Smoke and Bones (Smoke #4)

[ 12 ]

The memory of my meltdown at work made me terrified. It was almost like an outer body experience, the girl perched down on the cold, tiled floor of the hotel washroom felt completely forgein to me.

Except, everything about that girl on the cold, tiled floor was really me.

I lent back again the arm of the sofa as the white string of my earbuds slithered against my chest. The only thing that seemed right for me to do was shuffle through the music I had on my phone. It was probably not the best idea to play soft indie rock, but it seemed a lot better than to sit in silence and listen to the choas in my mind.

Letting out a sigh, I pressed skipped for the fifth time since deciding to pop in the pair of earbuds.

Sunlight crept slowly through the window, but there was little the spring like weather could do to shake the confusion I felt burdened by.

I was a little guilty that I had kept what happened at the Bulldog's Best and Fairest night for so long. Part of me even felt that it would look bad had I given Andrew the news right after he dropped the bombshell about Kate.

It was probably pointless for the police to know since that night had been a long time ago. But if I did tell Andrew now, maybe it would help in rebuilding our relationship to the way it was before I broke things off.

Although, it was more of an awkward situation to be in. The thought of Andrew's expression to the admission that my ex's teammates and their  partners saw that video of us. If he found out, it was likely that even more strain was going to be put on our relationship.

I finally pulled off the earphones from my ears and flicked my phone to the otherside of the couch. There was little that Post Malone's music could do right now to build up the confidence of telling Andrew the truth. I wrapped my arms around my legs. Drawing my legs closer towards me, I took a deep breath.

I couldn't help but to wonder how Andrew would react once I tell him about that night at the Best and Fairest. Obviously, he would be disappointed that I waited this long to tell him. But I wasn't completely sure how he would behave after I came clean about who Kate actually gave the footage to.

It didn't seem like Andrew would have been familiar with Tom compared to other players. Sure, there was the side that everybody would have seen on TV. But the Canadian footballer familiarity with Tom wouldn't be as personal compared to Marcus' familiarity with him.

The moment I heard the key twist in the hole, it was as if my heart jumped up into my throat. I knew that was Andrew and that it was too late to stay silent about what had happened. He deserved to know ages ago. He too was also violated the moment Tom shared that video that night.

Slowly rising my head, I trailed my eyes down onto the couch and sighed. The door swung open as the footballer waltzed through the door and dropped his sports bag casually on the floor.

"Hey babe. I've finally returned home." He spoke out confidently.

"Welcome back you!" I said, doing my best to look like I was genuielly smiling for him.

Andrew made his over to my direction with a grin and shifted closer towards me. He drapped his arm around my shoulder. I couldn't help but to feel guilty about sharing what I knew about that video. But there wasn't anyway I was keeping him in the dark any longer.

Other times I would have stroked his hair or said something to make him relaxed after a hard day's work at training. But this afternoon, I was hesitant to say anything in case he became hurt by what I wanted to say.

I doubted Andrew knew I was hesitant as I could feel him smile whilst his head laid up against my shoulder.

"I don't know what I did to deserve you but I'm glad to have you in my life Scarlett." He softly spoke as I sighed.