Chapter 29 #2
Come home, jerk off, and see if I can get anywhere near the high I got when I was buried deep inside her.
Instead, I spent an hour in my car, while I waited, researching Henry Hayes’ case—Isla’s dad. Reading up on the crime she said he was framed for. None of it adds up to this being orchestrated by a one-man show. Especially one who had limited access or rights with the position he held.
I forwarded the article and details to Nick Dunham, Dad’s private investigator. He sent me one response back: $2500.
I sent a quick thumbs-up and that’s it.
Now I just wait for a time and day he can meet with his findings and hope for the best.
I can’t bring back the life and time she lost. But I can at least find out why the man’s still behind bars. And if he even belonged there in the first place.
“I’m feeling alright,” she responds, holding the leash. I like that Ellie isn’t pulling her or growling at her. It’s like she senses Isla’s nerves and is taking it easy.
I make a mental note to make her a fresh batch of bacon later for the week.
“She’s so beautiful. And calm,” Isla smiles. “I can’t believe you just found her. Did she belong to someone?”
“She does. I was coming down from practice one night. It was pretty late. And as I was approaching the house, this…animal came creeping out of the bushes. White fur. Long snout. Predator eyes looking at me. My instinct was to run. I quickly looked from how close the animal was from me to the house door and realized I was never gonna make it.”
She gasps with a small laugh.
“So, as per every National Geographic show I’d ever watched, I bent down and kept my eye on her.
She came out of the bush, took slow steps toward me while I kept my head down and my breathing even, appearing non-aggressive, and…
she started to circle me. I was like, I’m dead. I’m this creature’s dinner tonight.”
Another laugh, bigger this time as she holds her stomach.
“So,” I talk through the smile on my face.
“I didn’t catch it right away because of all the sticks and bush in her coat, but I finally saw it.
A tag. This was a dog. Not a wolf. I still didn’t move—not until she was done inspecting me.
She came around my right side one last time and I felt her push her snout under my arm, nuzzling me. ”
I bend and wrap my arm around Ellie’s neck to demonstrate.
“Slowly, I started petting her and picking off some of the loose branches and leaves. Then I took her back to The Castle with me. I figured she had to be hungry but I never had a dog. So I tossed a raw steak on the floor and she went to town on it. Devoured it down to the bone. Then I gave her some water, took her upstairs, gave her a shower, and brushed her hair with my own brush. She was clean, fed, and sleeping soundly on the side of my bed by the end of the night. And that’s where she slept for first few months we had her.
She didn’t want to be on my bed. She liked being ready to attack if someone came into my room. ”
Isla laughs, but it’s true.
“She’s been obsessively protective of me ever since. Any time someone comes close, she’ll growl. I have to hold her collar and shake their hand or pat them on the shoulder before she’ll back down.”
“Aww, I love that. Can I borrow her? I could use someone like that in my life.”
Damn, there’s that twist again. Because she doesn’t need a fucking guard dog. Not when she has me.
But she won’t have you very long, will she?
So far, I’d blown off every plan my brain had given me to keep Isla at arm’s length. And apparently, now I’m volunteering to be her Ellie—whatever that means.
“She became our house dog.”
“Didn’t she have a tag?”
“Ah the owners, right. We contacted them—that’s how we learned her name—she’d apparently been missing for seven days.
This…older couple with a ranch not far from here.
Both their kids went away to college, and Mr. and Mrs. Gold just couldn’t walk this big dog as much as they used to.
She kept running away, coming back a day or two later. ”
Ellie stops to do her business by her usual patch of grass. When she finishes, she glances back at us and keeps going.
“The guys and I were like, ‘Well, we live in a house full of boys who can walk and care for her.’ Plus, we’d grown attached in the week she’d been living with us.” I wink at Isla. “Also makes for a great chick magnet.”
“I bet. Are you going to miss her next year?”
I nod. “I can’t imagine I’ll be able to take care of her when I go to pros, especially since I don’t know where I’ll end up, but I know I’m going to be too busy for a pet.”
Isla frowns and I worry she might say something like, What about a girlfriend. But I know her better. Those frown lines are not for herself. They’re for my dog. “Who’s going to take care of her and love her like you do?”
There’s that punch again. And I feel like I’m answering two questions at once. I focus on the one I know she’s asking.
“Back to Mr. and Mrs. Gold. Their kids will be back and they’ll figure it out.”
She nods, her eyes on Ellie like she’s sad for her. But I know her mind’s somewhere else.
I’m right because she suddenly stops.
“Kane, last night was…incredible.”
I grin down at her. “So you’ve said.”
“But I think I need to be honest with you.” She looks up at me with a mix of fear and trust in her eyes and I’ll be damned if I make her say it out loud if she’s too scared to.
I push a strand of hair the wind blew onto her face. Her eyes watch me like she’s waiting for me to save her from another confession.
And I do. I come through for her.
“You broke rule number three. I know.”
She swallows and opens her mouth.
“You’re not the only one who blurred the lines of what this was supposed to be, Sunshine.”
“I’m not?”
“Do you remember what I said right before? That this one will be easy for you?”
She nods.
“It’s because the rule was mainly for me.”
I knew from the second I saw her in the stands that I was obsessed with this girl. Even when I thought she was with the enemy, I wanted her. And after I found out that she’s the same one who’d been stalking me on my app—and outside of it—I was a fucking goner.
“Fuck the rule, Isla. I’m not letting you take the blame for something I put in place solely as a reminder for myself.”
She frowns.
“Yes, it’s the most important season of my life.
The one that decides my future and I need to focus.
But I also decided a long time ago I’m not getting married.
Which means I’m not dragging someone through a relationship with false expectations.
Me knowing we have an end date. Her not.
My life and the one thing I trust will always be hockey and my teammates.
” I swallow. “People? Relationships? That’s different.
They lie. Manipulate. Find the parts of you that hurt and use them against you. ”
I expect her to be hurt. To run. To call me a woman hater. To completely change her mind about me. To tell me she never wants to see me again.
But she just stands there, searching my eyes. “Because of your mother. And what…she did to your father. To you.”
I clench my back teeth and focus on Ellie. “She broke my dad. Like physically broke him. The things she did and said, she drove him to drink and ultimately crash what remained of his career into the ground. And then, his life with it.”
I wait for her to tell me that not all women are my mother. That she’s not. The it’s not your fault and I’ll never hurt you spiel.
But she doesn’t.
Isla just nods. “I can’t imagine what it’s like to resent your own mother. I loved mine so much.” She looks up at me. “I’m sorry you never felt that. She’s going to regret it one day. I know she will.”
I smile. “You always see the best in people?”
“No. The opposite, actually. But she’s a mother.
And you’re her son.” There’s that look again, like I hung the damn moon.
“Trust me, she’ll be sorry she wasn’t better to you.
But you are nothing like her. You rescued a dog you thought was going to kill you.
You’ve helped me in more ways than,” she sighs.
“Than you planned to. Kane, you’re going to do great things and it’s all because of what you took from how you were raised.
You’re not a tragedy. You’re a success story.
And it’s yours. It’s your story. Not your dad’s.
Not your mom’s. Not what people write about you now but what they’ll write about you years from now.
After you’ve shown them what you’re made of. ”
“A success story?” I almost laugh. “Isla, I created an app so fans could send me love, just so I could feel worthy. How’s that success?”
She looks at me like I’ve grown another head.
“You created an app for fans to remind you that you belong on the ice. That you are worthy of your title and your future. You could have thrown in the towel, but you didn’t.
You found another way. And there are hundreds of people who agree with me.
I have the proof. Everyone has the proof. ”
The corner of my mouth tilts as I look at her like she’s out of this world.
“Your mother is important. She gave you life, raised you, bought you fancy socks or whatever, but she doesn’t outweigh the thousands of fans you have cheering for you every day.”
My eyes sting with a sensation I don’t like.
I want to tell her to stop. Because how do I process this?
How do words like this from someone who hides in the shadows come out like they just did?
How does she know how to crack my heart open with hope that I might just be worthy without all this fucking nonsense I set into motion?
I brush her cheek, my heart fluttering in a funny way. Fuck. Hunter’s wrong. I’m not cooked.
I’m fucking fried.
And it doesn’t bother me one bit.