My Hockey Alpha novel Chapter 375

Nina

My eyes went wide as Enzo uttered those words.

“I’m not entirely sure if I’m going to take this job after all.” It didn’t make any sense. Enzo had been so excited about this job all along, and yet he was changing his mind suddenly out of the blue.

Something had happened while he was gone, I was sure of it.

My mind raced to put the pieces together. The hurt wrist, the flinching, the distance in his eyes… Did someone attack him? One of the hockey players, maybe? But why? Everyone seemed to love him.

“But I just don’t get it,” I found myself saying, throwing my hands up in exasperation. “You were so excited about this job, Enzo. What changed?”

Enzo simply shrugged. “Look,” he said, “I just don’t know if it’s a good idea, that’s all.”

“Why, though?” I asked. “Can you at least explain this one thing?” He took a moment to collect his thoughts, his brow furrowing as he contemplated his response. I watched as he crossed over to the other side of the room and leaned on the desk that sat under the window.

Everything in his movements told me everything that I needed to know; that he wasn’t telling the truth.

Again.

“I just… I want to be by your side, you know?” he began, his voice barely more than a whisper. “I don’t feel right leaving you with the pregnancy, especially with everything else going on. I’ve beenthinking about it, and I know I would feel better if I was with you throughout all of this.”

His words were sweet, and a part of me was touched by what he was saying. It was a reasonable desire, to want to stay with his pregnant wife; but it went against everything that we had promised each other already.

“But your career,” I insisted, my voice rising ever so slightly. “This is so important to you. We made a promise to each other that we wouldn’t let the baby get in the way of our dreams. That we would make it all work.”

He scoffed. “Yeah, well, it’s never that simple, is it?” he asked, finally turning to face me.

My eyes widened slightly. There was a frustration in his gaze that was almost palpable, and something told me that there was more to this than met the eye.

“What are you saying?” I asked.

Enzo shrugged, folding his arms over his chest. “Look, Nina, I love you,” he said a little more gently now. “But is it really an option for us to ‘follow our dreams’ while we’re starting a family?” I frowned. “Yes, it is,” I said sternly. “And as far as I know, you were on board with the idea up until today.”

There was a heavy silence between us. During that time, a whole host of emotions seemed to flicker through Enzo’s brown eyes, and each of them was even more unreadable than the last. I felt like, with each passing moment, my husband was putting up another wall.

With a heavy sig h, I finally threw my hands up in the air and turned on my heel, heading over to the door leading to the bathroom.

“Whatever,” I said, annoyance threading through my tone. “I’m taking a bath.”

Enzo said nothing more as I opened the bathroom door and stepped inside. The large clawfoot tub beckoned to me, and I walked over to it, turning on the hot water. Soon, the bathroom began to fill with steam, and the scent of lavender and soothing echinacea began to fill my senses.

As I undressed and combed my hair out, however, my mind kept wandering back to Enzo. The uncertainty about his job was one thing, but the flinching was another. Something was going on with him, I was sure of it.

And what hurt more than anything was the fact that he refused to just be honest with me.

I stepped into the tub once the water was the right temperature, andlet out a small sigh as I sank into the water. My fingers curled around the talisman I wore around my neck, and I took a few moments to admit it in the light.

The talisman was small and circular, with indents in the shape of a lotus flower all around. In the center was a small stone —an opal, from the looks of it.

I furrowed my brow as I looked at it. Hopefully this wasn’t a gimmick, just some piece of jewelry that would do nothing. But even if it was, it gave me a sense of ease just from wearing it. Maybe that was what I needed more than anything right now.

Suddenly, the door creaked open. I looked up and through the steam to see Enzo standing in the doorway.

“What do you want?” I asked, releasing my grip on the talisman and allowing it to float in the water, held fast by my neck.

He sighed. “Room for two?”

For a moment, I almost considered telling him to leave, but I knew that 1 couldn’t stay mad at him like that. I nodded and readjusted my position to let him in, and watched as he took his clothes off and stepped into the water with me.

The two of us just sat there for a while, our limbs tangled beneath the water. The steam floating in the air between us served as a bit of a buffer, an excuse to not have to look into each other’s eyes.

“Listen,” he said after a few moments, leaning back with his arms on the edges of the clawfoot tub. He hesitated, and I could see the struggle inside of him even through the steam. “It was a fight with a .. coworker, okay? I’m not proud of it. That’s why I didn’t tell you.”

My curiosity was piqued, and I leaned in a little closer. “What happened? Who’s the coworker?”

But Enzo remained tight-lipped, his gaze fixed on the water. “I’m sorry, Nina, but it’s not something I want to discuss right now,” he replied evasively.

Frustration welled up inside of me. I wanted to support him, to help him through whatever difficulties he was facing, but his unwillingness to open up was a barrier between us.

“Look,” I said gently, “if you really don’t want to tell me, then fine. But it feels like you’re closing yourself off, and that’s not the kind of relationship we have.”

Enzo said nothing. He just stared down at the water, his face resolute. I sighed and leaned back against the tub, closing my eyes.

“Just remember that I’m your wife,” I said, one last parting comment. “And I’m here for you, no matter what. Always.”

When I opened my eyes a few moments later, Enzo was looking at me with a curious expression on his face. Something flickered through his eyes as he looked at me, and I knew that look instantly.

Guilt.

But why was he so guilty? Why would he feel such guilt over a fight with a coworker?

Unless… My breath hitched in my throat. Suddenly, it felt as though everything made sense. It was as though a sixth sense came over me as I looked at Enzo, and somehow, I knew who was on his mind.

“It’s Mila, isn’t it?” I asked, my voice trembling-

But the memories of that day at the airport resurfaced in my mind.

The red stain on his lips, the lingering scent of perfume, the strange and uncharacteristic look in his eyes… It couldn’t all just be one big coincidence, could it?

I pulled away without entirely meaning to, shaking my head as if to dispel the thoughts. But the thoughts just kept coming.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, shooting me a confused look. “Nina, why are you recoiling?”

I said nothing as I rose from the bath and climbed out. Water pooled around my feet, and I quickly grabbed a towel to wrap around myself before I marched over to the sink and began vigorously combing my hair again.

“Nina,” Enzo called after me in a firm tone of voice, “talk to me.”

My body froze. I hated when Enzo used his Alpha voice to speak to me. But as a werewolf and a member of our pack, it was difficult to ignore. With a sigh, I set my hairbrush down and curled my fingers around the edge of the counter to steady myself.

“Enzo,” I said, my voice quivering, “when I picked you up at the airport, there was something red on your lips —”

“Wine,” Enzo corrected me,

But I spun around, glaring at him. “It wasn’t wine, Enzo,” I said. ” It was lipstick. And the look in your eyes was so… unlike you. And the bruise..” I paused, clearing my throat as my eyes filled with tears, blurring my vision.

“Did you have sex with Mila?”

The question hung heavily in the air, and for a moment, I was afraid to hear his answer. I wanted to believe in him, to trust that our love was strong enough to overcome any obstacle.

But the doubt was gnawing at me, eating away at my heart.

Enzo’s eyes met mine, and he seemed to search for the right words. He rose from the bathtub and stepped out, grabbing a towel and walking over to me as he wrapped it around himself. But I took a step backwards, leveling him with a distrustful gaze.

He stopped and sighed, running a hand through his hair. “Nina,” he began, his voice low and filled with regret, “it’s really not what you think. I promise, I would never even consider it. I didn’t have sex with Mila.”

His words provided a momentary relief, but the tension in the room remained. I couldn’t shake the feeling that he was still holding back, that he was only telling me part of the story.

“So tell me the truth,” I hissed, my voice trembling “If you didn’t sleep with her, then tell me what really happened. Tell me why you had a bruise on your wrist and… lipstick on your face.”

He sighed deeply, and his shoulders slumped. I watched as he leaned his back against the marble bathroom counter, his chin dropping to his chest as he thought.

And then, taking a deep breath, he lifted his gaze to meet mine.

There was nothing but sincerity in his brown eyes.

“Okay,” he whispered. “I can’t lie to you any longer. I’ll tell you everything, Nina.”