AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"Because she's Kelsey."
"Yeah," Wes sighs. "You're handling that shit, right?"
"Yeah, I'm handling it."
"Good." He sounds pleased. "Because I'm mad as hell she thought she could just go through this without us. We're her fucking family, man." He pauses. "Tell her that we aren't accepting her resignation."
"Maybe later," I mutter, running a hand down the back of my neck. "I need a favor, and you aren't going to like it."
"What?"
"I need you to keep this to yourself for the moment. I need time to break through those walls of hers before everyone starts piling on her."
"It's not my news to share, man. It's hers." He pauses. "But you might want to break through quickly because I can't hold them off forever. They're flipping the fuck out about her quitting."
"Just tell them that she resigned for personal reasons, and I'm trying to convince her to come back when she's ready," I say. It's not great as far as explanations go, but hopefully, it'll get the team from showing up at her doorstep en masse, prepared to chain themselves to her fucking porch until she agrees to rethink her resignation.
With them, anything is possible.
"I'm on it," Wes promises. "Whatever you need."
I expel a breath, grateful for the millionth time that I was traded to the Predators a decade ago. It's been worth it every goddamn day. This is my home. This is my family. I'll fight for both.
Chapter Seven
Kelsey
Icome awake slowly,drifting toward the surface in increments. Something feels different, but I can't tell what it is. A smell, like warm summer days and home, seeps into my subconscious, heating me.
Kris.
The events of the day come rushing back in a blur.
My eyes fly open.
The light in my room has shifted, morning giving way to afternoon. I've been asleep for hours. Kris is seated in a chair beside the bed, his head hanging. He looks…wrecked. LikeIwrecked him.
"Kris," I whisper, struggling to sit upright.
He lifts his head. His crystalline eyes meet mine.
"You're still here."
"Where else would I be?" he asks, holding my gaze. "You're here."
My heart squeezes in a vise again.
"You shouldn't… You can't…" I huff out a breath, pushing my hair back from my face. "I don't want you to…"
"You don't want me to what? Care about you?"
"That's not what I was trying to say."
"Good because that ship sailed a long fucking time ago,elskan mín. I've been doing shit your way for two years, hoping you'd eventually figure out that you can trust me with your heart, but I realized while you were sleeping that I fucked up," he mutters. "I should have been pushing you instead of waiting you out. That's what you needed. Me in your space, forcing you to do it my way. Maybe then you wouldn't have been going through this shit alone."
"That was my choice to make."
"Why'd you make it then, Kelsey?"
