Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 86367 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 432(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 288(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86367 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 432(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 288(@300wpm)
I laugh because the two of them were best friends, and when he got divorced, they started hooking up, and since then, I think they have about twelve kids. “Whatever, I don’t care. I need you to see if you can get me traded to Chicago.”
“Stone.” Her tone goes serious. “You have one year left on your contract with Nashville, and we’ve been working on extending it.”
“Things change.” Both my legs start to bounce with nerves. My heart rate climbs, racing now. My mouth gets dry, and my hands start to tremble. “Things change,” I repeat softly.
“Oh my God, this is because of Ryleigh,” Cooper pipes in from the background, as if he just solved a mystery. “That’s why he wants to be traded to Chicago,” he deduces. “It all makes sense.” Then he shouts even louder, “Why don’t you come to Dallas? We are all here!” Yes, but Ryleigh isn’t there I’m about to say, but I stop myself.
“Cooper Grant!” Erika yells at him, moving the phone away from her mouth. “Can you go and do something besides annoy me? Like take care of our children?” Then her voice comes back to me. “Sorry.”
“Do you think you can make it happen?” I ask her, waiting, holding my breath, knowing it’s not going to be easy. I mean, I know this. I’m captain of the team. I’ve been here forever. This is my second home, but the reality is now, she’s not here.
“I can see from my end but, Stone, we have to be realistic.” I close my eyes, somehow knowing this fantasy of me being traded will come true.
“Please, Erika, you have to try,” I beg her softly.
“Okay.” Her voice lowers to match mine. “I’ll do what I can.”
“That’s all I can ask you to do,” I say. “Tell my cousin to shut his mouth about this.”
“He knows better than to open his mouth!” she shouts, more to Cooper than to me. “I’ll call you when I have something.”
I hang up the phone and collapse on my bed until my alarm rings seven hours later. We are playing back-to-back games before leaving for three days, but then we’ll be home for ten straight days. I get into the shower before getting dressed in another suit and packing my bag. The phone rings when I get in the car. “Hi,” I greet softly when I see her name.
“Hi,” she says, “I haven’t heard from you since you texted you landed.”
“I crashed as soon as I got in, and then I had to pack,” I tell her. “How was your day?”
“Good, I worked a half day and then came back home,” she tells me.
“Did you eat anything?” The worry fills my voice.
“I did because you sent me food.” She laughs. “I don’t know how you do it.”
“One can do a lot in a twenty-minute car ride.” I laugh with her. “You got the soup?”
“I got the soup and then the snacks. Then the pizza and sushi.” Her laughter is like a kick in the stomach. “I have enough food for the next two days, so don’t send any more.”
“What about cupcakes?” I tap the steering wheel.
“Demolished those as soon as you left this morning. I thought red velvet was my favorite, but that lemon blueberry.” She gasps. “That might be the best thing I’ve ever tasted.”
“Ever?” I joke with her.
I can see her roll her eyes at me even though I’m not with her. “Obviously, your dick will forever be the best thing I’ve ever put in my mouth. So I guess lemon blueberry is a close second.” She shrieks, “You know what we should do?” I can hear a joking tone in her voice, and I know she’s feeling just a touch better. “I should eat it off your dick.”
“Oh, that sounds like the best thing you’ve ever said.” I laugh with her.
“Better than ‘fuck me harder, Stone’?” The two of us are howling with laughter. “Or ‘you’re so big’?”
I stop the car and put it in park. “Okay, fine, it’s a close second or third.” I get out of the car and slam the door.
“Guess you’re at work. Call me later if you can.”
“We leave as soon as the game finishes.” My stomach tightens when I know I’ll be even farther away from her. “I’ll call you tomorrow. Get some rest.”
“Will do, SR,” she assures me and then disconnects.
The game that night is brutal. I end up in the penalty box three times, and I’m benched pretty much most of the third period. We end up only losing by one goal, and when I get onto the plane, Jay sits next to me. “You okay?”
“Yeah, just off tonight, I guess,” I tell him, and he nods. “I’ll be okay.”
“You let me know if you need anything,” he states, and I just give him a chin up before turning and looking out the window. The two games on the road are better. I end up with four points.