“Fuck!”
I shouldn’t have left without her. She begged to come with me but I was afraid of her hating being in the city and leaving me. Instead of giving her a choice, I took that away from her when I shouldn’t have. I’ve missed her like crazy, and everything I’ve done up to today I’ve done so that I can be with her away from here. I want to give her everything. I have since the day that I met her in Vegas.
We actually have a lot to talk about, something that we should have been doing, except it’s hard to do when she won’t answer my calls or text messages. I could have tried harder, but at the time, I put it to the back of my mind and carried on with my plans to be free of the NHL. It’s costing me money, but every cent is worth it, if it means I get to move back to Montana to be with my family, but more importantly, my girl.
Not only have I bought out of my contract, but I’ve managed to secure something closer to home, which makes me happy. Now though, I have to figure out a way to get home to talk to Felicity while I work out the month I agreed to.
I knew before receiving the messages that I had to get home to talk to her, but now I’m more desperate than before, and worried about her. If she’s missed me as much as I have her, then I can understand her losing a bit of weight because I have. Food doesn’t taste the same anymore, nothing does.
Out of the building and into the fresh air, I palm my cell and dial Blake. Luckily for me, her brother has been keeping me up-to-date with Felicity. However, I’m now not sure he’s been all that truthful. I have a feeling that he’s been telling me what I wanted to hear.
My call goes to voicemail and seconds later I get a text message: In cab. Call later.
Me: Message me address. On my way.
I have a game in three days that I need to be ready for, but that isn’t happening until I’ve seen Felicity. Instead of heading back to my apartment, I flag a cab down and jumping in, say, “Newark Airport.”
Twelve hours later, I finally land in Great Falls, Montana to a message from Blake, which actually makes me laugh. Felicity has found them a new place to live, which is within walking distance of Main Street, but is a share with Violet Flowers. That piece of information hasn’t gone down too well with Blake, and I can only imagine the steam coming out of the other man’s ears. There is certainly some chemistry going on between them, but at the moment I’m thinking that Blake is too pissed at his situation to notice. Or maybe he does but doesn’t want to do anything about it. Either way, I’m wondering what Felicity was thinking moving in with Violet, who is someone I had no idea Felicity had built a friendship with.
There’s a lot I don’t know, but this time I’m taking her with me if she’ll come. I’m done with being without her and now that I only have a month left in the city, I’m hoping she’ll be able to cope with it.
Climbing out of the cab, I notice a light on in an upstairs window, so tossing money at the driver, I quietly make my way toward the front door, wondering whether or not to knock or wait until morning. At that thought, my heart lurches in my chest because I need to see her now, not in the morning, but now.
Hearing a gasp from my right, I turn and make out someone on the porch swing, so I move closer, stumbling when I realize that I don’t have to wait a moment longer because she’s already in front of me.
I drop to my knees in front of her and ignoring her resistance, I pull her into my arms and holding her so tightly, I tell her, “I miss you so damn much.” I kiss the side of her head. “I love you and I’m sorry I screwed everything up, but I’m here now. I have a game that I have to be back for, but I want you with me.”
Finally, I feel her arms wrap around my neck as she holds me tightly. Her face nuzzles into the curve of my neck and the wetness from her flowing tears seeps through my shirt. Sitting on the ground, I bring her into a straddled position while I caress back and forth along her back. “It’s okay, babe. I’m an asshole for putting you through that. For making you think that I didn’t want you with me when I’ve been dying without you. I can’t breathe without you.” She cries harder. “I was afraid, no I was terrified, that if I took you with me that you’d hate it and leave me. I didn’t want to take that chance so I left you here.”
“You didn’t give me a choice. You made the decision for me when all I wanted was to be with you. It didn’t matter to me whether you were in the city or the country. I just wanted to be with you. I felt as though you didn’t want me, Kasey…” her voice breaks on my name.
“God, babe.” I catch my breath because I feel on the verge of losing it. “I have one month left and then I’m back here for good. One month, Felicity.”
Her hiccupping sobs come to a sudden stop as she lifts her tear-ravaged face to meet my gaze. My heart cracks at the sight.
With trembling hands, I brush at her tears with my thumbs but realize that isn’t going to work so I yank my shirt off and use that to clean her up before placing a sweet kiss to her lips. “I bought out of my contract,” I explain. “I agreed to one month and then I’m done. If you still want to be with me, then I want you to come out there with me for that last month. I’ve missed you, baby. I know it’s my own stupid fault.”
“What about the NHL? I thought that was your life.” She searches my eyes.
“It was my life when I had nothing else, but now I have you. I’ll always be around the sport, it’s a part of me. I just don’t need to be part of it in the same way.” I brush the hair back from her face. “I’ve been feeling this way for a while now, but since I’ve met you I haven’t wanted to be there, I’ve wanted to be wherever you are. You make me happy.”
She shakes her head as her tears start again.
“Yes, you do. We’re going to find a house around here
and I’m going to work at the local high school.”
“High school?” her eyes widen in surprise.
“I have a degree in sports and exercise science, and I’ll be working in the sports department at the same school as Mateo. It’s all sorted.”
“You did all this…”
“Because I love you so damn much that the thought of being away from you is like a knife to the balls.”
She grins. “Balls, huh?”
“Balls, baby.”