Delayed Penalty (17 page)

I didn't know him, but hearing the sadness in Ami's voice when she spoke about him and her family, and being back in Pittsburgh, made it feel real.

When I walked inside my parents' home, Ami was sitting on the couch with Granny B, listening intently to one of her stories. I smiled at Ami dressed in that Blackhawks hoodie I got her. She looked good, healthier. Her blonde wavy hair was longer already, now peeking past her ears and styled with a little gel giving it a crazy appearance that suited her well.

"Where do cousins come from Mase?" Granny B asked when I sat down next to them, bumping Ami's knee with my own as a hello.

I shrugged, giving my Ami a look before turning back to Granny B.

"Aunt holes," she cackled.

Ami lost it in a fit of snorting giggles. I leaned down, my lips at her ear, brushing against the soft skin, and she trembled. "Don't encourage her. She's like a child. If you laugh at her jokes, she'll keep spinning them all fucking day." Granny B was a fucking case. She lived in our basement because couldn't live alone, and she'd been kicked out of every other nursing home in Pittsburgh. She did crazy shit like duck taping her door shut, inappropriate as all get out, and wrote down everything. She had journals of all kinds of shit, most of which wasn't true.

We didn't have time to stay if we were heading back to Chicago tonight so I stood. "You ready to go?"

Ami stood as well and leaned into me. Her pretty smile was contagious as she hugged me. She snuggled into me, lingering a few seconds longer than necessary. I let myself selfishly melt into her, my body hunched around her.

Over the past few days, I had gotten so comfortable with her on the phone I wasn't sure how she would react once I saw her again.

Apparently, I had nothing to worry about.

"Yes, definitely ready to see some live hockey."

Once we said good-bye to my parents and crazy grandmother, we were just about outside of Pittsburgh when Ami turned to me in the car.

"I can't live with your parents, Evan. I'm not their daughter, and while I appreciate the gesture, I can't do it."

"Okay…" I knew she wouldn't stay with them long, and the idea of her living with me was terrifying, but I also didn't want her anywhere but with me or my family. It went back to protection. I'd become attached to this girl and couldn't stand the thought of her alone.

"Stay with me for a while," I suggested. I had just asked her to move in with me. The decision and the question stunned me, even as I asked it. It was completely unlike me.

"What?" Ami looked at me, clearly shocked by my request.

"Stay with me. In Chicago. I need a roommate."

"No, you don't."

"Yes, I do. My cat hates me. I get lonely."

"Highly doubtful."

We were silent, a touch of awkwardness settling over us when she spoke again. This time she looked over at me. "I'm not your charity case. I don't want to hurt you, but I hope that's not what this is, some pro athlete trying to help the poor girl he found or something like that. I'm just a girl that lost her family and got caught at the wrong place at the wrong time. Maybe…I'm not a good thing for you right now."

"Why don't you let me decide what's good for me?" My answer was sharp. I didn't want her thinking that was what this was, but to be fair, from the outside, to those doctors, to Ami, it didn't look that great. Here I was completely taken by this girl, basically stalking her, and for what?

She sighed, taking a deep breath and looked out the window at the passing cars.

"Just think about it." I reached across the console for her hand, wanting to touch her in some way. She let me, a slight tug to her lips informed me I was wearing her down. "I'm not home much, the building is secure, and you wouldn't have to worry."

"I need to get a job, Evan, and figure out what the hell I'm doing with my life."

"Well do that living with me for a little while."

I was well aware of what this situation was, and though I knew my intentions weren't harmful to Ami, I had to keep in mind that she didn't really know me. But she also didn't know my parents either. Fuck. I was all over the place.

"So?" I asked, pushing when she didn't say anything after about an hour.

"So?" she returned, not sure what I was searching for.

"Stay with me?"

"What do you think?" Ami gave me a slightly annoyed, slightly amused side-eyed glance.

I chucked a little. "I think you're going to say yes."

So, it was set. I was about to have a girl live with me for the first time.

My apartment, well, condo actually, at Trump Towers was on the 30
th
floor, facing north, with a somewhat shaded view of Lake Michigan. Leo was on the 35
th
floor. I both hated and loved that he lived in the same building as me. You could imagine why.

When we pulled into the parking garage, she said nothing, her eyes following the lights of the city just as they had done when we drove to Pittsburgh. Even through the lobby and into the elevator, nothing was said.

When we got to the door, her eyes found mine as I unlocked the door. "I haven't even seen the place yet, but I can honestly tell you this is the coolest place I've ever been."

I laughed, wrapping my arm around her and led her inside. Trump Towers was cool.

I watched carefully as she explored my two thousand square foot condo. There had only been about three or four girls that had ever stayed the night here. Callie was the only one that had stayed multiple times, and she didn't give a shit about what my place looked like other than if it had a bed.

I had a feeling Ami would have a reaction similar to Callie's. It was just a place to sleep. Sure, it had some perks that some other places didn't, like a private health club, but it was still
just
a condo.

The more Ami moved through the place, looked at pictures on shelves, and the decorations Caitlin had put in there, the more nervous I got.

"Are you hungry?" I asked when I saw that my assistant had put dinner on the counter for us.

"Did you cook dinner?"

"No, I ordered pizza and had it delivered." I raised my hands, showing her the box from Lou Malnati's. I wasn't sure what she would want, so I had them send over wings, a salad, and then my favorite deep dish pizza: the Malnati Chicago Classic.

Naturally, like everything else that surprised me, Ami went straight for the pizza.

"You like pizza, eh?" I asked, leaning against the island in the kitchen as she sat at the bar eating. Reaching behind me, I grabbed two bottles of water and handed her one.

"They never had pizza like this where I came from."

"No?"

"Nope. Just regular food like burger joints and your occasional Mexican restaurant."

"Wow, the rest of the world is missing out." I took a bite of my own slice, trying not to talk with my mouth full. "This was the first place I ate at when I moved to Chicago."

She nodded, eating her own pizza in silence.

"How long have you lived here?"

"Oh, uh, about eight months. I was living with Dave Keller, one of my teammates, but he gets around and I didn't really want to be living with anyone."

"Gets around?" Ami moved from standing beside me to sitting on the counter.

"Yeah..." Shifting my stance and leaning with my side pressed to the island, I smirked at her question. "...like sleeps with a different girl every night type of getting around."

Again, she nodded but said nothing else. I couldn't help but wonder if she thought I was the same way. Most people would have thought that, and while I'd been known to indulge a little, I wasn't exactly on the starting line-up in that game.

I brushed the thoughts away, not wanting to make her feel uncomfortable, and changed the subject.

I showed her around the rest of my place and where she could sleep in the guest room. She seemed tired and wanted to take a shower. I let her take one in my bathroom because Callie had once told me my guest bathroom was just not suitable for women.

We had just said goodnight when I heard a knock on my door. "Evan?"

"Yeah?" I sat up and looked toward the door. Ami was standing, looking at me with a mixture of fear and sadness. "Can I…be with you in here?"

Say what?

"I…uh…do you want to sleep in my bed? I can sleep on the couch or something?" I was clueless. I had no idea what her intention was until she moved to stand by the bed.

"No..." she shook her head, her eyes on mine "...with you…in your bed."

Fuck.

"I'm sorry." She moved away from my bed with one step back. "Never mind."

Ami didn't want to be alone and things like sleeping with the lights on, checking the locks on the doors, all that shit I understood. She didn't have to feel bad. Losing her whole family, what happened to her that night, all that shit was far worse having to go through it than hearing about it. She had every right to be like this.

"No..."Shifting my place on the bed, I reached out grabbing her hand. "...You can stay."

Ami blinked, relieved. "Thanks. Not only am I a little…scared. Your guest room is freezing."

My phone beeped by the bed. Leo sent me a text.
You fuck the girl yet?

He was so vulgar sometimes it was disturbing.

Fuck off,
was my reply.

Pulling back the covers, she moved to get in the bed with me. I moved over giving her enough room. That was when her eyes were drawn to the large windows in my room. "Wow, that's an amazing view to wake up to."

I wasn't looking at the view. Nope.

I groaned when I realized she was only wearing my T-shirt that she'd borrowed when she got under the covers. "Put on some sweatpants or something." She hesitated, looking down at me, my eyes begging, hers teasing.

"You're awfully bossy in the bedroom, aren't you?" Her brow arched, ignoring me, and slipped on the covers.

Fuck. I'm so fucked.

Certainly, I knew what her staying with me meant. But this...her sleeping in my bed... Nope, didn't think that would happen.

"I'm willing to be when needed," I said, giving her a wink, teasing both of us.

Despite my request, we lay there together, both of us staring at the ceiling until she rolled over. "Sorry about invading your room. I couldn't sleep alone."

"I understand." Turning, I propped myself up on my arm, looking down at her, and I was right. I was so fucked because right now I'd do anything to make her feel nothing of what she was feeling. "Is it getting easier?"

Ami gave a shrug. "It's easier now."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

With her lying beside me, the light coming in from the windows providing just enough so I could see her eyes close, she started remembering. "I remember I used to lay awake at night while Andrew would practice throwing pitches to my dad, throwing fast balls and curve balls, and I loved the slap it made. I used to fall asleep to that. Now, sometimes, it's all I hear when I'm trying to sleep. It's comforting, but it reminds me of a time I will never get back."

"How come you weren't with them?" I asked, still staring at the window.

"I was at the beach with Josh, my boyfriend, at the time. We had just made it to his parents' beach house the day Andrew flew out to California with my parents. I didn't go because…" Her cheeks flushed, even in the dark I could see that. "Josh and I had planned to stay for the night…to be alone…"

I caught on pretty quickly as to what she was referring to.

"How did you find out?" I blinked, and she knew what I was asking.

"Josh and I had literally just gotten there and my cell phone started ringing. It was Aunt Kaye, my dad's sister. She was hysterical, and I just knew. It was…I'm not even sure. I've never really thought about it or talked about it. Maybe it will help. I don't know." She seemed to mentally prepare herself. "It was the worst day of my life. Every nightmare I'd ever thought about coming true had in one afternoon."

I squeezed my eyes shut, turning the other way as she continued.

"I never thought I would be able to forget, and I don't want to forget, but I want to move on. I can't live my life grieving them because there are things I could be missing out on. You can't see something shining if you're eyes are closed."

"What was the first memory you had when you woke in the hospital?" I asked, trying not to let on how difficult it was to talk to her about this. I never wanted to push, but I was curious. I learned so much about her when we talked like this.

"It wasn't a memory. It was a voice. I remembered a voice." Her eyes were on mine, carefully watching. "I remembered you for some reason. Not your face, not your eyes, but your voice."

"You were pretty out of it when I found you." The days that she was completely out of it, supported by machines, I was there every day that I could be, talking to her. In a way, I liked to believe I got her out of that coma.

I bent forward and kissed the side of her face, not caring what it meant. I was also kissing a scar that remained from her attack. "There's something about this spot right here that I have to kiss," I said, teasing her with a light tickle on her hip, trying to bring her out of the sadness. "It brought me starry blue eyes…" I kissed up her temple and then her forehead and felt her smile. "I know that's shitty to say because it nearly took your life, but it brought me you."