Page 159 of The Score

Chapter 51

Bear

I've never been good at being apart from Pen. Now that I know I'm in love with her, it's even worse.

It's Friday and my wife has been at her parents' for less than a day. I'm running drills and thinking of her at home. I'm studying plays and wondering if she's missing me like I miss her. I'm looking at the coaches and wondering when they'll send us on a break, because I might find a private place somewhere, to video call her only so I can see her face.

We've never gone a day without at least a few words exchanged, but now even twelve hours feels like way too much.

How I missed what my feelings really meant is beyond me. I don't even try to cut myself some slack. At some point in the last twenty years, I should have realized and, had I listened to my therapist more, I might have.

When the season starts again and I go back to my obligations, I'll have to admit a thing or two to her. I will challenge her by pointing out that knowing it now doesn't mean I could have done things differently.

Eventually we're given the green light to go for lunch. The group convenes in the locker room for a quick freshen up before going to eat. I'm still considering a quick call— or at least a quick text— when Evie enters the locker room in a rush.

For once, she forgets her usual announcement asking us to cover the goods. Her eyes are wide open, and she scans the room with tension trailing at her heels.

Saint, Dom, Rafa, Damián and I stand at once. Logan sprints to meet her halfway. The rest of us wait. Evie shakes her head at him but waves her hand asking him to follow her. She doesn't stop.

She locks eyes with me and pins me down with how serious she is.

"Is Pen okay? Her dad?" I ask in a low voice as soon as she's near me.

"Her dad is fine as far as I know." Evie's stress makes her reassurance hard to process. "As for Pen— she's physically okay."

I don't like the sound of that at all. I get the feeling she's saying that for everyone else's benefit, not mine. My stomach drops.

"What's going on?" I ask.

"We need to talk." She gazes at everyone else. "Bear and I— alone."

I frown. Everyone else gazes from Evie to me. Worry and a thousand questions are written all over their faces.

"Come with me." Evie turns and walks away.

I follow. She leads me to a service room around the corner. It's a medium size space with an industrial-type washing machine and dryer set. Cleaning supplies wait in metal shelves on the side walls. The light is cold, with only a couple pot lights up on the ceiling.

I don't pay attention to much else. Evie stares me down with a serious look I've never seen on her.

"We're in trouble, Leon Karlsen."

"Is Pen okay?"

"She will be. I think. We can do our best. But you— Damn, Bear. What were you thinking?"

I cross my arms. "I need you to explain."

"There's a video going around online. Of you and Pen at the club. In a storage room. Can you guess what's happening in the video?"

This time, my stomach turns to rock. It falls to the ground, solid and cold as it digs deeper and deeper. It pulls from any heat I ever carried inside my body, turning me to ice. My skin turns clammy.

"Fuck," I say.

"Well, you shouldn't have! Not in public!"

"It was hardly in public."

"It was in a building with five hundred eyes everywhere! And more than enough cameras to get you in trouble. Seriously, Bear."