Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 89465 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 447(@200wpm)___ 358(@250wpm)___ 298(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89465 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 447(@200wpm)___ 358(@250wpm)___ 298(@300wpm)
Crawling back to this small town was never in hockey star Chase Woodson’s plans.
From hitting hockey pucks in front of thousands to selling urinal pucks at his father’s hardware store, coming back home is his worst nightmare.
But being a (newly) single dad of twin boys means making sacrifices. His boys need stability and his dad needs his help in the store.
Now he needs her.
Except, Chase has been the bane of Madison Kelly’s existence since high school.
She just so happens to be the only available nanny in town.
Besides, high school was ten years ago.
People don’t hold grudges that long, right?
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
Prologue
Chase
“And I apologized for that!”
Rage comes alive inside of me.
An apology, as if I’m sorry is good enough.
How did I ever think this woman was the person I could spend the rest of my life with?
“He almost drowned!”
Emily’s back stiffens, but it’s not because of the reminder of her failure. It’s what she does when she’s growing defensive, the first step in her bid to place the blame elsewhere.
I hold my hand up when she opens her mouth. I don’t have the energy to fight with her anymore.
“While you were in the house fucking my teammate, your sons were left outside playing in the pool. You’re fucking reckless, and I’m done.”
“Done?” She scoffs, as if she can predict my every move, and maybe she could before today.
“Done,” I repeat. “Done with you. Done with Cory. Done with the Ice Crusaders.”
I’d be just as mad right now, even if I hadn’t just come from a meeting with my coaches, the team owner, and the team GM. The fact that I was told my contract wasn’t getting renewed is just the icing on the cake. Coming home to be told by my four-year-old twins that Cole almost drowned while Mommy was inside getting snacks for a really long time with Uncle Cory, well, that’s the real issue.
I left the arena, considering taking the free agent route, but my boys are far more important than anything else in my life. It’s about damn time I make them my only focus. Hockey has always been an integral part of my life, but it’s also what brought in all the toxicity as well.
It seems my life has been a series of mistakes. Mr. Murphy’s Law sticks his nose in my business at every turn, so this shouldn’t surprise me.
Today is a doozy though. Getting replaced by the superstar rookie and losing my job should be enough to satisfy whatever karma god I made mad earlier in life, but somehow, it wasn’t. Somehow, the universe thought finding out that my wife has been having an affair with my best friend and teammate, Cory Jackson, was necessary as well.
“I’m packing up my stuff and the boys’ things and we’re leaving.”
She doesn’t reach for me when I walk past her, and I think that’s the only thing going my way. The relationship with Emily has been unsteady, at best, for years. Our marriage was something she wanted because it put her in the spotlight. It got her work as a model, although that has dwindled in recent years. It’s just one more thing she blames the boys for. The fame and stardom that comes along with me being the lead scorer for so many seasons gained her a lot of attention, and that was all she ever really wanted. I was always just the method to get her there.
Every move is a calculated manipulation, but I question her reasoning for hooking up with Cory. He’s been on the injured reserve list for months after a torn ACL. There’s not much the man can do for her, unless it’s the drama of a messy divorce that she’s looking for which, honestly, I wouldn’t put it past her. There’s no such thing as bad press, right?
She admitted once in an argument, something that happens often, that the boys were only here because she thought I was going to leave her. Getting pregnant was her way of keeping me around. The boys have always been a pawn to her, but to me, they’re everything.
Almost losing Cole today because of her negligence is the absolute final straw.
For the longest time, staying was easier. I didn’t have the energy to walk away. I’d work, come home, and spend time with my boys. Her being around or not was never a factor for me.
“You’re really just going to leave?” she asks as she follows me down the hallway toward my bedroom.
My bedroom, not ours. Maybe that was the first clue that things were never going to work out. She went from being what she must’ve considered every guy’s fantasy, so willing and ready for whatever was laid out before her, to disappearing the second I got home, as if she was hired help rather than part of the family.
I take a deep breath as I step inside my room.
I know there’s going to be the fight of my life soon. I know she’s going to try and milk me for every penny that I have. Deep down, I think I knew it would come to that before we ever said our wedding vows. Honestly, she can have all of it so long as I have my boys. I don’t need anything else.
“I was cut from the team today.”
Her eyes widen, her hand coming up to clutch her throat like I’ve seen so many of the women back home in Texas do when they’ve been offended.