she replied. "You're not a failure if my relationship with your trainer didn't work out."
Ryan sighed and held out the white envelope. "You need to take this."
"What's that?" she asked.
"Tickets."
"Tickets?"
He waved the envelope in front of her. "Don't leave me hanging. Just take them." She stared at him apprehensively and slowly took the envelope from his hands. "Inside are two tickets for tonight for you and Lucy. I figured the two of you haven't done any fun friend things lately."
Sydney swallowed and stared at the envelope in her hands. After everything she had gone through in the past weeks, there were very few nice things that anyone had done for her. In fact, the only people who had done anything nice for her were the McClouds — both mother and son, her best friend Lucy, and a man who met her when she was at her worst and still treated her well.
She looked up and gave Ryan a tight sm
ile. "Thank you," she said quietly.
"But you have to go this time," he said sternly.
She took a deep breath. Ryan was right. She had to go. She had to stop being afraid of who was out there and what they thought of her.
"I'll go," she replied. "I promise."
"Good."
But Ryan didn't make any effort to move from his spot in Sydney's living room. Instead, he just continued to stand there with an apprehensive look on his face. It was as if he wasn't done talking to her about something, and Sydney knew exactly what that something was, or more accurately, who that someone was. She put her hands on her hips while still holding on to the envelope and looked straight at Ryan.
"Yes?" she asked with raised eyebrows.
Ryan coughed trying to clear his throat. "It was that obvious."
"No one will ever accuse you of being subtle, Ryan," she said with a teasing tone in her voice.
"Well, since you agreed to take the envelope already, you should know there's more in there."
"Like what kind of more?"
A sheepish grin broke out across Ryan's face. "More like you have a pass in there to the family and friends lounge after the game, and since I gave it to you with the tickets, you have to go there."
"Why would I do that?"
"Because I'm trying to help you get your boy."
Sydney's eyes narrowed as she stared across the room. "My boy?" she asked slowly. "You mean Andy?"
"Yeah." Ryan rolled his eyes. "It's not like I was talking about some idiot like Orlov."
Sydney would've laughed at the joke but couldn't do it this time. Instead, she ducked her head and stared at her feet.
"I don't know, Ryan."
"Please come to the lounge afterward." She looked up to see Ryan pulling out his patented puppy dog eyes. "Please. I told you I was going to try and help you fix all of this. I just need you to trust me."
Sydney scoffed and tossed the envelope onto the kitchen counter. "Trust you? I don't have much of that to go around right now in case you haven't figured that out."
Buried Treasure (The Detroit Pirates Book 2) Page 13
