Chapter Thirty-Four
Lyndsey
I don’t know how the only ice hockey game I have been to has been Jack’s, Ellis’ son.
I’m married to the captain of the Seattle Spears and I have never been to a game.
Granted, a lot of the time we have been “married” has been spent in Texas during the off-season, but he has played a few games since we came back and I have been putting it off.
Doing something so publicly when I was still getting blackmail texts felt unnecessarily dangerous.
But the two weeks they gave me to get them the money has passed; I haven’t received any more texts and nothing has been leaked to the press. Or if it has, maybe they haven’t cared?
I could only hide away for so long until Ellis came and demanded I go to a game with her.
It has been a long time since we had any girlie time.
Between her pregnancy and my shock marriage we have struggled to see each other outside of work.
We gossip and talk there but there is something more freeing about knowing she likes spending time with me outside of being her employee.
We decided to surprise Aiden with coming to their game against Toronto tonight, even bringing Ellis and Liam’s little girl Charlotte with us.
As soon as he left the house, I got a taxi to her and Liam’s place to get ready.
“I’m proud of you, you know?” I tell her, sipping some of the cocktail she made for us. She sits behind me curling my hair because she is just better at it than I am.
“Proud? Of what?” She laughs, rolling my hair around the barrel.
“Jack is at a sleepover and you haven’t been checking your phone every five minutes.
” I laugh. Before she met Liam you had to pry Jack out of her arms. They were all the other had and opening herself up to needing support was a struggle.
She fought hard enough to let me look after him the night she went to a bar and bumped into Liam.
“He is growing up.” She sighs. “I won’t smother him, I don’t feel as much guilt about being apart from him any more, plus I still have Charlotte to keep me busy.
It’s nice having support, isn’t it?” She laughs, nudging my shoulder with her knee.
I know she is talking about Aiden, the support he has shown me since he found out about everything is more than I could have expected.
“Yeah, it’s not bad, I guess.” I roll my eyes, trying to downplay how much I like leaning on him. Falling asleep in his arms. I never thought I would be this domestic woman but I feel safe with him.
“Oh, give me a break, Anders is loving his new job as your husband.” She laughs, not believing my shit.
She has always been hard to lie to, I think it’s because we were both at our lowest when we met.
She was living in the back of the shop pregnant with Jack and I had just split up with Mel, my first real girlfriend, and didn’t know where to go from there.
She took me in and since then we have had a way of seeing behind the bullshit.
“I like having a husband, I like being a wife,” I tell her with a deep sigh. It’s a weight off my shoulders to admit it out loud. I know I should tell Aiden before I tell her but she knows what it’s like to fall for a hockey player.
“If he is anything like Liam, he is going to go crazy seeing his name on your back. He is going to want it to be your name too,” she teases, but she is probably right.
Apparently, it’s a thing for sportsmen seeing their woman in their jerseys?
I’m not sure why but I’m not going to argue because it’s comfortable.
Plus it can be chilly at the side of the rink and I won’t stick my nose up at extra warmth.
Images flash through my mind of actually being Lyndsey Anders instead of Stone. Having that connection to my family has always been painful but I also thought Aiden and I would get divorced. I never imagined actually taking his name, but I don’t think it’s a bad image.
“I don’t think I’d hate that,” I say, quickly taking another sip of my drink and rolling my eyes when Ellis cheers behind me.
“Lyndsey! Now I’m proud of you!” She puts her hands on my shoulders, shaking me lightly, and when I don’t respond she runs her fingers through my curls to break them up. “Okay, enough lovey stuff, drink up. I’m going to wake Charlotte up, we have a stadium to get to.”
Stupidly, I thought that the friends and family of the players sat in a box at the games.
Ellis laughed at me and asked why they would spend that much money on commoners like us.
I guess she has a point. It worries me a little being so out in the open: my anxiety about being confronted by my blackmailer tickles at the back of my head, but I push it away.
Instead of being in a box all of the friends and family have seats a few rows back behind the glass.
Our view is amazing and when the boys come out onto the ice for warm-ups, Ellis jumps up with Charlotte wearing a Brink jersey for her godfather instead of her usual Ruinsky jersey.
Liam was happy to stay at home and watch the game on the TV.
I think a part of him wanted to be free in case Jack wants to come home.
He has been an amazing stepdad to that little boy.
Charlotte has baby jerseys for every player.
They all think they’re going to be her favourite uncle and they try to buy that affection with gifts, but I think Edge might be her favourite.
That giant man is wrapped around her tiny little finger.
I jump up to wave with her and Aiden’s eyes light up when he comes out of the tunnel and sees me.
His eyes run all over me as though he thinks I’m going to disappear.
The smile that spreads across his face will melt panties around the world but it is just for me.
Not stopping until he is right at the glass, he taps his gloved finger against it and spins his finger around, making me roll my eyes knowing exactly what he wants.
Slowly, I turn my back towards him so he can see Anders printed across my back, his number 3 across the centre.
I turn back around and he taps his hand against the C on the front of his jersey and I copy the motion. Taking two fingers I tap the C over my heart. With that his smile splits even wider and he starts skating backwards away from the glass with a parting wink.
“Oh, you two are in deep,” Ellis says in a sing-song voice as Charlotte waves at her uncles through the glass.
It’s a long time later when I wait outside the locker room.
Ellis left after the game to get Charlotte home and in bed, plus she knew I wanted to see my man.
Especially after the game he had. It was close, too close, but they pulled off the win and we are planning on going out for a drink with some of the guys.
Knowing I’ll have to tell him, I pull my phone out, loading up the message that came through during half-time.
You’re bold I’ll give you that. How long do you think you can hide
behind him? I gave you grace and you spat in my face. Next time I won’t
be so nice.
As soon as Aiden comes out of the door the smile he is giving me drops; instead of speaking I just give him my phone.
He frowns down at the screen before flicking his eyes back up to me.
He grabs my shoulder and pulls me into his arms, my face buried in his neck.
I didn’t tell Ellis about the text. I knew she would just worry and want to leave.
I didn’t want that. I didn’t want to let it ruin our night, but I won’t keep it from Aiden.
“I’ll forward it to Cassie and then we forget about it for tonight, okay?
We are going to keep our chins up, go for a drink and not let them get us down.
” His voice is low but determined as he rests his chin on my head.
I can feel him fiddling with my phone behind my back but I know he is just contacting Cassie – hopefully her PI has some information because this is becoming a nuisance.
“Okay.” I sigh, tightening my arms around his trim waist, my arms linked under his suit jacket.
“I’ll keep you safe,” he vows. Knowing we are going to be with a lot of big hockey players calms me too. With them around nobody would dare try to approach me.
“I know,” I tell him truthfully. As long as I have him by my side, I know whoever this is will keep their distance.
They are a coward. They want to scare me but I won’t let them, Aiden is right.
I lift up on my tiptoes to plant a light kiss against his lip.
He tries to deepen it but just then Rook comes barrelling out of the locker room.
“Come on, Anders and Mrs Anders, we have beer to drink!” Linking his arm through mine as he talks, he pulls me away from Aiden and down the corridor, making me laugh over my shoulder as my husband looks after me, smiling.
Jogging after us until he is right there, Aiden pulls me away from Rook and swings me so I’m over his shoulder looking down at his trouser-covered ass.
Rook whoops beside us and I lift my eyes to see the rest of the team trickling out of the locker room, joining us without even mentioning the scene in front of them as though this is completely normal.
Instead of fighting I slap my husband’s ass and he smacks mine right back.
By the time I’m two drinks in I have successfully pushed all thoughts about the text away. Mostly. With the guys entertaining me and plying me with alcohol they have kept me distracted.
“How have I been married for months and not one of you has told me any embarrassing stories about my husband? What kind of family are you?” I ask, dropping my glass to the table and cuddling in to Aiden where he sits on the lush velvet sofa next to me.
“Oh, I have one!” Rook’s Canadian twang is strong from the alcohol and his voice is loud over the low music in the bar, a private room in a speakeasy the guys found earlier this year. “Alice came to a game once, eh, and she came to training right?”