It would be a lot easier to find you if your hair was down. But maybe that was the point. She’d gone through the effort of getting a ticket in a nosebleed section. Of course she wanted to remain anonymous.
That didn’t stop him. He systematically went row by row until he saw a girl sitting by herself. She wore a black tank top and her hair was in a ponytail, and even though he couldn’t see her as well as he would have liked from his spot on the ground, he knew it was her.
She was here.
Grant hoped he would get one last chance to talk to her. He knew it was selfish, and he wasn’t sure what he would say, but he was the moth and she was the flame. He couldn’t stay away.
“Vaughn!”
Grant shook his head and looked toward the sound of the voice calling his name. Coach was looking at him with a frown. “Are you good to go back out?”
Knowing that Em was here, his body coursed with a new rush of adrenaline. “Absolutely.”
“Good. I’m taking Barros out for a break, and I want you to take his spot.”
Grant hopped over the board as Barros came back in through the small door that opened to the field. Once he was out there, he sprinted toward the ball and got possession. He drove it down the field toward the other team’s goal, took a shot...goal!
The arena erupted into loud cheers, and his teammates all came running over to him. They took turns smacking his back, patting his head, and clapping. Even Finn’s frown appeared less severe as he congratulated Grant on the goal.
But all of that meant nothing. He wanted to see Em cheer. Unfortunately, he’d lost her in the sea of fans.
Emmeline
Grant had scored after being on the field for less than a minute.
He’d run out there, stolen the ball from the other team, and made a goal. She wasn’t as close to the field as usual, but from her spot high in the stands she’d seen the entire thing clearly—just like she’d seen him and Frida talking only moments before he’d been put in.
Did Frida think that if she kept her face turned toward the game, that Em wouldn’t be able to see what was going on? Her best friend had talked to Grant for several minutes, and when he returned to his spot, his head had immediately turned to where she was sitting.
Well, he knows I’m here now. No sense in hiding in the nosebleeds anymore.
While everyone was standing and cheering for Grant’s impressive goal, Em shuffled around other fans to the stairs. She walked down toward the box seats and pulled the ticket with her usual seat from her purse. When she gave it to the guard manning the exclusive section, he put the wristband on her and let her pass.
She kept her eyes trained on Frida, and away from the players, and she found her spot. “Hey.”
Frida’s eyes widened before she pulled Em in for a hug. “You decided to come down after all.”
Em squeezed her back. When she pulled away, she shook her head. “Well, since someone decided to rat me out.”
Miriam, who had been standing there when Em first arrived, mumbled something about needing to set up the swag table and walked off.
Frida shrugged. “I couldn’t help it. I know you said he broke things off and it’s for the best, but he was acting so sad. He kept looking over here, and I know it wasn’t for me—as pretty as I may be.”
Em let out a small laugh at Frida’s joke but immediately sobered. She could relate to Grant looking for her. She kept looking down at the home bench, and it wasn’t for the rest of the players.
“Is there something you’re not telling me?” Frida asked when Em didn’t say anything.
“No, why?”
Frida’s face scrunched up. “It’s just he didn’t act like a guy who didn’t want to be with you. He looked like he was the one who had his heart broken.”
“I didn’t call things off, if that’s what you’re implying.”
If Grant had wanted to make things official, she would have broken her stupid rule and done it gladly. “He said he was going back to Kansas City when the season was over, and that he didn’t want to do a long-distance thing.”
Frida shook her head. “In a weird way, I understand why he did it.”
Em shot her a look.
Frida lifted her hands. “I said I understood why, not that I was happy about it. I know you liked him—still like him. Maybe he regrets how things ended.”
Em wasn’t sure what to think about her best friend’s musings. Maybe he regretted it, but that didn’t change that it had happened. Grant had shown that he wasn’t willing to put in the effort to have a relationship with her. He was just another guy who found her unworthy.
Why did she only fall for the terrible guys? She wasn’t sure, but she didn’t want to think about it anymore. It was too painful.
“I don’t know, but I don’t want to talk about Grant anymore. I came tonight to watch the game, support my brother, and that’s it.”
“Fair enough. I’ll shut up unless one of our players scores,” Frida said before turning her attention to the game.
Watching Grant out there was harder than Em realized it would be, and she was thankful for Frida’s uncharacteristic strength. Her best friend didn’t talk about Grant for the remainder of the game—even when he scored another goal. Frida cheered without nudging Em or wiggling her eyebrows or making jokes.
The final buzzer rang, and the Storm won the game with a three-point lead. Fans cheered as the players celebrated on the field. Another win meant they still got to enjoy their spot at the top of the Eastern Conference. If they could keep up the good work, they would get to go to the playoffs.
The Storm had never made it to the playoffs, and Em knew that Finn had to be excited, along with the rest of the team. It had to be especially exciting for Grant considering it was his first year playing.
Em allowed her eyes to search out Grant in the crowd in front of her. He was talking to other players, but his head turned toward her just as soon as her eyes landed on him—as if he knew she was looking at him.
Her breath caught in her chest when his blue eyes found hers. They didn’t leave her face as he pushed his way through the other players and walked toward her. With every step closer, her heart beat faster until she thought it might beat right out of her chest when he stopped in front of her—only the waist-height board separating them.
“Hey.”
Em crossed her arms to hide the trembling in her hands. “Hi.”
“I, uh…” His eyes went to his feet.
“You played a great game tonight.”
He looked up and gave her a sad smile. “Thanks.”
“That goal was amazing.”
His smile grew. “I was trying to impress a girl.”
An ache filled her chest. “Don’t say that. Not now.”
He shook his head. “You’re right. I just...how are you doing?”
How was she doing? Not great, and he was the last person she wanted to talk to about it. “Grant…”
“I’m sorry. I know this is tough. But I want you to know that I’m sorry for how things ended between us. I didn’t want them to end, but I was already feeling stressed with my injury and the fact that I was breaking Finn’s rule by talking to you.” His eyes went wide. “What I mean is—”
“Finn’s rule?” What was Grant talking about? Em had a rule. She’d made no secret of her rule when she talked to Grant. But this was the first time she’d heard of one from her brother.
Grant rubbed the back of his neck. “You should know that I always thought it was crap. But he made it abundantly clear that it wasn’t up for debate.”
Abundantly clear with his fist?
Grant had been quick to brush her off when she’d asked about his black eye last week. He hadn’t wanted to say how he got it. Even now, Grant wasn’t saying that Finn had hit him. But Em knew her brother well enough to know his preferred method of getting his way.
Or, at least, she thought she knew her brother. But since when did he lie to her about his relations
hips and set down edicts about her own? That wasn’t the Finn she’d grown up with, and it made her question everything.
She put her hands on the board and leaned forward. “What’s the rule, Grant?”
Grant’s head briefly turned to where the players were standing and then back to Em. He lifted his hands to make air-quotes. “He has a strict ‘no-dating-my-sister’ rule.”
“He what?” Her voice was high-pitched. “I have the no-dating-athletes rule.”
Grant shrugged. “Well, he decided to take it one step further. No one on the team is allowed to even talk to you.”
So that was why so many of the guys kept a safe distance when they talked to her. They didn’t want a broken nose or a black eye. Though there was someone who got neither. “Do you know what happened with Damien?”
He shook his head and backed away. “Oh, no. That’s something you’ll have to ask Finn about.”
Her hands clenched into fists. She was going to kill her brother for all the secrets he’d been keeping behind her back. “Anything else you think I should know?” she asked through clenched teeth.
He reached out like he wanted to touch her but let his hand drop to his side. “Just that I’m sorry that I hurt you. I never meant for things to end like that. I wish I could go back and have a do-over.”
Grant’s admission softened her anger, but it was quickly replaced with pain. She hadn’t wanted things to end at all. She shook her head. “But we can’t. What’s done is done.”
Grant’s lips turned down into a frown.
The sight broke her heart. She turned her eyes away and saw the rest of the players were making their way off the field toward the locker rooms. Em jerked her head toward them. “You should probably get going.”
Grant took a deep breath. “Yeah, okay.”
Then he turned and walked off.
Em stayed in the stands during the autograph session. She was too angry to pretend like everything was okay and knew if she tried to talk to Finn, she was going to lose it. Talking about how Finn had been scaring away guys was not a conversation she wanted to have in front of all of his teammates, though it sounded like they all knew about his stupid rule.
It was difficult to watch him smile and laugh with fans, and she was thankful when the crowd started to thin. When the last fan left the field, Finn looked around the arena. He spotted Em and waved.
She kept her face blank.
His brow crinkled, and he stood up. He said something to Silas and started walking toward her. When he made it up the stairs to where she sat, he smiled. “What are you doing way up here?”
Her eyes narrowed.
“What’s going on? I thought you weren’t mad about me dating Frida anymore.”
“I’m not mad about that. I’m mad about the other secrets you’ve been keeping from me.”
His brows lowered. “What are you talking about?”
“The little rule you have for all your teammates.” She smiled tightly. “The one that says they’re not allowed to date me.”
He shifted on his feet.
“So, it’s true. You’ve been telling guys to stay away from me.”
“I—”
“Did you tell Grant to stay away?”
He nodded.
“Did you say it with your fist?”
He lowered his gaze.
She shook her head. “Why did you do that?”
He lifted his hands. “To protect you. I couldn’t stand to see another guy hurt you. First Travis broke up with you. Then Mark did the same thing. I couldn’t bear the thought of it happening again.”
“People break up with other people all the time.”
“Those people aren’t my sister though.”
She shook her head. “What about Damien? He wasn’t exactly a great date, and I heard you had something to do with it.”
He plopped down next to her and rubbed his hands over his face. “I didn’t like the way some of the guys were looking at you—like you were a woman. Even after I broke Parrera’s nose, there were a few that didn’t care. So I told Damien to take you out and show you a bad time. I figured it would push you over the edge and you’d stop dating athletes altogether. Then I wouldn’t have to work so hard to keep the guys away.”
“Unbelievable.”
“It worked, didn’t it?”
She crossed her arms and lifted her chin. “You had no right.”
“What was I supposed to do, Em? Sit back and watch you get hurt over and over again?”
“Yes, that’s exactly what you were supposed to do.”
His eyebrows shot up.
“I don’t like the idea of getting hurt any more than you do, but you’re not the keeper of my heart, Finn. You’re my brother, the one man I thought I could trust.”
How many relationships did she miss out on because Finn had scared guys away? And how many had she pushed away because she’d been so easily manipulated by her brother into thinking that a no-athlete rule was a good idea?
Guys like Grant.
She’d enjoyed talking to him from that first day at City Bar and had pushed him away until he finally left for good. Tears streamed down her cheeks.
Finn reached out and rubbed her arm. “I’m sorry.”
Em turned in her seat. “You can’t keep secrets from me anymore.”
“I know.”
“I’m serious, Finn. You are the only family I have, and I need to know that I can trust you. Let me make my own mistakes instead of trying to protect me.”
“I only want what’s best for you.” Finn wrapped his arm around Em and pulled her close. “From now on, I promise. No more secrets.”
“You’ll let me make my own mistakes,” she said. “But you can give me advice on how to handle jerks on my own without beating them up.”
He considered it for a moment. Eventually, he nodded. “Deal.”
Em rested her head on his shoulder. “Thank you.”
They sat in uncomfortable silence for several minutes, both looking down at the empty arena below them.
Finn was the first to speak. “So, does this mean you like Grant?”
Em sat up. Her first reaction was to brush off Finn’s question. They didn’t talk about relationships other than when boys had hurt her. Maybe that was part of the problem. If they had talked about the good things in addition to the bad—if they had had uncomfortable conversations like this—then maybe Finn wouldn’t have decided to scare away guys.
Maybe Em would have never made her stupid rule in the first place.
She took a deep breath. “Yeah. I really like him.” She paused. “Or, liked him, I guess. Things are most definitely over at this point.”
“Are you sure?”
She bit her bottom lip. “Pretty sure.”
“Because of me.”
She snorted. “I’m sure you punching him had something to do with it. But that wasn’t all of it.”
“Have you tried talking to him? I hear you’re getting really good at heart-to-hearts.”
Em laughed. She’d made up with her best friend and her brother in the past week even though it had meant having conversations that put her way out of her comfort zone. But she was still far from being good at heart-to-hearts. Besides, there were too many other variables to consider. Grant was the one to walk away. Not only that, he’d be going back to Kansas City when the season was over.
She shook her head. “I think this one might be beyond repair.
Grant
They’d just finished practice when Finn stormed over to where Grant was gathering his things. “We need to talk.”
Grant sighed loudly. Oh great. What did I do this time?
He hadn’t spoken to Em since last week’s game, and while he knew that he shouldn’t have even done that, she looked so sad and beautiful standing there he couldn’t resist going to her.
Grant was just surprised it took Finn so long to dish out the consequences. He looked to see if anyone else still lingered in the a
rena, but they’d all left pretty quickly.
How convenient.
He braced himself for the verbal—and possibly physical—attack.
He closed his eyes. “Why don’t you just punch me and get it over with?”
“I’m not here to fight with you.”
With everything that had happened this past week, Grant didn’t have any patience left. He looked at Finn. “Then what? Are you here to tell me to quit playing for the Storm? Do you want me to refuse the offer to play here again next year?”
Finn wouldn’t be happy until Grant was out of the picture completely. It was the reason his Storm contract for next year’s season lay unsigned—right next to an unopened letter from USF.
Grant knew he shouldn’t stay; he needed to go back home to Kansas City and forget all about the life he was building in Waterfront. He couldn’t though. Every time he tried to rip up the contract or throw away the envelope that contained an answer from USF about the master’s program, he stopped himself at the last moment.
He didn’t want to leave the Storm. And he sure as hell didn’t want to leave Em.
Finn’s brows lowered. “Greg already offered you a place next year?”
“Yeah. But I haven’t signed it yet, so don’t worry. You can still bully me into leaving,” he said in a sharp tone.
Finn took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I just wanted to talk for a minute. Can you give me that? Please?”
Grant just about fell over in shock. Did Finn, the same guy who’d given him a black eye just a couple weeks ago, just say please? “Uh, okay.”
“It’s about Emmeline.”
Emmeline?
He couldn’t think of any reason for Finn to talk about his sister...unless something was wrong. His entire body tensed. “Is she okay?”
“She’s fine, but she’s been really upset. Someone told her about my rule.”
Grant kept his lips closed. He still wasn’t sure if he should expect a fist coming at his face, and he didn’t want to push it by saying something stupid.
Out of Play: A Sports Romance (Love in the Arena Book 2) Page 13
