Maybe it wasn’t her place, maybe she was letting her jealousy get the better of her, but Katella felt her body start to head over in their direction. Not because he belonged to her or anything, but because she was helping him out.
That was it.
“…don’t care who you’re fucking,” Katella picked up by this stranger. Edina still hadn’t noticed Katella making her way over and she wasn’t quite sure if Negan did or not. Either way, Katella was not making it a secret that she was heading in their direction, and considering where this conversation was going, wanted to hear just how this was going to turn out. “You are mine, James. You’ve been mine since high school. I just… I just wanted to tell you that. It’s why I wanted to use some of my settlement money to win you at the auction. I just wanted the opportunity to talk.”
“I’ve given you the opportunity to talk on multiple occasions,” he told her through clenched teeth. He was getting antsy; hockey players had a pregame routine – a superstition – they liked to go through before every game to ensure they played their best game. “And now that you realize I’m wanted by other people, you think you can just waltz back here and think you can get me back?”
“We have history,” Edina pointed out, pushing her brow as though she was trying to emphasize her point. “History isn’t easily erased, James.”
“History doesn’t mean shit when feelings aren’t there anymore,” he told her, his eyes latched onto hers in hopes it would cause her to realize how serious he was being. “And they’re not, Edina. I didn’t cheat on you because I was attracted to the girl – hell, I don’t even remember her name – I cheated on you because I was unhappy.”
“Oh, and that justifies your behavior?” Edina snapped, fists resting on her hips. “That makes cheating okay?”
“Of course not,” Negan said, exasperated. “But you wouldn’t talk to me. You wouldn’t help resolve our issues, Edina. You listened to me, but I don’t think you really heard anything I had to say. I think you thought I was yours and that was it. You took what we had for granted. And when I served you with papers, you were still in denial. So I cheated.”
Katella faltered. He had told her something similar in the kitchen that morning. She hadn’t thought to question his response, and as she heard him tell this to his ex, Katella knew it was real. Which didn’t make it okay but it made the cheating… understandable.
“Why won’t you just give me another chance?” Edina asked. “I get it now -“
“Yeah, after we’ve been divorced for a year,” Negan said with a roll of his eyes. “Now that you see I’m actually playing well with the Gulls in Newport Beach, where it’s sunny every day. You think your whole being here is a coincidence?” He shook his head. “I know how you work, Edina. You’re not here for me, you’re here for the lifestyle. You weren’t hard enough for New York and now you want Newport. That’s not going to happen. I don’t want you in my life.”
“Are you seeing someone else?” Edina asked quickly, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. “I know Katella Hanson bid on you at the auction, that bitch. Is she sleeping her way through the team? Everyone knows she had a thing with Xander Vane.”
“If you talk about her that way again,” Negan said in a low, dangerous voice, “you will regret it. I promise you that much.”
Katella believed now was the perfect opportunity to make herself known. She cleared her throat awkwardly, catching both of their attention. She did a little wave.
“Hi,” she sing-songed in a voice she did not recognize as her own. What the hell was she doing? “Negan, we have a game that’s going to start soon. Might want to head back to the locker room so you can be with the team.”
Negan looked grateful for the attempt at a rescue but Edina did not seem to want to let him go so easily.
“You,” she growled through gritted teeth, her eyes narrowed. “What do you think you’re doing here?”
“Um, I own the building,” Katella said with her brow furrowed. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m talking to my husband -“
“Ex-husband,” Katella corrected her. Her lips curled up into a mocking grin and she could feel herself acting like a bitch, but she couldn’t help it if Edina brought this out in her. Plus, there was no way she was going to let this person try and bully her into leaving her alone with Negan. Negan was hers now, and she had no problem letting his ex know where she stood now.
From the corner of Katella’s eye, she noticed a smile nothing short of wolfish on Negan’s face, almost like he knew she was jealous and he liked the fact that she was getting territorial over him.
“Yes, well, there’s a history between us that you can’t argue with,” she said dismissively. “Now, if you’ll excuse me-“
“James doesn’t want to talk to you,” Katella said. “He has a game he needs to go to now. If you love him, his games should be your priority because it’s his priority.”
“Kesha,” Edina said with a fake smile.
“It’s Katella,” Katella corrected.
“I don’t care,” Edina snapped. “Have you ever been married before?”
Katella pretended to think about it. “No,” she said.
“Then why do you think you’re capable of giving me marriage advice?” she asked.
“Because I’ve never been divorced before,” Katella said. “And maybe I’ve never been married before, but I also have studied marriage thoroughly and know that communication is the biggest deal breaker in a relationship.”
“And what does that have anything to do with us?” Edina asked.
“Negan doesn’t want to communicate with you,” Katella told her. “He didn’t then and he doesn’t now.”
“Oh, and you think you’re better than me?” Edina asked, stepping towards Katella.
“I don’t think it, I know it,” Katella said.
That was the wrong thing to say, apparently, because, without warning, Edina punched Katella in the face. Due to the immediate tightness around her left eye, Katella figured she punched her eye.
Negan immediately stepped in front of Katella as she clutched her face, slowly standing back up. Without thinking, he grabbed Edina’s wrists and made sure his grip was firm but didn’t cause her pain.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he growled, narrowing his eyes at the woman before him.
“It’s okay,” Katella told him, taking her place next to him. She placed a hand on his shoulder, trying to break him free of the angry trance he seemed to be under.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” Edina asked him, her eyes filling up with tears. “Why does it seem like you hate me?”
And in that moment, Katella felt sorry for Edina. Because Katella saw the way Negan was looking at Edina, and in that moment, it really did look like he hated her. His fingers were curled into fists, his lips were pressed into a thin, white line, and his eyes – those eyes that had looked at her so tenderly when they had been making love – was now filled with a darkness she didn’t even recognize in him. Even at their worst moments together, where they argued and berated each other, he had never looked at her this way.
And as much as Katella didn’t like to think about Negan with anyone else, this woman had been with him, had loved him, for the last thirteen years. They were divorced, yes, but Edina probably hadn’t expected the rage pooling from Negan like a broken faucet spurting out water. She couldn’t imagine him ever looking at her that way, even if things didn’t work out between them.
Then again, she wasn’t planning on socking his new girlfriend.
Not that he would get a new girlfriend after her.
Well, he probably would.
Wait – girlfriend? Can I even call myself that?
Katella watched as tears sprung into Edina’s eyes. Whether it was because of the pain in her hand or the pain in Negan’s reaction toward her, she didn’t know. To be fair, it was probably both. Katella stood back to her full height, causing Negan to step beside
her and look at her. Suddenly, his eyes were filled with concern and he placed his arm over her shoulder.
“You okay?” he murmured in a voice only she could hear. “Do you want to call the police?”
“You would call the police on me, James?” Edina’s voice cracked and Katella knew she had hit rock bottom in that moment.
She shook her head. “That won’t be necessary,” she told him. "I'll get someone to call security if she won't leave on her own. You need to go to the game. You're going to be late and I know Cherney well enough to know if you aren't there on time, he’ll bench you no matter who you are."
"But you-"
"I'll be fine," Katella told him again. Somebody must have seen what happened because security was making their way over as they spoke. "You have a game you need to get to."
He nodded, throwing her one last look of concern before heading off. Katella let out a slow breath, turning to head to the women's locker room. She needed to cover up her bruise in case Seraphina asked about it.
Chapter 19
Katella’s head was swimming. She wasn’t sure how to respond to Negan’s comment. Not that she had the time to respond at all. He was off to play before she had anything to say. She stood standing there for a moment, though it could have been an hour for all she knew. The announcer introducing the starting line brought her back to reality. How was it possible that she was early and yet somehow showed up late?
She needed to figure this out. She needed to figure out if this was what she wanted.
She needed her sister.
Clutching her purse to her chest, Katella headed to the elevators, pushing the up button with shaky fingers.
Negan wanted to be with her?
It almost didn’t make sense. James Negan was not the sort of guy who was monogamous.
How do you even know that? a voice pointed out. He was married for three years, together with the same person for thirteen.
“Yeah, but he cheated on his wife, remember?” she muttered under her breath just as the elevator sprang open and an attendant greeted her by name.
However, the more she thought about it, the more she realized the voice in her head was right. He had been with the same person for thirteen years. Since high school. Katella didn’t even remember the name of her high school boyfriends. He had cheated on her, yes, but as far as she knew, it had been one time. She wasn’t going to justify it, of course, but she would at least be open to hearing him explain his reasoning. He deserved that much.
When the elevator doors slid open, she thanked the attendant and headed to her seat. Seraphina had food for both of them, but Katella couldn’t focus on eating right now.
“Okay,” Seraphina said, her voice flat. “What’s going on with you? I know you love the cheeseburgers and fries, and I personally put extra mayo on your burger. What gives?”
Katella hesitated. She wasn’t sure if Seraphina would judge her the way Matt seemed to think everyone else would. She didn’t want Seraphina to think she was a puck bunny, a hot mess trying to get over her first love.
She snorted.
She hadn’t even loved Matt. She hadn’t been allowed to love him.
Almost as though Seraphina could read Katella’s mind – and there was a good chance she could – hurt flickered through the blue-gold eyes. “Kat,” she said, her voice thick with disappointment. “It’s me.”
Katella had told her sister the same thing. How could she doubt Seraphina? Seraphina had always been there for her, and always would be, no matter what. So she turned to Seraphina and, as the puck dropped, told her sister everything.
She told Seraphina about the whole Negan-Matt debacle in the parking lot, after Matt had confronted her. She told her about what happened in the dressing room of Nordstrom’s, about what Negan said to her, about the fact that she had tied his bowtie like she had a right to. She told Seraphina about how Negan had told Matt to cause them to fight in the first place, about what Matt insinuated about her after she left Negan in the dressing room, how she needed to clear her head so she went to Sea Side’s gym and ran into Negan where things got heated. She was quick to point out that she ended things before things went further even though she wanted nothing more than to continue what they started.
From there, she filled in the gaps – how Negan had accidentally asked her out on a date and how she had said yes, how she saw him having a heated discussion with his ex, how that had compelled her to bid on him at the auction. From there, Katella told her how Matt had embarrassed her about her reputation as a puck bunny, how Negan defended her, and how she thought Negan was only using her to get back at Matt for some unknown reason.
But then he had showed up at her place in the middle of a thunderstorm, soaked to the bone to tell her that he wasn’t using her, and from there…
“You don’t need to go into details about that, Kat,” Seraphina told her sister with a sly smile. “So now you’re wondering where to go from here?”
“Pretty much,” she said. “I also happened to run into his ex who gave me a black eye.” She gestured at her right eye, heavily made up with foundation, blush, and eyeshadow.
“I wanted to ask but thought it might have been rude,” Seraphina said dryly, sitting back in her seat. “I’m surprised no one told me about that.”
“I made sure to handle it,” Katella said. “Security wasn’t called and no one was around to know what happened.”
“What do you feel for him, Kat?” Seraphina asked as the period came to a close.
Katella’s eyes found Negan walking off the bench and toward the locker room. Her heart fluttered just looking at him. Was it wrong that she was already picturing herself wearing his jersey with his number – 13 – to the games –
God, she was such a sap. A fool. A romantic…
“I really, really, really, really like him, Sera,” Katella said.
“So…” Seraphina perked her brow. “What’s the problem, then?”
“I don’t know if he feels the same way about me,” Katella said.
Seraphina rolled her eyes. “What was the word you’ve been using the past week with me?” she asked, tapping her index finger on the tip of her chin. “Oh, yeah. Bullshit. He’s crazy about you, Kat. Anyone with eyes can see it. You don’t realize the way he looks at you, he picks on you because he likes you, and he hates Matt because Matt treats you like garbage. Also, I’m willing to bet he’s a teensy bit jealous.”
Katella breathed out a sigh through her nose. “So,” she murmured, “what do you think I should do about it?”
“Go tell him,” Seraphina said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Tell him how you feel. Figure out what this is between you guys so you’re on the same page.”
“And if he feels the same way?” she asked tentatively.
Seraphina beamed. “Then take the first step and figure out what that means for you,” she said. “And don’t waste it because not everyone gets that first step.” She took a swig of her water bottle before shooting her sister another look. “So you’ve told me practically everything, but do you plan on telling me how the hell Negan’s ex punched you in the face?”
It was difficult for Negan to concentrate during this game, which was a rarity for him. Edina had socked Katella in the face. Surprisingly enough, that wasn’t what got him. He knew Katella could handle herself. What surprised him was the instinct in him to protect Katella, even against a woman. He had never hit a woman and wouldn’t think to do so now, but his instincts wanted to restrain Edina even if that meant harming her to protect Katella.
And that scared him.
To have no self-control that followed logic because of one person scared him.
More than that, Katella didn’t even demand to call the cops. She didn’t punch back. All she did was tell Edina to leave. She hadn’t even called security. He didn’t even think she banned Edina from the game. Then, while holding her nose, she all but ordered Negan to get to the locker room, even though he
wanted nothing more than to take care of her and give her props for holding her own. He had no idea what had happened to Edina after that, but he didn’t particularly care.
On the bench, in between shifts, he kept glancing up to the Brown Suite, where Katella and Seraphina sat during every game. It wasn’t until the end of the first period that he finally caught a glimpse of her. It looked like she attempted to cover up her bruise. Because he knew what had happened, he noticed it even across the rink.
He played with an edge that game, checking a second too long after a play, going out of his way to make hits. He needed to get his frustrations out in some way and hockey was the perfect outlet. He really was lucky he had this or else he probably would go insane.
Was it wrong that he thought it was kind of hot that Katella was jealous of his ex? It really didn’t matter who it was, really; what mattered was that she was jealous at all. He liked that look in her eyes; it made the irises look greener. He could stare into her eyes for a long, long time. They were spell-binding, penetrating. Once they locked into his, he was powerless to do anything but stare. They were dangerous weapons.
To be honest, he still had no idea how he managed to snag her. It genuinely made no sense to him. Yes, he knew he was good looking and he was a successful athlete who was actually a talented and dedicated hockey player. Truth be told, however, he didn’t think he was in Katella’s league whatsoever. Another reason why he liked to pick on her – it got her to notice him.
Negan never said he was mature.
When Negan was sent to the box the second time for tripping, he happened to cast a look at Katella. She was just off to the side, behind the players’ bench in the suite seat. She had already been looking at him, and once their eyes met, she gave him a frustrated look that seemed to say, Come on, Negan. You’re better than this.
He clenched his jaw and looked away. She was right. He needed to stop dicking around and get back in the game. Clearly, she was okay. This was a perfect excuse to go home. At the very least, she should have her face checked out by a doctor. And who knew? She had medical staff on hand if need be. She might have already gotten that taken care of.
Black Eyes & Blue Lines: A Slapshot Novel (Slapshot Series Book 2) Page 12
