He pulled his vibrating phone from his pocket. It was blowing up with texts and calls and social media notifications. The team and the league had each issued statements that they were looking into the incident. Reports of the "Bedlam Bar Bash" had hit the local news and radio stations and social media had exploded with opinions about the controversy. Every report mentioned his reputation as a fighter and the number of fights and penalty minutes that he'd racked up over the length of his career. His comments to the caller were picked apart and analyzed.
He'd always been a fighter. It was ingrained. He didn't back down. Ever. And he didn't see that ever changing. But as he'd learned with Ryan, and again with Kelsey, innocent people could be pulled into the fray. He didn't want to be responsible for Kelsey being hurt, now or in the future. The very thought of her hurting sliced his heart in two. It would be better if he left her now, and the team at the end of the playoff run. Then he wouldn't be around to potentially cause any more problems.
But he wasn't strong enough to just walk away then and there. He let himself have one more night, just to hold her.
Sleep took a long time coming with his heart so heavy, and when it finally did, his dreams were dark and desolate.
When the first rays of morning sunlight streamed through her bedroom window, he eased out of bed, dressed, and quietly packed his clothes and toothbrush. When he turned around, she was awake, watching him in the dim light.
She leaned on her elbow. "What's going on?"
"I can't stay here."
"Why not?" She sat up fully, wincing as her injured muscles moved. "I know the team moved you to a new hotel, but I still want to you stay here."
"No. I don't mean that I can't stay in your apartment." He shoved his hands through his hair. "Look at what happened to you. I can't stand the thought of someone hurting you because of me."
Her brows drew together. "They didn't. They hurt me because I jumped in to defend you."
"Still, I brought it on. Egged them on. And it could happen again. I don't always have the best control on my temper and when someone comes at me or at someone I care about, I react. When Ryan was attacked, it gutted me. But with you... I can't even tell you how much it's tearing me up inside."
He loved her too much to risk her. Why couldn't she see that? "I don't think we should see each other anymore. I'll be leaving town as soon as the playoffs are over anyway."
"I don't understand. I thought you were considering staying here."
"How can I? Do you know what people are saying about me now? How I'm bad luck? How I've hurt Dylan, and now Rod and you? I've become the punch line to some awful joke." He paced the room trying to outrun his tumbling thoughts and the vicious hurt that twisted his gut in knots. "I started off on a bad note, knocking out the team's captain. And now, the team's starting goalie can't play in tomorrow night's game because he has a concussion too. What are the odds that I'd be connected to three Frasers and their concussions?"
"Leo, stop." Her lips trembled and tears misted her eyes. "Please stop. You're making my head hurt with that pacing. Please sit and talk to me."
He stopped moving. "What else is there to say? I'll keep my head down and put in the rest of my time and then I'll leave. You'll be safer without me."
"You're being ridiculous."
"No. For the first time I'm being honest with myself. Things with you were too good to be true. I don't deserve you. I'm never going to be able to shake the shadow of what happened. Either with Dylan or with you. Every time I look at you, I see you being knocked to the ground. I can't forgive myself for that. I know other people won't."
Her skin paled, highlighting the bruises and the shadows under her eyes even more. "So this is it? You're quitting on us. You don't care enough to fight for us."
"I care too much." He slung his bag over his shoulder. Pain bloomed in his chest. "I figured out something. Being the last one standing doesn't always mean you're the winner. Sometimes, it means you didn't learn when it was time to walk away."
Forcing himself not to look back, he walked out of her room and then out of her apartment. He'd do anything to protect her, even if he had to protect her from himself.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
THE BEDLAM ARENA WAS packed with a sold out crowd for fan appreciation night. Kelsey stood by the goal net on the length of red carpet that had been rolled partway onto the ice. This last home game of the regular season was her first game back since the bar fight, and her last chance for Kelsey's Corner until the playoffs.
Her head had hurt too much and the noise in the building had been too overwhelming for the game two days after the fight. Rod and Leo hadn't been allowed to play either, not that she'd seen Leo since he'd walked out of her apartment. And then the team had gone on a five-day road trip. During her time off, she'd spent a lot of time with Dylan. Her oldest brother's worst concussion symptoms were finally dissipating.
Best of all, the police had caught the last two attackers and they were being prosecuted.
A staff member wheeled out a table with the trophies and
