The Girl With Diamonds (Midtown Brotherhood Book 2) (9 page)

Chapter Eleven

MAGNOLIA’S FLIGHT

Magnolia downed the shot of something red that Cressida handed her, holding her phone away from her ear. Her mother’s voice could be heard without clicking it on speaker phone. After the formalities, the conversation went back to usual topics. Topics that drove Magnolia to drink.

“No, I’m not ready to move back home. I like New York.” Magnolia pretended to bang her head against the bar. “I don’t want to talk to Dad’s third cousin about a job at his radio station, and I definitely don’t want to have dinner with the station manager.”

She should have never answered her phone.

Magnolia loved her mother. She loved her dearly. However, her mom didn’t understand. Martha Cross’s main concern wasn’t her daughter’s career. She wanted her Maggie-pie back in Georgia. She wanted Magnolia to settle down, give her more grandchildren.

The youngest of three sisters, Magnolia was the rebel, at least according to her mother. Magnolia didn’t get married straight out of college. She didn’t take a job close to home so she could stop by for dinner every afternoon. In fact, Martha didn’t understand why Magnolia was upset about losing the chance at that job interview at all. A job that required her to travel the country? Heaven forbid such a thing. Martha would have considered what Felix did a giant favor if it hadn’t been for the article and the incriminating pictures that came with it.

Magnolia made her decision. She didn’t want to stay in Atlanta. She wanted to make her own way in the world. Then she would go back and rub it in Felix Hayworth’s face.

She held the phone further away. Her mother still rattled on, something about Felix’s mother, and then she said his name. Magnolia warned her never to speak about him to her again. She had to stop the insanity now.

“I’m sorry, Mom,” she yelled at the phone, half covering the receiver. “I’m having trouble hearing you. I’ll call you later, okay? Bye.”

She hung up with her mother still talking. She fell limply against the bar. This week would be the death of her.

Cressida waved the bartender down. “Make this one a double.”

Magnolia swatted at her. “No. I’m done for the night. No more for me.”

Cressida scoffed, batting her hand away. “The game hasn’t even started yet. Don’t be ridiculous.”

The game. As if she could forget why they were all packed inside a crowded bar. It was hard not to think about Austin. She thought the team’s week away would give her distance, and maybe a little perspective. It was hard to stop thinking about him when she was required to watch every game. She worked on keeping stats, and Evan drilled her on line changes and other minor details. She watched Austin during the Oilers game. She followed him during every shift.

He’d been right about one thing. There was a better way to learn hockey than spending her Saturdays at a rink. She studied him. Magnolia knew his habits, his weaknesses, and most importantly, his strengths. Austin was a workhorse. He was quick with his hands, and lethal with his heavy hits. Players flinched when he stepped on the ice.

She couldn’t make herself look away.

Separation gave her perspective, all right. It taught her that she missed him. She missed going to the rink, that anxious bite in her stomach when she’d catch a glimpse of him. She told herself she wanted to avoid him, but that wasn’t true. A part of her wanted him to find her.

She couldn’t stop thinking about him in that parking lot. That suit. Those eyes wide as he looked at her, through the hard shell. He read her so easily.

“Earth to Magnolia.”

A hand waved impatiently in front of her. Magnolia blinked and looked at Cressida. “Huh?”

Cressida titled her head to the side. “What’s up with you tonight,
chica
?”

“Nothing.” She mumbled it because she didn’t want to tell the truth.

Austin Blakely withdrawal wasn’t exactly a condition she felt like explaining to her friend.

“Maybe just one more shot.” Magnolia watched as Cressida’s eyes lit up like fireworks. She felt a little guilty. Cressida had been begging her to go out again, but she’d been putting her off. “Just one, though. I still need to pay attention tonight.”

Cressida raised her hand toward the bartender. “Pay attention to the game, or to Austin?”

Magnolia’s head whipped around and Cressida laughed.

Maybe she was transparent to everyone.

Cressida tried not to smile. “Your secret is safe with me.”

“There isn’t a secret. I don’t have a crush on him.”

“Of course you don’t.”

“I’m serious.”

“And I’m serious when I say we need to work on your lying skills.” Cressida picked up the refilled shot glass and handed it to her. “Here.”

Frowning, Magnolia took the shot. It was fruity and awful. Southern girls drank bourbon straight like normal people. Still, it did the trick. Her nerves eased. Maybe after she got some food in her stomach she would forget about her mother’s nagging, and that other person she refused to think about for at least five more minutes.

She joined her co-workers in their reserved seating in front of the big screen. She grabbed a seat between Evan and Stella, glancing over Evan’s shoulder. He scowled at the magazine in his hands.

“Can you believe this?” He held up the magazine for her to see. It was the latest edition of
The Whisperer
. “How is this news?”

Magnolia looked closer. In the center was a picture, and the little girl with flaming red hair caught her attention first. It was Austin’s niece. As she looked closer, she realized it was a family picture. It wasn’t the usual ‘caught in action’ shot photographers snap and sell to the magazines. This one was planned. Henrik Rylander stood behind his daughter, one arm around his wife Leila, and the other on the shoulder of the little girl sitting on the swing.

“That’s odd.” Magnolia pointed at the picture. “How do you think they got them to pose like that?”

Evan looked back at the picture, comparing it to the other photos of celebrities and their kids on the page. It didn’t match. “I don’t know.” Evan hastily flipped through a couple more pages of the same thing. “That whole company is a joke. There’s no real news. It’s just a bunch of celebrity sightings in the city.”

“Ferocia must be gearing up for something big.” Stella pushed a plate of hot wings in front of her.

“What do you mean?”

“My grandmother follows that stupid magazine like it’s one of her soaps. She always says when the stories get slow, that means something big is coming. Ferocia will pull all her top reporters and focus them on the one big story.”

“It must be a doozy, because this issue isn’t worth the three bucks.” Evan flipped another page. His mouth fell open. Whatever he was about to say got lost in the gust of air that blew out.

Stella elbowed Magnolia, pointing at Evan’s ridiculous expression. “What now?”

He looked up, his face ghostly.

“What is it?” Stella asked again.

Magnolia reached over and snatched the magazine out of his hand. “Probably found out his man crush Chris Hemsworth was in town and he missed him.” She pulled the magazine up, scanning the page.

“Oh.” Magnolia’s blood went cold. Dead cold.

“C’mon,” Stella complained, scooting over to peek at the magazine. “It can’t be that—”

It was Magnolia. Five pictures. All taken in succession.

The first was her barreling like a madwoman out of the door of the practice facility into the parking lot.

The second was her standing in the middle of an empty parking space, her bag on the ground next to her feet.

The third was her in her car. Angry. Desperate. Captivated. Her expressions were right there plain as day on the page.

Austin was there too. Him chasing her. Him with his hands on her window, begging her to stop and talk to him.

They caught it all.

Magnolia heart stammered in her chest. This was bad.

No. This was a tragedy.

“H-h-how?” Her voice was unsteady. Her entire body was unsteady. “Wh-wh-why?”

Stella finally came out of her stupor and exhaled. “The interview, Magnolia. The interview of you and Austin was a hit. Ferocia’s readers must have wanted more.”

“So, she did what? Sent someone to stalk me?”

Evan ran a hand down his face. “You two are an easy target. Everyone knows we do interviews at the facility.”

Magnolia threw the magazine down on the table. Revolted.

It was wrong. What happened between her and Austin in that parking lot was private. It wasn’t meant for the entire world to bear witness.

“Look—” Evan placed a comforting hand on her shoulder “—just steer clear of him for a while. If Ferocia can’t get anything else, it will eventually blow over. She’ll move on to her next big thing.”

No. Austin was right. Ignoring each other and avoiding another interview had only made Ferocia’s suspicion grow. Someone had followed her. They’d waited for her to leave. Staying away from Austin wouldn’t make this go away.

Magnolia placed a shaky hand on her stomach. She felt sick.

Cressida, who had been at the bar chitchatting the bartender, hopped up happily onto a stool next to Evan. “Whoo. Look who is all intense tonight.”

Magnolia looked up, thinking Cressida meant her, but her eyes were on the television. Austin’s face filled the giant screen in front of them. He was in game mode. His brow furrowed, and his hands clutched around his stick. He even had stubble growing along his normally flawless jaw line.

Magnolia purposefully looked away, only to find every eye at the table directed at her. They didn’t watch the game. They were too busy watching her watch Austin. It was like she was some pawn in their real life soap opera.

She scowled at all of them. “I think I’m going to go watch the game from home tonight.”

“No.” Cressida jumped out of her seat and grabbed her arm. “Don’t leave. It’s cute.”

Magnolia’s frown deepened. Cressida was clueless.

“He has a crush on you,” Stella said in a pathetic attempt to make her feel better. “It is kind of sweet.”

All the eyes at the table held smiles beneath them. She really was nothing more than their own reality show. She rolled her eyes and got up. “Sorry, Evan, but we can go over notes tomorrow.” She grabbed her jacket and threw it on in a hurry. Then she snatched the issue of
The Whisperer
off the table.

That picture bothered her. Especially now. She had no intention of being Ferocia’s next big story.

***

Magnolia made it home before the second period started. She was a whirlwind in her house. She made popcorn, gathered up blankets, and changed her clothes. She did anything and everything to keep herself from looking at that magazine again. She even scrubbed the tile on the kitchen floor while the intermission report wrapped up. Once the game resumed, she pulled the hood of her sweatshirt up, as if that would somehow help hide her from the rest of the world, wrapped up in her Bulldogs blanket, and settled down with her popcorn to watch the rest of the game. She would catch up on game stats during commercials.

She made certain to keep her thoughts about Austin Blakely professional, as if that would make the images in the magazine less real. A part of her said to pull away from him more, that maybe she should quit now before the rumors got worse and go start over again somewhere else. That part was a scared squeak in the shadows, though. Magnolia had never been the quitting type.

She didn’t know what to do now. Interview him like he suggested? It would surely make the site now, whether it was professional or not. Ferocia would find some way to spin it, to fan the flame to make her fire grow. Magnolia thought back to the magazine in her bag, to the picture of Henrik, Leila, and Lucy.

They would have never given
The Whisperer
that photo. Ferocia took things, moments in time that didn’t belong to her. That family photo wasn’t meant for the world, just like her conversation with Austin.

They really were sitting ducks, waddling around a fenced-in pond, waiting to be shot. Now she was one of them. Part of the family, like Austin suggested. He said he’d dealt with Ferocia before, that he knew how to work around the system. Maybe it was time she let him teach her. Maybe she should trust someone other than herself again.

A whistle blew. Magnolia glanced at the TV screen, thinking the other team had iced the puck, but she saw a player go down.

Not just any player.

Austin.

His body slid five feet across the ice from the goal to the boards behind it, and slammed into the wall. His line mates immediately went to him. Magnolia jumped off the couch, her popcorn bowl spilling onto the floor.

Henrik dropped his gloves and punched the guy who, according to the announcers, illegally hit Austin from behind.