Hot Puck (Rough Riders Hockey 2)

Feeling the way she was feeling while dressed the way she was dressed, entrusted with the responsibility she was entrusted with, made her feel like a fraud. Like a sheep in a superwoman’s clothing.

Eden pressed her eyes closed, breathed deep, and forced the insecurities from her mind. She exited the bathroom, and checked on Margaret. When she found that the doctors had her stabilized, Eden wandered toward the exit. But Tori had stopped at one of the last empty ER exam rooms and stood at the open door, staring up at the television in the corner.

“I’m ready,” she said behind Tori. When her partner glanced over her shoulder, the look on Tori’s face tightened Eden’s stomach. “What?”

Tori stepped farther into the room and gestured to the television. “Beckett.”

Eden’s first emotion was fear. Fear he’d been hurt in his game. The channel was tuned to NHL, and Beckett’s team headshot was on the screen. Another photo had been posted opposite Beckett’s, one of a gorgeous brunette. The headline underneath read: Croft’s Former Girlfriend Alleges Abuse.

Eden’s stomach chilled. She crossed her arms. “Can you turn it up?”

Tori picked up the remote off the empty bed and raised the volume.

“…they evidently have a child together,” one newscaster was telling another, “a daughter Croft has had custody of for nearly a year now. Croft has kept that very quiet, and you’ve got to wonder why.”

Eden’s stomach coiled with tension.

“We’ve discovered a custody case filed with the courts,” the other newscaster went on, “that shows Croft is going for full custody of the child. The woman in this case, Kim Dixon, is currently living with Raider running back Henderson Mitchell. She alleges that while seeing Croft six years ago, he was abusive. When she found out she was pregnant, she broke off the relationship because she feared for the child’s safety.”

“No.” Eden shook her head.

“Of course,” the sportscaster continued, “this story just broke, and comment from Beckett Croft will have to wait as he is currently battling the Boston Bruins, and arguably playing one of the best games of his season. This wouldn’t be the first time a sports figure became violent off the field or, in this case, off the ice. That said, Croft has no history of violence, and Dixon herself admits she never reported the abuse, though she does have this photo from a trip to the emergency room after an alleged fight with Croft while they were dating.”

The brunette’s beautiful face was replaced with one taken in a hospital gown. The sight of her injuries made Eden pull in a sharp breath. She had a cut and swollen lip, a bruised and swollen eye, cuts on her cheekbone and her brow. And what looked like fingerprints ringing her neck.

“Shit,” Tori whispered, her hand lifting to her own throat.

“More recently,” the first newscaster said, “Dixon reports that after allowing Croft the chance to get to know his daughter, he is now trying to take her from Dixon by claiming she is an unfit mother. Dixon met with Croft the other day at a café in DC to discuss their custody arrangement. Dixon claims Croft tried to buy her off, offering her five million dollars to sign over full custody of their daughter. She provided this photo as proof of that meeting.”

The headshots vanished, and an image of Beckett sitting across the table from Kim appeared. By the cut, style, and length of Beckett’s hair, Eden thought it looked like a recent photo. He was wearing his jersey, something he did only for events…

Her mind darted backward to the YMCA charity drive. To him wearing his jersey that day. And Eden scanned the photo again. Her gaze slid down his outstretched arm and his hand holding the file folder, and held on the red bracelet around his wrist.

This photo had been taken after he’d left her bed. After he’d dropped her off at Union Station. A stab of betrayal pinched her gut before she could institute rationale to stop it. He’d told her he had something he had to do that afternoon. What he had to do hadn’t been any of her business.

Unless he’d been lying to her this whole time. Unless he was capable of abusing a woman. Neither of which she’d believed possible. But Eden saw things in the street every day she’d never believed possible. She’d never believed John capable of hatred and abuse and ultimately murder. She’d never believed her parents capable of betrayal and abandonment. She’d never believed herself capable of standing strong against the most important people in her life, walking away from it all, and starting over with nothing.

She might not want to believe Beckett was capable of abusing a woman, but he’d said himself that he’d been a very different man when he’d been dating Kim, and that finding out about Lily had changed him. In fact, Eden was pretty sure he’d called himself a selfish prick.

Eden crossed her arms tighter, confusing the hell out of herself.

“Eden?”

Tori’s voice dragged her back. “What?”

“Are you okay?”

She shook her head. “I…don’t know.”

“Did you know about her?”

“Yes.” Eden looked at the screen again, where the image of Beckett and Kim at the café stole her attention. He had an envelope in his hand, and he was offering it to Kim, whose expression and mannerisms clearly demonstrated she didn’t want whatever was in it. “But his version of events is very different from these. He said Kim told him about Lily to get child support. He said he had to fight her for partial custody, and that she abandoned Lily on Beckett’s doorstep a year ago. I didn’t know about this meeting. I don’t know anything about a deal. And he certainly didn’t say anything about her abuse allegation. He said they had a one-night stand, and that was it.”

“What do you believe?”

Him. She believed him. Everything in her gut told Eden that Beckett was the real deal, from the way he cared for his daughter to the way he loved his teammates.

But her gut had been wrong before. She was, admittedly, terrible at seeing through lies and facades, especially when they involved a man she cared about.