Brooks
I hadn’t wanted to bring up the stuff Vince had brought up to me last night at Christmas dinner.
He’s her ex’s best friend. And if there’s one thing I know about bro code, it’s always to have your boy’s back.
Whether it’s the truth or not. Boyce knew exactly what he was doing, trying to put another wedge between Hayley and me so he can swoop in and do whatever it is he’s planning to do.
I love her.
So, he’ll have to try harder than that to get me to leave.
You don’t even know who she really is, do you?
Haven’t you ever wondered why Camden had a different last name from Hayley and Boyce?
If he were really Boyce’s, then why would his last name not be Boyce’s.
Vince’s words slam into me like a bucket of ice water, as my eyes spring open. The sunlight streaming through Hayley’s bedroom warms me. Maybe it’s not the sunlight, but Hayley’s small body, curled into me. Her ass pressing into my morning wood.
7:33 a.m., the alarm clock blinks as I slip out of her bed, much to my dick’s protests, and wander downstairs to put on a pot of coffee.
Morning skate is in a few hours, so I have just enough time to get my head on straight and head to the arena.
What I wouldn’t give to be doing other things with my time before practice, yet here I stand, giving my dick a lecture about not needing morning sex.
If I’m going to figure out what the right thing to do is, I need a clear head, not a sex-crazed one.
Hayley wants me to move in. The last time I lived with a woman, she crushed me.
Broke my heart. Maybe not broke my heart, considering I didn’t go into monkhood after I found out about her infidelity.
My downward spiral was a result of the trauma I had faced as a child.
Every time I thought of her with that other guy, I pictured my father doing the same thing to my mom time after time.
My mom had a broken heart because she was truly in love.
What Tiffany had done just broke my trust. My faith that there were still decent women in the world.
Much like Hayley, she had her trust broken as well.
Yet she was willing to trust me again. Ask me to take this leap into the unknown with her.
Become a family with her and Camden. A father figure.
Some father figure I’d be. I had a shitty example of one, so how can I be the positive one Camden needs?
Yet a part of me wants to try. Still the conversation with Vince looms over my head, making me doubt everything with Hayley.
I love her, but who is she really?
“There you are,” Hayley bellows from the entrance of the kitchen. Her small arms wrap around my waist from behind as she places small kisses along my bare back.
Pulling her hands from my waist to my mouth, I place small kisses on the back of her hands. “Here I am.”
She moves around me, grabbing a mug from the cabinet before pouring herself a cup of coffee. My oversized t-shirt rides up ever so slightly, causing me to inwardly groan as the raging boner I just got to go away, returns with a vengeance. God, I’m so addicted to her.
“You know, if you want me to move in here with you,” I say, kissing the side of her neck. “We may need to lay out some ground rules.”
“And why would you say that?” she challenges as she blows the steam off the top of her coffee.
“Well, for one, I barely have self-restraint around you as it is.” Yeah, considering I had to talk the big guy downstairs into submission this morning.
“Plus, if you don’t want Camden to see me eating you out on the kitchen island like a sausage, egg, and cheese.
I think these rules are for his benefit too. ”
She shrugs her shoulders and leans her back against the kitchen counter as she watches me curiously. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Well, you’ve been weird since last night. If my asking you to move in here has freaked you out, then you don’t have to. We can take it slow,” she rambles off as if she’s stuck inside her own mind.
“Hayl,” I try to cut her off as she paces.
“Red, you’re going to wear a hole in the kitchen floor.
” I say, stopping her in her place. “I’m fine.
Just worried about the rest of the games this season.
We really have a shot at the Cup this year.
” I pull her into my chest, placing a chaste kiss on the top of her head.
“I would love to move in with you, Hayl. I just think we should wait till the season is over. I’ll stay as much as you want me to, but I think the whole consolidating everything into one place should wait till after the Cup. ”
Her shoulders deflate. “You’re right. I’m sorry. It’s just… Never mind.” She turns to face away from me, her fingers dancing around the rim of her mug. “So, what time is practice?”
“I have to leave here in ten.”
She wipes the rims of her eyes before turning to place a kiss on my lips. “I’ll see you after then.”
With a nod, she walks back to her room, leaving me feeling as if the solid ground we just got back on is about to crumble all over again.
◆◆◆
“I can’t believe she brought that fuckhead to dinner last night,” Channing complain as we warm up on the ice.
“Fucker showed up looking like he’s never played a game in the league to save his life.
” He slaps the puck hard at Weatherby’s pads.
“I’m mean come on, who has hair that looks that fucking perfect? All the damn time. Has to be plugged.”
I shake my head as I pass the puck to Denizen who lines up for a shot. “I get why Cassidy brought him, but we could have all probably done without.”
“What’s up, man?” Channing eyes me suspiciously. “Did that fucker say something to you about Hayley?”
“How well do you really know Hayley?”
It’s the questions that’s been on the tip of my tongue since after dinner last night.
Hayley knew something was off with me, and I didn’t want to cause another rift between us.
So, I kept the comments to myself. Yet all Vince had said that night when the two of us sat like a divorced couple at the negotiation table, are all I can think about.
I should trust Hayley, right? Right. I should trust her. I love her and without trust, you can’t have love. So, I should put this all behind me. Right?
“I mean, I’ve hung out with her and Cass a few times before she became the team doctor. So, I mean my guess is as good as anyone who just met her.”
I pass the puck to Powell before skating over to the bench.
Leaning my elbows against the rail. “Have you ever wondered why Camden doesn’t have Hayley’s or even Boyce’s last name?
If he were Boyce’s, wouldn’t you think she have the decency to give him his father’s last name, and if not his, but hers? ”
“I mean, yeah… but she didn’t do that because Boyce is a prick?” he says, gauging my reaction. “What do you mean Camden doesn’t have Hayley’s last name. What other name would he have if not hers?”
Right.
“Wait. What is Camden’s last name anyway?”
Cam participated in youth camp, and I’ve been to a few of his games when we’ve been between games. What was the name on the back of his jersey? Think Miller. R. It starts with an R.
“All right, guys. Take a knee,” Coach says, interrupting my train of thought. “Mr. Richards send his regards for missing the first few games back this season.”
Richards. R… Richards. Fuck. Camden Richards. Camden fucking Richards. But why? It makes no sense. Hayley’s last name is Marshall. Why would Camden’s last name be Richards. Unless… No, stop thinking like that. There’s no way that what you’re thinking is a possibility.
“Brooks,” Channing says, smacking me upside the head. “Say something.”
Right. Coach must have asked me to say something to end practice. “Uh… let’s get out there and finish this season right, boys. That cup is ours.” Chants break out through everyone on the ice. “Jacks on three.”
We end practice in unison like always. Skating to the bench, I feel Halloway on my tail. “What the fuck was that, man?”
“Richards,” I say, coming to an abrupt stop. “Camden’s last name is Richards.”
Halloway makes an O face in understanding, but then his brows furrow in confusion. “But Hayley’s last name is Marshall. Why would Camden have a name like Richards?”
“Did Wade have any children?” I ask, trying to grasp the possibility that Hayley could be his daughter.
Could Hayley be Mr. Richards’ daughter? But why would she keep something so significant about her life from me?
Or could he have a son and Hayley conveniently left out the part in her spill-all confession that she slept with Mr. Richards’ kid, and he could also be the baby daddy?
I mean it would make sense why she’s working for the Skipjacks if that were the case.
A way to keep her under his thumb and causing an uproar. A way to buy her discretion.
“I heard rumors when I first started on the team that he and his wife had one kid. Yet, anyone who knows the truth about it has been super hush hush,” he says, using air quotes.
“I’ve certainly never met him… or her. God, if it were a her though, can you imagine how hot she would be? I’ve seen Mr. Richards’ wife.”
“If it is her, dipshit, it would be Hayley,” I say, smacking him on the back of the head as we clop down the hallway to the locker room. “What if Boyce is his kid? I mean it makes sense. Maybe Cameron is his middle name.”
He rubs his barely stubbled chin as if he needs to think long and hard about it. “Point taken. But if he was his kid…, why is he not playing for the Skipjacks?”
I can think of a few reasons.
The sound of phones beeping throughout the locker room has everyone shaken and rushing to grab their phones. Trades can happen at any point during the season, especially as we get closer to the Cup. And with a few guys’ contracts ending, you can imagine what’s rushing through everyone’s minds.
I unlock my phone and freeze at the headline.
‘Protective or Negligent: Boyce Cameron’s Fight for His Rights.’
What the fuck?
“A source reveals that Captain Boyce Cameron of the Arizona Heat, recently found out that he had fathered a son, ten-year-old Camden Richards with former high school sweetheart Dr. Hayley Marshall, twenty-eight.”
Pictured below the opening statement is a photo of Hayley and Camden walking down her street.
“Sources reveal that Dr. Hayley Marshall, team physician and trainer for the Seattle Skipjacks, withheld knowledge of the child’s birth from the twenty-eight-year-old hockey star.
Cameron, who is now engaged to twenty-two-year-old Adley Hayworth, heiress to the Heat dynasty, has filed a lawsuit against his former sweetheart.
The lawsuit in which the Tribune has acquired, states that Dr. Marshall has denied Mr. Cameron his right to visitations and any attempts to build a relationship with the child. ”
A child he never wanted. Funny how they never mention that he abandoned them for ten years. What a crock of shit.
“In a statement Cameron’s publicist released early today on his behalf, he stated that ‘A lot of time has passed since Hayley and I have seen each other. When we ended our relationship back in 2012, I was focused on the one thing that mattered most to me, hockey. I see now that I used poor judgement. I was na?ve and young. Nevertheless, I will never make that judgement again. My priority now is to be there for my son and build the relationship that I have been denied since finding out I have a son. Please respect my privacy as well as my son’s as we navigate these new waters. ”
“The Tribune has tried to reach out to Dr. Marshall and the Skipjacks for comment, but no response has been returned.”
My blood boils as I read the rest of the article, which is like an onslaught attack against Hayley. Calling her a bad mother for denying her son a father for all these years. They can only speculate though. They have no idea what Boyce put her through, or Camden.
Shit. Camden. He has no idea who his father really is, or why Hayley has never spoken about him. I can only imagine the shitstorm heading her way.
I quickly change, forgoing a shower altogether, and sprint toward the parking garage. Once in my SUV, I dial Hayley’s number. The line rings and rings before going straight to voicemail. Fuck. I put my car into drive and head to her house. God knows what’s waiting for her outside her home.