Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
MARCUS
“ Y ou looked good out there today, Cap,” Coach Andrews tells me. “Better than you did last week.”
I take a swig of my water bottle. “My head is back in the game. Sorry, Coach.”
“Don’t be sorry. I know you have a lot on your plate, so if you need anything, let me know.”
“Appreciate it.”
“Good.” Coach slaps me on the shoulder. “Get a few more laps in out there and then hit the showers.”
I nod at him before taking off on the ice. The feel of the ice under my skates helps push everything else from my head. Not a care in the world.
I know my mom has the girls until bedtime. I know they’re in good hands, so I don’t have to worry.
I push seeing Harper from my mind. That’s not going to get me anywhere.
This? Playing hockey? It’s what I can focus on. On moving the team forward. We’ve got a solid team, one that I feel like we can make a deep playoff run with.
Fuck. That’s something I never thought would happen. It always felt like we were the perennial losers of the league. That no one cared about the Knights.
There’s an energy in the locker room with these guys for the first time in a long while. I know it has to do with Coach Andrews. I’m glad we have someone like him with the team now. It was a building year when he first came in, and then adding Noah?
Yeah, we’ve got a team that I’m excited to be a part of.
When all the guys are off the ice, I do a few more laps before heading to the locker room to hit the showers.
Nothing like a good practice to work out whatever I’m feeling off the ice.
“You ready for our game against Vegas?” Dax asks as I pull on a pair of shorts.
“Fuck yeah. We’re ready.”
“I wish we didn’t have to play our first game on the road.”
I shrug. “Not the first time we’re starting the season in Vegas.”
It brings back memories of my very first game. Of everything that happened that night. An impulsive decision to get married to Harper.
I guess some things weren’t meant to last.
“I’m ready for the season to start,” Dax tells me. “I hate the waiting.”
I clap him on the shoulder. “I know. First game will be here before you know it.”
Someone pops their head into the locker room. “Yo, Marcus. Someone’s at the front office needing to see you.”
I drape my towel around my neck and lean back into my locker. “Who is it?”
The security officer shrugs a shoulder. “She wouldn’t tell me much. Blonde hair. Blue eyes. Looks like she wants to chop your balls off. ”
What the fuck?
The only person I can think of that would want to, in his words, chop my balls off, would be Harper. But why the hell would she be here?
“Did she say what she wanted?”
He shakes his head before leaving the locker room.
Never in a million years did I think Harper would be here at the rink. Now? Now I want to see her again.
I never thought I’d get to see her, but now I want to.
One glimpse and I want more. I don’t know how I made it through these last seven years without her.
“Who’s here to see you?” Noah asks, taking a seat beside me.
“Old flame.”
“Old flame?” He raises an eyebrow at me. “I didn’t know you had any flames.”
“It’s Marcus,” Graham chimes in from Noah’s other side. “He’s never shown interest in anyone.”
Noah snorts at his remark and I flip both of them off before throwing my towel at them. “Assholes.”
“This will be my second full year here, Cap, and I’ve never heard you mention a woman.”
There’s a reason for that. I’ve always been tight-lipped about my personal life. I don’t want sympathy from people. They know about the girls, but that’s about it. I don’t talk about my sister, brother-in-law, or my dad passing away.
And the last thing I’m willing to do is tell them that I walked out on my wife.
Yeah, not a conversation I’m willing to have.
“Sue us if we’re curious,” Noah agrees. “You’re allowed to have a life.”
“I’ll see you two later.” I grab the hoodie in my locker and slide into my sandals before heading toward the front office of the rink .
I shouldn’t be excited to see Harper, but I am. Butterflies flutter low in my belly at the thought of seeing her.
I still remember the last time I saw her back then. I was leaving for an away game. She was wearing one of my T-shirts, sitting on the counter of our small kitchen watching as I scarfed down a quick dinner before the flight.
Her hair was piled on top of her head, and her bare legs made it hard to leave. Everything about Harper called to me. She was like a siren, pulling a weary sailor into shore.
I didn’t want to leave her.
Knowing now it was the last time I saw her? It still makes my chest raw.
Striding into the lobby, hands in my pockets, I see her. The minute she spots me, Harper’s eyes narrow with anger.
What in the world could I have done to piss her off that would warrant her presence here today?
“What are you doing here?” I ask.
“We’re still married!” Harper hisses at me.
I rear back, as if she slapped me. What the fuck? “What? No we’re not.”
Harper scoffs, crossing her arms over her black, sleeveless sweater.
“According to the state of Nevada, we are.”
I shake my head. “There was an issue with the signatures and we never went back.”
It made it a clean break. It’s why I walked away from her and turned my back on everything we had.
“Oh no.” Harper pokes a finger into my chest. “I was house hunting this weekend and my realtor made some offhand comment about her sister having to get a divorce because she got married in Vegas.” I don’t miss the way she spits out the word .
“There’s no way that’s true.”
Harper rolls her eyes at me. “Well, I did some digging.”
“And?”
“And,” Harper starts, fishing something out of her purse, “according to the state of Nevada, we’re married.”
Harper thrusts a piece of paper into my chest. Opening it, my eyes scan the document. Our marriage license. The one we signed at the small chapel just off the strip.
“They said this wasn’t filled out right and we were never married.”
The fire in Harper’s eyes is enough to scorch me. “I know. I’ve tried calling and they won’t answer. I don’t know what is going on, but whatever this is, we need to take care of it.”
“Take care of it?”
“Get it annulled.” Again with the eye roll. “We’re not married, Marcus. We need to take care of this so I can move on with my life.”
My eyes scan the document again. “Can we even get it annulled?”
Harper is fuming at me. “Are you saying you want to stay married?”
I shake my head. “But what grounds can we get it annulled on?”
Harper grabs the paper from me and stuffs it back into her purse. “Considering this was filed when we were told it wasn’t done correctly is one to start. And if these boneheads aren’t going to call me back, I’m going to go out there and take care of it myself.”
I shouldn’t be surprised at her solution. If Harper didn’t like the one that was presented, she found her own way to solve problems .
Even if it means severing the last tie between the two of us.
Harper is raging and yet, I can’t seem to stop staring at her.
Something about the anger coming off her makes her even sexier. Not that I’m going to tell her that, but still.
Damn. I forgot just how beautiful she was.
“I’ll go with you.”
“What?” That has her looking up at me in shock. “You’re not coming with me. I can do this on my own.”
“Harper.” I step closer to her. I forgot how short she is, even in her heels. “If this is something that we have to take care of, aren’t you going to need my signature too?”
“Fuck,” she mutters under her breath.
“See?” I use the knuckle of my index finger to tip her chin up so she will look me in the eyes. It’s easy to see the way she reacts to my touch. “I have a point.”
There’s a softness followed immediately by anger. Likely because she felt anything at all.
Harper puts distance between the two of us. “Fine. But I have fall break on Friday and I’m going then. Come if you can; I don’t care.”
“It’s actually perfect because we’ll be heading to Vegas for our first game of the season.”
“You are?” That has Harper pausing. If I’m guessing, she’s remembering my very first game out there.
“Yes. I can meet you there.”
Harper taps a finger against her leg. “Fine. You sure the team will be okay with that?”
I nod. “I’ll get a few free hours after practice before the game.”
Harper nods. “Okay.”
“Is your number still the same?”
“Why do you need my number?” Harper asks .
“So I can meet you there?”
Harper mutters something to herself that I can’t understand. “Yes, my number is the same.”
I rattle the number off to her. It’s one of the few that I still have memorized.
“Good. Text me and I’ll add yours to my contacts list.”
Ouch. That shouldn’t sting as much as it does. But why would she keep my number?
“Who’s this?” Noah asks, coming up from behind me.
Harper peers over my shoulder before looking back at me. “No one.”
She spins on her heel and is out of there.
“You really pissed off no one then,” Noah says.
“Who was that?” Graham asks. “And don’t say no one, because that was clearly a someone.”
I scrub a hand down my face. There’s no way I’m getting out of this one. “Want to head to The Sin Bin and grab a drink?”
Graham’s face lights up like I gave him an early Christmas gift. I’ve known the kid since he was a rookie. I think the extent he knows about my life is that I have Sam and Sadie.
All I want is to be the best player I can be and head home to the girls. I want them to have a stable, happy life. They deserve it after everything they’ve been through. Even if they don’t remember anything.
Noah nods. “Sure. Let’s go.”