Melting The Ice (23 page)

“Ava please…let me explain…”

“Just go.” Her voice hitched on a sob, her blue eyes swarming with emotion.  His tormented gaze switched from Ava to Macy, looking for an ally but Macy stood with her arms crossed over her chest eyeing him dispassionately.  There would be no help from that corner.

“I love you…”

“Get out!” she wailed, pushing through the kitchen door to disappear into the house, her fleeing footsteps the only sound.  He hesitated then made as if to follow her but Macy stepped in his path at the same time Max grabbed his arm to yank him back.

“No, Key, let her go.” Max said in a low, urgent voice, his grip on Cian’s arm tight.  He whirled on Max, spoiling for a fight until he saw his friend’s pitying expression watching him.  “She is not going to listen to you right now,
mon ami.” 
Cian shook Max’s grip off his arm and plunged his fingers into his hair again, mussing the smooth dark strands.  He closed his eyes as if in pain, a low growl escaping his throat.  He had freaked when Macy had reached him with the news of the press’s encampment at the gates, knowing that Ava would never believe he had planned to tell her all this very day but some part of him had hoped he was wrong.  Unfortunately, he had been right.  He had screwed up everything by not coming clean with Ava and had lost the only woman he had ever loved.   He had always been self-assured but this situation stole his confidence…the knowledge there was nothing he could do or say that would convince Ava he had not used her made him feel helpless and defeated.  He hated it.  He looked at Macy.

“Macy, you have to believe me.  I didn’t use Ava…”

“
I
do believe you, for all the good that will do you.” She responded softly, her eyes full of sympathy.  The sound of a door slamming somewhere in the house, had Macy glancing at the closed door of the kitchen apprehensively. “Come on; let’s go over to my house where we can talk.”  Cian looked from Macy to the door, seeming to be undecided on his course of action.  She laid a hand on his arm, immediately gaining his attention. “She’s hurt and angry right now.  You will only make it worse if you don’t give her some time, Cian.”  He looked as if he might argue but changed his mind, nodding his head in resignation.  Macy knew Ava best and if she said Ava needed space, she needed space.   He hadn’t thought anything would ever be harder than having to call his parents after the Lani fiasco, but he had been wrong.  Leaving Ava’s, knowing he had hurt her and she believed that nothing between them had been real was even worse.   Seeing her cry over something he had done made him feel like the lowest piece of shit on earth.  How would he ever get her to forgive him? 

Chapter Thirty-Seven

“What on
earth
possessed you two to pull a stunt like this?” The utter stupidity of these men had Macy angrily pacing back and forth in front of her desk.   Her nephew scowled at her from the large monitor.  “And you can wipe that look off your face, Jameson Talbot.  You have a lot to answer for so I would suggest you drop the attitude.” She admonished, turning to find Max lounging on the leather sofa, watching the proceedings like he was watching a tennis match and Cian on the edge of the chair with his head in his hands “Now who wants to go first?” She stopped her pacing and leaned against the desk with her arms crossed.

“Aunt Macy…” Jameson began but his words faded away as the magnitude of his mistake hit him. “It was a goddamn stupid idea.” He muttered more to himself than his Aunt.

“You’re damn right it was a goddamn stupid idea.” Her scathing voice had all of them wincing.  She started pacing again, her fingers rubbing at her temples as she muttered under her breath about dumbass men that didn’t have the sense to get in out of the rain. 

“It’s my fault.” Cian’s deep, angry voice interrupted her diatribe as he came to his feet. “Jay was just trying to help out me and my family.”

“I knew if I was straight with Mom she would freak and not let Cian stay.  How was I to know Mom and Cian were going to hook up?  That never even crossed my mind as a possibility. I never meant for any of this to happen.” Jay looking so sad and upset was another jolt to Cian’s angry guilt.

“Damn it, Jay!  None of this shit is on you.” Cian practically roared before dropping back into the chair.  He leaned his head against the back and stared at the ceiling. “I should have told Ava the truth when I became involved with her if not sooner.” He paused, his look introspective. “I knew if I told her, she’d dump me flat on my ass…so I didn’t tell her.”  His eyes closed in pain. “I am so screwed.” No one disputed his claim. 

“Do we know who called the reporters?” Macy was back to leaning against the desk regarding all of them as if they were some strange species she didn’t understand.

“My bet is either your father,” Cian motioned to Jameson with a raised eyebrow. “Or Tiffani with an ‘I’.” Cian rolled his eyes at Max.  Max looked crestfallen at the idea he might have contributed to this mess.

“How do you plan to deal with the reporters?” Macy inquired with a raised brow of her own.  Cian looked thoughtful before shrugging.

“I’m gonna have to do what I should have done from the beginning and tell my side of the story.” He laughed without mirth. “Only if I had done that, I would have missed out on Ava.”

Jameson looked distinctly uncomfortable when Cian spoke of his mother. “If you care anything about my mother…”

“I love her.” Cian stated bleakly.  Jameson gaped at his friend in utter surprise at his avow of love for
his mother.
  Jameson cleared his throat, but Macy jumped in before Jameson could come up with anything to say.

“You just worry about being ready for school to start next week and let us worry about the reporters.” Macy picked up the remote that controlled the webchat.  “I’ll either call or email you with the details.  Love you.”  Jameson told her he loved her too and signed off.  Macy carefully shut off the monitor and slowly turned to face Cian.  Her hazel gaze considered him for long seconds, before turning her gaze on Max.  “Will you leave us for a moment, Max?” Max looked disappointed but nodded in agreement as he came to his feet. “Go down to the kitchen and grab you a beer or whatever.”  After Max had closed the door behind him, Macy turned back to Cian.  “Do you want to leave?”

Cian’s sad eyes met hers and he shrugged. “I should leave…”

“I didn’t ask what you
should
do; I asked what you
wanted
to do?” She snapped, his pity party getting on her nerves.  His brown eyes narrowed with irritation.

“Hell no, I don’t want to leave.” He ground out. “If I stay, though, the reporters will camp out at the gates.   It’s not fair to any of you if I stay.”

“I can’t believe I’m saying this.” Macy muttered, looking up as if for divine intervention. “I think you should stay.”  He was incredulous at her words.  That wasn’t what he’d expected at all. 

“If I stay, it will only hurt Ava more.”

“No…I don’t agree.  I think you’re leaving will hurt her more.” Macy was back to pacing.  “Ava has been happier these last few weeks than I’ve seen her in a long time.  If you’re serious about loving her, then you can’t just walk away without even trying.” He nodded in agreement and started to speak but Macy continued on. “If you’re not planning on continuing your relationship with Ava after you leave here, then walk away and don’t worry about it.”

“Then I’ll stay.” He stated, looking directly into Macy’s eyes so she would see he meant it.  She smiled and nodded. 

The rest of the evening was spent getting settled into the Barracks and on conference calls with team management, his agent, public relations and his attorneys.  By the time it was over, a plan of action had been laid out.  He was going to be spending the next two days granting one interview after the other.  The interviews would only be with reputable news organizations but the press conference tomorrow morning would be in front of anyone who cared to attend and apparently, there were a lot of reporters that cared to attend.  He was going to read a prepared statement; in and out.  He could handle in and out.  He was dreading the whole circus but it had to be taken care of before he could turn his attention to repairing his relationship with Ava.  Macy said they would give Ava a couple days to calm down and then they would launch their offensive.  Macy hadn’t discussed her plan with him and when she referred to it as the offensive, frankly it scared him.   He hoped she knew what the hell she was doing.  His life depended on it.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

“How old are you?” Macy’s biting voice rang out.  Ava continued to lounge on her float in the middle of the pool, refusing to acknowledge Macy’s presence as she popped her earbuds back into her ears and cranked the volume on her IPod.  Macy had been standing beside the pool for the last fifteen minutes trying to talk Ava into talking to Cian, but Ava had adamantly refused then stopped talking altogether.  Two days had passed since she had discovered Cian was playing her for the fool and she hadn’t seen hide or hair of him except on television.  She had immediately changed the channel when one of his many interviews had been broadcast.  She’d witnessed his press conference being broadcast live from
her
front gates…damn Macy and her interference anyway.  He had looked as sinfully handsome as ever in jeans and a white dress shirt, his big brown, thickly lashed eyes looking
oh
so
sincere while he read his facts-only statement and thanked everyone for coming out.  Max stood behind him with his hands shoved in the front pockets of his jeans along with several security guards that were keeping the reporters back and under control with the assistance of local police.  Seeing Cian made her sick to her stomach at her own stupidity.  She could have handled it if that was the only emotion but he had also made her heart hurt when she watched him so she made sure not to watch any other interviews. 

Macy and Max had both dropped in to check on her but had carefully refrained from mentioning Cian so she was totally unprepared when Macy had shown up a little while ago and immediately went on the attack.  Macy had pushed and pushed for Ava to hear Cian out until Ava had responded childishly that Macy couldn’t make her, prompting her friend to question her maturity.  Ava drifted on her float with her eyes closed, soaking up the sun and listening to Nickelback’s Chad Kroeger sing about following her home.  She wondered idly if Macy had given up or was still standing beside the pool glaring at her when she found herself flipped unceremoniously off the float, the water closing over her head. She came up coughing and spitting water, her ruined IPod dangling from the earbuds still in her ears to find Macy in the waist high water with her hands on her hips. “What the hell is wrong with you?” Ava sputtered as she yanked the earbuds from her ears.

“You’re being childish by ignoring me…”

“And you dumping me into the water was so damn mature.” Ava muttered as she headed for the steps.  She dripped her way to the lounger where she had left her towel and glared at Macy who was getting more towels out of the cabana since she was wet herself from leaping fully clothed into the pool.  Macy tossed Ava another towel for her hair before wrapping her own in a towel and trying to dry her body with the second one.

“You have to listen to me, Ava.  This is too important for me to just let you tune me out like you do when someone says something you don’t want to hear.” Macy stated as if she hadn’t just knocked Ava into the water.  Ava shook her head in disgust.

“I don’t want to discuss Cian…”

“Too damn bad because that’s exactly what we’re going to discuss.” Macy said, irritation pouring from her voice.  “What the hell is wrong with you?  That beautiful man loves you…”

“I’m not listening to this shit…” Ava made to push past Macy but Macy grabbed her arm in a tight grip and refused to let her pass.

“You
will
listen to this shit.” Macy gritted out, looking like she would like nothing better than to slap Ava.  In all the years they had been friends and family, Ava had never had Macy mad at her and the experience had her falling silent. “Cian loves you and I know you love him.” Macy’s warning look had Ava closing her mouth.  Macy let out a sigh of exasperation.  “You’re a thirty-nine year-old woman that has finally found someone that makes you happy.  Don’t you think you owe it to yourself to at least hear him out?” 

“I don’t know…” Ava’s fingers rubbed at her temples, the headache she had been fighting for the last two days coming back.  Her head always hurt when she cried too much and she had cried off and on for the last forty-eight hours. 

“Are you really gonna push that gorgeous man right out of your life without letting him try to explain his actions?” When Macy saw Ava looking uncertain, she moved in for the kill. “Ava…I’ve talked to him; he really loves you.  Just hear him out.” Macy pleaded.  Ava closed her eyes for long seconds before nodding her agreement.  Macy let out a sigh of relief.  “Is seven good for you?”

Ava hesitated before nodding again. “Yeah, seven’s fine.”  She let out a shaky breath and set down on the edge of the lounger.  Macy sat down across from her and reached out to pat her knee.

“Hey, you’re doing the right thing.” Macy said in a soothing tone, hating to see her usually self-assured best friend so shaky and uncertain. “If there is any chance you can work things out with him, you need to try.  You won’t be any more miserable than you already are, right?”  Ava chuckled with irony.

“There is that.”  Macy laughed with her before giving her a big hug and taking off.  Ava sat beside the pool for a while longer, coming to terms with the fact she was going to have to act like an adult and deal with Cian face to face.  She had broken her own cardinal rule by getting involved with him in the first place; falling in love with him was just the icing on the cake.  She laughed to herself; only she would end up falling in love with a professional hockey player, twelve years her junior that was embroiled in a scandal with a supermodel.  When she did it, she did it up right.  She glanced at the huge sundial clock on the cabana and seeing that it was already four o’clock, headed into the house to get herself ready to face Cian.  She had a feeling she would need more than three hours.