Breakaway

by Cher Carson

  Chase looked at Taylor. “I can’t just let her leave, Davis.”

  “You don’t have a choice, man. She’s leaving, with or without your permission.” He looked at Mark. “You’ll see she gets a cab to the airport?”

  Mark nodded as he looked at Chase. “Don’t worry, buddy, I’ve got your back.”

  Chase looked at Taylor again. “Just give me five minutes,” he whispered. “Please.”

  She stepped onto the elevator and Mark followed her as she pushed the button to close the door.

  He opened his arms and she fell against his chest, sobbing.

  Chapter Seven

  Steve pushed Chase down the hall toward his room. “Okay, guys, show’s over,” he yelled over his shoulder. “Why don’t we all get some sleep so we don’t have our asses handed to us again on Monday night?”

  Steve glanced at Sara, who was still standing in the doorway of Chase’s room. “Why don’t you finish up here and come on over to my room when you’re done? I think we need to talk.”

  “Give me five minutes,” Chase muttered. He inclined his head toward his room and Sara followed dutifully behind him.

  She closed the door and leaned up against it. “Finally,” she said, pushing off the door. “I thought they’d never leave.” She licked her lips as she moved in on him. “Now, where were we?” She eyed the front of his dress pants. “That’s right, I was gonna give you...”

  He held his hands up and took a step back, suddenly feeling like she was a predator and he was her defenseless prey. “Uh, listen, Sara, I’m sure you’re a really sweet girl, but this can’t happen.”

  “Yes, it can,” she said, continuing to walk toward him. “You just need to relax and forget about that uptight bitch.” She curled her lip in disgust. “Who the hell does she think she is, acting all high and mighty when she’s been banging some other guy?” She grabbed his shirt, pulling him toward her. “You don’t need her. What you need is someone who understands what it’s like to be you.”

  He cleared his throat and seized her wrists. “Uh, what do you mean by that?”

  “Come on, you must have women coming on to you all the time, am I right?”

  He stepped around her, trying to put some distance between them. “What’s your point?”

  “My point is, you need a woman who’s willing to look the other way if you need to ease your stress by getting a little action on the side.” She grabbed his shirt and pulled him toward her, coiling her leg around his. “I’d be willing to look the other way, as long as I was the one you were coming home to.”

  He closed his eyes, trying to reign in his frustration. His wife was somewhere in the same hotel, hurt and vulnerable, probably in the arms of a man who would forgo a year’s salary just to get her into bed. Meanwhile, he was stuck here, babysitting a girl who seemed to be harbouring fantasies about having a real relationship with him. “Look, Sara, you’re a beautiful woman, but I’m just not interested.”

  She slipped her hands inside his shirt. “You say that now. Give me an hour and I guarantee you’ll feel differently.” She pressed her body against his, drawing his earlobe into her mouth.

  He grabbed her shoulders, setting her at arm’s length. “You’re not listening to me. My wife is the only woman I want.”

  “You weren’t thinking about her when you had your hand up my skirt earlier.”

  He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before responding. “You’re right; I crossed the line tonight, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have come on to you and I sure as hell shouldn’t have invited you up to my room.”

  She looked down at the ground, her voice barely above a whisper when she asked, “Is it me? You’re just not into me?”

  “No, that’s not it. Believe me, any one of my teammates would gladly have traded places with me tonight. It’s just that I’m still in love with her...” He swiped at the tear slipping down her cheek. “Please don’t cry.”

  She flattened her palms against his chest. “But we were so close to having it all, Chase. Please don’t throw that away. She doesn’t love you the way I do.”

  He felt a sense of impending dread. “What are you talking about?”

  “I’ve been trying to meet you forever. I sent fan letters, bought tickets from scalpers so I could go to your games. I even waited outside of the locker room for you, but I couldn’t get close enough to talk to you. I’ve been waiting four years to meet you.” She lifted her eyes to meet his. “I got a job in the hotel because I found out that this is where your team usually stays when they come to town. I knew if you met me, you’d feel it too, that special connection.” She gripped his shoulders. “You do, don’t you? I know you feel it; you’re just trying to deny it because you’re still married and you feel guilty, but you don’t have to. We were meant to be together. You can’t fight fate, don’t even try.”

  Chase felt like he’d just stepped off the edge of a cliff and he was falling in the abyss. This girl wasn’t a random waitress he’d met in a bar; she was a stalker. “Listen, I’m going to have to ask you to leave now.”

  She shook her head violently. “No, you don’t want to do that. You don’t really want me to leave.” She ran her hands through her hair, tugging on her scalp. “You want me to stay; you need me just like I need you. We belong together, Chase. We just need to get your wife out of the way, and then we can be together.”

  The dread in his gut shifted to full blown panic when he realized her obsession with him may pose a threat to Taylor. He gripped her shoulders, shaking her slightly. “Listen to me, you don’t even know me.”

  “Yes, I do,” she said, reaching up to touch his face. “I’ve read every article ever written about you. I’ve watched all of your interviews. I even taped your games so I can rewind your shifts and watch them over and over again.” She smiled. “I love to watch you play.”

  He closed his eyes, trying to find the words to make her see reason. “I’m flattered, really I am, but this is just an infatuation.”

  Her face transformed in a mask of fury. “Don’t say that, don’t ever say that. That’s what my parents said and they were wrong.” She stroked his chest, smiling again. “They were wrong. Look, here we are together, in your hotel room, about to make love.”

  “No,” he said, clenching his jaw. “We are not going to make love because you are leaving, now.”

  “I can give you a baby,” she said quickly.

  Chase felt like someone sucker punched him. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “You told that bitch you wanted to make a baby with her last night.” She shook her head repeatedly as she stroked his shoulders. “That would have been bad, very bad. That would’ve ruined everything.”

  He could see her losing her tenuous grip on reality as her pupils began to dilate. She stared at an invisible target over his left shoulder. What the hell had he gotten himself into, inviting this delusional girl into his world? “I don’t know what else to say to make you understand, Sara.”

  She looked up at him, as though she’d forgotten he was there. “I think I need a shower before we make love. I’ve been working all night. There are germs, lots of germs, in hotels.”

  He saw it as an opportunity, so he took it. “Yeah, good idea, you go and grab a shower. I need to talk to Steve anyway.” He would call hotel security and have her thrown out before he talked to Steve. “I’ll be back in a little while.”

  She tugged on the front of his shirt. “No, I want you to shower with me. Don’t leave me. I don’t ever want you to leave me again.”

  “I, uh, have to talk to Steve about something important. Don’t worry, I won’t be gone long.”

  She pouted. “Promise?”

  “Yeah sure, I promise.”

  “Kiss me before you go.”

  The last thing he wanted to do was encourage her, but it was a small price to pay if it meant getting rid of her. He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her forehead. “Be back soon.”

  Before s
he could respond, he scooped up his wallet, phone, and keys, practically lunging for the door in his haste to leave. He looked over his shoulder to make sure she wasn’t following him before walking the short distance to Steve’s room. He pounded on the door and waited for his friend to answer.

  Steve pulled the door open, wearing sweatpants and a creased t-shirt. “Hey, I was wondering what the hell happened to you.”

  Chase pushed past him and closed the door. “You have no idea.”

  Steve chuckled as he sat down on the edge of one of the two beds in the room. The TV station was set to sports highlights and he looked at the screen out of the corner of his eye as he asked, “What happened?”

  Chase grabbed the remote control and pressed the button to kill the power to the set. “Do you mind? I’m in the middle of a crisis here.”

  Steve rolled his eyes. “Okay, tell me what happened with Taylor.”

  “It’s not just Taylor. It’s that Sara chick; she’s crazy, man.”

  Steve laughed as he leaned back on the bed, resting his weight on his elbow. “You’re the crazy one if you ask me. She’s way too young for you, Hudson.”

  Chase paced the floor in the small room, eating up the space with several long strides. “Her age is the least of my problems. I think she’s a fucking stalker.”

  Steve fell back on the bed, laughing. “No way.”

  Chase tossed the TV remote at him, catching him on the thigh. “Shut the fuck up, I’m serious. I think she may be dangerous.”

  Steve sat up, trying to contain his laughter. “Okay, tell me what happened. Why do you think she’s a stalker?”

  Chase stopped pacing long enough to face Steve. “For starters, she got a job at the hotel because she found out the team stays here.”

  Steve shrugged. “Maybe she’s a puck bunny.”

  Steve was right; there were women in every city with fantasies of hooking up with a professional hockey player, but something about this girl told him she was different. “She bought tickets from scalpers so she could see the games.”

  Steve crossed his arms. “Huh, that couldn’t have been cheap, especially on a waitress’s salary.”

  “Then she waits outside of the locker room, hoping to talk to me after the game. Not just once, but every friggin’ game we play here.”

  Steve frowned. “You’re sure she’s not just an overzealous fan? You know how some people get, man. They think they know you just ‘cause they watch you play.”

  Chase resumed pacing. Just stating the facts aloud made him uneasy. “I’ll fill you in on the rest in a minute. I’ve gotta call hotel security before she gets out of the shower.”

  “The shower?”

  “She wanted to have a shower before we ‘made love.’” Chase made quotation marks in the air to emphasize the words. “I’m tellin’ ya, she’s delusional.”

  Steve laughed. “Don’t waste any time making that call. I don’t want her knocking on my door.”

  “Thanks a lot, man.” Chase placed the call, explaining the situation to hotel security, who assured him they would deal with the situation at once. Professional athletes were VIPs in their hotel. They always received preferential treatment.

  “They gonna take care of it?” Steve asked.

  “Yeah, they said they’d get rid of her.” He rubbed his eyes. The alcohol, combined with the stress, made him feel as though he hadn’t slept in a week.

  “So, what else did she say?” Steve asked.

  Chase sank down on the other bed, falling back against the mattress. “She said she sent me a bunch of fan letters. Get this, she even taped all my games so she could re-wind them and watch all my shifts.”

  Steve threw a pillow at him, hitting him in the head. “Hell, there’s not much to see. Except for last week when Matheson kicked the shit of you. That was entertaining.”

  “Fuck off; Matheson was the one limping off the ice after that fight, the pussy.”

  Steve laughed. “Whatever you say, man.”

  Chase leaned up on one elbow, facing his friend. “She wants to have my baby. How sick is that?”

  “You’re right, that’s some sick shit.” Steve shuddered. “A kid that looks like you? Hell, I’m gonna have nightmares tonight just thinking about it.”

  Chase fell back against the pillows and closed his eyes. “Thanks for the support, asshole. I’m serious, I think this chick is twisted.”

  Steve’s cell phone rang. He checked the call display and grinned. “That would be my local booty call.”

  Chase opened one eye to look at him. “You have one in every city?”

  “Nah, just a few, you know how it is.”

  “No, I don’t. I only want one woman and, thanks to you, she’s probably off somewhere with Atwell the asshole, doing God only knows what.”

  Steve’s fingers flew over the keypad on his phone before he looked up at Chase. “Give me a break, Taylor’s not gonna give Atwell the time of day. She still wants you, man, isn’t that obvious?”

  “She did want me, until tonight.”

  “Hey, yeah, fill me in. What happened when she caught you with psycho Sara?”

  Chase winced as he recalled their argument. “She was waiting for me in bed when I came into the room with Sara.”

  Steve grimaced, clutching his chest. “Ouch, there’s no way that could have ended well.”

  “No, she basically told me she’d come here because she still loved me, she wanted to try again. But it looks like I blew it. She’s never gonna take me back now.”

  Steve threw his hands up in the air. “I don’t understand you, Hudson. Would you have made it to the pros if you’d listened to every person who told you it was a long shot?”

  Chase remained silent as he considered his response.

  “Well then, assuming your wife is as important as your career, get up off your ass and go get her back instead of whining to me about it.”

  Chased leaned forward, weighing his options. His friend was right; he’d never given up on his dream of playing professional hockey, and he sure as well wasn’t going to give up on his marriage without a fight.

  Chapter Eight

  Taylor sat in a dark booth across from Mark, clutching her second glass of white wine. “I’m sorry to lay all this on you, Mark.”

  He took a sip of the same beer he’d been nursing since they sat down over an hour ago. “Hey, I offered to listen.” He smiled. “You looked like you could use a friend. I know what that’s like.”

  She tipped her head and looked at him. He was ruggedly handsome with cropped dark hair, a few battle scars, and several tattoos decorating his muscular biceps. “You’re a good guy. How come you’re not married?”

  He laughed and choked on his beer, covering his mouth to keep from spewing it across the table. “Me, married? Are you kidding?”

  “Ever think about it, getting married, settling down?”

  He shrugged, peeling the label off his bottle. “I don’t know. I thought about it once. There was this one girl I was seeing for a while.”

  “What happened?”

  “She didn’t take me seriously. She thought I was just some punk kid looking for a good time.”

  Taylor smiled. “And were you?”

  He grinned, revealing a flash of white teeth and dimples. “Probably.”

  She laughed. “At least you’re honest. That’s a refreshing change.”

  “I meant what I said earlier. I don’t think Chase was into that waitress. He loves you, Taylor. I mean it, the guy’s crazy about you.” He rolled his eyes. “This past year’s been brutal. You can’t say two words to him before he jumps down your throat.”

  “I want to believe in him, in us, but I’m afraid.”

  Mark pushed his bottle aside and leaned forward. “Why’s that?”

  “Taking a risk on a guy like Chase is just asking for trouble.”

  “What do you mean?”

  She hesitated, unsure how much she was willing to confide in a man whose loy
alty laid with her soon to be ex-husband. “Chase is good-looking, rich, not to mention a professional athlete. Women...”

  “Are only interested in him for those reasons,” Mark interrupted, scowling. “You don’t know how hard it is for guys like us to figure out whether a girl is really into us because of who we are or what we do. I’ve seen it dozens of times. Once a player retires and the money dries up, his wife goes off in search of something better. It makes me sick.”

  “Are you saying it doesn’t work both ways?” she asked, taking a sip of her wine. “Guys don’t choose women based on what they look like and then leave them when they’re not firm and pretty anymore?”

  Mark smiled at a girl who was trying to get his attention. “Do I want to marry a beautiful woman? Of course I do, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t. But at the end of the day, if I can’t say that I’m going home to my best friend, then that’s not the woman I should be spending the rest of my life with, ya know?”

  Taylor shook her head. “Yeah, I know what you mean.”

  “Let me ask you something. When something happens, good or bad, is Chase the first person you want to call?” Mark asked.

  She didn’t even have to think about it. “Yes.” Dozens of times over the past year she’d been tempted to pick up the phone because she knew he was the only person who would understand.

  “Then you’ve got to find a way to make it work with him, Taylor. I’m no expert, but I don’t think that kind of love comes along twice in a lifetime.”

  She considered his words, questioning whether he may be right. If so, where did that leave her? Maybe Mark was right and Chase was fighting so hard to save their marriage because he believed they were throwing away their one and only chance at happiness. “Can I ask you a question? I know I may be putting you in awkward position, so you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

  He shrugged. “Ask. If I can answer, I will.”

  “Do you think Chase has been faithful to me throughout our marriage?”

  “Without a doubt.”

  She laughed, feeling relieved he’d been so quick to respond. “How can you be so sure?”