Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 54721 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 274(@200wpm)___ 219(@250wpm)___ 182(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54721 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 274(@200wpm)___ 219(@250wpm)___ 182(@300wpm)
“I know.”
“It’s because I love you so much that I’m doing this.”
“It’s a mistake,” I whisper.
He glances back at me. “It’s a risk I’m willing to take.”
Van slips out the door and I sit on the bed. My mind is already spinning… processing everything that happened tonight. Surely there is something I’m missing… some logical piece of information that will help me change his mind.
I know that Van thinks he just laid down the law, but I can’t give up yet. There has to be a way to save my marriage.
Or the alternative, I need to let him go and hope he can figure it out on his own.
CHAPTER 14
Van
The Cold Fury are already on the ice for pregame warmups when the Titans step out. I follow Boone, skating in a clockwise circle on our half of the arena. Rob Zombie’s “Dragula” blares and fans line up at the glass behind the net with signs that say “Drake… I want to have your baby” and “Titans Don’t Puck Around.”
I skate slowly, my legs already limber and warm from riding a stationary bike and doing stretches a bit ago. Eventually, our team lines up for two-on-one drills, lobbing easy pucks at Drake to get him in the zone.
As I stand at the rear of the left-hand line near center ice, someone bumps me hard in the back. I turn to see Lucas standing there.
Even though I was with his sister for three years, two of which we’ve been married, Lucas is the one brother who never fully warmed up to me. He’s genial enough at family gatherings but I don’t know that he’s ever forgiven me for the fact that I started seeing his baby sister right under his nose while we lived in the same house. This, despite the fact that his sister is the one who relentlessly came on to me.
From the very start, she was unrelenting in her flirting. She made comments about the way I looked or how I acted that threw me off because there was nothing coy about how she did it. She called it like she saw it.
“Hmmm,” she said on the very first day we met, her tone suggesting she was trying to figure me out since I’d been pretty standoffish. “I’m going to go with brooding. It’s a better fit for the hotness you exude.”
What the fuck was she even talking about?
“Hotness?” I was at a loss as to how to deal with a woman who said things I didn’t understand.
“Oh, come on.” She let her gaze roam brazenly up and down my body before smirking at me. “Just look at all you got going on. All big and muscley. And those deep, sensitive eyes filled with mystery. Total hotness and totally broody.”
I tried to pay her no mind. Ignored her, actually. And yet deep down, I knew that I was going to be in trouble where she was concerned.
Lucas jolts me out of my memories. “Going to kill you tonight,” he says in a low voice, and he’s not joking. The words are stone cold and laced with malice.
“Good thing we’re not on the same lines, then,” I mutter before turning away. No way am I going to fight her brother, especially not during an important game that has playoff-standing ramifications.
Lucas sneers. “On or off the ice, doesn’t matter when.”
“Whatever.” I skate away from my brother-in-law and join the line on the opposite side. I scan the crowd. I don’t know where she is, but there’s no doubt Simone is here watching. She wouldn’t miss a chance to see Lucas and Max play.
I don’t think she’d be here to see me, not after the way I left her last night. There was a finality to our encounter and I know that because she listened to me. Heard how I felt.
Chose not to contradict me, fight for me or attempt to offer hope.
I told her I was moving out and she let me. I packed a bag and when I walked out the door, Simone was nowhere to be seen. Presumably up in the guest room, going to sleep.
She let me go.
I know I’m supposed to be glad it’s over. Simone is free to get a new life. To have the happiness she deserves. It’s everything I’ve reached for since that book came out.
And yet… there’s not one part of me that has any relief from this overwhelming sensation of doom. If anything, I feel worse.
Simone told me I was making a mistake.
Did I?
“You good, man?” I glance over my shoulder and see Boone. “Saw you talking to Fournier.”
“Yeah, all good.” Boone knows I want a divorce from Simone, and everyone knows she’s the little sister to Max and Lucas Fournier.
Boone taps his stick against the side of my leg. “Got your back, anyway.”