Chapter 11
eleven
Standing in the kitchen, I set the pitcher down and put the lid on my water bottle after refilling it. The front door opens then closes. Grabbing the pitcher, I put it back in the fridge.
“Hey, how was class?” I ask Ashley as she comes into view.
“Fine.”
Something about her tone sets me on edge.
I turn to look at her. “Is everything okay?”
She crosses her arms over her chest. “Actually, no, it’s not.”
“What’s up?” I ask as I lean against the counter.
“What’s wrong is I didn’t know I was living with a whore,” she spews.
I can’t help but flinch when her words hit me.
Whore? She thinks I’m a whore?
“Excuse me?” I manage to say.
“When I agreed to live with you, I didn’t realize that I was moving in with the hockey team’s whore. It’s no wonder you got pregnant.”
Her words hit me hard. I can feel the tears building in my eyes, but I will them away.
“Look, I don’t know what you’ve heard, but I’m no one’s whore,” I spit out.
She scoffs. “Really? Does Brett know?”
“Does Brett know what?” I ask.
“That you’re hooking up with his best friend. Don’t even try to deny it. I saw Wyatt here the other night. Is your baby even Brett’s, or are you settling for him because of his money?”
Is this bitch for real?
“First of all, even though it’s none of your goddamn business, yes, my baby is Brett’s. Second, Wyatt is a friend who brought over dinner for me when Brett couldn’t because he got stuck in class.”
She rolls her eyes. “Likely story. Look, you might have everyone fooled, but I see the real you. I share an apartment with you, remember? I know who’s coming and going.
The last thing I need before I go to the Olympics is your shitty image tarnishing mine.
I’d appreciate it if you took your clients elsewhere. ”
Clients? What clients? I knew Ashley was a little crazy, but I didn’t realize it was to this level.
“The only man who’s been in my bed for years is Brett. Wyatt coming into our living room is nothing, and let’s be real here, if you want to throw stones, I’ve seen more men come in and out of your bedroom than mine.”
It’s true. Ashley has had more than a few dates come home with her over the years. I never shamed her for it because it was none of my business. The fact that she is shaming me now only shows me her true colors.
“You have no proof. Last I knew, you were the one with the evidence of your indiscretions.” Her eyes drop to my stomach as she sneers.
Before I can even say anything, her phone rings.
“Oh look. My coach. Thanks for being such a fuck-up. Now I’ll get us gold and be America’s sweetheart,” she says as she answers it, walking away.
Looking around the apartment, I feel as if the walls are closing in on me. Like this place isn’t my home.
Leave.
I need to leave.
I head into my room and grab a change of clothes, my backpack, and my purse. Once I have everything I need, I head out and grab my water bottle as I head out the door. I can’t help but slam the door behind me.
I know it’s petty, but I’m so fucking mad.
Who the hell does Ashley think she is?
I don’t even have a destination in mind. I just start walking. I could have taken my car, but I need the air. I need to breathe. I need this anger to leave me.
Before I know it, I’m standing in front of his house.
The hockey house.
My heart is racing in my chest.
Why am I here?
I didn’t make a conscious decision to come here, but I need comfort, and my body, as if on autopilot, brought me here.
Before I can panic any further, I walk up to the door. It’s starting to get chilly, and I need a place to get my mind together.
I knock and wait.
When no one answers right away, I knock again, wondering if anyone is even home. There’s a car in the driveway, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t ride somewhere together.
I should leave.
Before I can, the door opens.
When I see the pretty brown hair, I’m shocked. I don’t know why I didn’t consider one of the girls would be here.
“Hey, Emery. Are you here for Brett?” Cora asks.
“I-I actually don’t know why I’m here. I just needed to get out of my place and…”
Her eyes soften as I ramble.
She reaches out and grabs my hand, pulling me toward her. “Come on. Brett’s not here, but I’m watching movies, so you can hang with me.”
I follow her inside and head to the couch.
“Are you sure you don’t mind that I’m here? I can leave,” I tell her as I sit down.
“You’re fine, but forgive me for saying this, you don’t look so hot. Are you okay? Do you need some water?”
“Water?” I shake my bottle, realizing it is empty. “Shit. It was full when I left the house.”
That only makes the concern in her eyes grow.
“Stop, let me grab you a bottle from the fridge.”
As she heads into the kitchen, I stare blankly at the wall.
What kind of mother am I? I just walked around for who knows how long, and I can’t even remember getting here. What if I zone out and something happens to our child? I would never forgive myself.
Before I can spiral any further, Cora comes back and hands me a bottle of water. The cold bottle seems to ground me in the present.
“I’m going to completely overstep, but I need you to tell me what’s wrong. Something clearly happened. If you don’t want to tell me, I’ll call Brett and have him come home,” she says softly as she sits across from me.
I look over at her. I don’t know Cora well, but what I do know is that she’s nice and has never looked at me judgmentally. None of the girls who live here has. If anything, they’ve made me feel welcome.
“I’m assuming you know I’m pregnant.” When her eyes widen, I wince. “Or not…”
She tips her head back and laughs. “I knew Kellan was keeping a secret from me, but I didn’t realize it was this! We don’t keep secrets, but he kept saying it wasn’t his to tell.”
Once she has herself back under control, she smiles. “Sorry, you being pregnant isn’t funny. I’ve just been trying to figure out what Kellan had up his sleeve because he’s been kind of cagey lately. This is awesome though. Congratulations.”
I guess that makes sense. Brett probably told Kellan and Wyatt first since they are here. He’s a man, so he probably didn’t even think to tell the girls.
“Thank you.”
She makes herself comfortable on the couch. “Okay, tell me everything, and don’t skip the good parts.”
So I do. I tell her everything, and by the time I’m done, the sun has started to set, and I feel a million times lighter.
“Feel better?” she asks knowingly.
“I do, actually.”
“Good. That bitch Ashley better watch herself. I will go full Harding on her ass for fucking with you. Orange looks amazing on me.”
I laugh, loving how good it feels.
“You don’t have to do all that,” I tell her.
She rolls her eyes. “Fine, but I’m going to sneer at her. Now, how about we order some food and hang out until the guys get home? How does that sound?”
“You don’t mind?”
Cora scoffs. “Please, we just bonded, and you’re knocked up with Brett’s baby. Which means you’re carrying my niece or nephew. We’re family now.”
Family.
It’s the same thing Wyatt said, but I didn’t quite believe it. Hearing it from her mouth has me feeling like it might be true, though.
I always wanted a sibling.
“I like the sound of that,” I tell her softly.
She smiles. “Just wait until the others hear. You’ll be sick of us before you know it.”
For some reason, I highly doubt that.
Coach blows his whistle, and we start making our way to the bench where he waits.
Kellan slaps my shoulder as he comes up next to me.
“A little rusty, but not as bad as I thought you would be, Woods,” he teases.
“Fuck off,” I mutter, making him laugh.
“How do you feel?” Wyatt asks as he comes up on my other side.
I take stock of my body before responding.
“I’m more fatigued than I typically am, but other than that I feel pretty good.”
“That’s awesome, man, I’m happy for you,” Kellan says sincerely.
“Thank you.”
We come to a stop next to Coach. He glances around at us before he jumps into his after-practice speech.
“All right, boys, the season is about to start. That means no parties, no drinking, and sure as hell no drugs. Not even Mary Jane,” he says, eyeing a couple of the guys.
“For the last two years, we’ve been on a hell of a winning streak, and I want that to continue.
You boys are good on the ice, but I need you to keep your grades up.
If you aren’t eligible, then we have a problem. Does everyone understand?”
“Yes, sir,” we all mutter in unison.
Coach nods. “Good, now hit the locker room. You guys smell like ass.”
A few of us laugh as people head off the ice.
“Woods, hang back a minute,” Coach says as I try to pass by him.
“I’ll meet you guys in the locker room,” I tell Kellan and Wyatt.
Once the ice is clear, Coach turns toward me. “How do you feel?”
“Tired, but okay,” I tell him.
“Better than you thought you would feel?” he asks.
“Actually, yeah,” I admit.
“That’s what I like to hear. Since you got on the ice today, I take it you’ve worked your way through whatever mental block you had?”
I wouldn’t exactly call it a mental block, but I nod nonetheless.
“Good, then I want you to start this season.”
“Uh, Coach, as flattering as that is, I can’t.”
He raises a brow. “Can’t or won’t?”
“Both?”
“Which is it, Woods? What’s the holdup?”
“It’s just that today is my first day back. I’m not in shape…” I trail off, trying to come up with another excuse.
Truth is, now that I’m back on the ice, I’m still afraid I’ll hurt myself again. I don’t want to let my teammates down.
Coach shakes his head. “Brett, despite your protests to get on the ice before today, you’re good.
You’ve spent every day in the gym, getting your daily workouts in with the boys.
The only thing you haven’t done is had ice time, but I’m sure that it will come back to you like riding a bike.
You got this as long as you don’t get in your own way. ”
Rubbing my jaw, I think about what Emery said. If this is my last season, I might as well play and go out on my own terms.
“You think I’m ready?”
“Kid, you are more ready than the freshmen I’d be replacing you with. You got this.”
“Okay, then yeah. I’ll do it.” I nod.
Coach slaps my shoulder and smiles. “Good. Now get out of here. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Leaving him behind, I head toward the locker room where Kellan and Wyatt wait. They look up as I step inside. Both of them have wet hair from already running through the shower.
“Everything okay?” Wyatt asks.
“Yeah.” I look around the room to make sure no one is listening. “Coach wants me to start.”
“Fuck yes!” Kellan shakes his fist in the air as he smiles.
“Excited much?” I ask, raising a brow.
“I mean, someone’s got to be. Now hurry up and shower. We need to head back to the house.” Kellan smirks at me.
“Everything okay?” I ask, wondering why he is so eager to get back there.
Kellan nods. “Yeah, but Cora said she has a surprise for you.”
“A surprise?” I ask hesitantly.
“You’ll find out soon enough. Now hurry the hell up.”
Wyatt chuckles under his breath as I strip.
I take a quick shower and change.
“Ready?” Wyatt asks as he gets up from the bench.
“Yeah.”
I pull my phone out of my bag and check it. My heart sinks when I see no new notifications.
Dammit.
I was hoping she would have texted me by now. I almost always text her first, but it doesn’t stop me from hoping she might turn things around on me.
It’s fine. I’ll text her when I get back to the house and see what she’s up to. Figure out what she wants for dinner, then go see her.
When we exit the arena, I head toward my car while Kellan and Wyatt head to his. I never ride with them anymore in case Emery needs me.
Before I get in the car, Kellan points at me. “Head straight home. No stops.”
“Okay…”
I get into my car and wait for him to pull out. On the drive home, I follow Kellan, feeling nervous about what surprise Cora might have. I love the girl like a sister, but she’s a bit of a firecracker. She could have wrapped my entire room in plastic wrap for all I know.
Before I know it, we are pulling up outside of our house.
“I miss when we would all carpool,” Kellan says.
“You miss my singing?” I tease.
He snorts. “Fuck no. We don’t get enough bonding time together, though. I missed out on that my freshman year.”
I frown when I think about it. During Kellan’s freshman year, he thought he was in love with Grace, but he treated her pretty badly.
Especially when she started falling for our captain, Clay.
Some shit went down, and let’s just say Kellan wasn’t our favorite person.
It wasn’t until sophomore year when he met Cora and we saw the man he truly was that we accepted him into the fold.
“We have plenty of time to bond. I mean, fuck, you connected yourself to Clay for life, and sorry to tell you, but we are a package deal.”
He laughs. “Where does Wyatt come into all of that?”
I wrap my arm around Wyatt. “Wyatt is our adoptee. He looks sad and homeless, so we brought him home.”
Wyatt pushes me off of him as he gives me the middle finger. When he opens the door and holds it open for us, I hear laughter. I watch Kellan step inside and move to follow him.
Only I freeze, making Wyatt bump into me in the doorway.
“Can you move?” he asks, with humor in his voice.
I ignore him as I take in the scene in front of me. Kellan said I had a surprise, but I wasn’t expecting this.
Emery is curled up on the couch with Cora, with the blanket from my bed covering her lap. Her hair is up in a messy bun, and a movie plays on the TV.
She’s here.
She’s here, and I didn’t have to ask her to come.
Emery is willingly hanging out here, at my place, with my friends.
I don’t know how this happened, but I like it.
Shit, I love it.
Emery smiles at me hesitantly. “Hi. I hope it’s okay that I came over here.”
“It’s more than okay, you know that,” I tell her.
“Good. We were having some girl time. The pizza should be here anytime,” Cora says.
I look over at her and she smirks.
“You’re welcome,” she mouths.
I dip my chin in acknowledgment.
For some reason, my girl sought out refuge, and Cora gave it to her. For that, I’ll forever be thankful.
Moving, I drop my bag in the entry and head toward the couch. Gently, I move Emery and sit down behind her, making her lean against my side.
“Are you sure this is okay?” she asks quietly as Kellan greets his girl.
“This is perfect.” Leaning over, I kiss her temple.
And I mean it. I can’t think of anything better than this.