There’d been no time to call Alice after the blog post had been brought to his attention. He had batting practice, and after BP they had a game. Since he was headed back to San Francisco the next morning, they’d planned to have one final night together before the distance part of their long-distance relationship factored in.
The photo showing up online put a bit of a glitch in things. She’d wanted to keep things on the down low, and now there it was, out in public for everyone to see. He had no idea how they’d been caught, or how the details of who Alice was got leaked into the blog, but it wasn’t good, and he knew she wouldn’t be happy about it.
Her showing up when she should be at work must have meant she was really unhappy about it.
He considered staying in the locker room forever, afraid of the tidal wave of anger he knew Alice was capable of.
Unless she did it, a nagging thought suggested.
No, there was no way. It didn’t make any sense. She’d wanted to keep it a secret so she could protect Olivia and her job.
Jesus. Her job.
He tugged on his jeans and pulled on a T-shirt, barely bothering to get it all the way over his stomach before he wandered out into the hall outside the locker room. Alice was pacing like a caged tiger, her mood so evident it made the hall feel darker in comparison.
“Hey.” He stuffed his hands into his pockets. Initially he’d thought he would go in to hug her, but judging by her aura of gloom and doom, a hug didn’t seem like the best idea.
“Hey? Really? That’s the best you’ve got?”
“You’ve seen it, then.” Leaning against the wall, he watched her cover the short width of the hall back and forth over and over.
“I just got fired. So yeah, I’ve seen it. The league has seen it. It’s been seen.”
Alex felt physically ill. He badly wanted to go to her, but common sense prohibited him from moving. It was clear the last thing she wanted was to be near him.
“Alice, I’m sorry.”
“Are you? I mean, are you? Why are you sorry?”
Her anger was one thing, and he could appreciate why she was upset, but he couldn’t figure out why she seemed so mad at him personally. “Of course I’m sorry. What are you talking about?”
She hesitated, her expression equal parts angry and sad, like she was debating which one she’d rather be. She settled on angry. “As if you don’t know? You told me this would work. You convinced me we could make a go of this and nothing bad would happen. But something bad did happen. I lost my job. What the hell am I supposed to do now?”
Frustrated by her rage being directed at him, he replied without thinking. “I don’t know, maybe you can go ask Matt for more money.”
Silence fell over the hallway like a tangible thing, smothering them to the point where words were impossible. He shouldn’t have said it, should have known it was the entirely wrong thing to say, yet the words came out regardless.
It was like she’d hit a button on him marked Verbal Diarrhea Release Valve.
“What?”
“I’m sorry.” Backpedaling was unlikely to do much good, but it was worth a shot.
“What the fuck did you just say to me?” Her cheeks were flushed red, fists balled by her sides as if she wanted to punch him. She probably did. He’d never heard her swear this much the entire time he’d known her. She was far more the type to say fudge instead of fuck.
He withdrew his hands from his pockets, holding them up in a surrendering gesture. “I didn’t mean it. But you show up here, you’re pissed at me for no good reason, and I just reacted, okay? Honestly, do you think I wanted this to happen any more than you did? That somehow I was hoping this would come out in public? Is that really what you think of me?”
She went quiet again, but judging by the look on her face there were some choice thoughts running through her mind. Then the sadness returned. Her expression pleaded with him, making him want to go to her, hold her, to tell her everything would be okay. That sadness in her eyes told him she didn’t want to be angry with him, but she wasn’t letting herself be okay with him either.
“I can’t do this anymore,” she said with a resigned sigh. Alex wasn’t sure if she was talking about fighting with him, or about their whole relationship in general. “Alex, did you…” She paused and stared at the wall. “Did you leak the story?”
“What? Is that why you’re so mad? Because you think I’m the one who told the press? Jesus, Alice, that’s the craziest goddamn thing I’ve ever heard. I didn’t tell anyone anything. I didn’t betray your trust.”