Forever Player

Prologue

Willow

“Jacob, turn the car around,” I demand of my brother as he heads down the freeway.

“We aren’t turning back now,” my brother insists, his eyes intent on the road. We are heading into Nashville from our small rural town, Sugar Meadow, to watch the Nashville Tigers play the New York Rangers tonight, but that isn’t the real reason we are going to the game.

“My chest is tight. I can’t breathe,” I warn my brother. I’ve had these panic attacks ever since I found out I was pregnant.

“Slow breaths. You know what to do. Just focus on the breaths. We can’t turn back now. You want answers,” Jacob reenforces.

“He didn’t want her, Jacob. You saw the text message,” I remind my brother because my panic is controlling me now. I used to think I had my life together, but all that changed with two pink stripes on a pregnancy test.

I tried calling Brett numerous times when I found out I was pregnant, but the phone went to voicemail. That’s when I changed course and started sending him urgent text messages. I wasn’t being specific, I just said we needed to talk. He would reply we have nothing to talk about. Then one night I got so frustrated and angry I wrote in big shouty caps I’M PREGNANT. To which he responded with, Go bark up someone else’s tree.

His words ripped my heart out, but I wasn’t surprised. Brett told me who he was from the first night we met. Our one-night stand was about mutual pleasure, and boy, did he make me feel good. I was just left with a parting gift.

My mind pulls me back to the night we met at Focus, a lounge-style club back in New York City. I had met up with my besties Patty, Amelia, Eden, Rose, and Ellie. It had been a regular night for us until a bunch of players from the Rangers team crashed our night. Little did I know, my friend Patty was crushing hard on Evan, one of the players, and he came to see her. I couldn’t take my eyes off Brett from the moment he pulled up to our table. I had sworn off men by that point because Daddy had died the month before and I was feeling confused, I was in pain. My parents had the most dysfunctional marriage. Mom cursed my dad all the time, wishing he would just die and grant her freedom because for some reason they stayed together, even though they weren’t in love. My brothers and I reasoned they stayed together because they didn’t have money and dividing the farm into two was impossible. Besides, the farm was in Daddy’s family for generations. He wasn’t walking away and neither was Mom.

“Willow?” Jacob saves me from drowning in the past.

“I’m okay,” I assure my brother. “This little meeting is probably not going to go very well, but why would Brett inquire about me? There must be an explanation or some sort of miscommunication,” I tell my brother, who isn’t overly happy about driving me to a game to confront my baby daddy.

When my bestie, Skylar, called me Christmas Eve to tell me how Brett had been inquiring about my absence in the city, things didn’t add up. My friends didn’t know he was the baby daddy. All they knew was I left town because of the pregnancy. My friends all asked me numerous times who the baby daddy was, and I decided to conceal Brett’s identity because I felt stupid for getting into my situation. I was also beating myself up for having a one-night stand with a guy who wasn’t going to own up to the consequences of our actions. When my friend, Patty, asked if Brett was the father, I lied and said no because Skylar’s husband was Brett’s teammate and so was Patty’s boyfriend. All my friends are so connected to guys on Brett’s team that I didn’t want to get everyone involved in my one-night stand that left a lasting impression.

“Miscommunication, my ass,” Jacob hisses. “Even if he had been drunk or whatever when he first saw your message, he would’ve at some point sobered up and realized he needed to own up. The asshole doesn’t deserve Maylee.”

My brother has become very protective of his niece, but my good friends, Ellie and Skylar, stayed in close touch since I left New York. They gave me regular updates on what was going on in the city, which included talk of Brett and how his single sister and her son moved in with him because they had nowhere to go. My friends might have thought I had a crush on Brett and they weren’t wrong. I wasn’t the type to sleep around or have one-night stands, but the night I met Brett I was feeling down and he made me feel good. I never revealed to my friends who I had slept with, but there was speculation. They kept asking me if it was my boss, Silas, from the gym I worked at. Silas is a good-looking man and a big flirt. He would flirt with me in front of Eden when she came to work out, but I was never interested in him in that way so I didn’t take his flirtations seriously.

“I agreed to drive you to the game tonight because Maylee deserves better. I just don’t know how someone can misunderstand the words I’m pregnant,” Jacob growls. He pretty much thinks Maylee hung the moon and he would do anything for her. I replay the whole situation in my mind. About three weeks after I was with Brett, I found out I was pregnant. I had sent Brett the message about my pregnancy and how I was back home on the farm in Tennessee. When he told me I could go bark up someone else’s tree, I was so infuriated and hormonal I took my phone to Jacob, showed him the message, and broke down in his arms. Jacob’s response had been to take my cell and smash it to the ground. Problem is, my brother doesn’t do anything half-assed and he’s mega strong, which caused my phone to break into tiny pieces. After my breakdown, I knew I had to pick myself up and be strong. I made a promise to myself I would not think of Brett for the rest of my pregnancy, and that is exactly what I did. I spent my days helping out on the farm as much as I could. When my belly grew, I stopped with the physical labor, but I still went into town twice a week to the market with Lev, another one of my brothers, and helped him sell the cheese my family made. My life had become a far cry from the life I had envisioned, but I walked away from my life in the city where I worked in a gym as a physical therapist. I quit and came home. I don’t regret my decision because at least here in Sugar Meadow I didn’t have the worry of how I was going to pay my bills since my family didn’t ask me for money.

“Do you have a plan? Like, how are we confronting Noble?” Jacob asks, tapping his thumb on the steering wheel.

“I figure we go to the locker room after the game. I show him the picture of Maylee and tell him I wanted him to see how perfect she is. We wait for his reaction and take it from there. I know there is a chance he’ll write us off, but if I don’t try to reach out, Maylee will feel abandoned, and I don’t want that for my baby girl.” My relationship with my own father had been strained. Daddy felt like I was a carbon copy of Mom and everything about her irritated him. Mom and I look alike and we share a love of healthy eating and keeping fit, but that is where our similarities end.

“Yeah,” Jacob sighs, and his voice sounds choked. “Noble is going to be blindsided.”

“He doesn’t deserve anything else,” I confirm.

My cell rings. “Hello.”

“Willow, we just landed,” Ellie says, sounding panicked. “It took forever to de-ice the plane in New York.”

“Shit, you’ll never make it to the arena on time,” I say, biting my lip nervously because I could use all the support. I confessed to my friends that Brett was the baby daddy two days ago. They were in shock but also supportive. I told them how Brett rejected me and told me to buzz off and they just couldn’t believe it, which further solidified that something was amiss with the whole situation. It’s why Ellie and Eden decided to hop a plane the last minute.

Brett has really proven to my friends back in New York that he is more than the forever player we thought he was since they became friends with Brett’s sister, Maddie. She has raved about what a great brother he is for helping her when she came home pregnant from college at age twenty. The new information gave me hope that maybe Brett would have a change of heart where Maylee was concerned because how could he be so good with his nephew and not care for his own child? After growing up with parents who were very self-absorbed, I vowed to be a good mom, and to me that means ensuring my daughter knows she has two parents who love her. Problem is, I can’t control Brett’s actions.

“You got this, Willow,” Ellie encourages. “Brett isn’t the type of guy to shy away from responsibility.”

“That’s why I’m going to the game. I’ll find him and set things straight. I’ll keep you guys posted,” I assure my friend.

“We love you,” Ellie and Eden say simultaneously.

“You’re strong. You got this,” Eden cheers. Then she adds, “Damn, woman, Brett Noble is hot. You really couldn’t have chosen a better baby daddy.”

I want to remind her I didn’t plan on getting knocked up that night, but I’d rather keep those details to a minimum with my brother sitting beside me.

“I’m a shaking mess,” I confess instead. “But no matter what, I’ll confront Brett and make him hear me out.”

“Damn straight,” Jacob says from beside me.

“Hi, Jacob,” Eden giggles.

Jacob rolls his eyes. Eden had come to visit after I gave birth to Maylee and she had a major crush on my brother. Problem is, Jacob has been shut down since his injury so he just didn’t pay Eden any attention.

“Hi,” Jacob says gruffly but it sounds forced, and I feel embarrassed over his rudeness.

Ellie is married to Connor Donaldson, one of the players on the Rangers, so she is going to watch Connor play tonight.

“Eden, are you coming back to the farm to sleep?” I inquire.

I know Ellie is staying with her husband in the hotel where the team will be sleeping tonight.

“I can just get a hotel room. We don’t know how tonight is going to go. Maybe Brett will want to come back to the farm to see Maylee,” Eden says.

Her words give me palpitations. “I honestly didn’t consider that as an option.”

“Okay, we’re pulling up to the arena,” I say. “Pray I have the strength to do this.”

“We’re rooting for you,” Ellie says. “We’ll see you soon.”

I end the call with my friends.

“I appreciate you, Jacob, seriously. I don’t know how I would’ve made it through the last year and a half without you.”

“That’s what family is for,” Jacob reminds. “I just hope Noble understands that.”

Jacob has friends playing for Nashville tonight since that was his team. We have front row seats.

My legs feel wobbly as we head inside. Jacob heads to the concession stand and buys some popcorn and each of us a drink before we head into the arena. The arena is packed.

My muscles feel locked from being so nervous.

“Relax, would you?” my brother says with a curt nod. With his jeans, thick flannel shirt, and backward baseball cap he looks like a farmer, which is so different from who he was when he played for Nashville.

“Easier said than done.” There is no way I can focus when I am about to come face-to-face with my one-night stand. The anthem plays and we all stand. I watch Brett standing tall and my heart stutters. Damn, he’s a handsome guy. Memories from the night we met flood my mind once again, so does the hurt I felt when he rejected my pregnancy. I remember the suave way the guys from the team walked into Focus in their spiffy suits and cool running shoes. They are all good-looking men, but Brett stood out to me. With his blue translucent eyes and his brown mid-length hair slicked back, he was a burly man and something about his presence caused heat to unfurl inside me.

The guys spent some time hanging out around our table and chatting, but it didn’t last long when Patty went to go dance with Evan. There was clearly some major chemistry going on between those two. I personally was thinking of finding myself a hot guy to fuck my brains out and forget my life for a while, but I knew it couldn’t be one of the guys from the team. Skylar was with Liam, one of the players, and at that point it looked like Patty was falling hard too.

Brett began to chat me up, but I didn’t pay him much attention. I acted oblivious to his good looks because I knew of his reputation, and I wasn’t going to feed his ego.

“Are you going to dance with me, Willow? Everyone has taken off,” he said, holding out a hand to me.

I looked at his hand but I didn’t move. “Why don’t you go find someone else to dance with, Brett?” I said, holding on to my almost empty glass of whiskey. It was that kind of night.

“Maybe I don’t want to dance with someone else. Maybe I want you,” he said and, damn, his words did things to my lady parts, but I wasn’t going there with this guy.

“Sorry to disappoint you,” I replied and stood from the table. I walked over to the bar.

To my dismay, he followed. “You can’t get rid of me so easily.”

“I’m getting a drink,” I deadpanned. Why else does someone wait for a bartender at a bar?

“Let me buy it for you.” He grinned all sexy. He smelled good too, like mountain freshness.

“I can get my own drink,” I shot back.

“I don’t doubt you can, but you just so happen to be the most beautiful woman in the room, maybe I want your company a little longer.” He flashed a smile with teeth that were too perfect for a hockey player.

“Huh, don’t tell me that line works for you.” I chuckled.

“It’s not a line.” His gaze roamed over my body, his eyes scanning from my legs past my breasts and up to my face. “You have to know how gorgeous you are.”

“Compliments don’t work with me,” I warned. “In fact, they make me want to run in the opposite direction.”

“What will work? I’m not used to working so hard to get a girl,” he stated.

“Stop working. You’re setting yourself up for failure,” I shot back.

Brett laughed, dipped his head, and shook it from side to side. “I’m trying here. I like your feisty personality. If you’re trying to put me off, it isn’t working. It’s only making me want you more.”

“Maybe you need to see a shrink,” I suggested.

He laughed.

The bartender came up to us. “What can I get you?” He looked at me.

“Whiskey, double on the rocks,” I said to him.

“Me too,” Brett said from behind me. I felt the front of his body brush up to my back and I felt sparks erupt inside me. This was new. I hadn’t felt that kind of attraction before.

The bartender served us, and Brett passed him a bill and told him to keep the change before I could make a move to pay.

I turned and cocked my brow. “You may be used to getting what you want, but it isn’t happening tonight.”

“Fine, all our friends are on the dance floor dancing, so just hang out with me here.”

“Fine,” I conceded and he seemed surprised.

“Fine?” he asked, as if he didn’t understand my response.

“I wouldn’t mind being close to the bar,” I admitted.

“Are you always this standoffish?” he asked sheepishly.

“My father died last week,” I said, as if I told him the weather sucked. “We had a strained relationship. I don’t know what I’m feeling.”

“I understand that,” he said, surprising the hell out of me.

“You do?” I asked, intrigued.

“Not something I talk about, but my dad is an alcoholic. He would disappear for years and then suddenly show up. It’s been five years since I saw him last. I don’t know if he’s dead or alive, and I don’t know if I should be sad or angry, so I just don’t think about him.”

“Damn.” He left me speechless.

“Yeah,” Brett agreed. “Sorry about your father. What was the story with you guys?”

“I am not letting you in on my daddy issues. I don’t even know you,” I said.

“Fine,” he chuckled. “But I may understand you and it’s good to unload, especially to a kindred spirit,” he replied with a dry laugh, throwing me off. This had to be the world’s weirdest conversation to be having with a guy you just met.

“Not happening,” I replied, bringing my tumbler to my lips.

“Let’s just do some shots and say fuck off to the daddy issues for tonight,” he countered.

“Now you’re talking,” I agreed because I wanted to just not feel.

The bartender lined up some shots of tequila.

Brett and I threw back the shots one after another.

“Whoa,” I said after shot number three, grabbing the bar. “I need to dance. I have to burn this feeling off.”

“Ah, she finally agrees to dance with me,” Brett said triumphantly, and I wanted to correct him. I just needed to dance, not with him, but he seems so pleased I figured no harm no foul. He wasn’t a stranger. Our friends were connected so he was safe.

Brett led me on to the dance floor and we danced. I spotted Patty and Evan doing some intense dirty dancing and Brett waggled his brows and made me laugh, although it might not be him that made me laugh. It was probably the tequila.

Jacob groans beside me, pulling me from the past. At the start of the first period, Evan scores a goal. I stay seated in my chair, despite wanting to cheer the Rangers on. I don’t think my brother would take too kindly to that. Brett was a sweet talker. I just hadn’t pegged him for being a royal asshole. The way he didn’t answer my calls and finally replied to my text message was so cruel. The only thing keeping me calm now is the fact that things don’t add up. I’m a logical thinker. I’m the one who fixes problems and gets to the bottom of complicated scenarios. Besides, I’m here for my baby girl.

“Get into the game, Willow,” Jacob urges. I come from a home that watched a lot of hockey. Jacob grew up playing hockey and so did my youngest brother, Finn. My dad was a coach at one point for a NCAA team.

“I’m trying,” I reply. I keep my focus on the game. The Rangers are a strong team so there is a lot of back-and-forth going on. Kaleb steals the puck from one of the guys on Nashville’s team and passes to Brett, who takes it across the ice back to Nashville’s net, where Evan is ready and open to take the shot. Brett passes the puck and Evan shoots and scores.

There are fans of the Rangers here tonight and they stand and cheer, but most of the arena is filled with Tigers fans. Jacob hisses beside me. A part of me wants to stand and cheer because that was a sweet assist Brett just pulled off, but I’m angry with him for abandoning me, for abandoning Maylee. The buzzer goes and the teams break for intermission. All the players skate off the ice. I stay seated in my seat and Jacob begins to scroll through his phone. My eyes are glued on Brett. To how handsome he looks in his gear. My mind remembers the night we were together, but my body also remembers and a familiar heat consumes me. I’ve never had such hot sex before. It was. . . I swallow hard when I notice Brett’s eyes lock with mine. He’s taken his helmet off so there is no mistaking he is looking straight at me.

“Jacob, I’ve been spotted,” I say, shifting in my seat.

“Huh?” Jacob asks. I lose my words as Brett skates back onto the ice sans helmet. He crosses the ice and opens one of the rink doors. With his skates on he walks right up to where Jacob and I are seated.

“You have a real nerve,” he begins, and I feel like I’ve been slapped.

Jacob stands to his full height beside me, ready to defend me. These two men are huge and strong. I would not want to see them fight because they both have the capacity to cause each other a lot of damage.

I move between Jacob and Brett.

“What do you mean I have a nerve?” I ask Brett, feeling very confused.

“I thought after the night we shared you would at least answer my calls,” he says, flooring me.

“You never called,” I snap back, thinking he’s lost his mind.

“Like hell I didn’t,” he retorts, his body vibrating and angry. “I left you a message. I wanted to make sure we were good.”

“Are you crazy? You never called me. Maybe you accidentally called one of your puck bunnies.”

“Don’t mess with me, Willow. We said we were going to keep things cordial,” he says, and I don’t know what is happening right now.

Jacob hisses beside me.

“And you showing up to my game with another man after all this time is super low,” Brett continues. My head is spinning as his words process but before I realize that he’s somehow jealous of Jacob, he’s pulling on my brother’s collar. “You should leave, buddy,” he insists, his features are rigid and taut, nothing like the man I remember hooking up with. That Brett was easygoing, charming. . .

“Do you know who I am?” Jacob retorts, watching Brett like he’s a wild card.

“Jacob Heaton, I’m no airhead. I know you played on this team, and I know you got hurt but you have no right showing up to this game with this woman,” Brett tells him. I am so confused and thrown off, my tongue is tied. Jacob is not fazed though, and he throws Brett’s hands off him.

“You fucking idiot. She’s my sister,” Jacob spits. “Put hands on me again. I will end you.”

“Jacob,” I chide. His cocky demeanor isn’t helping.

“Fuck that, Willow. This guy is a dumb hothead,” Jacob says like he wants me to walk away now, but I can’t walk away. Why is Brett so worked up? A part of me is trembling that he knows about Maylee and he’s angry I’ve withheld her from him. Another part of me remembers that he told me to go bark up someone else’s tree, and maybe he’s angry I’ve come to look for him anyway because he wants nothing to do with our daughter. My stomach churns at the last thought.

“Who are you calling a hothead, asshole?” Brett retorts, his gaze burning into Jacob.

The last thing I need is these two fighting.

“Guys, please. Would both of you just relax?” I say, standing between these two hulky men. Next to them I actually feel short, and I am not short.

“Get to the point, Willow,” Jacob urges. I shoot daggers at my brother with my gaze.

“What point?” Brett asks.

“The reason she is at this game in the first place,” Jacob clarifies.

“Jacob, I love you, but I need you to shut the hell up and let me do this my way,” I say to my brother.

“Sorry,” he mutters, and he turns away.

“Where have you been all this time?” Brett asks. “Did you leave the country? Why weren’t you at Connor and Ellie’s wedding?” The way he rapid fires those questions throws me off.

“Why do you care, Brett? When I told you I was pregnant you told me to ‘Go bark up another tree,’” I spit back.

Brett’s blue eyes turn round, and he leans forward, pausing and watching me like I’m a weird alien. “What did you just say to me?”

“You heard me,” I say, losing my steam.

“I-I didn’t. I didn’t hear. . .”

Kaleb skates across the ice and then he is climbing the few steps to get to us.

“Everything good here?” Kaleb asks, but he’s looking at Brett.

“Willow, what did you just say?” Brett says slowly, ignoring his friend.

“You know what I said, Brett, so I don’t know what your angle is,” I say, watching him carefully.

“Things seem a little heated here,” Kaleb says. “Whatever is going on, can it wait until after the game?”

“No, Kaleb,” Brett says, his voice cool and even. “Willow, what did you just say?” He’s calmer now and he seems laser focused on me. Something is off.

“Oh, there you are,” Ellie and Eden say, walking up to us.

Shit. This night is going downhill by the second.

“Everything okay?” Ellie asks.

But everyone is silent as Brett watches only me. “Repeat what you said, please.” His voice is monotone. I don’t even think the guy is breathing.

“I said you told me to ‘Go bark up another tree’ when I told you I was pregnant,” I repeat. Everyone around me stays quiet, even though there is a hum of movement vibrating in the background from the busy arena.

Brett’s eyes squeeze shut. His hand rakes over them and then his face morphs into what looks like a pained expression.

“That isn’t possible. I never got a message like that from you,” he finally says. “About three weeks after we were together, I lost my phone in Vegas. I was hoping to find it, so I didn’t cancel it,” he explains. Then he blinks. “Are you telling me you had my baby?” He seems angry now.

“Shit, I think we’ll give you guys some privacy,” Ellie says, and she starts to back away.

“Stop,” Brett says, and he points at her, his mouth dropped open. “Did you know?”

Ellie’s face scrunches. Eden looks wide-eyed.

“We just found out it was you,” Ellie blurts.

Brett returns his focus on me. “I called you. I left you messages.” He grits his jaw.

I wince. “After you told me to ‘Go bark up another tree,’ I went to my brother crying and showed him the message. He threw my phone and it shattered. Broke into pieces. I decided to get a new number,” I explain, and now I see what is happening here. Brett lost his phone.

“Who the hell told me to bark up another tree?” I ask Brett.

He shrugs. “Whatever fucker stole my phone. I didn’t have my contacts backed up so I was holding out on finding it.”

“Oh shit,” I say, and my head begins to spin.

The last thing I hear is, “She’s going down. . .”