by Amy Olle
Sutton recognized Haven then and greeted her with a bright smile. “Wasn’t he incredible?”
The beauty laid her hand over Jack’s abdomen.
Haven nodded. “Nice game.” Silly words to conceal the treachery of her silly heart.
“Thanks.” His kaleidoscope eyes burned intensely, willing her to understand the thoughts he couldn’t speak. Not to her. Not there.
Sutton’s vivid blue eyes shimmered with her delight when she looked at Haven. “My dad is freaking out right now.”
“I’m sorry, who?” Haven dragged her gaze away from the place where Jack’s arm tucked around Sutton’s small waist.
“My dad. Neal Thompson. He’s the GM in Detroit.”
Neal Thompson, the man Jack considered a father figure, who he credited with his success, was Sutton’s dad?
Haven’s heart threw up.
Sutton looked down at her cell phone and, with a tiny gasp, smiled up at Jack. “It’s my brother.” She cradled the device to her ear. “Hey, Jace, did you ever get a hat trick? No? I didn’t think so.” She laughed at his response. “He said you cheated. Your skate was in the crease on that second goal.”
“Bullshit,” Jack said, smiling.
“Did you hear that?” she asked her brother.
A dark jealousy wrenched the knot in Haven’s stomach. Sutton had a dad that called her just to say nice things, and she had a brother who was still alive.
She had everything Haven once had, but lost.
And she had Jack’s arms around her, without a care in the world for who might see them together.
It shouldn’t hurt this much.
Why did it hurt so much?
Jack hadn’t betrayed her. He wasn’t even hers, not for keeps. She didn’t do “for keeps.” “For keeps” was against the rules.
“For keeps” was for people with loving families.
Whole families.
She wasn’t those people. Love wouldn’t bring her brother back, or make her parents notice she hadn’t died that day along with him.
She was the other people. The ones who love didn’t favor. The ones men fucked but didn’t invite to the dance or take home to meet their mothers.
A large body knocked into her. “Oops, sorry, boss. Didn’t see you there.”
Still dressed and in skates, the player lumbered over to Jack. “My man, you were on fire.”
Jack’s smile flashed wide and bright, and when he began to introduce Sutton to his teammate, Haven turned away.
Chapter Twenty-One
The team traveled to Dallas the next day for a Sunday afternoon matchup, and then went on to St. Louis for a late-night showdown on Monday. When Jack finally returned home early Tuesday, he dropped his bag inside his apartment door and made his way back down the hall to the elevators. He punched in the code to take him to the twentieth floor.
He hadn’t seen in her three days and hunger gnawed at him. He didn’t care if he could only bury his face in her hair and inhale the scent of her shampoo for a while. It mattered only that he was near her, for a little while, at least.
Then the elevator doors pulled apart and she stood before him.
“Jack.” She drew up at the sight of him. “You’re back.”
“I was just coming to see you.” The magnetic force pulled him toward her.
Her arm came out to hold the elevator door. “Actually, I’m on my way out.”
Unease prickled up his spine.
He searched her face. “Is everything okay?”
She nodded. “I’m just busy today.”
Maybe it was the way she held her shoulders, high and tight, or how her gaze never quite managed to find his face, but he knew he couldn’t let her get away or he risked losing her.
“I’ll come with you.” He slipped back inside the elevator.
“You don’t even know where I’m going.”
“Where are we going?”
Her lips pressed into a tight line. “You just got home. Why don’t you relax?” She pressed the button for the eighteenth floor. “I’ll be back later.”
She was trying to get rid of him, and he didn’t even care to know why. He cared about only one thing.
“I want to be with you, Haven.”
She stared straight ahead. “What if we’re seen together?”
His lips pressed into a tight line. Dammit, she wasn’t his dirty little secret. Nor was he hers.
He pressed the button to take them to the lobby. “We were seen together plenty of times before we started this, and no one thought anything of it.”
She lifted one shoulder. “Fine. Do whatever you want.”
He narrowed his eyes at her. “What I want is to get you naked and kiss you in all those places that make you soft and slippery until you tell me what’s bothering you. Until then, I’ll be happy just to hang out with you.” Reaching over, he plucked the car keys from her hand. “But I’m driving.”
In her sedan, she directed him to get on the highway headed south, and a few exits beyond the city limits, she guided him off the freeway and onto a rural road. They’d driven less than a quarter of a mile when she asked him to turn in at the entrance of a mobile home park.
Uneasiness settled between his shoulder blades as he steered them through the vast park.
Near the far perimeter, where the interstate ran parallel to the boundary line, she pointed to a white trailer with a small front porch. “It’s this one here.”
He followed her up the porch stairs, where she rapped on the door once and entered the trailer. Ducking his head, he followed her inside.
The living room, dining room, and kitchen all flowed into one space, giving the cramped trailer a much larger feel. Still, Jack’s head came within a foot of the ceiling, and he wasn’t at all sure that he wouldn’t be able to touch the two walls running lengthwise at once.
Haven moved toward the sofa where a dark-haired woman lay covered by a colorful afghan.
“Hey, Mama.” She bent down and pressed a kiss to the woman’s chubby cheek.
“Hi, sweetie.” The woman was slow to sit. “What a nice surprise.”
“We didn’t mean to wake you up. Go back to sleep.”
Haven’s mom had the same olive skin and dark eyes as her daughter. She removed the afghan and, with much effort, pushed herself up off the sofa.
Once steady on her severely swollen feet, she lifted her face toward Jack with a smile. “And who’s this?”
“Mama, this is Jack Nolan. He’s a hockey player. Jack, this is my mom, Beverly.”
Beverly shuffled forward. “What position do you play, Jack?”
“I’m a right forward.”
A spark of light came into her eyes. “My son played hockey. He was quite good at it, too, wasn’t he?” When Haven nodded, Beverly turned back to him. “We lost him in a car accident a few years back now, but he was a real good player.”
“I’m very sorry to hear that,” Jack said. “What position did he play?”
A wrinkle between her brows, Beverly twisted to look at Haven.
“Right forward,” Haven said.
Beverly reached for his arm. “Come on over here. I’ll show you some pictures.”
He helped Haven’s mom to the dining table and she cracked open a large photo album. While she pointed to the first picture, Haven moved into the small kitchen where she flipped on the faucet and filled the sink with soapy water. She then set to work washing a stack of dirty dishes piled high on the laminate counters.
For the next hour, Beverly regaled him with stories about her children as she flipped through the pages of her photo album. A smile played on Jack’s lips as he peered into Haven’s sweet, little girl face, but Beverly’s obvious love and longing for the son she’d lost, while the daughter who’d survived the accident stood only a few feet away, battered his heart and obliterated his smile.
When it came time to go, Haven helped her mom to the sofa.
She laid the afghan over Beverly’s leg
s. “Are you taking your blood pressure medicine?”
“Oh, yes, yes.” Beverly fussed with the blanket. “Well, sometimes, I forget.”
Haven retrieved a pill from a bottle on the end table and handed it to her mom with a cup of water. “Do you need anything else?”
“I do fine all on my own.” Beverly squeezed Haven’s hand. “You’ll come see me soon?”
“I will, Mom. I promise.”
Quakes of despair and resentment reverberated through Jack as he climbed behind the wheel of her car. In trembling silence, he steered them through the winding streets of the run-down park and eased into traffic on the highway as Haven laid her head against the headrest. She watched the scenery pass by for a time.
His mind a mess, he didn’t see the road for the scrambled thoughts running through his head. Until her quiet voice jolted him.
“Everything all right?”
He struggled to keep his voice even. “That’s where you grew up?”
“No, my mom and I moved there after she and my dad divorced. I grew up in Granville.” A smile touched her lips. “In a permanently parked house.”
His knuckles turned white on the steering wheel. “So you moved to the trailer park while your dad moved into his mansion with Kristen?”
She stayed silent.
“Why didn’t he help you?”
She bristled. “I didn’t need his help.”
“You did. You do.” To soothe the bite in his tone, he grasped her hand. “He should’ve… protected you.”
She made a noise. “That’s not how it works.”
“It should be how it works.”
“He has a family to worry about.”
Why was she defending him? “Dammit, Haven, you are his family.”
“Believe it or not, I don’t want a Lexus or to live in a penthouse downtown.”
“The man is shitting money.” Jack didn’t know why he was so pissed. “The least he could do was get you and your mom a nice house in a nice neighborhood. Maybe pay for you to go to college.”
“It’s not such a bad place. And he did offer to help me with school, but I didn’t need it. I had a full ride.” The distinct ring of pride in her voice lessened his fury somewhat.
“I knew it,” he grumbled. “You’re a smart girl.”
She smiled. “It was an athletic scholarship, not academic.”
“What sport did you play?” The pad of his thumb brushed over the spot between her thumb and forefinger.
“Volleyball.”
A visual of her tight ass in super-short volleyball shorts ricocheted through his body and settled in his groin. He shifted in the seat. “Aren’t you a little short to be a volleyball player?”
“I was a defensive specialist, and I’m not that short.”
However tall she was, she was the perfect size. She was perfect in a lot of ways. Strong, smart, loyal. Hot as hell.
“I just wish he’d tried a little harder to make things easier for you. I guess that’s all I’m saying.”
“He doesn’t know me,” she said quietly. “I see him once a year, at most. After Ryan died… he just stopped paying attention to what was going on in my life.”
He pulled her hand to his mouth and pressed a kiss to her fingers.
Right then, he didn’t need a wife, but when he retired and got serious about looking for one, he wanted to find someone like Haven.
They snuck upstairs to the penthouse, and because she abhorred cooking as much as cleaning, she ordered them a pizza. Settled at the dining table situated before the windows overlooking downtown Milwaukee, a strange sort of awkwardness colored their conversation.
It was her fault. Four days later, the memory of Jack with his arm around Sutton still irritated, pursuing her like a drunk creep at the bar, though she knew she had no right to the feeling.
“Do you like the pizza?”
A suspicious glint in his vivid eyes, Jack studied her face. “The pizza’s good.”
She might’ve just told him what was troubling her, except no words would come that didn’t make her sound needy and clingy. Like a committed girlfriend.
On the coffee table, his cell phone buzzed.
He didn’t move, but continued to eat.
“Do you like the new uniforms?” she asked. “They’re nice, right?”
He narrowed his eyes at her.
Another buzz sounded from the coffee table, but he only flipped open the pizza box and dished himself another piece.
“Do you need to get that?”
“It’s a text.” He snuck a glance at her. “I don’t usually bother to read them.”
Understanding wrenched her heart. “Because of your dyslexia?”
One of his wide shoulders hitched higher.
His phone buzzed again.
She chewed her bottom lip. “It sounds like something might be going on. Do you want me to read them?”
As she spoke, yet another text buzzed.
With an annoyed scowl, he flicked his hand toward the coffee table. “Go for it.”
She crossed to the phone and located the icon to open his text message. “The first one’s from Eli.” She tapped the screen. “He says ‘LOLOLOLOL.’”
Jack’s eyebrows lifted.
Haven shrugged. “The next one’s from Sebastian. It says ‘Oh captain, my captain, teach me your ways!’”
Jack frowned. “What the…?”
Haven opened the next message, from Milo. “He says ‘Does she have a sister?’”
Jack and Haven stared at one another.
Her mouth suddenly dry, she swallowed hard. “You don’t think…?”
“They found out about us,” he finished while shoving to his feet.
She opened the next text, and the next one, both from his teammates, both with similar comments.
“Reply to Ezra.” He came to stand beside her. “Ask him what the fuck he’s talking about.”
Haven typed Jack’s exact words into a text and hit Send.
They stared at the device in her palm. When it buzzed a moment later, she startled and then opened Ezra’s response.
“He sent a link.” She clicked on the web link and waited for the page to load.
The site, some kind of tabloid or celebrity gossip website, brimmed with photos.
She scrolled down the page.
“Top 10 WAGS of pro athletes,” she read. “What’s a WAG?”
She scrolled a little farther, and a picture of Sutton came onto the screen. Surrounded by painfully normal-looking people, she appeared to be in the stands at some kind of an event. An arena.
Below that picture was another of Sutton standing in water up to her knees, wearing a string bikini and smiling her incredible smile at the camera.
Confused thoughts cluttered Haven’s mind as she scrolled to the last photo of Jack, in his Renegades jersey, with Sutton nestled in the crook of his arm while he smiled down into her face.
Her heart spasmed in her chest and she read the text below their embrace with dreadful reluctance.
Jack Nolan of the Milwaukee Renegades snags our number two spot with this sultry lass. Swimsuit model and budding actress, she keeps puck-slapping lucky lad Jack warm at night after a frostbitten battle, and melts our frigid hearts.
“What does it say?” Jack asked.
Haven handed him the phone. “Hottest wives and girlfriends. WAGS.”
She watched his face as he viewed the pictures of Sutton and pieced together their meaning.
His gaze snapped to Haven’s face.
She arranged her features to imitate a smile. “Sutton, right? She seemed sweet.”
“She’s not my girlfriend.”
Haven crossed to the dining table and scooped up her dinner plate. “She’s a hugger.”
“You’re mad.”
“I’m not mad.” She carried the plate to the kitchen sink.
He moved to the kitchen island. “You say the words, but your tone doesn’t match.”
&
nbsp; “I’m not mad,” she repeated.
Sick with jealousy, maybe, but not mad.
He dragged a hand through his hair and it stood up on end. “She sort of latched on and… wouldn’t let go. I didn’t even see her coming.”
“You have no one to blame but yourself. You can’t leave yourself out there like that, just so… huggable.” She loaded her dirty plate into the dishwasher.
“I’m sorry.”
With her foot, she pushed the dishwasher door closed. “I didn’t say it was your fault. I said I’m blaming you.”
A smile quirked his lips. “I’m sorry if she upset you.”
“You don’t look sorry.”
He sidled closer. “I like that you’re jealous.”
She folded her arms over her abdomen, guarding against his delicious-smelling cocoon of warmth.
His expression grew serious once more. “Though maybe it isn’t the worse thing in the world if people think she and I are… together.”
His words hit her like a punch to the gut.
He watched her closely. “They’ll be less likely to suspect anything is going on between us.”
Jealousy snarled through her. “You’re right. No one would suspect you’d want to sleep with me if you could have her.” The words escaped before she could stop them.
“Hey.” He brushed a strand of hair off her forehead. “You can’t possibly think that.”
But she did. She wanted him to tell her how horrid he found Sutton’s appearance, and even though it’d be a lie, she’d fall into his arms and let her insecurities melt into a puddle at their feet.
It was a ludicrous thought.
She sighed, defeated. “Does she have to be so pretty? And snuggly?”
He bent his head to nuzzle the side of her neck, below her ear. “You’re pretty. And snuggly.”
She moved toward his touch. “You don’t have to lie to me, Jack. No promises, no regrets, remember?”
He drew back.
When he looked at her, the playfulness left his face. “That was before.”
Her heart beat with light, furious palpitations. “My dad will be out of rehab and back with the team soon. In thirteen days.”