The Greatest Assist (Patrick Kane)

72| Misunderstood

Patrick

"We don't need all of this" I say looking at our cart as we walk through target. I swear I went for toilet paper really quick and came back and she had the whole store in the basket.

"Yes we do! These throw pillows are perfect for the bedroom and a Clark needs toys so he stops shewing on our shoes" she defends.

"And why do we need nerf guns" I questions.

"For nerf gun fights, duh" she scoffs.

"Okay... that actually sounds like a lot of fun. I'll allow it. What do we need all the swim suits for? Summer is almost over" I try.

"They're on sale! And I got us matching swim suits so we can take cute pictures" she cheers.

Of course.

I continue to follow her around as she keeps throwing stuff in there. I don't know what she plans to do with all of it but I'm sure she has a place for everything.

We turn the corner and she stops in her tracks. I have never seen so much fear in her eyes as all the color the sun had given her the past few days by the pool flushes from her skin. She was as solid as stone as I bounce right off of her. I was going to give her a hard time but the fact that she had never looked so broken before stopped me.

I follow her stare and see a well built man standing there with a basket on his arm. He was staring right back at her but with less fear. Not that much less, but she looked like she just saw a ghost.

"Babe are you okay" I ask softly. She shakes her head twice before getting frozen again. "Lets go" I try but she doesn't move. She couldn't move and I didn't know what to do. I knew that whoever that guy is was whatever is making her freak and I wanted her as far away from that guy and this place as possible.

But I turn around and see him standing right in front of us. Chelsea's eyes get watery and I have a bad feeling I just figured out who this was.

"Chelsea" the guy says.

"Jordan" she whispers and my heart drops. I knew it. "Why are you here" she asks.

"The NBA players associations is meeting here this year before the season starts to go over things. I'm a part of the committee so I'll be here and at the United Center for a while" he claims. "I was hoping to run into you..."

I clinch my fist by my side as I do everything in my power not to punch this guy in the face. I didn't want to hear another word from him because no matter what he said it doesn't change the fact that he was so unbearable that a extremely strong girl was willing to take her own life before having to deal with him for another second.

"Why" she finally asks.

"Because I miss you Chels" he says as he steps towards her. I slide right between them as she slides in behind me. I wrap a arm around her as she tangled her fingers in my shirt.

"Don't... don't do this to her. You've tortured her long enough. Just let her be" I try.

"You're not her dad" he accuses.

"I'm not her dad or her brother or her husband or even fiancé. I'm just her boyfriend who loves her more than you are ever capable of feeling. I'm someone who makes her happy to wake up every day, not want to stay asleep where you can't hurt her in her dreams.

And I have every right to tell you that you need to leave. This is not the time not place for you to be feeling sorry for yourself. I've learned to live with my mistakes and you have to too. Unfortunately for you, your mistakes are ones that messes with things you can't control, and you found that out too late. But be thankful that Chelsea loved her organization and the other guys at the Lakers enough not to say anything.

I never had such connections so if you want to keep pushing this I have no problem outing you" I promise.

"You wouldn't do that. No one would even listen to you because you made such a mess" he accuses.

"For Chelsea... I would do anything. Don't get it twisted. There's medical reports of what happened and Kanan and Marissa was there as witnesses. I'm sure they would love to put you just as much as I would. And I'll make sure the truth is known, because my words might not mean a lot to the people back in LA. But given the choice between her and you I know a lot of guys from where you're from would happily side with the person who made their lives better, not miserable" I defend.

"You don't know anything about me" he scoffs.

"And I don't want to. But I know enough to know that when it comes to professional sports you're scrapping the bottom of the barrel. A non essential player who ended up on good teams. A guy who thinks that he can do what he did and get away scratch free.

But the price of your freedom is your conscious. It's the fact that Chelsea got away from you but you're stuck knowing that even someone like her who loves everyone couldn't stand the thought of even looking at you anymore" I bark.

"Tough words coming from you" he barks back.

"He's right" Chelsea says from behind me. She comes up the side of me but I keep her tucked away under my arm.

"It was a misunderstanding" Jordan tried.

"You're right. I never understood why you hit me. Why you said you hated me and why you wanted me to change who I was. What I looked like. What I sounded like. I never understood why I stayed so long when everyone knew I didn't belong with you. I don't understand how the man I loved turned out to be the opposite of everything I thought he was.

But love is blind. I guess it's deaf too because I was begging to be free from you for months and it wasn't until I almost offed myself did you realize that we... we were never going to work" she explains.

"I loved you" he argues.

"You loved the girl you were trying to make me out to be, and that wasn't who you had. I was never going to be the girl you tried to make me become. But you weren't going to stop until you tried everything to get me there.

But this is me. And the best me there is is here in Chicago with Patrick. Not with you" she assures him.

"He's just a idiotic athlete who doesn't know wrong from right" Jordan spits as he turns to me.

"No, that would be you. He's was a lost soul trying to find his way in the world, but at least he always had one" she says.

I can tell this was going to get worse before it got better so it was time for us to leave. People were staring and all I need is someone to pull a phone out and record this all.

So I take her hand and the cart and pull her away. His eyes stay on us until we got out of sight. I see a tear drop to her cheek but I quickly drop it.

"Look at me" I beg. "We're going to purchase all this shit we don't need and we're going to go home and put it up. Then, when you're ready, we can talk" I promise.

She sends me a sad smile which did make me feel a little better. I pull her into a quick kiss before pressing her head to my chest. I hope this blows over soon.