Her Big Bad Mistake (8 page)

One of the policemen cleared his throat. “Mr. Chet, we have some paperwork for you to sign and then you’re free to go. The charges have been dropped. No more fighting off the ice.”

He tried not to roll his eyes. Of course it was all right for him to beat the shit out of someone as long as it was part of a hockey match. Damon tried to let go of Becky’s hand but she wasn’t giving it up. Giving in to her, he walked to the table and signed the papers. She let go of his hand only to let him sign the documents and autographs before she grabbed it again and held it tight.

Once they were out of the precinct and in Caleb’s car, Caleb waiting behind to finish up with Jacob, Damon waited for the yelling, but Becky did something worse. She broke down crying. Damon felt like a douche as gut-wrenching sobs left Becky.

“You are black and blue. I don’t know if I can do this if this is how you’ll be. I don’t want my child to come with me as we go to the precinct to bail daddy out of jail after another punch up. I saw the footage and I don’t understand how you could do that. Jacob is your friend. Why?” Damon didn’t say anything and she shoved at his chest. “Why?”

“I only found out yesterday that my wife that ran off the day after I married her is pregnant with my child, and I have to beg her to move in with me. Then my friend starts at me so of course I’m going to fight back.” Damon was getting angry all over again.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have left like I did. I shouldn’t have left at all.” She sat up and wiped her eyes. “I’m sorry I didn’t contact you. I was going to a million times, but then I would see you in a magazine or on TV doing something stupid or with another woman and then I thought, stuff you. So I waited.”

Damon had come home from Vegas and stayed to himself, but anytime he left his house his anger would surface and he would end up doing something stupid. Then his agent had shoved women at him, going on and on about his image and keeping up appearances. He didn’t give a fuck about appearances. Maybe he should have gone after Becky, but he knew she wasn’t really for him. Becky was the settling down type and Damon wasn’t; at least, that what he told himself. He was thirty-three and hadn’t found anyone willing to settle down with. Damon fallen for Becky but she was too good for him—she saw the best in everyone. Maybe that was why he was willing to give her everything he thought he wouldn’t ever give to anyone. He told himself marrying her had been a mistake, but deep down he knew it wasn’t.

The front passenger doors opened. Caleb got in the driver’s side and Jacob in the front passenger side. Caleb started the car and drove away. No one said anything and they sat in silence for a while until Becky let out a loud sigh. “I stuffed everything up. I’m sorry. Please don’t get angry with each other. I didn’t expect anything like this to happen. I came over to America for an adventure. To do something I wanted. I’m sorry for any trouble I caused between you. That’s not what I wanted.” Tears rolled down her cheeks. “Crap, this pregnancy has turned me into an emotional mess.”

Damon’s chest felt like it was about to burst—that was his child she carried. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her head, then caught Jacob’s gaze and nodded. He’d gotten the go ahead. “Angel, it’s not your fault. We were the ones who intruded on your vacation. Truthfully, we had fun with you. We did things with you that we would never have done without you.”

Becky hiccupped and looked up him. “I know
you
had fun. You slept with a different woman every night, sometimes more than one.”

Damon couldn’t help wincing at what he’d done to try and forget her. He’d been trying to find a woman that would satisfy him and make him hard with just a look like Becky could. But after he’d met her, no other women got him instantly hard at just the thought of them. Damon brushed Becky’s hair out of her face. “I haven’t been with another woman since New Orleans. Once I knew I couldn’t fight my attraction, or fuck it out with others, I knew I was going to have you and that you would be mine.”

Damon was thankful that his friends were staying quiet. Becky studied him for a while before she nodded. “Why did you marry me? Why not just continue to see me? I live here in Chicago.”

“I didn’t know you were living here. I didn’t want to know at first. I wasn’t happy about how I felt about you. Then when I gave into what I knew you were to me, we didn’t talk about where you would be living.” He scrubbed his face. “I married you because you’re the only woman I’ve ever wanted to make my wife. I hoped it would keep you with me. I thought if I married you, you’d stay and follow me. I would support you and you wouldn’t have to work. I’d get to come home to you when I wasn’t on away games and work stuff.”

Caleb snorted and Jacob groaned, “Idiot.”

Becky sat up and moved away from him. She frowned and narrowed her eyes. “So let me get this straight, you didn’t give me my dream wedding that I’ve been planning since I was a kid because you wanted me to follow you to your home, and wait around for you. To stop my life and my dreams so you can have yours? Have me reliant on you for everything?”

Damon knew this was a trap. He told himself not to argue back. He’d said something wrong. He looked out the window to see how far they were from his house. He saw they weren’t far. He needed to change the subject. “Why did the police think we were going shopping?”

“The police didn’t want to release you two together. They said if a fight broke out that they’d have to keep you, Damon. You’re already on probation.” Becky raised her eyebrow at him and he shrugged. He wasn’t sure what he could say. She already thought he was a dick. Becky rolled her eyes. “I told the police that with me here you wouldn’t dare. I sweet-talked them into letting the both of you out. Your lawyer helped. He’s a great liar.” Damon could hear the snarky sound to her voice. “And don’t change the subject. Do you expect me to stop working? Do you expect me to sit around and spend your money? To wait all day until you get home?”

He turned to Becky. “Yes… No. You’re my wife. You’re pregnant with my child. I have no idea what you’re supposed to do.”

Becky nibbled on her bottom lip. “I want to work. I need to work. I’m not one of those women that spends other people’s money or sits around waiting for her man to come home. And if you think that’s me then that doesn’t build my confidence in you, Damon. I’m terrified I’ve done the wrong thing saying I’ll stay with you. I don’t like who I become when I’m with you, Damon. I became jealous and insecure.”

He ran his fingers through his hair, feeling like he wanted to yank it out. Caleb moaned as the car slowed and he drove down his street. “Damon, I didn’t think they would do it. I told the guys that today would not be the right time. To leave you and Becky alone to have some time, but they didn’t listen. They have organized a barbeque. You’ve been acting weird, Damon, and we’ve all been worried.” They drove up his driveway and Damon saw the cars. His teammates were at his house. “All the guys have been wondering why you were leaving as soon as the games were done and avoiding everyone. After yesterday they now think it’s because of Becky.”

Fucking hell, he didn’t need this. Damon glanced at Becky to see her eyes widen and her pink skin turn white. “Why on earth didn’t you stop this, Caleb?”

“I told them not to. They all think you’ve been spending all your time with Becky. I didn’t know what you wanted me to tell them. So all I said was not to do this, but no one listened. Even the coach is in on this.”

He looked at Becky as Caleb parked. There were so many things he wanted to say her, but Damon knew it had to wait. “What do you want to do? I wanted you to myself. Now you’re going to get ambushed by my friends and teammates. What do you want to tell them? The truth?”

“I’m not happy about you two being together.” Jacob said, butting in before Becky could answer. “But you need to remember here in Chicago everything you do and say goes to the press. I’d like to say everyone we know wouldn’t talk to the press, but we know that’s not true.” Jacob turned to face him and Becky. “I can’t be here. I need time.” He stared at Becky. “Before you ran from Vegas without even a proper goodbye I was going to come and see you. I wanted you for myself. Damon knows how I feel about you. I thought you felt something for me, too.”

“I…I…um…I’m sorry, Jacob, I didn’t know. I thought of you as a brother. You didn’t show interest in me. It was only when I got home and thought about everything that I saw things differently. That I wished things turned out differently. But I lo—”

Damon felt sick as he listened to the exchange before him. Opening his SUV door, he got out and almost ran to his house. Just great, he was another person’s mistake.

Becky looked at Jacob. A time or two she had wished she’d fallen for him and not Damon, especially when she saw a magazine with Damon in it with a sexy blonde. “But I love Damon. You and Caleb are my friends and I love you like brothers, but from the start it’s always been Damon.” Becky looked over to see what Damon thought of her words. He wasn’t there. She saw him enter his house.

Closing her eyes, she turned back to Jacob. Opening her eyes, she sighed. “I’m sorry, Jacob. I hope you didn’t think I encouraged you. I truly didn’t mean to hurt you. I figured out a lot while I lay in hospital last night. I was scared. I ran because I started to see what your life was really like. I figured out who you were. I started to become unsure of myself. I questioned things I haven’t since I was younger.” Becky needed to find Damon and tell him all this. “I saw what my life could be like.” She left it at that. Becky needed to talk to Damon. She couldn’t run anymore.

She’d wandered through the house and her heart sped up as she walked into a big room with photos and trophies. Hanging on the wall was a picture of her and Damon with Belle and the Beast. Becky found Damon in the back of his house, in his backyard. Damon was surrounded by a group of guys. He had a bottle of vodka in one hand and each man had a shot glass. He caught her gaze and nodded, and poured the vodka in the shot glass he held with his other hand, and then filled his friends’ glasses. Damon stared at her for a moment, then one of the men said something and he raised his glass in salute to her and swallowed it.

Groaning when she realized she’d done this all wrong, Becky turned and went back inside. She’d made a mess of everything. Damon had taken what she’d said to Jacob wrong. She knew his history. She shouldn’t have said anything. She should have waited to talk to Damon first and told him why she ran. Going back to the room with their picture, she told herself she wasn’t running again, that she was giving time for Damon to cool down. Sitting on the black leather sofa, she sat there staring up at the photo.

****

Becky didn’t know what time it was. She wasn’t sitting up anymore but lying on the sofa with a blanket over her and her shoes off. She remembered lying down and staring at the photo. She didn’t remember closing her eyes or putting a blanket over herself. Opening her eyes, she slowly sat up and stretched. Easing herself off the sofa, she stood and folded the blanket. She needed to find Damon. The house seemed quiet, too quiet. What happened to the barbeque?”

Padding around the house on bare feet, she froze when she heard voices. Sneaking closer to the voices, she listened.

“Imogene, how did you get in here? I sent everyone home. I’ve never brought you here. You need to leave.”

“Dammy, you don’t ever turn me down. Come on. I waited until everyone left so no one would know you’re with me. I don’t believe what everyone is saying. I know it’s a promo stunt, because they want you to act better.”

“Get your fucking hands off me, Imogene. All I’ve done for the past couple of months is turn you down. So get the fuck out of my house. I’m married.”

The woman giggled. “Dammy, you’re not the marrying type. I don’t see any wife. Why isn’t she in bed with you now?”

Becky gripped the wall and a sob escaped. How dare this woman come in and try to take her man. She was going to go in there and rip her apart. Damon was hers. She needed to make it known.

“Touch me again and, woman or not, I’ll break your wrist. My wife fell asleep on the sofa. I didn’t want to disturb her so I didn’t move her. So get the hell out of my house.”

“No. Come on, Dammy. I can make you want me. You always have.”

“Imogene, you’re nothing to me other than someone I used to fuck. I didn’t invite you into this house because I only let my friends and loved ones here and you are none of those. I don’t want you. The only woman I want I love. I love my wife. She is everything you’re not. See, she will be forever over my heart. You need to get the fuck out.”

Smiling as she reached for the door handle, Becky felt more secure with her place with Damon as she heard his responses. The door to the room opened as she turned the knob and she stumbled back as a shirtless Damon dragged the skinny, naked blonde out of the room. Becky stared stunned for a moment and then she saw Damon’s chest. “Damon.”

Damon’s eyes widened. “This is not what it looks like, angel. She let herself in here. I don’t know how she got in here. I promise.”

“I know.”

His mouth opened and shut a couple of times. Imogene yanked her hand from Damon’s hold. “You can’t be serious. No way did you marry this…this…” Imogene pointed to Becky.

“This what? This gorgeous woman?” Damon glared at Imogene.

Becky narrowed her eyes on the bitch before her. “Stay away from my husband.” Becky grabbed Imogene and dragged her down the hall. Imogene fought her, but Becky was pissed—she knew what she wanted and Becky wasn’t running this time. “Next time I see you I will call the cops on your arse. And I swear if I see you anywhere near my husband again the police won’t be able to find your body.”

Damon chuckled behind her and Imogene’s eyes widened as Damon opened the front door and Becky shoved her out. Then she slammed the door. Becky didn’t care Imogene was bare-arsed naked. “Show me every door and window. I want to make sure that bitch can’t get back in here.”

Damon’s eyes were alight with laugher as he nodded at her. “Sure thing, angel.” He gathered her to him and kissed her. She melted into him, letting herself go. When they pulled away they were both panting for breath. Damon held her hand and walked quickly around the house, checking all the doors. When he was done he took her to the room he came out of with Imogene.