Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 88041 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88041 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
I look at what can only be described as a devil in disguise. Max fucking Horton. If there was ever a man I wanted nothing to do with it is him. Yet here I stand in front of him while he reaches out to see my phone, and my hands ache to feel his fingers on mine.
“It’s fine.” I snatch it and walk away from him while he mutters “bitch” under his breath. And in that moment, I couldn’t agree with him more.
Chapter Two
Max
The sound of the alarm beeping has me leaning over and groaning. Eight a.m. It almost feels like noon to me since I spent the summer up at my house in Canada training every day at five a.m. A log cabin hidden in the woods where the town has a population of one hundred and twenty-five. It was the first thing I bought when I signed my big contract at the age of twenty. It’s a place that no one but my sister, Denise, knows about. Four years apart, Denise and I haven’t had the easiest life. Our father was in and out of our lives, just as the seasons come and go. Our mother was a mean ass drunk, and let’s not forget our verbally abusive stepfather. Think Married With Children but on meth.
I turn myself in bed and press the button for the shades to open. I lie back in my big king-sized bed as light fills the room. I live in a loft in Soho. One whole floor to myself. I fell in love with this space as soon as I visited. It was an old dusty factory when I first stepped in it. The only thing I kept was the four brick walls. I had a designer come in and she made a miracle happen. Gone were the dusty floors and in their place were all dark wood oak floors all over the house. They match the wooden beams she brought in. She kept the open-floor concept, except when it came to the bedroom. All the way at the other side of the floor it’s blocked off by a full wall that hides my bedroom, master bath, and walk-in closet.
The sun is out, with not a cloud in sight. I’m about to get up when my cat shows up. Yeah, I have a cat, but it’s a manly cat, a white Persian. Okay, maybe not manly, and it is a girl, but her name is Stanley. “Hey, princess,” I say as she lies on my chest and purrs while I rub her ears. She quickly gets tired of me and goes off on her own. It’s then I toss my white cover off of me and head to my bathroom. I approach the toilet that is in a separate room and come out to wash my face in the sink. The white and gray marble counter stretches along a big wall with two sinks separated by the ‘makeup’ part. Something I never approved, but somewhere the designer thought she would be putting her stuff. I walk to the shower, opening the glass door and stepping inside. The inside walls have the same marble as the counter, the white tiles on the floor blending perfectly. Opening the shower, two waterfalls start over me. Leaning my hands out onto the wall, I let the water wash over my back. This summer I added twenty pounds of muscle. Seven days a week, eight hours a day, I pushed my body to where I thought it would snap. I’m coming back bigger and better, especially since this is my last year with New York. My contract is up after this season and I know they can’t wait to toss me out on my ass.
Fuck, they would have tossed me out six years ago when Matthew fucking Grant came waltzing in and stealing my thunder. I was a dumb kid back then. The king of the fucking world, at least in my world. I was the golden kid on the team, the one who led everyone till I was the one who almost brought the team down, with just a stupid game.
Not only did Matthew take my place on the team, he turned the team against me. Okay, I did have a hand in that, but I fucking hated it.
One night, drinking by myself in a bar, this hot blonde walked up to me. Puck Bunny, I knew it a mile away. Fuck, just thinking about it I get sick to my stomach. She brought me back to her room, then latched on to my dick like a jellyfish in the ocean. I gave her Matthew’s name. Fuck, what a fucking mistake. We spent the night banging each other, only for her to wake up and expect a fucking ring. She genuinely looked shocked when I said I don’t do relationships. Her vow to make me regret it should have been my first clue. But how the fuck was I supposed to know she would beat herself up and tell everyone that I raped her? Well, not me but Matthew. The minute the cops came into the locker room, I knew. I had a sick feeling in my gut. I still remember faking sick. I rushed back to my room, got in touch with my lawyer, and together we went down to the police station. Of course by that time, the detectives already knew that Matthew wasn’t the one who was with her. Now it fell on me. They charged me with aggravated assault, rape, and impersonation. It was the single worst mistake of my life. After the dust settled and we found out that she pulled this stunt with at least ten other people, I was dismissed, but my reputation was tarnished and destroyed. I tried to apologize, but no one wanted to hear it. So I did what I do best, I went out there and played my heart out. We won the cup that year. I want to say I helped, but my head wasn’t in there. I hoisted the cup, but Matthew was the one who led the team. I spent the summer with my tail between my legs, licking my wounds and being like woe me.