Madison had to clench her teeth together to keep herself from saying something she might later regret. What the hell was he thinking? She could be his alibi – technically, she was his alibi – but he wouldn’t let her be his alibi because it would jeopardize her scholarship? The thought that she could do this for him frustrated her to no end and she nearly threw her cell phone across the room after getting off the phone with him.

The sliver of good news was that he had bailed out and was home. That was good.

The bad thing was the fact that the police were going to investigate this woman’s alleged rape, which meant a report was going to be written, which meant that Alec would be listed as a suspect/arrestee for a rape in the city of Newport Beach. Granted, if the charges were dropped by the district attorney, he would be able to go through sealing those records so they wouldn’t show up on his record, but still.

The fact of the matter was, Alec was in the second round of the NHL playoffs. He shouldn’t be worried about this sort of thing; he should be worried about Keyli Hansel, a Swedish center that dominated the stat sheet and played first line for Vancouver, or Stefan Nelson, a Swedish-born Canadian goalie who was nearly as good as Brandon Thorpe, the Gulls’ goalie.

She glanced down at his sleeping form, his lips slightly ajar as soft snores emitted from his nose.

She couldn’t sleep. She wanted to, but she couldn’t. She could fix this whole thing, but he didn’t want her to. He was more concerned about her and her well-being rather than him. Apparently, he had a meeting with Seraphina Hanson about everything tomorrow.

In a way, Madison almost felt bad for Seraphina. In the last two years, three of her players had had contact with the police: Brandon Thorpe was the suspect in her grandfather’s murder, Zachary Ryan had assaulted his current girlfriend’s ex due to the fact that said ex was harassing her, and now Alec Schumacher was being accused of rape.

Madison knew Seraphina would back her players. She had set a precedence with Brandon Thorpe and she continued to meet it. By having utter faith in them, they felt confident in their management and continued to play well, regardless of what else was going on in their life. This probably would be the same thing.

The only difference was, rape was not the same thing as defending his girlfriend or having a motive to murder. Alec was being directly accused by someone. And that could mean that Seraphina Hanson would handle it directly.

She would be pissed if she looked at another woman in the face and told her she was lying about rape – even if the woman was.

Everything came down to sex and gender. Seraphina was a female NHL owner and manager so she already had a target on her back. In fact, she recently called a press conference specifically to call out the sexist media for their portrayal of her the past two years.

It was actually a glorious moment, truth be told. Madison couldn’t help but feel a swell of pride at the fact that she had gotten to witness the event in person. Her fierce determination and the confident way she squared her shoulders and locked eyes with everyone there made Madison proud to not only work for this organization but be a woman. She knew Alec had his meeting today this morning with Seraphina, she just didn’t know how that would be handled. She didn’t know what Seraphina would do.

She rolled over on her side so she could stare at the shadowed wall in front of her. She hated this uncertainty. She hated that she didn’t know who to trust to have Alec’s best intentions. She was certain Seraphina would do what she could, but that didn’t necessarily mean she would do what was right for Alec. As much as Madison hated to admit it, Seraphina was running a business and she needed to do what was best for the business, not what was best for an individual who took part in that organization.

“I can hear you thinking,” Alec’s tired voice murmured behind her.

Madison winced, closing her eyes and turning so she was lying down on her back, staring up at the ceiling. Alec began to rub his hand up and down her arm with the back of his knuckles, causing goosebumps to spring up, all over her body.

“What are you worried about?” he asked.

“What am I doing after graduation, Alec?” she asked and then stopped. How fucking selfish could she be? After everything he had gone through, everything he was going through, and she wanted to start talking about herself? Was she insane? She shook her head, continuing to stare up at the ceiling. “Sorry. What I meant was, how are you?”

“Hey.” Alec’s hand stopped rubbing her forearm so it could grab her hand and lace her fingers through his. “You’re allowed to have your own concerns. You have a lot on your plate.”

“Not like you, though.” She forced a small smile and craned her neck so she could look at him. “Sorry.”

“Don’t ever say sorry for telling me how you feel,” Alec said. “I suppose I should realize just how lucky I am that you chose to stay with me, even after what’s going on. I know it’s everywhere now.” He clenched his jaw. Now it was his turn to stare up at the ceiling. “Why did you stay with me?”

Madison gave him a look that was nothing short of floored. “Why wouldn’t I stay with you?” she asked. “I’m your alibi. I know you didn’t rape that girl, and even if I wasn’t here, I would have the same amount of belief in you.”

“Why?” Alec seemed genuinely perplexed by Madison’s statements, as though he couldn’t quite believe someone like her would actually put up with everything he was going through. “Yeah, I’m innocent, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to put up with this shit.”

“It’s not easy to put up with mine, either,” she muttered, more to herself than to him. “I’m not trying to compare it and God knows I’m not trying to downplay your situation. It’s just…” She shook her head. “I get so tense when I talk to my dad that I get pissed off about everything and suddenly, nothing matters and everything matters.” She laughed, a sardonic sound that echoed off of the walls. “I’m not even making sense.”

“You are,” he murmured. He shifted underneath the covers and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, pulling her to him so her head was on his chest and she could feel him breathe underneath her. “Tell me what’s going on with you and your dad.”

“He asked about graduation tickets,” she murmured into his skin. Her eyes were closed as she breathed him in. Somehow, he had this subtle scent of the ocean and it always calmed her down. It always made her feel as though everything was going to be okay. “He wants to invite this family friend but that’s the last thing I want.”

“Why?”

“The guy is an absolutely sleaze,” she told him honestly. “He makes me feel uncomfortable. He’s never touched me or my sisters. If he did, my dad would beat the shit out of him.”

“I would beat the shit out of him,” Alec said. “Surprising, me and your father agreeing on something.”

“Actually,” Madison said slowly, glancing down at her fingers tapping his chest. “I get five tickets. Four for my family, and the other… I know we’re not supposed to be seeing each other and we’ve done a good job at keeping everything under wraps, but I was hoping maybe you would come.” She chanced a quick glance at him, wincing as she did so. “You don’t have to answer right away. I know this is a serious step in our relationship but it’s probably the most important day in my life right now and it would mean the world to me –“

Alec cut her off with a slow kiss. “Of course I’ll be there,” he told her. “I’m honored that you would ask me.”

“Of course I want you there,” she told him. “I always want you around me. Even if we have to hide it.”

“About that,” Alec murmured, interlacing his fingers with hers once more. “Where do you see yourself next year?”

She furrowed her brow. “I’m not sure,” she replied, thrown off by the question. “I guess I still want to be here, somehow. I want to have a job –“

“What I mean is,” he said slowly, “do you still see yourself being a Gulls Girl after this season? Once you’ve graduated?”

Madison paused, letting his question sink in. She hadn’t really thought past graduation, if she was being honest. It had seemed so far off into the future and now it was a month away.

“I really hadn’t considered,” she murmured, shrugging her shoulders and glancing back at him. “Honestly. I knew my family would expect me to go back to South Haven but I never really thought about what I wanted. Up until my father called me, of course.”

“What is it you want?” Alec asked in a tentative voice. “Do you want to go back to your home?”

Madison furrowed her brow. “That place is not my home,” she told him. “Not anymore.”

Alec pushed up his brows to ask her a question but otherwise kept his mouth shut.

“You’re my home, Alec,” she told him. “Orange County is my home now. I’m not going back there if I don’t have to. Maybe to visit my mom. My dad, on the other hand…” She let her voice trail off and she rolled her eyes.

“Well, I can’t really speak for your father since mine left when I was young,” Alec pointed out. “Our system is so broken that he hasn’t paid her one cent of child support and still hasn’t been punished for it.” He kissed her bare shoulder. “I’m also not going to tell you how lucky you were to have a father in the first place because, even though it was hard, I loved the fact that it was only me and my mom. There wasn’t someone who wasn’t involved in my life making financial decisions. Anything I needed, I could count on my mom. I don’t know your dad and I won’t speak for him, but I do hope he loves you in his own way.”

“He does,” Madison told him. “But that doesn’t mean it’s right.” She looked at him. “I was hoping to get my teaching credentials over the summer, get some experience under my belt in the fall. I really can’t do much else with a literature degree except teach.”

“You could write,” Alec pointed out.

Madison felt her cheeks turn red. “Writing isn’t something that’s going to make me a consistent paycheck starting out,” she said. “Plus, I haven’t even written anything worth publishing.”

“Writing is your dream and you know it,” he told her. “Remember that night last summer when we were drinking sangria and watching the sunset over the ocean? You turned to me, totally tipsy, and told me you wanted to write. So why don’t you?”

“I…” Madison let her voice trail off, thinking for a moment. She had so many stories she wanted to tell, full of romantic whimsy. And Alec was the perfect hero to base her heroine’s love interest on. “I don’t know. I guess I really haven’t felt creative, what with school. But maybe… I just need to worry about getting a job and making some money.” She almost added finding a place to live but didn’t want to open that door. Not when they were both dealing with their own issues.

Alec gripped her face gently, ensuring she looked deep into his eyes. “We’ll figure this out, Maddy,” he promised. “Once this is over, we’ll figure this out together.”