Brooks
T he sound of rustling jostles me awake as sunlight streams through the floor-to-ceiling windows of my bedroom.
I reach over to find Hayley’s side of the bed cold.
A string of low curses echoes throughout the room as I shift to sit with my back against the headboard.
Pressing the heels of my hands to my eyes before they focus on a frantic Hayley jumping to put on a knee-high riding boot.
“Shit,” she says, her eyes meeting mine. “I was trying not to wake you. Go back to sleep.”
My eyes roam her body as she rights herself. The dark-wash skinny jeans hug her curves in all the right places as the white long-sleeved V-neck crop top shows off just the right amount of skin and accentuates her breasts. Her auburn hair is tied up high in a ponytail. She’s fucking gorgeous.
I stretch my arms above my head before righting my gaze on hers. “Got a hot date I don’t know about?”
Her shoulder relaxes as she climbs back on the bed, using her hands and knees. Making her way to me like she’s a puma stalking her prey. Her prey being me, that is by the hint of lust I see in her emerald eyes.
She places a chaste kiss, hovering over me slightly.
“A date with Camden. I’m heading to my parents’ house now to talk to him.
” She looks away from me, and I can see that Camden’s distance has been killing her.
“I need him to understand. I don’t want to bad mouth Boyce, but I need him to know that I did what I did to protect his heart. ”
Protect his heart. It’s what she had done for herself all those years when he turned his back on her. It’s what I’ve done after Tiffany.
My hand cups her cheek as my thumb runs along her soft skin. “Let me get dressed, and I’ll go with you.”
She plops down on her hip next to me, releasing a breath as I pull her close to me. Her head rests on my bare chest as I place a few kisses on top of her head. “I’d love for you to come with me, but…”
“But…”
“I need to do this on my own. It’s my mess, and I have to clean it up.”
Staring into her emerald eyes, I know she’s right.
I rub my thumb along her bottom lip before pulling her back in for another kiss.
She climbs off the bed and fixes her ponytail in the mirror one final time before looking back at me.
Running back to my side of the bed, she places a quick kiss to my lips, lingering long enough to whisper I love you against them. Then in a blink of an eye, she’s gone.
I pull on a pair of sweats and make my way to the kitchen to turn on the coffee maker and grind some beans before pressing brew. I turn on the TV, clicking to Sports Center as I wait, scrolling on my phone in hopes of no new articles.
“Hey,” a voice echoes from my front door as it slams shut. “I hope you don’t mind me just stopping by, but I had some time this morning and thought I would come see how everything is.”
Sydney stops in the kitchen entryway, while continuously scrolling on her phone without even looking up. “How did you know I was in the kitchen?”
She finally tucks her phone away, making eye contact. “It’s you. You’re always in the kitchen.”
“Not always.” Okay. About ninety percent of the time. “What are you doing, Syd? You never just pop over.” Mainly because I won’t let her.
“I wanted to see how all was. Is that really so hard to believe?” Yes. My sister always has a hidden agenda. “And because the client I’m meeting today could be a problem.”
“A problem?”
“Yes, a problem.” She takes a seat at the kitchen island, narrowing her eyes at me. “At least a bit curious as to why?”
“No.” Yes. “But I’m assuming regardless, you’re going to tell me all about it.”
“You betcha.” She strums her fingers across the countertop while I pour myself a cup of coffee.
“Thanks for this,” she says, taking a swig from my freshly poured cup as I turn my back for a few seconds to place the pot back on the warmer.
Grabbing a cup from the cabinet, I pour myself another cup and wait for Sydney to start talking. “Okay… better now. So, my client…”
“Your client.”
“Um… how do I say this… is…”
“Is who, Syd? Spit it out.”
“Tiffany.”
I spit my coffee across the counter. “I’m sorry, but did you just say fucking Tiffany?”
She sips her coffee nervously before nodding. “Yup. She’s engaged to the goalie for that new expansion team in Oregon. The Timberwolves or something like that. I think his name is Rod Larson.”
Could shit get any worse? In addition to all the ongoing drama, now I have to deal with this.
My ex, gold-digging fiancée is here in Seattle.
Planning a wedding to Rod Larson, nonetheless.
A guy who is bounced from team to team for being a goon on the ice.
As much as I hate the guy, I can’t help but feel bad for him.
Who has been mesmerized by puck bunny pussy, into a marriage that won’t last.
“Why the hell is she planning her wedding with a Seattle-based planner?”
Why the hell do I even care?
“You know what, don’t answer that. Don’t even tell me.” As long as she stays as far away from me as possible, I’m perfectly fine.
“I’ll be sure to pass along your congratulations,” she says through a smirk. “But enough about the wicked witch of the west. Seriously, Brooks, how are you guys holding up?”
I’m pissed.
I’m pissed as hell that some asshole would throw Hayley, the only constant in Camden’s life, to the wolves.
Make her out to be the bad guy. Make her out to be some person who slept around with multiple men.
That Camden wasn’t Boyce’s son, and she was just trying to extort money from him.
The number of articles going around with false claims is ridiculous.
“Fine.”
“Fine?”
“Yeah, fine,” I snarl before walking to the pantry for a protein bar.
I toss one at Sydney, who scrunches up her nose at the sight of it.
“You know, there’s always a chance that I could end up in the same exact situation as Hayley,” she starts before getting a faraway look in her eye.
“If John ever found out about Everleigh, I could end up going through the same thing, just with less cameras.”
I clutch my fist to my sides at the mere mention of her ex-husband’s name. John had mistresses upon mistresses throughout my sister’s marriage to him. The nail that shut that coffin though was him sleeping with her best friend, his partner at the law firm he worked at. Yeah, some friend she was.
I was so pissed at John; I almost went to jail for laying him out one night.
And when I found out that Sydney was pregnant with Everleigh the day she signed her divorce papers, I swore to myself that if he ever came back around, I would end him.
I’ve watched enough ID Discovery in hotels during away games.
I know the unique ways to get away with murder.
“John’s a prick just like Boyce. Let him try to pull the shit Boyce is. I’ll end that fucker before he even got a chance to start.”
“You’re deflecting.” She rolls her eyes. “This has nothing to do with John. Are things okay between you and Hayley? Camden?”
Hayley seemed better this morning. The little touches she gave me as she rushed around the room to get ready, yet all at the same time, seems distant.
She’s here but not. Even as I held her last night, I could tell she wasn’t really with me.
Camden had told her he hated her. Made her believe that everything printed in those headlines were true.
Just thinking about it has me balling my fist at my sides.
“Hayley’s been a little standoffish. Camden… yeah, well, he’s not coping the best.”
He’s coping the way I would have expected, after finding out your father is one of the top NHL stars in the league that is.
But it’s not Camden who has me worried; it’s Hayley.
I feel like she’s shutting down. I wanted to help, be there for her today when she confronted Cam.
But she shot me down. Basically, dismissed me like I had no business in this.
She’s right, I don’t have any business in this.
But I want her to be my business. I want her to see that as much as I hate the shitstorm that’s come our way, I’m here for it all.
Sydney nods her head in understanding. “She’ll come around. Give it time.”
I hope she’s right. We have another home game tonight, and I hope a repeat of the last won’t happen again. Speaking of which, I glance at the time on my phone and realize I have morning skate in an hour. It’s optional on game days but being captain, it’s almost like it’s mandatory to be there.
“Yeah, as much as I would like to continue this little pow wow, I have to be at the rink soon.”
“Don’t ice me out, Brooks. I’m here for you both,” she says, standing from the kitchen island. “Promise?”
“Promise.”
“Good, now I can leave.” She walks toward the front door before stopping to speak one more time. “I’ll be sure to tell Tiffany to fuck off when I see her today.” She smiles the biggest cheesiest grin I’ve ever seen and with that, she’s out the door.
◆◆◆
“Everything okay?” Halloway asks as I lace up my skates for morning skate.
As annoyed as I am at his prying, I know it’s from a good place. Playoffs are literally right around the corner and with all that’s going on, I can’t afford the distractions. I need my head in the game.
“I’m fine.”
“Someone’s a grump today,” Thorne says as he takes a seat on the bench beside me. “Your lady okay?”
I sigh and push up from my spot. “She’s fine. Just Boyce Cameron needs to crawl back into that hole he’s created in Arizona.”
“I heard from Tanner that she’s taking a leave of absence,” Powell says as he strips out of his sweats.
“She not taking a leave; she’s taking a few games off to get this shit with Cameron situated,” I say through clenched teeth. “Guy’s trying to take away her kid.”
“It’s his kid too,” Polston says all nonchalant.