The Fall (Colorado Coyotes #6)

Chapter 11

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Rowan

“Really?” I glare at Dom, who’s pounding the buttons on his PS5 controller from the other end of the couch in his game room. “Was it necessary to set me on fire and blow me up?”

He shrugs. “That was for Cam, doucher.”

“Why? What did I do to Cam?”

Another shrug. Classic Dom—he has no idea what’s going on, but he assumes he does.

I roll my eyes. “I sent flowers to her office. She told me she just wanted to be friends. You’re pissed off at me, but I’m the one who got rejected.”

He glances at me, brightening. “No shit?”

“Yeah, no shit.”

He hums as if just figuring something out. “I guess that tracks. Sorry I blew you up.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“In the game. I just--”

“Not that, dumbass. The other part.”

“Oh. Cam’s seeing some other guy now. She met him through her job.”

My heart drops into my stomach. “What the fuck do you mean she’s seeing some other guy ? What guy? When did this happen?”

The game ends and he sets his controller down on the couch cushion next to him. “Recently, I think. She called Tess a few nights ago when she was out at dinner with him.”

I stand up and walk to the other side of the room, standing in front of a wall covered with posters and framed photos of Dom. “And you’re just now telling me this?”

He belches, looking ambivalent. “What, like I owe you information about her or something? Fuck off, you guys had one shitty date.”

I could fight him right now. My blood is pumping as hard as it does when I fight opponents on the ice, and I need someone to punch.

“It wasn’t shitty!” I yell. “It was great until the last five minutes.”

He narrows his eyes at me. “What did you do in the last five minutes?”

I’ve never been one to kiss and tell. I guess this would be more like not kissing and telling, but I’m still not doing it. Dom has been pressing me for details about my date with Cam, but I’m still not budging.

I’m silent, fuming inside, and he gives me an accusatory look.

“Did you come within five minutes? Before she did? That’s what you did, isn’t it?” His face contorts into a sneer. “You blew your load too soon, you ass clown.”

Just the accusation sends me over the edge. I fly at him, shoving him off the couch. When we land on the floor, I’m on top of him. I punch him in the side and he grunts, using his leg to flip me off of him.

Neither of us will move back enough for the other to get in a hard punch, so we roll a few times, driving punches into each other’s sides.

“You were a fucking...disaster when...you met Tess,” I say, breathing hard. “Quit acting like...you were Prince fucking Charming.”

He rolls us both into a wall, making me groan as pain shoots through my left shoulder. I headbutt him as hard as I can.

“Eat shit,” he mutters, grabbing a handful of my hair and pulling it.

“That fucking hurts!” I growl and smack at his face.

He pulls harder. The bottom of his T-shirt has ridden all the way up to his neck from all the rolling around, so I grab one of his nipples and twist as hard as I can.

“Fuck! You’re ripping my goddamn nipple off!”

I cringe hard, sure my hair is about to come off from how hard he’s pulling. “You let go and I will.”

He grunts. “You let go.”

“You’re the one who?—”

The door to the game room opens, both of us freezing as Tess, Cam, Tate and Sam all look at us. Cam looks confused, Tess looks pissed and both boys look delighted.

“WrestleMania!” Tate hollers, racing over and throwing himself on top of me and Dom.

Dom howls when Tate’s knee lands squarely on his crotch. I can’t keep myself from smiling.

“I’ll be the ref,” Sam says. “Who won the first match?”

“Me,” Dom says as he scrambles out from underneath me.

“It was a draw.” I look over at Cam, a shot of awareness shooting through me as our eyes lock.

Tess steps into the room, crossing her arms as she looks back and forth between us.

“Looked like some pretty realistic play wrestling. Dom, your forehead is bruised.”

He puts his fingertips to the growing knot on his forehead and glances at me, then back at his fiancée. “Why are you looking at me? I’m not the one who did this to my head.”

“I know you, and I know Rowan. I guarantee you’re the one who started it.”

I exhale hard, hating that I have to admit this in front of Cam. “It was actually me who started it. The physical part, I mean. He provoked me, though.”

Dom put his hand behind his back so the boys can’t see it and he flips me off.

“Do I need to put you two in separate corners?” Tess asks.

“Why aren’t you wrestling anymore?” Tate gives us a disappointed glare.

I reach down to help him get up from the floor. “Tell you what. I need to talk to your mom alone for a couple of minutes, and then I’ll wrestle with you.”

“Okay.”

When I look over at Cam, I can’t read her expression. She holds my gaze for a long second and then looks away.

I walk over to her, gesturing to the doorway. “After you.”

“Is it really after her, though?” Dom calls after us.

I shake my head and ignore him. Cam lowers her brows, confused.

“What’s he talking about?”

“I’ll tell you when we get downstairs,” I say in a low tone.

I follow her down the curved front stairway, resisting an urge to put my hand on her back as she walks toward the kitchen. I look around, not seeing Zee or Hannah, but still concerned someone could walk in and interrupt our conversation at any time.

“Let’s go in the laundry room,” I say.

She stops walking, her eyes widening. “The..” She clears her throat. “Um, the laundry room?”

Obviously the thought of going back into the room where I first kissed her is affecting her. I give her a wry smile.

“Shouldn’t be a problem, right? Since you only want to be friends with me?”

Her eyes widen another fraction, and I fight an urge to pump my fist in the air. She still wants me. Whoever this other guy is, I’m going to make sure he fucks off immediately.

I hear her sigh softly as she walks into the laundry room. I’m right behind her, closing the door after us.

“Who’s this other guy you’re seeing?” I demand.

Her lips part. “Who told you?”

That’s her response? I tense, aggravated as fuck that she’s most concerned about how I found out there’s someone else.

“Dom did, but why does it matter?”

“It’s not what it sounds like.” She pinches her brows together and looks away, her gaze landing on a pile of towels sitting on the built-in wood table I assume is for folding laundry. “I thought it was just a work meeting with a client, but then he asked me to have coffee with him sometime.”

“So some sleazy motherfucker forced you into a date with him?” I clench both hands into fists. “Did he put the moves on you?”

If she slept with him, I’m going to rip apart Dom’s washing machine, piece by piece. And then I’ll use one of those pieces to beat the shit out of his dryer.

She picks up a towel and starts folding it. “Not really, but...I felt like I couldn’t say no to the coffee thing because he’s a client.”

I have to unclench my teeth to ask, “Are you attracted to him?”

She looks up at me, emotion swirling in every gold, green and brown shade of her eyes. “I don’t...I mean, I’ve never thought of him that way. He’s older than me. But maybe I need to be smarter and safer about my choices in men.”

I move closer to her, forcing her to drop the towel she’s folding. “You don’t think I’m a smart or safe choice?”

Her laugh is nervous. “You’re the opposite of that.”

My body tenses as I fight the urge to take her face in my hands and kiss her until she agrees to never see this other guy again and to give me another chance with her.

“I’m a dumb, dangerous choice?” I ask skeptically.

Her eyes widen. “Not for every woman, but for me...yes.”

I don’t know whether I’m more offended, hurt or angry. Maybe all of the above.

“Why?”

She inhales sharply. “I’ve chosen men based on my attraction to them in the past, and look how that’s worked out for me.”

I balk at that. “So I’m out just because you’re attracted to me?”

“No, it’s...”

She looks over at the table of towels and reaches for one. I stop her hand by taking it in mine.

“You don’t need to fold the towels,” I say, stroking my thumb over the back of her hand.

“It is stress folding.” She smiles nervously.

“I stress you out?” I furrow my brow, concerned.

“No, not you. Just...” She points at me and then herself. “This.”

“I shouldn’t have assumed we’d have sex on our first date. I’m sorry for that. I was just so...”

She puts a palm out. “It’s okay. That’s what you’re used to. And I used to be used to it, too. But it’s not working for me anymore. I have to think of my boys and also...I just don’t want to be that girl anymore.”

“I respect that. We can wait as long as you want to. And you know I love Sam and Tate, Cam. Why would you think not dating me is best for them?”

Her eyes soften. “Because it’s the truth. Dom and the teammates who are over here a lot, like you and Sergei, are the only good male role models my boys have. And that--” Her eyes flood with tears and she clears her throat. “That matters a lot to me. Them having that stability means more to me than how attracted to you I am.”

I nod and look away, ashamed I still want to kiss the hell out of her, even after her emotional admission.

“If we didn’t work out, I’d never hate you,” I say. “We’d still--”

She shakes her head, tears still welling in her eyes. “I love hard, Rowan. I give men my entire heart, and it sabotages the rest of my life. I can’t do that anymore. I need to be sensible.”

I want to argue with her. Keep trying to sell her on giving me another chance. But I picture Sam, who’s always pushing up the glasses that seem too big for his little face, and Tate, with the mischievous grin and missing front tooth, and I deflate.

Even though I was sixteen when my mom died, I’ll never forget the enormity of the loss. Kids only have one mom. And I admire the hell out of Cam for putting her sons’ needs above her own wants.

She won’t meet my eyes now. It’s like she’s embarrassed that she admitted she’s all in when it comes to love. She shouldn’t be, though. I’m not that way, and it’s why I’m still alone and probably won’t ever get married and have kids.

“I need to go.” She lunges away from me and opens the laundry room door.

I lean my back against the wall, collecting my thoughts and giving her time to leave. It’s obvious she doesn’t want to see me right now.

Though I secretly hope that’s not true and she’ll be standing in the other room smiling and waiting to watch me and Tate wrestle. By the time I open the door and walk out of the laundry room, she and the boys are gone.