She gasped the moment the front page loaded. Darcy was right. The site boasted a large photograph of her and Brody in the Warriors parking lot. It must have been taken the moment she’d stood up on her toes to kiss him, and there was no mistaking it, his hands were totally squeezing her ass.
The caption read: Warriors forward cozies up to Houston’s daughter.
But it was the article beneath it that drained all the color from her face. She read it twice, not missing a single word, then set her phone on the cushion next to her and dropped her head into her hands.
“What happened?”
She jerked at the sound of Brody’s drowsy voice, glancing up to see him standing in the doorway. He was wearing nothing but a pair of navy blue boxers and a concerned expression.
Without a word, Hayden pointed to the phone beside her. After a second of hesitation, Brody joined her on the couch and picked it up.
She watched his face as he read the article, but he gave nothing away. He simply blinked a couple of times, frowned once and then rose slowly to his feet.
“I need coffee,” he muttered before walking out of the room.
Hayden stared after him in bewilderment, then shot up and rushed into the kitchen. He was already turning on the coffee maker, leaning against the counter with a look of utter disbelief in his eyes.
“They’re saying I took a bribe,” he said weakly.
She moved toward him and rested her hand on his strong biceps. “It’s just speculation. They don’t have any proof.”
“They have a source!” he burst out, his voice resonating with anger. “Someone actually told this asshole reporter that I accepted bribes from your father. This isn’t a tabloid where they make up sources to suit their story. Greg Michaels is an award-winning sports journalist. And someone on the team told him I took a goddamn bribe!”
Hayden’s mouth went completely dry. She could barely keep up with the range of emotions flashing across Brody’s face. Anger and betrayal and dismay. Shock and disgust. Fear. She wanted desperately to hold him, but his posture was so tense, his shoulders stiff, his jaw tight. Every aspect of his body language screamed, Back off!
“Someone is trying to ruin me,” he growled. “Who the fuck would do that? I know Wyatt is up to his ears in this mess, but I can’t see him casting suspicion on me. He told me to stay out of it.”
Brody’s eyes were suddenly on her. Focused, sharp, as if remembering she was in the room with him.
“They think you’re fucking me to shut me up about your father’s part in it.” He laughed humorlessly.
Sympathy welled up inside her, squeezing her heart like a vise. “It’s going to be okay. Everything will get cleared up when you meet with the investigator.”
He released another chuckle, this time laced with bitterness. “All it takes is one black mark on your name, and teams look at you differently. I’m in the middle of contract negotiations. My agent already warned me things are stalling because of the allegations, and now some asshole is directly implicating me in this shit? I’m fucked, Hayden. Fucked.”
The coffee maker clicked, and Brody stiffly turned his attention to it. Grabbing a mug, he slammed it down on the counter, then filled it to the brim with coffee and swallowed a gulp of the scalding liquid, not even wincing.
Hayden had no idea what to say. How to make this better for him. So instead, she just stood there, watching his face, waiting for him to speak again.
But she wasn’t ready for what he said next.
“I think maybe we should cool things off for a bit.”
Shock slammed into her. “What?”
Setting down his mug, he rubbed his forehead. “I can’t be dragged down along with your father,” he said so quietly she barely heard him. “If you and I are seen together, the rumors and suspicions will only grow. My career...” He let out a string of curses. “I’ve worked my ass off to get to where I am, Hayden. I grew up wearing secondhand clothes and watching my parents struggle to afford anything. I worked hard to put myself in a position to support myself, to support them. I can’t lose that. I won’t lose it.”
“You don’t want us to see each other anymore?”
He dragged his fingers through his hair, his eyes tortured. “I’m saying maybe we should put...us...on hold. Until the investigation concludes and the scandal blows over.”
“You want to put us on hold,” she echoed dully.
“Yes.”
She turned away, resting her hands on the kitchen counter to steady herself. He was ending things? Sorry, putting things on hold. Not that it made a difference. Regardless of the way he wanted to phrase it, Brody was basically telling her he didn’t want her around.
Everything he’d said last night about how good they were for each other, how well they fit...what had happened to all that?
The memory of the words he’d spoken only yesterday caused the bitterness inside her to grow stronger. It was like a current, forcing all reason from her mind and pushing her into an eddy of resentment she knew too well. How many times had her father chosen his hockey team over her? How many times had the men in her life let their careers take the front seat while she sat in the back begging to be noticed?
“All right. If that’s what you want,” she said, unable to stop her tone from sounding clipped and angry. “I guess you need to look out for yourself, after all.”
His expression clouded over. “Don’t make it sound like that. Like I don’t give a damn about you. Because I do give a damn. But you can’t fault me for also giving a damn about everything I’ve worked so hard for.”
She edged away from the counter, suddenly wanting to flee. Maybe it was for the best, ending it now. They’d already reached an impasse yesterday when she’d told him his lifestyle didn’t fit what she wanted in a relationship. Maybe it was better to break things off now, before it got even harder.
But although it made sense in her head, her heart couldn’t stop weeping at the idea of not being with him.
Silence stretched between them, until Brody released a frustrated curse and raked his hands through his dark hair.
“I care about you, Hayden. The last thing I want to do is end this.” He shook his head, looking determined. “And I don’t see it as an ending. I just want this mess to go away. I want my name cleared and my career unaffected. When it all dies down, we can pick up where we left off.”
She couldn’t help but laugh. “Because it’s that easy, right?” Her laughter died, replaced with a tired frown. “Whatever. It would have ended anyway. Sooner or later.”
Unhappiness flooded his gaze. “Come on, don’t say that. This break doesn’t have to be permanent.”
“Maybe it should.” A sob wedged in her throat, and it took every ounce of willpower she possessed to swallow it back. “We’re probably doing ourselves a favor by letting go now. Maybe it will end up saving us both a lot of heartache in the future.”
