Chapter Forty Space
JULIAN
Once Hadley and I return to Denver, we both hit the ground running. Her with school, and me with practice. Coach doesn't care about holiday fatigue. He cares about keeping us sharp before the December stretch.
Two days after we get back, as I skate hard through a three-on-two rush drill, my eyes keep tracking up toward the glass-walled offices overlooking the rink.
Hadley is up there. She’s sitting at the small round table in the corner of Coach’s office, a thick textbook open in front of her, her fingers typing furiously on her laptop.
She’s wearing one of my old navy blue Night Hawks hoodies, the sleeves swallowed up around her wrists.
Looking at her, the exhaustion in my legs vanishes. I feel lighter than I have in months. Years, maybe.
Chicago is behind me. The secret meeting with Coach Williams, the allure of a massive four-year contract in my hometown, the guilt of leaving Mrs. Clay…
it’s all done. I made my choice, and I chose Denver.
I chose her. For a guy who has spent his entire life waiting for the ceiling to collapse, constantly drafting contingency plans for when people inevitably leave me, this feeling is foreign, but so good.
“Wilder! Stop daydreaming and get on the boards!” Coach bellows from the bench, his whistle screeching.
I let out a low chuckle, digging my blades into the ice and skating back to the line. I catch Jensen winking at me from across the blue line, but I just shake my head.
By the time practice wraps up, the ice is a chewed-up mess. The locker room empties out at record speed. The guys are desperate to get home to their families, the heavy doors slamming shut one by one. The facility falls into that deep, echoey silence that always follows a hard skate.
I shower, throw on a clean pair of grey sweatpants and a black long-sleeve tee, and head out into the back hallway.
I find Hadley near the dark corridor just outside the physical therapy offices.
She’s leaning against the cinderblock wall.
Still buried in my massive hoodie, her ankles crossed as she scrolls through her phone.
The second she hears my heavy footsteps, her head snaps up.
A bright, breathtaking smile transforms her face, her brown eyes softening with a warmth that knocks the wind right out of my lungs.
“Hey,” she whispers.
I don't even say it back. Before my rational brain can build up a wall and remind me that we’re in a public facility where her grandfather is the boss, I close the distance between us.
My hands come up, my palms cupping her soft cheeks, and I pull her into a heavy, deep kiss.
Hadley lets out a small, breathless gasp against my mouth, but she doesn't pull away.
Instead, her hands fly up, her fingers gripping the fabric of my shirt, anchoring herself to me as I press her back against the wall.
The heat of her mouth, the familiar, clean scent of her skin…it’s everything I’ve been craving while staring at hotel ceilings in Texas and New Mexico. I deepen the kiss, my thumb tracing her jawline, consumed by the feel of her body pressed tight to mine.
“What the hell is going on here?”
The voice hits us like a bucket of freezing water. I’ve only heard it over the phone, but it’s one I’d recognize anywhere.
Everything stops, and it feels like the air in the hallway turns to solid ice.
I pull back slowly, turning slightly so I’m shielding her body with my own.
Standing ten feet away, his arms crossed over his pristine designer trench coat, is Liam Sullivan.
Hadley’s dad. His face is a dark, mottled crimson, his jaw clenched so tight the muscles in his neck are throbbing.
His sharp eyes, burning with fury, slide from my hand on his daughter’s shoulder up to my face.
Hadley stiffens beneath my arm, her breath hitching in a sharp spike.
“Dad,” she breathes. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to see my daughter,” Liam replies with a growl. “But instead, I find you pinned against a wall in a public hallway with a man I know is way too old for you. What the hell do you think you’re doing, Hadley?”
“Sir, I can explain,” I rumble, stepping in front of her.
Liam doesn't even flinch. He steps forward, his chest puffing out as he glares up at me. “I don’t want to talk to you, Wilder. I want to talk to Hadley. Move out of my way.”
“I’m not going anywhere unless Hadley says to,” I insist.
“Julian, it’s fine,” Hadley grumbles. She sidesteps me, marching right into the space between us.
She raises her chin and gazes up at her dad.
“Do not talk down to him, Dad, and please don’t try to lecture me about this.
I’m doing my homework, I’m passing my classes, and I’m working a part-time job and living on my own. Who I’m with is none of your business.”
“None of my business?” Liam scoffs. “You moved out of your apartment without a word. You don’t come home for Thanksgiving.
Is this why? To chase after a hockey player?
Look at him, Hadley! He’s too old for you.
He’s a twenty-seven-year-old defenseman.
I know what hockey players are like. Constantly on the road, surrounded by puck bunnies.
He has nothing to offer a girl with your potential.
This is not the kind of man I want for your future. ”
The words hit me square in the chest, and they press against the old wounds I’ve been trying to heal deep inside me. My fists clench so hard at my sides that my knuckles turn white. I take a step forward, but Hadley snaps before I can even open my mouth.
“You don’t get to choose who I’m with!” she declares. “I am tired of you acting like my life belongs to you, Dad!”
Liam looks momentarily stunned, but then his eyes narrow. He glances at me, his nostrils flaring, before looking back down at her.
“You don’t know what you’re doing, Hadley,” he murmurs. “Why would you throw away your future for a man who’s leaving you anyway?”
The hallway goes dead silent. The blood in my veins freezes.
Hadley turns her head to look at me, frowning in confusion.
“What?” she shakes her head. “What are you talking about? Julian’s not leaving me.”
Liam arches a brow. “Oh, he isn’t, huh?”
She blinks up at me. “Julian…what is he talking about?”
My throat goes dry. I try to swallow, but it feels like swallowing glass. “Hadley, let me explain…”
“Explain what?” Liam cuts in, crossing his arms. “Ask him, Hadley. Ask him about the contract discussions with Chicago. Ask him why he called me a few weeks ago for help to look over an offer they were preparing for him. He’s been planning to leave Denver since the start of the season.”
Hadley looks like she’s just been struck in the face with a slap shot. She steps back from me. The confusion on her expression morphs into a deep hurt that hits me harder than any physical blow I’ve ever taken in my life.
“Chicago?” she whimpers, her eyes searching mine. “You…you’re leaving?”
“Hadley, listen to me.” The panic is a wild, clawing animal in my chest. “I was considering it because of Mrs. Clay. She’s sick, and I thought I needed to be closer to home to take care of her. I asked your dad to look over the legalities.”
“And?” Her brow is furrowed as she stares up at me. “Were you ever going to tell me?”
“I didn't want to worry you,” I explain, my voice cracking. “I didn't want to tell you about a problem that hadn't even happened yet. It doesn’t matter, anyway. I turned them down. The day after Thanksgiving, I met with their coach, and I told him no. I don’t want to leave Denver. I don’t want to leave you.”
“Thanksgiving?” she gasps, her face draining of color as her eyes widen with realization. “That’s where you went that morning…you were meeting with the coach when I was there with you, and you still didn’t say anything to me.”
I swallow, my heart hammering painfully against my chest. “I…I know. I should’ve said something, but no one else knew apart from your dad and Coach. I didn’t even tell Mrs. Clay, but she figured it out…”
“So my dad and grandfather knew, but not me?” A tear slips down her cheek. “I’m just the idiot waiting for you, thinking we were building something together, when the whole time you were planning on leaving anyway.”
“Hadley…”
“How long were you planning on hiding it from me?” she demands, her voice breaking, her shoulders shaking beneath my massive hoodie. “Were you just going to put it behind you and pretend it never happened? Were you ever going to tell me the truth?”
I don't have a good answer, because the truth is that she’s right.
I thought since I decided to stay, I could just lock that door, bury the key, and protect her from the uncertainty of my messy life.
Now, looking at the hurt on her face, I realize how stupid I was.
I’ve just been a coward, hiding behind my old habits of isolation.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper. “Hadley, I’m so sorry.”
She looks between me and her father, and then lets out a ragged breath.
“I need space,” she mutters. “I can’t do this right now. Don't follow me, Julian. You too, Dad. Just…leave me alone…both of you.”
She turns on her heel and marches down the hallway, her boots clicking against the concrete until she disappears through the exit doors.
The silence she leaves behind is suffocating.
Her father shakes his head and lets out a huff of air before turning to follow her, despite her insistence that she wants to be alone.
“Hold on,” I blurt, stepping in front of him.
He narrows his eyes at me and clenches his jaw. “Move, Wilder.”
“What was that?” I rumble, my jaw set, ignoring him.
“I really did turn Chicago down, and in part, I did it because of her. Your daughter is the most incredible woman I’ve ever met in my entire life.
She’s kind and generous. She actually cares about the people around her, and she’s been an incredible support for me.
I haven’t had that a lot in my life, so I know how significant it is.
If you weren't so damn busy trying to control her like a piece of property, you’d see that she isn't a kid anymore. You raised an amazing woman, and she’s more than capable of making decisions for herself. ”
I take a deep breath before throwing my shoulders back and declaring, “I love your daughter, sir.”
Liam stares up at me, a flicker of something unreadable crossing his eyes. He doesn’t say anything. Instead, he just turns his back on me and walks away.