For a while, she sat in the living room reading a book, and I sat nearby playing mindless games on my phone, much like we had done on the beach in Hawaii. Only there, the silence between us had been comfortable and easy. Here, it was stifling.
It was still very early when she stood up, closing the cover of her tablet. “I’m tired. I think I’m going to bed,” she announced. Even though she’d spent the last two nights in my bed, she headed down the hall toward her room without another word.
“Tallie?” I called out before she disappeared completely.
She stopped and turned, wordless.
“I don’t like the idea of us going to bed mad at each other.” Letting anger like this fester was only going to cause more problems down the road.
“Well, maybe you should try not to be mad, then,” she said. Then she spun around again and disappeared.
Fuck.
THESE MEET-THE-FANS TYPES of events had always been things I simply had to suffer through. The Thunderbirds Ice Breaker wasn’t much different. If anything, it was worse than most of them because people in Tulsa didn’t know the first thing about hockey. All they knew at this point was that we’d lost our first couple of preseason games by an embarrassing margin, so therefore, we sucked.
Oh, yeah. There was one other thing. They also knew they hated me because I was an asshole. There was that.
I had a line in front of me that went out the door, but for the most part, they weren’t looking for my autograph. They wanted to tell me what they thought about my comments over the summer, that I wasn’t good enough for Tallie, that I should go rot in rehab with my brother because if he was a drugged up asshole, I must be as well, that they hoped I got cut from the team before the season started, and a thousand other things.
Like the guy in front of me now. He had a massive beer belly pressing against a Western-style shirt and bulging over an enormous belt buckle. He seemed to really want me to notice the buckle, too, if the way he was gripping it while rocking back and forth on his cowboy boots was any indication.
“Now you just listen to me real good,” the guy said. Or I thought that was what he said. I’d only thought I’d heard a true Oklahoma drawl before this moment, but Buckle Dude was putting that assumption to the test. “You git on away from Tallulah Belle before someone decides to hurt you. She’s a good Southern girl. Ain’t got no need for the likes of some loser like you bringin’ her down in life.”
I bit down on my tongue and signed a glossy five-by-seven photo from the stack the team had left on my table.
The second I handed it over to him, he ripped it in half and dropped it to the ground, rubbing it out with his toe before stomping away.
The only effect people like Buckle Dude had on me was to reinforce the fact that everything Tallie and I had been trying to do was for naught in my case. Her image was possibly being rehabilitated, but more because the people of Tulsa hated me with a blinding passion, and they wanted to protect her from me.
If only they knew I wasn’t the real threat.
Since we still hadn’t hired a bodyguard, John was sticking close to Tallie’s side throughout the event. Not only that, but I’d talked to Gary and Alan, asking if they could have the team’s security keep a close watch on her while I was otherwise occupied being berated. Once I explained about the restraining order, they had agreed. It wasn’t as good as having one of the security officers at the event focused solely on protecting her, but it was as good as I could get on such short notice.
For the most part, she’d stood off to the side with a couple of the other WAGs while I did my best to smile through having my ass repeatedly handed to me on a silver platter. I’d been searching the crowd for her every once in a while, making sure she was still where I could see her and not in any kind of trouble. I had to chuckle when I found her this time because she had a line of her own, with people who actually wanted her autograph. No doubt they were busy telling her to leave me as soon as she could get away.
The next person in my line was a young boy, probably around twelve years old, with out-of-control curly ginger hair, pimples, and braces. He had on a turquoise Thunderbirds home jersey that was easily three sizes too big for him, but maybe he’d be able to wear it for a few years before outgrowing it. If he was much like I was as a boy, he was due to hit a big growth spurt soon. I forced a smile to my lips, or I attempted to, but I feared I only managed to keep myself from grimacing as I waited to hear what he had to say.
“C-can I have y-y-y-y-y—” He stopped and turned around like he was going to walk away before he could get it out, but a man with the same hair waved an arm, encouraging him to stay and try again. The boy shrugged, and that was when I noticed his jersey had my name and number on it. He might actually be a fan, unlike almost everyone else here. So slowly it was almost painful, he spun to face me again.
This time I managed a real smile. Not because the kid might be a fan of mine but because I wanted to make him as comfortable as I could.
“Can I-I-I-I-I-I have y-y-your autograph?” he forced out.
“Sure can. Want me to sign your jersey, too, or just a picture?” I reached for the stack and took the pic from the top, scrawling my name over my image.
He grinned. “M-my jersey, too.”
I got up and walked to the front of my table, Sharpie in hand. “What’s your name, buddy?”
He turned to the side so I could sign on the white number thirty-one on his back. “Hunter, just like y-y-y-y-y-you. I p-p-play goal.”
“Is that right? You any good?” I capped the marker and patted him on the shoulder.
He turned around and grinned at me. “B-better than you. S-s-s-six goals in half a g-game? That’s pathetic.”
“Uh oh. I guess you’re gunning for my job, then, huh?”
“S-s-s-s-s-s-soon. I’m not old enough y-y-yet.”
I laughed. “Lucky for me.” I spent more time talking with Hunter and his father than I had with anyone else in my line the whole afternoon. After a few minutes of talking with them, I called over one of the Thunderbirds bigwigs and arranged to pay for a suite for Hunter’s whole peewee hockey team and some chaperones for a home game early in the season.
By the time Hunter and his father moved on, the line behind them was restless.
“It’s about time,” the next guy said. “How hard is it to ask for an autograph?”
“How hard is it for you to be a decent human being?” I replied before thinking about what I was saying. “Apparently, it’s impossible.”
“How hard is it for you to stop the damn puck?” the guy shot back.
One of the PR guys overheard me and shot a warning look in my direction. I nodded and resolved to bite my tongue. “Apparently, that’s impossible, too,” I said. Twenty more minutes and this would be over. I could get through it without ripping someone a new asshole.
I put my head down and signed my name and number on a bunch of shit. I got through that guy and the next dozen or more before I realized I hadn’t checked on Tallie in a while. I looked up, scanning the crowd.
No sign of her. Not anywhere.
I found the group of WAGs she’d been with the last time I’d found her. Tallie wasn’t among them. For that matter, I couldn’t find John, either.
But I did find Lance.
I ALMOST HAD my hands on the son of a bitch when someone grabbed me from behind and nearly tackled me to the ground to keep me from killing him.
I thrashed against their grip and I might have roared. I definitely shouted something unintelligible. That caught Lance’s attention. He’d had his head on a swivel before then, searching the crowd as if he was looking for Tallie, and he whipped his head around, eyes wide like headlights. When his gaze zeroed in on me, he yelped like a fucking dog before he took off at a run-walk in the opposite direction.
A couple of mall security guys and one of the Thunderbirds’ security team followed him, at least, but I didn’t want to leave it to them. I wanted to strangle the son
of a bitch. I wanted to do to him all the things he’d done to Tallie and so much worse, but I couldn’t do a fucking thing in my current circumstances.
“Let me go, you fucking asswipe.” Not that I had a clue who had hold of me. Didn’t care.
“Calm the fuck down,” Razor grunted in my ear.
I jerked, trying to free myself, but the guy had a death-grip on me and didn’t seem inclined to loosen it. “I swear to God, Razor, if you don’t fucking—”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep. I’m doing you a favor, whether you like it or not.”
“He’s right, Hunter,” Zee said, coming up alongside us.
The Ice Breaker crowd was starting to disperse throughout the mall, and Lance had completely disappeared into them. I couldn’t even see his head anymore. There wasn’t a chance I’d be able to catch him now. He was gone.
But so was Tallie.
“Let me go,” I repeated, calmer now but only by a few degrees. “I need to find my wife.” And get her home, where I knew she’d be safe. Now, more than before, I wished she’d pressed charges against the bastard. If she had, he might be in jail right now, and I wouldn’t have to worry about what he might have done to her. Or might still do to her if he found her first. I shuddered at the thought before reminding myself that Lance was a coward, and now he was in flight mode, not fight. He was trying to save his own ass from a vengeful Neanderthal, so she should be in the clear.
For now.
Zee narrowed his eyes, studying me, but then he nodded to Razor. “Let him go. He’s not going to do anything stupid.”
“He can’t help doing stupid things,” Razor said entirely too cheerfully, given the circumstances, but he released me. “Think he was born that way.”
I stretched my arms, making sure everything worked the way it should. “Fuck you,” I said to him. I reached for my pocket to take out my phone and call Tallie, but then I saw her come around a corner. Instead, I took off to meet her, my long strides almost keeping pace with the pounding of my pulse. John was beside her, but in my frantic state, that didn’t register as being important. All that mattered was that Tallie was there and, by all appearances, fine.
“Where were you?” I demanded the second I was close enough for her to hear without yelling. I wanted to take her by the arms and shake her almost as much as I wanted to kiss the ever-loving shit out of her, but thought better of doing either. I damned well wasn’t going to do anything to hurt her, and kissing her could wait until we were home and I could do a hell of a lot more than just kiss her. If she’d let me.
“Good gravy. Overprotective much? I just went to the bathroom.” She rolled her eyes. “John went with me. He can verify my alibi if you need that.”
The last couple of days had been miserable. She was still furious with me for trying to keep her safe, and I wasn’t about to budge on any of the things I’d insisted on. We’d been back to sleeping in separate quarters and only touching when there were cameras on us.
What had just gone down proved I’d been right, too. “I’m not being overprotective. Lance was here.”
“He wouldn’t be dumb enough—”
“He was here,” I repeated with more force in my words.
John discreetly backed away, giving us what small amount of privacy he could, considering we were in the middle of a crowded and very public mall. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of a camera aimed straight for us. Of course there was. The whole purpose of having Tallie come to the event was to continue our public display of whatever the fuck they wanted us displaying. Little did they know it was going to turn into a freak show. Maybe they’d figure that one out soon, since that seemed to be happening more often than not with the two of us. We’d both brought trouble into this marriage, me with Kade and her with Lance.
I dropped my voice, hoping the guy’s mic wasn’t strong enough to pick up our conversation. “He was here, and he was looking for you. I know you don’t want to think he’s dangerous, but the guy’s unstable.”
“The only one unstable around here is you.”
“If trying to keep you safe makes me unstable, then I guess I am.”
“At least we’re in agreement on that.” Tallie crossed her arms in front of her, but the look in her eyes said she desperately wanted to plant them on her hips and give me a dose of sassy Southern whoop-ass. I could only guess she was keeping it in check because we were in public, since she hadn’t been bothering to hide that side of herself from me in private lately.
“I was just worried about you,” I said. “Is that not allowed?”
“When there’s no reason for you to worry—”
“Pardon me, ma’am,” a mall security officer cut in. “Sir,” he added, nodding in my direction. “I don’t mean to intrude on your conversation, but I needed to ask if this is the man you’ve got a protective order against. The Thunderbirds’ security guys filled us in before the event so we could all keep our eyes peeled.” He stepped back to reveal Lance being detained by a couple of other mall cops. One of them was holding a handgun carefully, as if he was trying to protect prints.
The son of a bitch had brought a gun. My knees went weak, thinking of what could have happened.
Tallie could only stare, open-mouthed and speechless.
“He is,” I answered. I dug in my pocket for my copy of the order to hand over. “He’s not supposed to be anywhere near her, but he was clearly looking for her.”
The security guard examined the paper and compared it to the ID he must have already obtained from Lance. “All right. This looks to be in order. I’ve got a call in to Tulsa PD. We’re going to hold him until they arrive.” He handed the order back to me and looked up at Tallie. “He didn’t make contact with you, ma’am? He didn’t try to talk to you or hurt you?”
“No,” she said, shaking her head. There were tears forming in her eyes, and she hadn’t looked away from Lance. “No, he didn’t do anything.”
“I was with her the whole time we’ve been at the mall,” John said, stepping forward again. “Other than when she was in the ladies’ room a couple of minutes ago, at least, but I think you were chasing him then. He didn’t make contact.”
“He just wanted to,” I grumbled.
The security officer took our phone numbers to turn over to the police when they arrived, and they took statements from a few of the other people who’d been around and seen what had gone down, not that anyone had understood it at the time. All they knew was I’d looked like I’d snapped and taken off after some guy, who had run away like a fucking coward. After that, he told us we could go, and the police would be in touch if they needed anything from us.
Once the rent-a-cops had hauled Lance’s scrawny ass away, a few of my teammates came over to see if we needed anything. I thanked them but sent them on their way. The only thing I needed to do was get Tallie home.
She was trembling when I put my arm around her waist, but at least she didn’t push me away. “He had a gun,” she said, her voice as shaky as her body.
I drew her closer to me, needing contact to reinforce the fact that she was all right. “Yes, he had a gun.”
“He was looking for me.”
“Yes.”
Shuddering, she buried her face against me. I wrapped her up in my arms, and I could finally breathe again, drawing in the scent of her hair and letting her take whatever strength she could from me.
When the worst of her shaking subsided, I let go so I could take her hand. “Let’s get out of here.”
She nodded and walked along beside me, sliding in close and burrowing against me as we made our way out of the mall. I put an arm around her waist and held her close.
“Hunter?” she said once we were out in the parking lot.
“Hmm?”
“I’m sorry. You were right.” She angled her head, and I looked down into her eyes. “Just don’t get used to it.” She winked despite the fact that she was grumbling the words.
“I’ll do
my best to keep my ego in check,” I said, laughing. It felt good to laugh with her again. The last couple of days had been miserable, and I didn’t want to repeat them. It wasn’t just because Tallie hadn’t been in my bed, either. I had missed a hell of a lot more than just sex. I’d missed her.
“I’m sure it’s a monumental task.” There was a hint of a smile in her voice that made my feet trip over my heart.
I hit the button on my key fob to unlock the car before opening the passenger door for her. She climbed in, but I didn’t shut the door right away.
“What?” she asked, shaking her head. “You’ve got a funny look in your eyes.”
Draping one arm on top of my car, I trailed a finger through the silky waves of her hair. She shivered again, but I knew it was a different sort of shivering than what had happened inside. Her eyes were filled with questions.
I had the answer for at least one of them. “I know you don’t want me to be overprotective of you, and I’m trying not to be. That’s hard to do, though, because I’m falling in love with you, and I can’t handle the thought of anything happening to you. Not if I can do something about it. I don’t want to take away your independence or anything like that. I just want to know that no one is hurting you. I’m not going to apologize for trying to keep you safe. Not now and not ever. You mean too much to me.”
Her jaw dropped slightly, leaving her mouth open in an O. But she didn’t say anything. Not a single fucking word.
This was a bad time to let myself get all butt-hurt over the fact that she hadn’t immediately told me she loved me, too. I shut her door and went around to the driver’s side. I fastened my belt, started the engine, and put the car in reverse. Before I could put my hand back on the wheel, Tallie took it in hers.
LANCE HAD BEEN arrested pending charges of violating the protective order and doing so while armed. For now, he was in jail, but Daddy said he’d be released on bail as soon as the next morning. And he probably wouldn’t face any significant jail time, if any. Probation was far more common in these cases. The restraining order would still be in effect, but Lance had already ignored it once. He might do so again, and it might not work out in my favor the next time.
[Tulsa Thunderbirds 01.0] Bury the Hatchet Page 22
