5. Axel

5

AXEL

My phone buzzes as I lay on my bed, resting my eyes. My head is pounding, and I want to shut off my phone, but I'm afraid of missing my woman. It's ballsy and reckless to do what I did, but she isn't answering my messages, and I have to see her. She's an influencer, and her career lives and dies through social media, so I figure if she won't respond to me, I'll reach out to her and hope her business gets a lot of good traction.

I wipe my hand down my face, look at the screen, and am not surprised to see a Facetime call with Ethan and Tyler, my former teammates.

"Dude? It's about fucking time you found yourself a woman, but seriously did you have to be so public about it." Tyler's laughing, shaking his head.

Ethan has a smile on his face. "Never thought I'd see the day the stoic Mr. Privacy would fall head over heels for a woman. It looks good on you."

"Yeah, well, don't get your hopes up. She's turned me down and won't reply to my messages. I'm desperate, and the only way I feel I can get to her is by making a live video. It's been an hour, and I still haven't heard from her. I made a fool of myself."

The guys ease off their laughter once they notice I'm losing my shit over this woman giving me the cold shoulder.

"Well, if you can't make a fool of yourself over a woman, then she's not the woman for you. If she can't see what it costs you to be public like that, then maybe she's not the woman for you."

I shake my head and hiss as the movement is too much for my skull. "Nope, she's it."

"You sure?"

"Just as sure about you two with Ava and Megan."

They shut their mouths quickly. "That bad, huh?"

"You have no idea. It's like lightning struck me the moment I set eyes on her."

Ethan nods. "I remember that feeling. I got it as a kid for Ava, and it guts me all the wasted time we lost. You let us know if you need anything. And get well. You look like shit. "

"Seriously? Quit the concussions already. It's not attractive." Tyler jokes as I end the call. Their voices are annoying me, but I'm ready to get some rest.

My phone is packed with messages from players, acquaintances, and interview requests the following day. I have a lot of messages from my manager demanding that I call her ASAP, and the team's PR agent is demanding to get in touch with either my manager or her as well. It's a fucking circus, and I can't help but laugh at the shit show. However, I do not apologize for it. I need to talk to Brina. I need to see her, and I pray she'll answer one of my messages.

I scope out every response, and there are hundreds of them, but not one is from my beautiful girl.

Sighing, I drop my head back onto the pillow and think about what I will say next. I'm not going to stop until I speak with her. It's a need now, and there's no way around it.

There's a knock at the door, and I groan. It's too fucking early, which means it must be the Doc here to make my life hell. In other words, to check in and make sure I'm doing everything I'm supposed to be doing, which is easy since I have Jilly here doing all the work by cooking, cleaning, and making sure I do everything correctly .

Soft footsteps sound off in the suite's living area, and I hear Jilly open the door. "Good morning, Dr. Mitchell."

"Good morning, Jilly. How's the patient? I caught his video last night. In your professional opinion, do you think it was sane of him to do it?" Doc laughs, and I roll my eyes.

"Oh, he's never been saner." Jilly comes to my defense, and I'm tempted to hire her more permanently even though she's a nurse. I shouldn't need a nurse much longer, but who am I kidding? I'm getting hurt all the time. Maybe I can keep her on standby.

Footsteps come down the hall, and a light tapping on the door has me wanting to fain being asleep, but I know it's pointless. Both women will enter either way. I could be in here buck-ass naked, and they wouldn't bat an eye.

"Go away," I say, knowing it won't work.

The door opens, and Doc and Jilly come in with large smiles. "Good morning, Casanova. How's the head?" Dr. Mitchell walks over while Jilly heads to the curtains and opens them up. I wince as sunlight hits my eyes, and Jilly apologizes.

"Still light sensitive, I see." Doc talks to herself as she sits on the side of the bed and checks me over. If I were an average person, I wouldn't be getting this special treatment, but since she's the team doctor and I'm needed in the arena, players get a lot of extra special care.

It takes no more than five minutes for the checkup, but once it's done and the professional aspect of the job is complete, Doc mouths off. "What in the world were you thinking? That poor woman must now field every news outlet from coast to coast. What were you trying to get at?" Doc smacks my shoulder.

"Hey. Stop that. What did I do?"

"What did you do? You just pinned a target on that poor woman who was nice enough to check on you when you were out of it and belligerent and wouldn't get medical assistance. Something you desperately needed, and then you pay her back by probably embarrassing her and making her a bud of a joke. Late-night television had a field day last night. So tell me, are you suffering from the concussion or just plain stupid?"

I groan. "It was on late-night TV?"

"Okay, then. You're just plain stupid. You're lucky I'm forgiving and will pin it on the concussion."

"Oh, come on, Doc. I need to talk to her, but she's ignoring my messages. I thought if I did the video, then maybe she'd respond. I need a moment to talk to her."

She watches me closely while Jilly leans against the wall with her arms crossed with a highly amused expression.

"Okay, say it works and she calls you or messages you. It might be with a restraining order, not flowers and chocolates like you're thinking."

I frown. I didn't think of that. "Ah, shit."

"Yup, doubly stupid."

"Hey."

"It's okay. We're still blaming the concussion." Doc says, and Jilly snickers. I glare at both of them.

"What the fuck am I going to do? I've never felt this way before. I need to talk to her. To see her. I've never been this obsessed over a woman. I can't remember a woman I genuinely wanted to know on an intimate level."

Both women stare at me wide-eyed. It's well known that I'm not a man who talks about my feelings or thoughts or talks much at all, but Brina is bringing something more out of me, and I need all the help I can get.

Who better than a couple of women?

"I need you two to help me. How can I get her to notice me?" God, I sound like a lovesick teenager asking about the high school cheerleader.

"Oh, Casanova, you have no problem with her noticing you. You don't need help in that area, but you do need help with your game."

"My game's fine. I just need her to talk to me."

Both women chuckle but stop when there's pounding on the door, and Rita is yelling through the door. "Open up Runowski. Come on."

I groan and look at Jilly. "You better get that before we get kicked out of the hotel."

Jilly nods and leaves the room.

"That girl means a lot to you, huh?" Doc softens her gaze as she watches me closely.

Inhaling deeply, I say, "I can't explain it. I don't want to. I just know she's mine, and I need her to see I'm hers."

Doc opens her mouth, but Rita rockets into the room with the biggest shit-eating grin I've ever seen. For a woman who doesn't laugh a lot, it's a bit disconcerting.

"You fucking genius. I can't believe the phone calls I'm getting. You should've run the idea past me first, but the Frostwolves and I are not complaining. Ticket sales are through the roof, and people from every network are clamoring for interviews. You are Celebrity Gold, my friend. We need to get you two together. Make sure she doesn't turn you down again. If it doesn't work out, we can stage an epic breakup after you two spend a few months together as a so-called couple. But this couldn't have worked any better. You're a genius. So let's get with the girl's people and work out how this will happen."

Every vessel in my body is pulsing with heat as I struggle with not exploding all over my manager. The idea of using Brina as a publicity stunt makes me physically ill and has nothing to do with my concussion.

It sinks in with what I did to Brina out of my desperation to speak with her, and I want to kick my own ass. I can't imagine what she's going through right now. Who knows if she has a team or not? I have a whole team organization at my back, and I have the luxury of shutting people down, well, to a point. But what about Brina? I seriously fucked up.

"Don't worry. We'll ensure she signs an NDA and get the proper script…"

"No." I'm firm, and Doc gets up and stands facing Rita while I sit on the side of my bed.

"No? What do you mean ‘no'? Are you two going to give a relationship a shot? That's great, then we'll just need her to sign an NDA. "

"No." I firmly state, okay, it's more of a shout, but she needs to hear me. "None of this shit is going to happen. She's off-limits to all of you. She's not a publicity stunt or anything. She has no bearings on anything that has to deal with you. You leave her alone." I stand and stomp to the bathroom.

"But—"

"Fucking, no, Rita, and if I see or hear that you've managed her in any way, I'll fucking ruin you."

With her shocked look, Doc's smirk, and Jilly huddling in the doorway, I slam the door hard, deserving the instant pounding of my head. I deserve it after the shitstorm I conjured up for my woman.