Chapter 11


    Chapter 11


    Evie


    | was horrified. He had gotten himself a private investigator to find me. There was no other usible reason for him to know


    where | was in the first ce.


    “Answer the question, Mister Hayes,” | order, my tone bing icy.


    He continues fumbling over his words. “I- | can exin.”


    That was all the confirmation | needed.


    “Well, then. Please go ahead and exin yourself. I’m dying to hear what excuse you have in your incredibly expensive—looking


    suit jacket you have on,” | scoff.


    He shakes his head,ughing tiredly.


    “You practically vanished overnight,” he says defensively. “You didn’t text. You didn’t call. Hell, Evie. You had every reason to


    come and yell at me for what | did. But you just left. And no one in your family knew a thing. They didn’t even care. All of your


    stuff was just tossed on the frontwn.”


    “| didn’t want to see you,” | exin tly.


    “| get that,” he says. “But seeing you the other night at the restaurant and bumping into you after the game, | had to set things


    right.”


    “To make yourself feel better,” |ugh bitterly. “I’m not mad. | should''ve known better. You didn’t hide the fact that you were


    involved with other girls.”


    “| wasn''t,” he says firmly. “I cut it all off before | even started talking to you. | wanted things with us to be different. | thought you


    were inexperienced.”


    Fury burns through my veins now.


    “You wanted things to be different, Timothy,” | ask, my voice shaking from pure unadulterated rage. “Did you really? Is that why


    you made that bet? | was just that special?”


    “Evie,” he says, guilt filling his eyes again. “I didn’t-


    “No,” | say sharply. Inhaling deeply, | start gathering my things. The workday wast


    A


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    over at this point. | could call it quits and Mister Erickson wouldn''t mind. “I think this conversation is over. And | don’t know. |


    might not even take the case. | don’t care if I’m thrown out of this firm.”Belonging ? N?velDram/a.Org.


    Timothy almost jolts at the words. His body was frozen. The space goes silent between us. It stretches on for what seems like


    hours.


    “It was big of you to even hear me out,” he says finally. “Whatever you decide, I''ll ept.”


    Timothy


    If looks could kill, | would have been dead on the sleek hardwood floors of that office. Those eyes that used to look at me so


    softly had be dangerously frosty. Why did | have to care so much? We both know | could have anyone | want if |


    want it.


    But since that night, | was, and still am, ruined for anyone else.


    | drop the weights, letting the crashing of the bar break me out of my headspace. | move to the leg press, setting myself up for a


    personal record. | am angry enough that I know | would pull through. Sitting down in the machine, | chug some water and go


    back to work.


    | shut my eyes, letting the weight bear down on my legs before pushing it back up into resting position. About halfway through my


    set, my headphones are ripped from my head. | almost get up to fight whoever had just done that, except, the moment | see who


    it is, |y my head back against the machine tiredly.


    “Who''s Evie,” she asks sharply. “Who is she?”


    | groan, annoyed by the interruption to my therapeutic workout session. “Hello, Stell,” | sigh, performing another leg press.


    Maybe she would get too distracted to remember why she was here.


    “Answer my question,” she snaps furiously.


    “Not until you calm down,” | huff, locking up the machine so that | could get out safely.


    She screams, stomping her foot like a child denied a piece of candy. “You know


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    that you’re supposed to be with me,” she fumes, pulling down the bottom of her skin-tight neon dress that left little to the


    imagination. “I mean, | don’t understand it!”


    “What is there to understand, Ste,” | scoff. “I said what | said.”


    She lunges at me, pushing me back into the leg press chair. “You''re not leaving.


    until you tell me,” she hisses, shing me her phone screen. “Her?”


    “Ste, get off me,” | say tiredly. “I’m not in the mood for your antics.”


    “Her?”


    “You''re being ridiculous,” | growl. “Get off.”


    “Don''t tell me it''s Evelyn,” she says sharply. “I hate her so much.”


    “Good thing it isn’t her,” | say, smirking slightly for my own amusement.


    “This magazine says its Emma Monroe,” she says, disgust evident on her face. “For your sake, | hope not. The girl is a walking


    ick-”


    “Stop it, Ste,” | shout louder than | intended. Ste goes still for a second. “I’m not telling you who she is.”


    She shoves herself off me, tossing her hair over one shoulder. “You know I’m going to find out right?”


    |ugh. “Don’t lie to yourself.”


    “You don’t have to pretend you like someone else to make me like you, Timothy,” she says, folding her arms across her chest. |


    know my dad is still putting you through the ringer, but since you got the best captain thing, he has to let us bet together. And


    you''ll be on the ice as long as you''d like.”


    “We will never be together,” | snort, hopping back off the leg press and heading to leave. “Stop trying to make happen. It’s not


    going to happen.”


    is


    Ste’s head tilts, almost unnaturally. “Oh yea?”


    “Yea, Ste,” | say, grabbing my towel and wiping down my forehead.


    “It would really be a shame


    | you became untouchable for the rest of the league,” she sighs. “I mean, this club can make or break your career, Timmy.”


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    A


    20M


    - 52%


    “You and your daddy won’t be making another cent off of me,” | snap venomously. “I’m done. After this season, I’m out. You


    better tell daddy towyer up before 1 tank this entire club for the hell of it.”


    Steughs nervously. “What? Baby, you can’t be serious. I-”


    m,” | say, my nerves were ice cold. This had been a long timeing. “And just so that you know. Evie? Yea. She’s the


    waitress you dumped that ss of wine all


    over.”


    “Baby, that is the most ridiculous thing I''ve ever heard.”


    “|


    “Wait, Ste,” | add, stepping closer. A cruel smirk rising on my face. “You haven''t even heard the best pa


    part.”


    Ste gulps loudly. “Okay?”


    “She''ll be the one handling the contract termination.”


    Ste’s face bes pale.


    “Don’t worry though,” | say, “I''ll stay on the ice for the rest of this season. Count. your days.”


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