Shame leaked into the mess of emotions eddying inside her. “I can’t just ignore—” She let the rest of her words evaporate on her exhale, knowing he’d take them wrong while he was so upset. “Can you come in just for a few minutes? Can we talk about this? I really want to talk about this.”
“What’s the point? There’s nothing I could show you that you haven’t already seen. Nothing I could say to you that you haven’t already heard. You already know me. You of all people— How could you possibly think—” He shook his head and lifted a hand toward her. “Never mind. I don’t even want to know.”
So much hurt and disappointment filled his voice, his expression, it tore at Eden’s gut. “Beckett, please—”
He turned toward the street. “Good-bye, Eden.”
He took the stairs to the sidewalk in two big steps. Before Eden had recovered from the blow of good-bye, Beckett was in his car, pulling away from the curb.
And gone from her life as quickly as he’d entered.
22
Beckett stared at his fingers tapping on the arm of the chair. He wondered if Eden was working tonight. Wondered how she’d done on that big physiology test she’d had yesterday. Wondered if she missed him, or if she still believed the worst of him and thanked her lucky stars he’d bailed.
“Beck.”
Thoughts of Eden snapped off, and Beckett refocused on Fred across his wide desk. “Yeah.”
“Did you hear anything I just said?”
Beckett rubbed his face with both hands and sighed. “Sorry. Haven’t gotten much sleep.”
Between Lily’s restless nights and Beckett’s regrets over Eden, he was seriously sleep-deprived.
“Well, it’s not hurting your game any.”
No, his games were his opportunity to take out his frustrations. His opportunity to push all his troubles aside and focus on something he could control. And he played harder than ever. But the last week without Eden in his life was long enough for him to realize he’d fucked up big-time. That expecting her to rally behind him the day after Kim’s news had broken was unreasonable and insensitive.
“I heard you through the part about Kim’s press conference.”
“Then you missed my comment about your brilliant move to call Henderson. His corroboration of the information we had from others put the last nail in Kim’s coffin.”
Beckett shook his head. “I’m so glad this didn’t go to court.”
“Agreed,” Fred said. “I’ll have all the legal documents finished up by the end of the week. Once Kim’s press conference airs, this mess will be behind you. You and Lily can move forward without worrying about Kim popping up in the future. The Rough Riders can sign you again without worrying about your image.”
Beckett sighed and pushed to his feet. “I can’t thank you enough, Fred.” He reached across the desk and shook his attorney’s hand. “I don’t know what I would have done without Lily.”
Fred grinned. “I’m glad you’ll never have to find out.”
Beckett walked out of Fred’s office wishing he’d never have to find out what he was going to do without Eden too.
Eden paced the concrete path beyond the mouth of the tunnel the players used to exit the Verizon arena, waiting for Beckett. Twenty-three players had already passed her, half of whom she knew now and said hello to. But with every passing moment, her nerves coiled a little tighter. Not only was she starting to think coming here was a really stupid idea, but coming on one of the coldest freaking nights this winter had been beyond stupid.
She repositioned her scarf to cover more of her face and continued pacing. Five more minutes. She’d give him five more—
The doors scraped open again and Eden’s stomach flipped. This was it. And after the initial burst of nerves died, she relaxed into the anticipation of getting rid of this horrible guilt. Two sets of footsteps echoed through the tunnel along with the low hum of male voices.
Eden wandered toward the tunnel as they grew closer and met Beckett and Tate at the entrance. Both men stopped. She couldn’t read Beckett’s expression.
“Hey,” she said.
“Hey, Eden.” Tate stepped up to her and gave her a hug. “Good to see you.”
Gratitude warmed her chest. “You too.”
“Later,” Tate told Beckett, who lifted his chin in answer.