Chapter 37 - Morgan's angry

                                    

                                          

Faye

I was safe. All night after the incident, I felt safe. Liam stayed with me. He held me, and when I woke up from a nightmare, he was there.
He whispered comforting words to me and stroked my hair. And I curled up closer to him and fell asleep.
He was gone in the morning. Probably to lessen any suspicions about us spending the night together. I'm not sure if it actually worked. He was sharing a room with Ethan. Surely Ethan must have figured it out? But maybe Liam lied and said he hooked up with a puck bunny or something?
Walking down to breakfast was awkward, but other than a few stray looks, nobody acted any differently, and I don't think Coach had any idea about the incident.
So I pretended nothing happened. I took photos of the guys on the bus, interviewed them about winning the game, and that was that.
We arrived back at UNI, and I immediately drowned myself in work. Aside from my schoolwork, I had footage and photos to edit and posts to make.
It's not until Monday after class that I have time to reflect on what happened. I know I'm very lucky to have gotten away. And maybe nothing would have happened if the guys hadn't showed up. Maybe I overreacted and everything would have been fine?
I enter the Den, ready to ask a few more questions and do some of my work while I watch them practice. It's become almost a routine that I work here. I like the atmosphere.
JD is standing with Morgan, and I wave at him. He says something and Morgan whips her head around so her green hair goes flying, then she grabs JD's hand and pulls him over to me.
"Hey," I say when they get closer.
"Are you ok?" Morgan asks.
I look over at JD and he blushes a bit. It's clear he's told her what happened.
"I'm fine. What's up?"
Morgan studies me as if she thinks I'm lying. JD clears his throat.
"I've talked with the guys. We won't bring this up to Coach if you don't want to, but we agreed that when you come to the away games, one of us should always be with you."
"What?" I stare at him.
"We all heard you on the phone. I don't think any of us can forget how scared you sounded. Hell, I still want to punch that guy."
"He can't get away with something like this." Morgan is angry.
"I appreciate it, but it wasn't that big of a deal."
"Don't do that." Morgan raises a finger in my face. "Don't make excuses."
I swallow. Ever since it happened, I've been telling myself that it was just in my head. That he probably didn't mean any harm.
"I'm fine," I say to her as much as to myself.
"Of course you are." She embraces me in a bear hug. "No man can break you. Everything will be fine." She holds me at arm's length and my eyes tear up. "If you ever want to talk about it, you call me, ok? I know we don't really know each other like that, but I'll listen. And if you want to beat his ass, I can teach you how."
"I appreciate it, but he didn't hurt me."
"He grabbed your wrist. JD told me he was holding on to it when they showed up."
I nod and something inside me snaps. "It was scary." I sob.
"I know." She hugs me again. "I don't talk about it much, but something similar happened to me. This guy I kind of knew thought he could... Well, it doesn't matter right now. Just know that if you want to talk, I'm here. Hell, if you want to drink or punch something, I'm also with you."
"Thanks." I blink away the tears. Having someone take it so seriously feels like a relief, like a confirmation that I'm not going crazy. What the guys did was great, but somehow, I needed to hear this from Morgan.
"Meanwhile, if you ever don't feel safe, you call me, or JD, or any of the Lions. If they don't show up for you, I will break their nose. You can ask JD how serious I am about that."
I look over at him, and he smiles and grimaces.
Morgan takes something out of her pocket. "Here, I got you some info about people you can talk to if you need it."
I grab the pile of pamphlets. "You didn't have to do that." At a quick glance, I see information about some therapists, and psychologists and a private detective. I'm not entirely sure what I'd do with that, but I take it anyway.
"Just in case. And you have my number. I have to go now. I have class. But I wanted to make sure you knew I'm here if you need me."
"I really appreciate that, Morgan. Thank you."
"Anytime. See you around." She turns and gives JD a kiss. "Bye, babe."
"Bye." He watches her leave.
"She's... something," I say.
"Yeah." He clears his throat. "I know I probably shouldn't have told her, but I don't keep secrets from her, and I figured since you know each other..."
"It's fine. I like Morgan. She's probably really good to have around in a crisis."
"She is. And she wasn't kidding about breaking their noses. She broke mine once. Before we started dating."
"Did you have it coming?"
"Well... Yeah. Kind of."
I nod to myself. "I figured."
"I'll see you on the ice."
He turns toward the locker room, and I make my way to the ice. Coach is placing some small cones at regular intervals when he spots me. He skates up to me.
"Faye. I was meaning to ask, now that the trip is over, do you have any progress when it comes to Liam?"
"Oh, right. Yes. I have a candidate that I think might work. I know he has the food drive this afternoon, so she's going to meet us there just so I can see if they're believable at all. If they hit it off, we can use photos of the both of them. If not, she's just there helping out like any other volunteer."
"That sounds like a plan. Does Liam know?"
"Not yet. I talked to her last night. I figured I'd not give him a chance to come up with any excuse."
Or myself. Because if I start to think about what I'm doing, I'm going to scream. I'm setting him up with someone else. Someone who isn't me.
And I hate it.

***
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