Chapter 155
OLIVIA-
I texted Blair from the passenger seat before I could lose my mind.
Going to the hotel with Luca. Don’t freak out.
I knew she would freak out once she saw that message but still had to send it. They would eventually stary looking for me.
The reply came so fast the phone almost jumped in my hand.
Are you crazy? Do not do that. Olivia Monroe. Turn around. You better be freaking joking!
I stared at the message until the words blurred.
I knew I shouldn’t.
I knew this could stir up trouble with my family.
Dad already had a groom in reserve over one club video. Ethan already had a fist waiting for Luca’s face. Blair was pregnant and tired of watching me cause trouble.
And Roman-Roman had just told a group of reporters that his relationship with Eden was good. That she was there with him and that was enough.
He had given the night to her in public. He had given her the spotlight as though he actually wanted everyone to know that they were together.
It hurt.
It hurt in a way that made a hotel room with Luca feel like nothing. If he could do something like that, then I could do something like this. Despite everyone’s reaction to Luca, I didn’t get a bad feeling about him.
I’m fine. I’ll text you. Luca isn’t as bad as everyone thinks. Do not worry.
Blair sent three more messages that I did not open.
I turned the phone face down on my thigh. Luca glanced over once, then back at the road. He did not ask what I was hiding. He just drove.
The hotel was nicer than I wanted it to be. Quiet lobby. Fancy key cards. A hallway that smelled like money and nothing like a packed arena.
People dressed nicely did not look at my ruined mascara long enough to make it uncomfortable. I was grateful for that much.
The second the door to his suite shut, Luca dropped his jacket and looked at my face.
“Why were you crying?”
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“I don’t want to talk about it.”
nodded. No push. No joke. That almost made it worse. I had expected the club version of him. A grin. Instead he stood there and let the silence be mine.
“You hungry?” he asked. “I can order. You really don’t have to worry about me. I’m not going to do anything you don’t ask for. And my best friend is asleep in the other room if you get uncomfortable. She’s been here the whole trip.”
“Thank you.”
As if on cue, the inner door opened.
A pretty girl walked in. Petite. Kind eyes. Brunette hair in a loose bun. Sweats. Bare feet. She looked sweer until she saw me, and then something flickered. She looked upset but then quickly covered it, the kind of look a girl wore when she was jealous.
I knew that look.
I wondered if she liked him.
“Charlotte,” Luca said. “This is Olivia.”
Charlotte’s smile arrived a second late. “Hi.”
“Hi. Nice to meet you Charlotte. I hear you’re his best friend.”
“She’s known me forever,” Luca added, already moving toward the minibar like this was ordinary. “And I don’t really bring girls back here. To this room.” He glanced at Charlotte. “Surprising, right?”
Charlotte let out a small breath that might have been a laugh. “Surprising.”
Luca chuckled. “This is Olivia. The girl I’ve been telling you about.”
Charlotte looked surprised then. Really surprised. Her eyes went from my ruined makeup to Luca’s face
and back.
“The one from the wedding,” she said.
“That’s her.”
“The one you got punched in the face for.”
He laughed.
I felt guilty.
We sat. Luca ordered food I would not touch.
Pasta. Bread.
Charlotte pulled her knees up on the opposite sofa and asked if I wanted water, then tea, then a washcloth for my face. I took the water. I did not take the washcloth. I did not want to look cleaned up. I wanted to look like what I was: a girl who had walked out of a celebration that was not hers. A girl whose heart was
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broken.
You’re Monroe Charlotte said after a while, careful. “Blair’s sister. I see your sister’s name everywhere after she married Grayson Shaw.”
“Yes. She is quite popular these days.”
“I saw the game on the lobby TV.” She hesitated. “Vale had a night.”
My throat tightened. I nodded. I did not say his name.
“I don’t really follow basketball,” I lied, badly.
Luca watched me over the rim of a glass. He did
not call it. Charlotte glanced at him, then at me, and steered toward safer ground.
Travel. The track. A dog she wanted to adopt when they went home.
Luca told a story about Charlotte threatening to leave him at an airport in Milan. She rolled her eyes and said he had deserved it. The conversation was easy in the way conversations were easy when two people had known each other forever and had a million stories to give.
I smiled when I was supposed to. I answered when they asked questions I wasn’t uncomfortable answering.
I did not tell them about Roman. I sat with the sadness anyway.
Blair’s name lit my screen again. I did not pick it up.
“You can take the bedroom,” Luca said eventually. “I’ll stay out here. Charlotte’s got the other room. Door locks.”
Did he think I would actually sleep here? No. This was just a quick escape until I could get back home and the crying had stopped.
Charlotte stood. That flicker again, gone just as fast. “If you need anything. Extra charger. Whatever.”
“Thank you.”
She hesitated in the doorway. Brunette hair slipping from the bun. “He wasn’t lying. He doesn’t bring people here.” A small, complicated smile. “So I guess you’re different.”
Then she left.
Luca leaned back and looked at me.
“You don’t have to talk,” he said. “You can sleep. You can eat. You can sit there and be pissed at the world. I’m not going to hold it against you.”
I nodded.
“I mean it,” he added, quieter. “Whatever happened at that arena, it doesn’t get to follow you into that room unless you want it to.”
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I almost told him.
lmost said Roman’s name but stopped myself in time.
“I’m okay.” I tell him. “I don’t need to talk about it.”
He nodded, “okay. Well I’m right here if you need anything.”
“Thank you.”
All I needed was Roman to stop hiding what we had. To accept me openly. To fight for me.
Would that ever happen?
AD
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10:24 Sat, Sep 19
The Hockey Captain’s Unwanted Wile
Dex Morgan
Dex works to elevate each story with clean writing, emotional balance, and thoughtful flow for readers.