by Kat Mizera
“Holy shit.”
“Was this a one-night stand? I’m far more concerned about your finances, Brock.”
“No! She’s, I mean… No, that’s not a concern.” He wasn’t sure why he felt that way, but something told him Ashleigh had no interest in his money.
“Did you sign anything? On her end?”
“You mean a prenup? No, of course not. We don’t even remember doing it.”
“Is she cool?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Brock demanded, looking away so Ashleigh wouldn’t see the annoyance on his face.
“I mean, could this be helpful to you in your current situation with the team?”
It was rare that Brock was speechless, but he was unable to come up with a single thing to say. Was Chandler insinuating they should stay married?
“You didn’t get an offer from the Sidewinders before the deadline, so now you’re spinning in the wind. That means they’re still unsure about you, unsure whether you’re going to get into trouble again this summer. I did some generic research and this girl is clean. No history of drugs, alcohol, arrests, or anything other than a fairly public break-up with some big-time director. And I also read something about her having a foster child? This is a gold mine for you, my friend.”
“In what way?” Brock felt guilty just talking about this with Ashleigh in the same room, but she couldn’t hear what Chandler was saying.
“You’re married, with a ready-made family, a high-profile but ostensibly nice girl who isn’t after your money… This is seriously good luck. Unless you did it by design—”
“No!” Brock nearly rolled his eyes. “I didn’t even realize…”
“If she’s not after your money, and you like her even a little bit, this could be the best thing to happen to you.”
“Are you serious?”
“You have two options. Either we start working on an annulment immediately, or you stay married. Get your contract, give it a season, and then end it. If you can get her to sign something, that would be ideal, but I’m sure we could find a way to keep the courts from giving her too much in a divorce since—”
“Jesus H. Christ, Chandler,” Brock interrupted, irritated. “Let me wrap my head around this first, okay? We’ll talk about all that later. Thanks for jumping on this on a Saturday. I appreciate it.”
“Any time. I’ll see you at the game tonight.”
Brock put the phone down and looked at her. “It looks like we’re…married.”
“Wow. That must have been some tequila.” Ashleigh’s voice was flat and sounded a little dejected. “What was your lawyer saying? Something about a prenup?”
“He asked if we’d signed anything.” He sighed. “Look, of all the problems we’ve got to deal with, I’m not worried about it. Are you? I make more than you and I’ll sign anything you want, even after the fact.”
“You want to stay married?” She stared at him in shock.
“I’m not sure what I want.” At least that was honest. He needed to tell her about his contract problems, but she seemed freaked out right now, and he didn’t want to look like an ass. “This could be helpful for you with your, uh, adoption stuff. You said your lawyer thought it would be easier if you were married…” He stopped talking because she was gaping at him.
“Brock! We, we, we…” Her voice faded as she shook her head repeatedly.
“We can annul,” he said gently. “So either we make a big public apology about how we got drunk and did something stupid, which might look bad for you, or we suck it up and try to stay married as long as possible so you can get custody of Bella without any blowback.”
She stared at him. “You’d do that for me?”
“Drunk-eloping doesn’t look good for me, either,” he said. “The team frowns on that kind of thing.”
She met his eyes. “But how would we…” Her voice faded and she swallowed. “This is going to be so complicated.”
“I know. But it’s not impossible and—” He stopped abruptly.
“And what?”
He wasn’t sure what to say, because he wasn’t sure what he was feeling. “We had fun yesterday. We had fun last weekend. We could have more fun. We definitely got crazy last night, but it doesn’t have to be a bad thing. I can’t promise you forever, but I’ll never do anything to hurt you or Bella.”
“Bella.” She closed her eyes. “I have to get home but—”
“You have to be at the game tonight if we’re going to stay married, and frankly, I don’t see us having a choice right now if you don’t want this to go south from the adoption perspective.”
She groaned and sat back, closing her eyes, taking a few deep breaths.
“Let’s eat before we decide anything.” She looked ready to fall over and if she was even half as hungover as he was, she needed sustenance.
“Okay.”
After they’d eaten and cleaned up the kitchen, he took a shower while she called Bella, and then they switched. Once she was in the shower, he called Cody. As the team captain, he set an example for the younger guys, kept everyone motivated in the locker room, and doled out personal advice when necessary; this most likely qualified as necessary.
“I need your help,” he said quietly.
“I need the story,” Cody responded.
Brock told him everything that had happened in the week he and Ashleigh had known each other.
“So last night you got shit-faced and eloped on Fremont Street and now you’re…stuck with her?”
“It’s not like that.” Brock muttered under his breath. “She’s gorgeous. Sweet. She’s…great.”
“Are you in love with her?”
“Well…not yet?”
“But she could lose the kid because of this if you admit what happened.”
“Kinda. Yeah.”
“And you’re willing to stay married to her long enough to make that happen?”
“Yeah. I guess.”
“You guess, or yeah?”
“Yes.” Brock gritted his teeth, trying to keep his temper under control because he had no idea what he wanted and his head was killing him.
“If you stay married, I’m assuming this conversation has to be a secret because any leak about the real story could cost her the kid, correct?”
“Exactly.”
Cody was quiet for what seemed like a long time.
“Cody?”
“How are your acting skills?” he asked after a moment.
“What?”
“You want this to work? You want to help her?”
“I already answered that.”
“Then you’d better be ready to put on the performance of a lifetime. The guys are going to lose their minds when they find out who you’re married to.”
“But Vlad is dating Rachel, who also dated Jamie, and they’re fine with it.”
Cody chuckled. “They’ve had three years to get used to Rachel. Ashleigh is fresh meat and you freakin’ married her after a week. This is very Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson, you know?”
“Who?”
Cody sighed. “Mötley Crüe? Baywatch? Nothin’? Never mind…”
“I know who Mötley Crüe is…”
“Forget it.” Cody chuckled. “I’ll talk to Suze and let her know there’ll be a new wife in the stands tonight.”
“I don’t know if she’s staying…”
“She’d better stay. The PR department is going to have to release something and your new bride needs to be blushing and gushing or whatever the fuck you want to call what brides do.”
“She can’t get ambushed by the press. We’re still trying to sort all this out.”
“Showing up tonight isn’t optional.”
Brock took a breath. “Okay. Should I bring her to the arena with me when I come in this afternoon?”
“No. Best thing would be to drop her off here at my house. Suze can prepare her and give her the lay of the land. Is Rachel in town, by any chance?”
; “No, they’re wrapping up Vampire Legend next week so she’s in L.A.”
“Bring Ashleigh over to the house and Suze will get her ready. In the meantime, get some rest. You need to play your ass off tonight after missing the morning skate.”
“Yeah, I’m on it.” He disconnected and looked up as Ashleigh came in. She looked so young in nothing but yoga pants, a big T-shirt, and her hair wet and limp around her shoulders.
“What’s going on?” she asked softly.
He told her what he and Cody had discussed.
“Okay.” She nodded. “You need to nap, so go lay down. I might lay on the couch, too.”
“You’ll come lay next to me,” he said gently, holding out his hand.
She looked at it hesitantly. “Brock, I’m not sure…”
“I’m not even thinking about that,” he said. “If we hadn’t gone and done something nuts last night, I’d be trying to get in your pants, but right now we have two hundred and seventy-nine other things to worry about.”
“Two hundred and seventy-nine?” A faint smile played on her lips.
“Okay, two hundred and seventy-nine might be a slight exaggeration. Probably closer to two hundred and forty-nine.”
She put her hand in his. “Two hundred and forty-nine is much more believable.”
“After the game, we’re going to talk this out. But I desperately need to rest and you look tired, too.”
“I am.”
“Come on.” He led her into his room and laid down. She curled up next to him and within seconds they were both asleep.
9
Brock dropped Ashleigh off at Cody and Suze’s house, and after brief introductions, the guys left for the arena.
“I’ll see you after the game.” Brock spoke softly against her ear, one arm around her waist as she looked up at him. “Suze has been an NHL wife a long time—just stick close to her and everything will be okay.”
“Okay.” She was surprised when he bent his head to kiss her, but couldn’t resist kissing him back. He’d been so wonderful today; she liked him more than she’d thought she would and the jury was out on whether that was good or bad.
“Coffee? Tea? Wine?” Suze called out once the guys were gone.
“Uh, nothing, thanks.”
“Look, I’ve been where you are,” Suze said gently, settling on a bar stool. “Not exactly, but close. I was pregnant when Cody and I got married—with someone else’s kid, even though we weren’t sure whose kid it was.”
“I…what?” Ashleigh wasn’t even sure how to respond.
“Cody’s best friend and teammate in college was my boyfriend. We were together from freshman year until April 1, 2005, the day he stumbled into the middle of a drug deal and they beat him to death.”
“Oh my gosh.” Ashleigh’s eyes widened.
“Five days later, after the funeral, Cody and I had drunken grief sex, and a few weeks after that, I found out I was pregnant. At the time, we didn’t know it was Brian’s baby, and Cody didn’t care anyway, so we got married. He’d been drafted by Toronto, and the NHL WAG’s gossip network was alive and well. Brian had also been drafted to a team, he was expected to be a top goalie in the league, and I was his very public and visible girlfriend. Cody married his dead buddy’s pregnant girlfriend and because we thought it was his baby, it made me look like a total tramp. Those first couple of games were hard.”
“I’m so sorry.”
Suze waved a hand. “It was a long time ago, and Cody and I eventually found out CJ—our son—was Brian’s, but we fell in love and now we have Avery and…” She flushed. “Well, Cody doesn’t know yet, so you can’t say anything, but I’m pregnant again.”
“Congratulations! And I won’t say anything. Hell, I don’t know anyone to say anything to.”
“You will after tonight.” Suze grinned. “Anyway, I know exactly how you feel, being the center of attention for something private but inexplicably public.”
Ashleigh sighed. “If it was just me, I wouldn’t care, but Bella…”
“This is the little girl you want to adopt?”
“Yes.” Ashleigh smiled. “I want to be her mom. Not her foster mom, but her actual mom, and it’s so hard. I can’t believe I did something so stupid.”
“Brock is an amazing guy.”
“An amazing guy who doesn’t do relationships.”
“He does now.”
“He’s been great today, but I don’t want to trap him in a life he doesn’t want with a woman he doesn’t love and a kid he doesn’t know.”
“From what Cody said, when he suggested you two issue an apology and end the whole thing, he wasn’t happy.”
Ashleigh frowned. “That makes no sense. Except…” Her chewed the side of her mouth. “Well, we haven’t, at least there’s no sign we…” She swallowed. “Consummated the marriage.”
Suze’s eyes widened. “You didn’t?”
“We were drunk. I have vague memories of us walking into that chapel but it’s all hazy. He says he remembers asking about a marriage license and kissing me, but nothing else. Pathetic, huh?”
“Worse than sleeping with your dead boyfriend’s best friend at his funeral?”
Ashleigh wrinkled her nose. “Well…”
They chuckled together.
“Okay, let’s get down to the nitty-gritty. First problem—no engagement ring.”
Ashleigh looked down at the simple gold band on her hand. “I don’t even know where we got these.”
“If no one says a single word about anything else, the lack of a diamond is going to come up.” She drummed her fingers on the counter. “You could say it’s being sized or some other thing, but I think it’s best if we stick as close to the truth as we can.”
“Like?”
“Your decision to get married was spontaneous and impulsive so there was no time for a ring. Now that it’s done, you’re going shopping for a ring together because he wants you to have something you love.”
“Okay.”
“I also think you need to answer questions as close to truthfully as possible. When the girls ask how you met, when you met, etc., tell the real story. The only lies should be in your feelings. Much as I hate to say that, if this is about protecting Bella, that’s the only alternative.”
“So I need to gush about how happy he makes me and how good things are between us and that kind of thing.” Ashleigh nodded. “I lie for a living, so this shouldn’t be too hard.” Except this time the lies were about a real person, one she actually liked, and there was no going home at the end of the day. Even if she went home to L.A. and he left on a trip, they were still married. Bella was going to be introduced to her new potential stepfather and the information was out there on social media. Holy shit, what had she done?
“You’ll need to think about what you’re going to say and send him a text so he says the same things. I’m sure he’ll check his phone shortly.”
“Okay.” Ashleigh stared off into the distance, wondering how they were going to do this. They’d made a half-hearted decision to stay married and now everything was going to become very public. And, of all days, it had to happen on the day she’d given Bella permission to spend time with Angel. As far as mistakes went, this one wasn’t the end of the world, but short-term it sure felt like it.
Brock and Cody got to the arena and started getting ready for the team’s usual pre-game soccer match.
“Where were you this morning?” His friend and teammate, Dom Gianni, joined them in the hallway.
“Well…” Shit. Brock wasn’t ready for this, but he had no choice, so he took a deep breath. “I got married.”
“That why you skipped the skate this morning?” Vlad just stared at him.
“Didn’t you go out on a date with Ashleigh Hunter like a week ago?” Dom asked in confusion.
Brock tried to keep his voice light. “Yup. And last night I married her.”
“Seriously?” Tore Brekken, a nineteen-year-old rookie on the team
, stopped to stare at him. “You’re hittin’ it with Ashleigh freakin’ Hunter?”
“I’m not hittin’ anything.” Brock scowled, smacking him in the back of the head. “She’s my wife, douchebag.”
A chorus of congratulations followed as they started the soccer game.
“Holy shit.” Dom’s eyes glittered with amusement. “Man, the wives are going to eat this shit up! First Rachel Kennedy and now Ashleigh Hunter!”
“They have any other hot actress friends?” Tore asked, rubbing his head where Brock had hit him.
“Not your age.” Vlad chuckled.
“I’m down with older women.” He laughed.
“Like you’d know what to do with an older woman.” Rob Rousseau, the team’s new back-up goalie, was one of the oldest guys on the team at thirty-eight and had caught the tail end of the conversation.
“Older women walk the walk, if you know what I mean.” Tore wiggled his eyebrows.
“Yeah, that kind of talk will get you real far with an older woman.” Rob just laughed.
“This is a joke, right?” Dax O’Day was shaking his head. “Come on—you never said a word. How long has this been going on?”
“It was quick,” Brock hedged. “But when you know, you know.”
“Just like that?” Tore gave him a funny look.
“I fell in love with my wife the first time I saw her,” Cody laughed, tactfully changing the subject as he moved the soccer ball toward Vlad.
“Not me,” Tore shook his light brown curls. “I plan to sample a whole lot more before I get serious.”
“We all do, my friend.” Brock laughed. “You’ll know when it’s different.”
“I’m still looking,” Dax said glumly. “There just hasn’t been anyone special since Trisha left.” He and his fiancée had ended a long relationship the previous summer and he’d been struggling with it.
“You have plenty of time,” Toli Petrov reminded him. “I’m thirty-seven and didn’t get married until last summer.”
“I can’t picture it,” Ian Campbell, the league’s only Scottish-born player, looked up thoughtfully. “My college girlfriend came close, but between getting my degree and hockey, I couldn’t put the effort into it.”