Lucky Bounce: Game On, Part 2 by Jennifer Lazaris

17

Holly slept in until 10:00 am, hitting the snooze button six times after their late night celebration at Callahan's. She took a quick shower and fed Miss, leaving the bedroom door open so the calico could wander the penthouse while she made peanut butter toast and coffee.

The noise of the TV spilled in from the living room while she got breakfast ready. Eli had probably eaten breakfast already, but she might as well join him to watch a little television.

When she got to the doorway, she stopped short.

He sat on the floor with the stack of letters spread out in front of him on the coffee table. She'd told him where she'd tucked them away in case he'd wanted to read them. He must have grabbed them while she was sleeping.

Eli glanced up at her, and the myriad of emotions on his handsome face made her heart flip in her chest. He looked so lost that she wasn't sure what to do.

"Eli?" she asked softly. "Are you okay?"

"I don't know." He looked back down at the pile. "I don't know what the hell to feel. How I'm supposed to feel."

"Did you read your mother's letter to you?"

He covered his face with his hands before pinching the bridge of his nose. "Yeah. I knew I had to read these letters sometime, for her. I want to give her peace. I know she wants me to have a relationship with my father, but I can’t promise that."

Holly walked over to the opposite couch and sat down. "That’s understandable."

"I have sisters, Holly." His voice broke on her name, and he swallowed. "Little sisters."

"Not so little now," she said, nodding. "But yeah. You have family."

"Troy doesn't say if he told them about me. Maybe they don't know anything. Or maybe they know, and they don't care." He leaned back against the couch. "I lost so much time. These letters... they're representative of wasted years. I can't get any of that time back. If I would have just done what my mother wanted and read them... He shook his head. "But no. Instead, I had to be a fucking hard head and act like I was above it.”

"You couldn't have known the letters held this kind of information," she argued, abandoning her breakfast and sitting down next to him. "Your reasons for being angry with him are valid. And frankly, he should have never put information like that in a letter. He should have told you directly. Do you think your mom knew?"

“No way.” Eli stared straight ahead, then ran his hands over his knees. "Why didn't he ever come see me? If he gave a shit, why didn't he ever come for a birthday, or a holiday. Something?"

"Now is your chance to ask him, Eli. You're going to Tampa. Now's the time to find out. And to reach out to your sisters."

"Like I need this fucking upheaval during the Cup Finals. Jesus Christ," he muttered. "It's not exactly ideal."

"No, but it's your life. It might be rough to see him after all these years, but how great would it be to meet your sisters?"

He didn't say anything for what felt like forever before asking, "Will you come with me?"

Holly frowned. "To Tampa? Of course I'll be there."

"No, to see him. And meet my sisters."

She raised her eyebrows. "You want me there with you?"

"I think I need you there, Holly." He glanced down at the floor. "I need the support."

She reached over and took his hand. "Eli, if you need me, I'll be there."

He took a deep breath. "It means a lot, Wilkes. It means everything."

She squeezed his hand. "Don't worry. I've got you."

Miss hopped into Eli's lap with a demanding "mew," and Holly couldn't help but laugh. "Miss has got you, too. I'm worried she's considering changing over to Team Eli.”

"I'm sure she is," he said, then laughed.

Holly was relieved to hear him laugh after all of this tension. Her cat had perfect timing.

"One of these days, I'll have both of my girls on Team Eli." He placed a gentle kiss on the back of her hand. "It might take some work, but I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty trying."

"Hmm." Holly gave him a teasing look. "I don't know. It might take a hell of a lot of time and dedication on your part."

"I'm not worried."

"There's that cocky attitude we all know and... well, I won't say love," she said dryly. "I was wondering where it had disappeared to."

Her phone beeped with a text. She slid it from her pocket and glanced down at the screen with a groan. "Oh, hell."

"What is it?"

"Lyla. She's been pressuring me for personal accounts of what happened at the party last night, and I told her that's not happening."

Holly fired off another text, repeating that it was not information she would share for the blog. "She's like a dog with a bone. She knows my personal time with the team is not meant for the blog, but she won't stop."

When the phone beeped again, Eli rolled his eyes. "Her again?"

"Yeah." Holly frowned. "Fuck. She wants all my notes and questions for the feature today. She wants to see me at the office at 1pm. If I don't provide it, she's going to give me her own list of questions and ideas to steer the article in the direction that she wants, instead of letting me decide the tone. This is such bullshit."

"Yeah, that's not happening," he said. "I'm going with you, and I'm going to talk to her."

"Eli, no," she protested. "I can handle this on my own."

"I know you can, but she's out of line. I can get her to back off. This was my idea, and I do have some say if she gets a feature at all, considering I'm the subject. Let me come along."

Holly sighed. "Okay. But remember, don't say anything about me staying with you."

"I won't."

Her phone buzzed with another text, and Eli shook his head. "I can't wait to put this pain in the ass in her place."

She grinned. "I have to admit, I can't wait to see it."

* * *

"Is this the oldest fucking elevator in Las Vegas? Jesus Christ. It's like riding in a broom closet," Eli complained.

“It’s nice on the inside, but yeah, it’s so small, it’s creepy.”

The elevator slowly made the squeaky, grinding trek down to the floor of the Lucky Bounce office, and the doors took so long to open Eli hit the button a few times. "I want out of this thing. We aren't taking it on the way back. No way. I didn't think I was claustrophobic until I took this damned thing."

"Fine by me," she said, following him out of the elevator. "I won't argue."

When Holly opened the door to the office, Landon, the receptionist, didn't even look up from her phone.

"Hey, Landon," she said. "I'm here to see Lyla."

"Take a seat," Landon ordered. "She'll be with you in a bit, Holly. She's busy."

Eli cleared his throat, and Landon looked up. She gasped and leaped to her feet. "Eli Donnelley! What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to see Lyla, same as Holly." He gave Landon a scrutinizing look. "Tell her we're here."

"Right. Sure. Right away," Landon stuttered, then fired off a text. "I'm sure she will be right out."

"Don't bother to sit down," he told Holly. "We won't be out here long."

She grinned when Lyla's door opened a few seconds later.

“Must be nice to get such fast service. I won't tell you how long I waited for my last meeting."

"Fuck that noise," he muttered under his breath. "I'm not hanging around here all day."

Lyla stopped short when she opened the door. Giving Eli a bright smile, she batted her eyes at him. "Well, Eli Donnelley. Whatever can I do for you?"

"You want to do this here or in your office, Lyla?" he asked bluntly. "Makes no difference to me."

"Come in," she gestured, stepping aside for him to enter.

Holly started to follow, and Lyla shot her a look. "You can wait here, Holly."

"No, she can't. Get in here, Wilkes." Eli peered around the pink office. "Jesus. It's like a unicorn exploded in here."

She swallowed a giggle as she walked past an annoyed looking Lyla.

"Take a seat," Lyla said, settling down in her chair.

Holly sat, but Eli remained standing.

"I'm not sure what the fuck you're trying to pull, Lyla, but you need to back off and let Holly do her goddamned job."

Lyla blinked innocently. "What? What do you mean?"

"He means stop texting me and requesting personal photos from celebrations that aren't meant for the public eye," she told her. "You know that's not for blog consumption, Lyla."

Lyla narrowed her eyes. "You act as a representative for this blog. Kingsnakes news is news whether it's a personal party or a public one."

"No, it really isn't. When I'm with my friends, it's personal. When I'm at a club following a player in a public setting to report gossip, then it's news. I'm not exploiting my friends for your benefit or the benefit of our readers. You know that, Lyla."

"So now you have to bring a player along to help you fight your battles?" she asked, her voice snippy.

Eli crossed his arms. "No, I volunteered. Holly informed me that you have been harassing her for these notes, and if she didn't give them to you, that you were going to send over your own questions and guide the tone of the feature. That wasn't our deal, Lyla. The deal is that Holly writes it, and you get your exclusive. Leave her alone to do her job. It's her piece, not yours. And without me, you've got nothing. So back off."

Lyla sniffed. "I don't understand why you chose her for this assignment, Eli. It's my blog. It should be my feature."

"Because she's in my circle of friends. I trust her. That's all the reason I need."

Lyla gave Holly a cool stare. "This article better be worth every single penny I'm paying you, Holly. It better be beyond good."

"Ready to go?" Eli asked Holly. "I need to take off. West's party starts at 2:00. I've got to go pick up Shaw. I'll see you over there later, I guess."

She kept her expression neutral. West wasn't having a party, and he was trying to give Lyla the impression that they'd come separately. It was smart, but then again, so was Eli.

"Yeah, I guess. Penn asked me to pick up extra ice, so I've got to go do that first."

"Later, Lyla," Eli said, walking out of her office.

Holly didn't even bother saying goodbye. Lyla was in a snit, and she'd probably just say something bitchy anyway.

They walked past a flustered Landon on their way out without so much as a word.

Once they were out of the office and safely out of earshot, Holly started to laugh. "Man, that was fantastic. I loved seeing Lyla put in her place."

"She's a piece of work trying to boss you around like that." He glanced at the elevator. "Do you mind walking up a few flights to the parking garage? I am not getting into that shit box again."

"Yeah, sure." She followed him over to the stairwell.

"Christ, it's hot in here," he complained as he started climbing the stairs. "I wish I would have brought a bottle of water."

Holly went to take a step and froze.

Oh, fuck. Oh, no.

No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't lift her leg up onto the step. Panic set in as beads of sweat formed at her temples. She gripped the handrail and stared down at her feet.

This couldn't happen now.

Not in front of him. Not like this.

"Holly?" Eli paused at the small landing before the next set of stairs. "Are you coming?"

She turned around, sinking down onto the bottom step as she willed herself not to cry. Tears pricked the corners of her eyes, and she blinked hard. Too bad she was fighting a losing battle.

* * *

"Holly!"

Eli jogged down the stairs, alarmed and confused when he saw her sit down on the step. He knelt down in front of her. "Hey, what's wrong?"

Tears streamed down her face, and fear gripped him hard. "Wilkes," he said gently, putting his hands on her knees. "Baby, I need you to talk to me."

"I can't do it."

He frowned. "You can't do what?"

"I can't walk up the stairs."

"What do you mean?" he asked, confused.

"My legs," she choked out. "They don't... they're not working. I can't lift them."

His heart began to pound in his chest, and he whipped out his phone. "I'm calling 911 right now."

"No!" She shook her head wildly. "No. This isn't the first time I've had this. It's happened before. It's not an emergency."

"What do you mean it's happened before?" he asked, stunned. "You've not been able to walk, you mean?"

"Well, that's one thing. It all started to happen around the time of the fire, and then with the guys at the mall..."

"Woah, wait. Back up. Start at the beginning."

Holly's shoulders slumped. "I've had some weird things happen. Like double vision, and my eyes get so tired they look droopy. And there's been a few times where my legs just don't... work."

She sniffed, and brushed her tears away with her fingers. "When those guys messed with me at the mall, I couldn't lift my arms to drive. That's why I was late coming to get you. It happened with my legs at one of the games. I couldn't go up the stairs to the concourse. And then when we were at Regal, I..." she sighed. "It's stupid, but I was exhausted from chewing. My food took forever to go down."

"Jesus Christ, Holly." He stared down at her, horrified. She'd been dealing with all of this by herself and hadn't said a word to him. "Why the hell didn't you tell me any of this?"

"Because I thought it was stress. But when it happened during the game, I started to think that maybe it wasn't stress. I just didn't want to deal with it. I don't know."

"Well, you're going to deal with it now. You've got to find out what's going on. Enough is enough. You have to see a doctor."

"I know. I just thought it might go away when the stress went away, you know?"

"But it hasn't."

She shook her head. "No. But it does stop after I rest for a bit. Then I'm fine. I've waited it out before. Let me try one more time."

She stood, and when she turned and tried to take a step, the look on her face gave it all away.

She couldn't do it.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered, shaking her head.

"Baby, don't," he murmured, pulling her close. "You don't have anything to be sorry for. We'll get this figured out, okay? But I need to carry you up the stairs."

"No! I told you, we can just wait it out."

"No, we can't. It's boiling in this stairwell, in case you haven't noticed." He attempted a grin, even though he was scared as hell at what was happening. He wanted to put her at ease, and that was priority number one. "And no matter how much of a gentleman I am, I'm not getting back in that death trap of an elevator. Not even for you."

She choked out a laugh as he tucked a lock of purple hair behind her ear. "Come on. I've always wanted to rescue a damsel in distress. And you don't weigh more than a feather."

"This is mortifying," she muttered.

"Hush." He swept her up into his arms and began to climb the stairs. "See? Easy peasy."

"It's four flights, Eli."

"I'm in peak condition," he said dismissively. "Stop worrying. Just be glad you have a big, strapping hockey player to carry you around."

She pressed her face into the side of his neck, and he relaxed when she let out another little laugh. "Okay. I'll try."

Once they reached the top, he ignored her protests and carried her over to the car.

"There. Front door service." He set her down gently, then took her hands. "Are you okay, sweetheart?"

That's when he saw the tears flowing down her face again, and he lost it. He hugged her fiercely and kissed the top of her head. "Don't worry, baby. We're going to get this all figured out. I've got you, Wilkes. I promise."

She pulled away and wiped her face with the back of her hand. "Will you go with me?"

"You know I will. And I'll handle everything. Let me take care of this."

She wrapped her arms around him again, and he closed his eyes.

"Thank you," she mumbled.

"No thanks needed." He held her close, not realizing until now that he was sweating through his shirt with anxiety.

Fuck, he was crazy about this woman. He'd do whatever it took to make sure she got what she needed, no matter the expense. Because he never wanted to see that look of helplessness on her face again.