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I finished my wine and then patted him on the back. "I had my drink. You have a good time with the rest of the team."
"You should stay. Look over there. Dancing. We could dance."
"Why don't you go ask those women over there to dance? They seem very interested in you." I nodded toward the women at the end of the bar.
Mikael looked toward the women. He laughed and gave me a hug. "You're a good girl friend." He left his stool and headed over to meet the women.
I left the bar and headed up to my room. It was difficult to be in a hotel room and not think back to the night a week ago that I had spent with Todd. It was amazing, and in many ways, surreal. It was the type of night every woman should have at least once in her life, a man ravishing her body, giving her pleasure beyond any she could imagine. But it was one night. One night that was now gone.
As I settled into bed, it occurred to me again that it had been a week since I'd heard from or seen Todd. Time away was what was needed to end this crazy attraction I had for him. But even after seven days of no contact, I had no doubt that if he showed up at my hotel room door right now, I would let him in and give myself over to him. Time hadn’t changed anything.
17
Todd
Iknew I was to blame for the challenges I was having with Dean. I felt pushed out by him and Taylor, so I abdicated my role as father. It made sense that he would be resentful of me now.
But I'd spent the next week bending over backward to connect with him, to get to know him and the young man he was becoming. It fixed up a room and worked to get him settled. I enrolled him in school. But the boy barely ever took his eyes off his phone, and when he did, he looked at me with disdain. If I became stricter, he'd resent me more. But offering the olive branch and doing what I could to learn about him and be his friend wasn't working either.
I had taken off from work, something I hadn’t done since the day he was born. I didn't travel with the team to Colorado this week to watch the game so that I could dedicate my time to Dean. But the kid didn't seem to give a fuck.
By Monday morning, I knew I needed to change things up, but I wasn't sure what that was to be. At breakfast, like every other breakfast since Dean arrived, he sat at the table looking at his phone and wearing his headphones. I knew that giving up on being a father was what got me into the situation, but at this moment, I was too damn tired of trying. So I let him do whatever he was doing on his phone and as I drank my coffee, I opened the sports news app on my phone.
I knew the team had won this weekend, but I wanted to check out the news sites to see what was being said about the team. I was scrolling through the feed but came to a screeching halt when I saw a picture of Mikael and Betts sitting at a bar. At first, my heart thundered in my chest. It'd been a week since I'd seen her, at least in person. She continued to make frequent visits in my dreams.
It was odd for her to be photographed in a story, so I pressed the link to open it.
Finnish hockey sensationMikael Virtanen has found himself an American girlfriend who just happens to work for the team.
What the fuck?I studied the picture of Betts and Mikael. They were leaning in close, and Mikael was kissing her on the cheek. The logical part of me told me that this was nothing. But even if it was something, Betts and I had no official connection. We'd hooked up a couple of times, and while I wanted that to continue, our relationship had never been spelled out.
The man in me, however, was seeing red. Mikael, of all men, should have known to stay away from Betts.
"Dean. Get your stuff together and I'll drop you off at school."
He didn't look up from his phone. I slammed my hand down on the table, and while Dean startled, his expression remained disdainful.
"Get your stuff. Time to go to school." I rose from the table to get my things.
I suppose I should be grateful that he did what he was told. A few minutes later, we were in the car, riding in silence toward his high school. Dean was still on his phone, but I was too distracted by the image of Mikael and Betts seared into my brain to try and talk to him.
Surely, the paper was wrong. But even if it was, Betts wasn't mine. Hadn’t I felt it was over once Taylor dropped Dean off? So maybe she moved on. But with Mikael? The kid was immature like a horny teenager. What could she possibly see in him?
At the same time, I had to concede that he wasn't the same young man as when he arrived. He was more respectful and better behaved.
I dropped Dean off at school, and he exited the car without a backward glance. It occurred to me that Dean needed to be my focus. I couldn't worry about what Betts was doing and with whom. But fuck, the idea of her with somebody else burned in my gut. She wasn't mine in reality, but inside, I felt like she was.
When I arrived at my building, I entered and headed up to my floor. As I made my way to my office, I asked my secretary, "Is Betts Adams here today?"
"Mondays are generally the days that she comes in to corporate. I can call and find out."
"Find wherever she is and ask her to come into my office."
My secretary arched a brow. "Even if she's down in Henderson?"
I nodded. "Even if she's in Henderson."
She nodded and picked up her phone, but her expression told me that she was wondering what was going on.
