Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 83461 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 334(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83461 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 334(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
“And had her fired, then kicked her out of the house they shared here.” The anger I felt when I first heard this from Ava rears fierce and hot again. “He left her jobless and homeless.”
“With a broken heart?” Brienne asks.
That stops me a moment. Was her heart broken? We’ve never talked about that. Granted, it’s been months since they broke up, and by all accounts, Ava has moved on.
“You know, I don’t know if her heart was broken,” I admit. “Regardless, at the least, he deserves a broken nose.”
“You’re adorable in your zeal to be Ava’s champion,” she coos.
I grimace at the word. No one has ever called me adorable before, but admittedly, Sophie and Ava thought I was last night at drinks when I revved up a little testosterone display.
“While I’d have to fire you if you got physical,” Brienne drawls with a playful expression, “I can tell you there’s a reception welcoming Kenneth Heborn in as the new CEO. I’m going and I could swing two extra tickets if you want to bring Ava and have a run-in with him.”
I shake my head. “I wouldn’t want to expose her to him.”
“Then you come by yourself. You can have your shot—verbally, of course—of knocking him down about twenty pegs.”
That idea has merit. I could embarrass the fuck out of him in front of his boss—hell, maybe I could even get him fired for what he did to her. Or I could take him aside and tell him how inadequate he was as a lover.
But even as the thrill of taking this guy on pulses through me, my brain tells me to slow the fuck down. It’s too proprietary. It implies a level of commitment and dedication I’ve told myself I won’t compromise on again. Putting myself out there to be Ava’s champion sits her on the same pedestal my wife occupied at one point, and for her, it got awfully lonely up there when I couldn’t be around all the time.
It’s best I just let it go and learn how to deal with the burn of anger over what happened to Ava.
“Thank you for the offer,” I say to Brienne just as there’s a knock on the open door. “But I’ll pass. Sounds like you did a great job of it already.”
“Your loss,” she quips as she stands from her chair to greet Bain and Callum. But before moving around the desk, she adds, “I need you to attend a dinner at my house though, next Monday I want to start having quarterly meetings with Callum and the coaches. To help keep me on top of things.”
I do a mental calculation as I rise from my chair. Monday is a practice day, and I would usually make plans with Ava that night. It sucks that one of our moments will be taken away, but I can’t deny the boss when she says I need to be there.
“Got it,” I say and then we both turn to Callum, leading Bain Hillridge in.
Our new defenseman is a beast of a man, standing nearly six foot seven without skates on. Despite his size, he’s super light on his feet with sharp reflexes.
He also packs a powerful punch and will be our top enforcer, handing out punishment to anyone who would dare try to rough up our forwards. I know it had to be tough on him to leave a team that just won back-to-back Cups, and I’m sure it was even harder to come to a team in a rebuilding phase, since it could take us years to reach the top again.
But when we talked a few times on the phone, he seemed eager to join the team and prove his worth to us. He was more than excited to be back on the same team as Baden as they were close friends when they played together in Arizona.
Callum introduces us officially, since neither Brienne nor I have met Bain in person. All the trade negotiations were handled by Callum with the players’ agents, then approved by the league.
“I’m so glad to have you on our team,” Brienne says warmly. “And I’ll tell you the same thing I’ve told every other player—I’m here if you need me. That door is always open.”
“I really appreciate it,” Bain says, his voice a rich baritone one would expect from a man so large. “I’m excited to be part of this team and think this organization has done an incredible job of rebuilding.” Bain then turns to me. “And the scuttlebutt in the league is that you’re the premier coach to play for, so I’m eager to see how you’re going to teach me to be better.”
I shrug off the compliment, as I always do. “Well, it’s not just me but the team of coaches at my side. Regardless, you’re bringing tremendous depth to our team, so I imagine there’s not a lot of new stuff to teach you.”