Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
CHASE
For the past ten years, I’d lived by one mantra and one mantra only: I have a wife. I’m just not married.
If I had it my way, I’d already have Addison McKenzie’s Husband plastered on the back of my jerseys, printed on goddamn business cards, and tattooed across my fucking chest, despite the fact that my best friend would rip off my balls if he knew the depraved shit I’d done to his baby sister.
Though my teammates were well aware of my obsession, they were the only ones.
I was tired of not being able to call her mine, loudly and publicly, and I was really fucking tired of her ignoring me as she’d been doing for too damn long.
But she was going to have a really difficult time ignoring me if I was standing right in front of her.
Unfortunately, from the murderous look the light of my life was shooting my way, it was clear she wasn’t happy to see me.
Fury burned in her green eyes, and I had zero doubts that if she had a shovel and some rope in the trunk of her car, she’d lure me behind the bar and murder me right here and now.
Best to give her a minute, though I didn’t have much of a choice. I hadn’t even taken two steps into One Night Stan’s before I was swarmed by people and swallowed up in the crowd, the group of residents all too happy to welcome me home after my not having been back for more than a year.
Somewhere in the constant stream of hellos and hey, how’re you doings, Levi caught my gaze and lifted his chin in greeting, but that was all I was getting from my best friend. At least until I could extricate myself from the crowd.
A guy who graduated a couple years ahead of me clapped a hand on my shoulder. “Hey, man! Sorry to hear about the injury, but it’s good to have you home. How’re things going?”
It hadn’t even been a month since I’d forgone coming home for Christmas and instead had lain on the floor of my condo, downing painkillers like candy and chasing them with a bottle of bourbon, just in the hope of being able to play through the pain to secure a contract, but I couldn’t exactly tell him that.
“Getting better every day,” I said instead.
“Good, good. We’ve been following the season, and you guys are doing amazing. You’ve got a good shot at the play-offs.”
Another shot at the play-offs, because it wouldn’t surprise me if they took it all the way for the second year in a row, even without me there.
“Yep. I’m proud of how the team’s been hustling this year.”
“We’re hoping to get tickets if that happens. Any chance we’ll see you on the ice by then?”
Media training wasn’t my favorite, but I’d never been more grateful for it than I was in that moment.
It allowed me to keep the smile on my face.
To brush off the question with a vague, generic answer I’d practiced enough times that it was second nature to regurgitate it.
“That’s up to the medical team. I always want to be playing with my team. ”
That training helped me hide how my stomach churned at the unknown looming large and imposing in front of me. The truth was, I didn’t fucking know when I’d be back on the ice. And that was scary as hell when hockey was all I’d known for so long. When it was all I was good at.
When it was who I was.
But if there was one good thing to come from all of this, it was that I now had four months back home to rehab the knee that was the bane of my existence.
Four months in my hometown with my girl.
And while the media-friendly answer for why I was here was that I was going to spend some much-needed time with my family while recovering from my second injury in a year, I was actually back in Starlight Cove to repair the most important relationship in my life.
Now, if only I could get her on board with that plan.
Despite the commotion around me and those attempting to engage me in conversation, I was acutely aware of Addison the entire time.
Even though she’d downed a drink in the twenty minutes since I’d walked in, she remained rigid, her body tense, mouth pressed in a flat line as she tried her hardest to ignore me.
While I was listening to someone drone on about the Metropolitan Division play-off standings—it was January, for fuck’s sake…
anything could happen—Addison stood from the table and made her way down the hallway that led to the bathroom.
And the back exit. I wouldn’t put it past her to sneak out just to avoid me, so I excused myself and followed her.
I belatedly remembered to double-check that no one was paying attention to the two of us—least of all the McKenzie boys.
Thirteen months without her had made me sloppy. And greedy.
The raucous sounds of those gathered in the bar followed me down the dark, empty hallway to the single-stall bathroom at the end of the corridor.
The door swung open just as I stepped up to it, and I barely had time to register the surprise on Addison’s face before I curled my hand around her hip and guided her back into the room, closing and locking the door behind us.
She stared up at me, eyes wide, lips parted, and fuck me, but she was so goddamn gorgeous. A year was too fucking long to go without her.
She’d cut her hair since I’d last seen her, the dark waves falling loosely to her shoulders. I wanted nothing more than to bury my hands in it, tip her head back, and crash my lips against hers…capture her moans with my mouth.
It was only the rage burning in her gorgeous green eyes that stopped me.
After a brief, stunned silence, she snapped her mouth shut and glared up at me, all pursed lips, flushed cheeks, and eyes spitting fire. “Move, you overgrown jackass.”
I nearly laughed—in relief and amusement.
Addison’s temper was nothing new to me. She’d always burned hotter than everyone else around her—passionate about everything she cared about—and it’d taken until right this second to admit I’d been uncertain about what kind of reception I’d receive from her.
But I’d take her fury over indifference any day of the week.
Anger meant she still cared. Anger meant she had feelings for me, whether she wanted to admit to them or not.
Anger meant I still had a chance. We still had a chance.
“Happy to see you, too, firefly.”
“Don’t call me that,” she snapped, her words like acid. “And get out of my way. I can have any one of my brothers in here in thirty seconds flat.”
My lips twitched as I stared down at her, my fingers itching to reach out and touch her. Cradle her head in my hands, lower my face to hers until her glare melted into desire, and finally taste her again.
“You’ve never needed your brothers for protection.”
She tipped her chin up defiantly, her mouth pressed in a flat line. “You’re right. Does that mean you want me to test out my right hook on you? Because nothing would give me more pleasure.”
“You and I both know that’s not true,” I said, voice low, recalling the last time I’d been in her bed.
When I’d woken her up with my mouth before she’d dragged me up by my hair and begged me to fuck her.
“But you’re welcome to test out that right hook on me anytime.
You know I love how fucking strong you are. ”
She narrowed her eyes even further, her lips pursing to the side as she crossed her arms over her chest. Her armor sliding into place piece by piece. “Sweet talk is going to get you fuck all with me, Lockhart.”
“You sure? Because I—”
Before I could get out the rest of the sentence, she pressed her palms against my chest and shoved.
Hard. “Yes, I’m fucking sure! It’s been thirteen months, Chase.
Thirteen months. You think you can stroll in after all that time and shit is just going to go back to normal?
That I’m gonna fall at your feet and into your bed? Not happening, asshole.”
The smile slid off my face as I finally saw beyond the anger simmering on the surface, that badass facade she loved showing the world. But deep down, she was hurt. And I had a desperate need to fix it. “Addie—”
She held up her hand to stop me and shook her head. “I don’t want to hear it. And don’t get any bright ideas while you’re in town. Just because you’re back home doesn’t mean we have any reason at all to see each other—you already made it clear that’s what you want anyway.”
Without another word, she stepped around me, unlocked the door, and walked out of the bathroom, shoulders back, head held high. My fucking queen.
My queen who apparently had no plans to speak to me with anything other than insults, so that was just fucking great.
As soon as the door shut behind her, I scrubbed a hand down my face and groaned in frustration.
I braced my hands on the sink and hung my head, curling my fingers around the porcelain basin.
While I’d hoped our reunion would’ve gone better, I couldn’t say I was surprised.
This reaction was Addison, through and through.
She had this fierce outer shell, gave off major go fuck yourself vibes with a confidence that screamed I will make your life a living hell if you cross me.
But she didn’t fool me. I’d seen her face slack with sleep, all worries swept away.
I’d seen her smiles when she thought no one was looking and her full lips parted in pleasure.
I’d heard her soft pleas for more and her whispered fears in the dark.
Despite how much she no doubt hated it, she wasn’t a mystery to me. She never had been.
I’d always seen her.
Even when I’d pretended not to.