The One I Left Behind

I was on guard, as my emotions warred with each other. Anticipation. Resentment. Betrayal. Anger. Hope. Revenge. All of it. Caro had some explaining to do. She stopped in front of her car and glanced around. When she spotted me, she squared her shoulders and advanced, like a brave warrior marching into battle. I wouldn’t […]

I quickly ran through the events of last night, and Fran listened without comment until I finished. “And you haven’t heard a word since?” “It’s still early.” I sighed, feeling both defeated and relieved. If Easton didn’t want any part of his children, I’d go on with my life, raise my kids, and work on

“A father?” Steele shook his head over and over, as if the motion would help him make sense of my words. “Yeah, a father.” I held up my hand to stop the questions from coming. “I was so shocked, I dropped my beer. It drenched us, and the glass broke on the floor.” “No wonder

I didn’t smile back. I forced my gaze to meet his and blurted out the words, my carefully written speech all but forgotten. “You’re a father.” He’d just brought his beer to his lips, and he choked on it. The glass slipped from his grasp, hit the edge of the table, and sprayed all over

“It’s the same one you had back when we…we were friends.” “Friends?” I barked out a disbelieving laugh. We’d been way more than friends that summer, and my depraved mind immediately conjured up images of Caro’s gorgeous body naked in the moonlight. I swallowed hard and couldn’t stop my dick from responding to those memories.

“You don’t seem overly happy for a rookie who’s taking the NHL by storm.” Ice sat down next to me at a table in the team lounge. I glanced up at my captain, ready to deny I was anything but ecstatic, only no words came. Ice didn’t tolerate bullshit, and by the look on his

I was still amazed they’d forgiven me as fully as they had, a testament to what good people they were. I’d left Hailey with Fran and Howard to fill the role of hockey mom and shuttle Heath to practice. I searched the group of kids skating around the rink, easily picking out my son. He

I grimaced and braced myself for the news. Up until I’d seen the devastated expression on Axel’s face, I’d been confident I’d made the team, but that very confidence eroded with every passing minute. My preseason play was as good as any rookie’s, and better than many of the veterans’ performances. I’d done everything asked

The room spun around me. I tried to focus, but I was looking down a long tunnel of blurry images from my past. My spine turned to mush, refusing to hold up my body. I leaned to one side, leaned more, and more. The chair tipped, and I fell into a black abyss of blissful

The regular season started the first week of October. We’d battled for a spot through the last two weeks of preseason games in September. Now it was showtime. Axel raised his glass and grinned at us. Half of his beer sloshed over the side and soaked our nachos. We didn’t care. We raised our glasses