Chapter 20

Roman slid the keycard in the lock and pushed open the door. Somehow, he, Dean, and Seth had managed to put together a good workout using the hotel's tiny gym and pool. Now he needed a quick shower and a little downtime with Lexi.

Her disposition the past couple of days worried him. He knew she worried over the situation with the storyline and their health, but ever since she'd spoken with her father she'd been moody and emotionally distant. He'd tried to get her to talk, but whatever it was bothering her she hadn't been ready to share. Not knowing what was wrong made it impossible for him to fix the problem and that fact didn't sit well at all. His job was to protect and take care of her, but being a strong independent woman, she was making that difficult.

He'd barely made it into the room when the muffled sound of sobs filtered through the closed bedroom door. Why was she crying? Was she injured and in pain? His heart skipped a beat then sped up and he raced for the room. He threw open the door hard enough to make it bounce off the wall.

She sat on the edge of the bed, her face buried in one of his shirts sobbing like a child. His heart broke at the sight before him and he took a tentative step forward. Dean and Seth stepped into the doorway, but he waved them off, motioning for them to move away. They did without argument.

"Lexi? Sweetheart, what's wrong?" he asked.

She looked up and immediately reached for him. He crouched in front of her and she wrapped her arms around his neck. "I don't want to go," she sobbed against his shoulder.

Go? Confusion wracked his brain as he pulled her against him. "Go where, sweetheart? What is this about?"

After a moment she pulled back and looked at him, then lifted a hand to cradle his cheek. "I love you so much."

He grabbed her hand and pressed a kiss to her palm. "I love you too, but honey, you're not making any sense."

Her gaze drifted to the floor. "You know that saying if you love something you must set it free?"

"Yeah?" Her randomness was beginning to concern him. Why wasn't she making any sense? What had happened while they'd been gone?

"I did something today in order to set you free."

His brow knit in confusion. What in the world was she talking about? "What?"

"I went to the arena and confessed everything to Chris, Randy and the others."

Her words landed like a verbal jab to his gut as Hunter's warning echoed through his mind. "You did what?"

"Please don't make me say it again."

Panic and anger coursed through him at lightning speed. He grabbed her head in his hands and held her still. "But Hunter said-"

"I know what Hunter said," she cut him off, regret in her voice. "But you guys are unnecessarily risking injury because of me. I couldn't just stand by and do nothing. I had to make it right, no matter what the cost."

Suddenly, her babbling about not wanting to go made sense. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath as reality came into focus. "Hunter made good on his promise, didn't he?"

She shook her head. "I saved him the trouble. I quit."

"You what?" Her verbal slap sent his mind reeling. He raked a hand through his hair and stood up as anger finally took over. How could she have done this without talking to him? "Why in the hell did you do that?"

"He was going to fire me anyway. I simply made it so he didn't have to do something he didn't really want to do."

"Jesus, Lexi." Feeling the sting of betrayal, he paced away from her and back. "Why didn't you talk to me about this before you did it?"

"Because you would have tried to talk me out of it," she replied. "I couldn't let you do that. What I did was right."

"What you did was career suicide," he yelled. "Not to mention what you've done to us."

"Don't you think I know that?" She stood and leveled her watery gaze directly on him. "Nothing matters more than your future. You said yourself that this is all you ever wanted to do."

"My future?" He angled a thumb against his chest. "My future? What about your future? What about our future, Lexi?" He stormed across the room until he stood directly in front of her. "Did you even consider that I might have a right to not only know about this ahead of time, but to have a say in this decision?"

"I couldn't tell you," she replied as tears streamed down her face. "I couldn't risk having a moment of weakness. I know you're mad at me and you have every right to be, but I did this for you. I did this because I love you. Hopefully, at some point in the future you'll understand and find it in your heart to forgive me." She turned away from him, walked around the bed to her bag, tossed his shirt inside, and zipped it up. "For now I have to go. I don't belong here anymore."

She slid her bag over her shoulder and grabbed the other one in her opposite hand. Then she crossed back around the bed, walked up to him and pressed a soft kiss to his lips. "I love you."

Slowly she pulled backed, turned and walked through the bedroom door. Roman remained in place until the sound of the room door closing reached his ears, signaling the finality of the situation. He dropped onto the bed and lowered his face into his hands. This had to be some sort of horrible dream.

"Roman?" Dean asked from the doorway. "What happened?"

"Yeah." Seth angled a thumb toward the door. "Where was Lexi going with her bags?"

Roman lifted his face from his hands and stared at his friends for a moment before he replied. "It's over. She's going home."