Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 52440 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 262(@200wpm)___ 210(@250wpm)___ 175(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 52440 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 262(@200wpm)___ 210(@250wpm)___ 175(@300wpm)
My jaw clenches, and I take a deep breath, trying not to react. But it's already too late for that. As soon as he mentions her, my heart twinges like it always does, pain radiating through my entire system.
Christ, Nadia.
She's a phantom ache, one that never heals no matter how long she's been missing from my life. And this prick knows it, damn him. I never should have told him about her. But I was weak and in pain, and he acted like he really gave a damn. So I spilled my fucking heart out to him.
Big mistake.
He makes sure to twist that knife as deep as he can at every available opportunity. As if that wound hasn't already been bleeding since I was eighteen years old. I lost my best friend and the only girl I've ever loved in one fell swoop. All because I thought I knew what she needed better than she did.
Christ, I was an idiot.
I've spent six years trying to figure out how to live without her. She's spent the last six proving she never needed me. Half the goddamn country has front-row seats to her life. But her best friend? The boy she used to love? Well, he has to watch it from afar.
It still hurts a helluva lot more than it should.
"You ever going to give me her number, Kirby?" Aldersgate asks. "I mean, it's not like she's moping around about some loser she knew in high school. She's probably fucking her way through every man in Hollywood right now. Might as well offer my dick for her to climb on, right?"
Oh, this stupid son of a…
"Hut!" Ripley Jackson, our QB, shouts.
I plow into Aldersgate, knocking him to the ground on his back.
He goes down laughing like a hyena. He stops laughing when I land on top of him with my knee planted in his stomach and my hands on his helmet. I smack his head against the ground, hard enough to hear the satisfying crack of the hard plastic meeting the turf.
"Get anywhere near her, and I'll fucking kill you," I snarl in his face.
The ref blows the whistle as Tyson Magara hauls me off Aldersgate.
"Chill, man," Tyson shouts in my ear. "The whole world is watching this shit right now. That's the last thing you need."
He's right, dammit. I don't need this. But when it comes to her, I stopped being rational a long time ago. Right about the time I drove her away. Because of me, she nearly lost everything. I can't forgive myself for that. It fucking haunts me.
Aldersgate wheezes out a laugh, sitting upright. "You never change, Kirby. You're still an easy mark. All I gotta do is bring up pussy that forgot about you years ago, and you turn into a goddamn psycho."
"And you're still a woman-beating piece of shit," I snap at him, shaking Tyson off.
"At least my woman wants me." He smirks as one of his teammates helps him to his feet. "You're still hung up on a chick who forgot you existed before she left high school."
This motherfucker…
I take a step toward him, but Tyson grabs me again.
"Easy," Tyson shouts when I jerk against his hold. "Cool it with that shit before you end up riding the bench for the rest of the season!"
"I'm cool," I lie.
"Kirby! Bench!" Coach roars from somewhere behind me. "Now!"
The ref and Aldersgate's coach jog over, separating the two of us.
"Off the field, Kirby," the ref says. "Now."
Aldersgate throws his head back, laughing.
I mutter a curse, stalking off the field. No use even trying to explain what just happened. I played right into Aldersgate's hands. Just like fucking usual.
"Kirby! What the fuck was that out there?" Coach growls, stomping across the locker room toward me as soon as the game ends, his blue eyes narrowed. With his square jaw set and his face red, the man looks like a bulldog in a suit. One ready to bite.
Fuck. This is just what I need.
"I tripped," I mutter, shoving a hand through my sweaty hair.
"Over that dick's fucking mouth," Tyson whispers beside me.
I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from snorting at his assessment. He's right, though. I did trip on Aldergate's mouth, right into his ugly ass face.
I'm not stupid enough to tell Coach that.
I'm already on thin ice around here. It's my permanent state of existence since I was traded to the LA Sabres at the beginning of the season. Actually, it's been my permanent state of existence since I was drafted into the league.
Whatever it takes to forget, right?
As if that'll ever happen. Aldersgate wasn't exactly wrong out there. I've been hung up on Nadia Mikhail since I was…shit. I've been hung up on that girl for so long I don't remember a time when I wasn't, truth be told. And Nadia doesn't want a fucking thing to do with me.