Chapter Twenty-One

JENSEN

“You’ve reached Grace! I can’t come to the phone right now, but if you leave your name and number, I’ll get back to you ASAP!”

Clenching my teeth in frustration, I hang up my phone. That’s about the hundredth time I’ve listened to her voicemail message. I stopped actually leaving her new messages awhile ago, knowing I could only beg her to hear me out in so many ways before I started to sound truly pathetic.

When I saw her in the hallway yesterday, I didn’t know how to react. The look of hurt and total betrayal on her face gutted me, and she’d run away before I was able to pull myself together to explain what it was she’d just stumbled upon. Camille had just shown up at my place out of the blue. I’d let her in so we could talk and I could tell her I wasn’t interested without causing a scene, but she’d still tried to make a move on me, so I’d told her to leave. Grace’s timing couldn’t have been worse as she’d seen Camille’s last ditch effort to seduce me.

I’d told Camille to get lost and ran after Grace, but by the time I got to her building, she was already in the elevator, sobbing in Carson’s arms. The doors had slid shut and I was left standing in the lobby, at a total loss as to what to do next. I’d decided not to chase her up to her apartment, knowing a confrontation with Carson would only make things worse. However, since she hasn’t picked up a single one of my calls since then, I know I have to find her and talk to her face-to-face. I’m terrified of how she’ll react when I try to explain, though. I’ve told her about my dad and how controlling he is, but will she believe that he’d go to these lengths?

When I arrive at the stadium for practice, my first stop isn’t the locker rooms. I rush to the rink, hoping to find her setting up her equipment, but she’s not there. My heart sinks. What did I expect? If I were here, I’d avoid me like the plague too.

Disappointment and worry lancing through me, I trudge back to the locker rooms to get ready for practice. The moment I cross the threshold into the large space, though, I’m hit by two hundred and fifty pounds of pure fury. Carson appears almost out of nowhere and grabs the front of my shirt. His expression is enraged as he slams me up against a row of lockers.

“What the fuck did you do?” he demands to know.

“Woah, Carson,” Zander says, coming up next to him and putting a hand on his shoulder. “Take it easy man.”

Carson shrugs Zander off, his furious glare locked on me.

“What did you do to Grace?” he snarls. “She was a wreck last night and all I could get out of her was your name! What the hell is going on between you two?”

I gaze at him for several seconds before I murmur, “Grace and I…we’ve met before. She was the girl I was with in Miami. I had no idea who she was at the time, and when she showed up here, I…”

Carson’s fist comes so fast I barely have time to dodge it. I duck out of the way and his hand slams into the locker I’d been pinned to.

“I’m going to kill you!” he roars, turning and taking another swing at me. “You bastard! That’s my sister!”

His second punch catches my chin and I stumble back. When he comes swinging at me again, I grit my teeth and charge him, grabbing him around the waist and tackling him to the floor. Our teammates shout out in alarm and I feel strong hands grip my arms and try to pull me away from Carson. Other guys are yanking him away from me and attempting to subdue him, but he’s gone feral and is fighting against them to get to me.

“What the hell is going on here?” Coach’s voice suddenly booms through the room.

Everyone freezes and we turn to look as he shoves his way through the guys who are watching this chaos. Coach comes to a stop and glares between me and Carson.

“Reece, Monroe!” he barks. “You know the rules. No fighting in the locker rooms. You want to beat each other senseless? You’re not doing it in my locker room. Go outside and cool off. Either talk it out or fight it out, but one way or another, you’re not coming back in here until you’ve both calmed down. Now, go!”

There’s no arguing with that tone, so Carson and I begrudgingly make our way out of the locker room, and we don’t stop walking until we reach the parking lot outside of the stadium. When we’re alone, I stop and brace myself, expecting him to dive at me again.

Instead, he whirls on me and coldly demands to know, “What happened last night? Why was Grace so upset?”

Okay, good…we’re talking. Talking is better than fighting. I can work with talking.

“She caught me with another woman…”

“You were cheating on her?” Carson roars and I can see his body tense as he gets ready to charge me.

“No!” I exclaim, holding up my hands. “No, I wasn’t cheating on her! The woman she saw me with was Camille. She’s no one. My dad has been trying to force me to go out with her, but I’ve refused to do so. I told her off multiple times. She came by last night, hoping to convince me to give into my dad’s wishes, but I said no again. I told her I wasn’t interested. Grace saw Camille outside my apartment, but I wasn’t doing anything with her, I swear!”

Carson stares at me for several moments and the tension between us is so thick, I feel like I’m choking on it.

At length, he says, “Camille… Camille is the woman your dad is pushing on you.”

I slowly nod. “Yes, exactly.”

He clenches his jaw and looks away from me for a moment. When he looks at me again, his gaze is more sympathetic, but he’s still obviously furious.

“I know how much pressure your dad puts on you,” he says in a steady, even tone. “I know he will do about anything to get what he wants. I get that, and I understand that, but…” he raises a finger and points it at me, “this is my sister we’re talking about. Grace is one of the most important people in the world to me and she’s hurt. Misunderstanding or not, you’re the one who hurt her, so you fix it, or we’re done.”

“Carson, of course I want to fucking fix it!” I exclaim. “I’m sorry, but I’m in love with your sister and I will do anything I have to for her to forgive me!”

His eyes go wide in shock, but then he shakes his head sharply. “Words are cheap, Reece. Prove that you actually care about her through your actions. I mean it. Make things right with Grace, or our friendship is over. I will choose her over you without a second thought.”

I’ve hardly ever seen Carson so resolute and serious. I know he’s not messing around with me. If I don’t figure out a way to fix this, I’m not only going to lose Grace, but Carson as well.

He doesn’t wait for my response and storms past me to go back into the stadium. I watch him go, my heart in my throat. Whatever I do, I need to do it fast. If I can’t get Grace to forgive me, I’ll happily stand in place while Carson beats the ever-living-shit out of me.