Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
CHASE
If there was one thing I knew with complete certainty, it was that when Addison set her mind to something, she didn’t allow anything to stand in her way. It was one of the things I loved most about her.
Unfortunately, her mind was currently set on steering clear of me, which I didn’t love quite so much.
She’d stayed in her room last night, her and Avery’s muted conversation little more than muffled sounds through our shared wall.
Levi had warned me Addison had her period and was on the war path.
The war path part was confirmed by her listening to her Fuck Off playlist all night.
But if I knew her—and I did—her anger had nothing to do with her cycle and everything to do with my staying in the room next door.
That and the fact that she’d have to try a hell of a lot harder to ignore me now.
Especially when I had no intention of making it easy for her.
After having my ass handed to me at PT—I’d rather be slammed into the boards fifty times than spend another minute suffering my way through those exercises—and my weekly call with the rehab coordinator to update him on my progress, which wasn’t much, I headed back to the main inn, sore and worn down.
I grabbed one of the half dozen ice-pack wraps I’d stored in the freezer and secured it on my knee.
Then I popped some ibuprofen to mitigate the inevitable swelling I’d face tonight.
My knee always ached more after PT, and it was just a reminder of how far I still had to go before I’d be ready to play again.
If I’d be ready to play again.
Not knowing the future never used to bother me.
I could change plans at the drop of a hat, never needing to know what came next.
But that had been what felt like a lifetime ago.
Before my sister Morgan had been diagnosed with leukemia.
Before our world had been thrown into chaos, none of us knowing what the next day—let alone year—would bring.
Considering all my hockey career had provided for me and my family, I didn’t like not knowing what the future held when it came to my career.
And that shit was especially scary when I was good at only one thing and had been doing it my whole life.
What the hell would I do if playing hockey was no longer an option?
The inn was quiet except for the sound of furious typing—no doubt Addison’s—coming from the parlor, so I headed that way.
She liked her space—needed it, actually, and I was happy to give it to her.
But I’d been doing that for a year, and I was tired of it, especially when I could read a thread of hurt beneath the anger she portrayed to the rest of the world.
I poked my head around the doorway to find her sitting on the couch, her legs folded, laptop perched on top, mile-high heels discarded on the floor in front of her.
She didn’t so much as twitch when I leaned against the doorframe, so she either didn’t notice me or was incredibly good at ignoring me.
“Hey,” I said. Long moments ticked by without a response. Ignoring me, it was. “What are you working on?” Ignored. “Social media?” Ignored. “I should have you take over mine because you’re rocking the resort’s.”
“How about you have one of your puck bunnies do it instead?” she said without inflection, but I could hear the underlying tension threaded in her voice.
I pushed off from the doorframe and strode into the room, forcing myself not to favor my bad knee. “I don’t have puck bunnies.”
She snorted and rolled her eyes but otherwise didn’t respond, which meant she didn’t believe a word out of my mouth. That was fine. I had four months to prove otherwise.
I sat in the chair perpendicular to her—wanting nothing more than to sit next to her but loving my dick too much to chance it getting ripped off—and winced as my knee screamed in protest.
She shot me a sideways glance. “Your overexaggerated pain isn’t going to make me feel sorry for you.”
Leaning back in the chair, I stretched out my bad leg in front of me and raised my brows at her. “I’ve known you your whole life, Addie. I already know you don’t hand out pity.”
“Then what’s your angle here?” She circled a pen in my general direction, her eyes narrowed. “Because I’m working. And in case it’s not clear, I have ten thousand things on my to-do list today, as usual, and entertaining a wounded man-child isn’t one of them.”
I knew it probably said something about me and our relationship, but her sharp, smart mouth got my dick hard. Every fucking time.
“That’s why I’m here. My leg might be busted, but my fingers work just fine.” I couldn’t help but smirk when my comment made her fumble on the keyboard. “Word on the street is you need help, and I’m free labor. Put me to work.”
“Word on the—fucking Levi,” she spat, whipping out her phone to no doubt text my best friend to hand him his ass.
And fuck me, but even when her face was a mask of fury, she was so goddamn beautiful. If I looked at her every day for the rest of my life, I still wouldn’t tire of the view. Especially after being denied it for over a year.
“I think I’ll pass on fucking Levi,” I said. “But you should know better than anyone he’s not my type.”
Without looking up, she said, “Actually, I don’t pay attention to you or whoever it is you’re fucking this month, so I have no idea what your current favorite flavor is.”
Which meant she had paid attention and probably saw the completely fabricated pictures of my coach’s daughter and me talking after a game—when she was informing me about the surprise party she was planning for her dad.
Our five-minute interaction had been blown out of proportion and plastered everywhere.
It hadn’t helped that she’d been leaning close to keep her voice down or that someone had bumped into her from behind, sending her plowing straight into my chest.
My lips twitched as I stared at my feral little beast. “Careful, firefly, you’re starting to sound jealous.”
She scoffed. “Oh please. I care less about who you stick your dick in than I do about the migration pattern of birds. Which is to say, I do not have a single fuck to give.”
“Never say that!” Mabel said, joining our conversation as if she’d always been part of it.
She shuffled into the parlor wearing a purple velour tracksuit and a shirt beneath it that had silhouettes of various sex toys on it and read, good vibes only.
Ford strode in behind her, giving me a two-finger salute.
“Fucks are the very best thing to give, honey.”
I didn’t even try to hold in my laugh, and neither did Ford. Apparently, the older woman was still as feisty as ever and had, if possible, gotten even more blunt in the time I’d been gone.
Mabel turned toward me, her eyes sparkling with interest. “Chase! You’re just the man I needed to see. I wanted to proposition you…”
Holding up my hands, I shook my head. “No can do, Mabel. George might be getting up there, but I think he can still take me. Especially when I have a busted knee.”
She waved a hand through the air, dismissing my words.
“I’m not propositioning you for sex. Honestly, honey, I don’t think you could keep up with me.
No, this is for charity. Since so many of our eligible bachelors in town have settled down this past year—” she shot a pointed look to Ford, who just grinned back at her “—I’m looking for some fresh sausage to auction off at our local meat market. ”
Ford snorted and shook his head. “What this troublemaker means is she wants some men for the bachelor auction happening in the spring.”
Mabel sniffed. “Well, if you want to be delicate about it, yes, that’s what I mean. So, what do you say, honey?”
With my eyes still locked on Addison, who was trying valiantly not to pay any attention to us, I asked, “Who usually bids for the bachelors?”
I had no idea why I was asking. There was a less-than-zero percent chance the only woman I wanted to win a date with would bid on me. Especially if this event was public. And especially if she continued pretending to hate my guts.
“Well, I got a wife out of the last one.” Ford waggled his eyebrows and held up his left hand, showcasing a black band on his ring finger.
“That he did,” Mabel said. “It’s one of our biggest success stories.
Which is why I think this year’s will be hoppin’.
My friends are all saving up for it. Plus, lots of the eligible bachelorettes in the area will be there, so you just might find a love match!
Wouldn’t that be great? What do you say? Want to find yourself a girl?”
I already had a girl. One I’d been tied to for a decade, even without an actual commitment.
But before I could tell Mabel I wasn’t interested in a love match because my body, heart, and soul were already taken by the tiny tornado in the room, Addison slammed her laptop closed and gathered up her things with a little more force than necessary.
“Not sure why you’re asking him, Mabel.” She walked toward the doorway, glancing back at me over her shoulder, her gaze as cold as ice. “I wouldn’t count on him being here next month, much less in four. And Starlight Cove is a little light on the bunnies he usually goes for.”