Total pages in book: 122
Estimated words: 112884 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 564(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 376(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112884 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 564(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 376(@300wpm)
“You think they are going to listen?” Jaxon asks and I shake my head.
“Nope,” he replies, “and I think it’s a fifty-fifty chance we have practice on Sunday night.” I get up and take off my practice jersey, tossing it in the big gray bin in the middle of the room. The away bag is already open at my feet for me to put my things in it.
“I hope Ariella will be okay,” he says softly. “First time I’m gone and she’s by herself since Lexi moved out.” I try not to look over at him when he says her name. Instead, I pull the Velcro off my chest protector from the right and then the left, tossing it into the bag. “So you hired Lexi?” Jaxon asks me. I look over at him, seeing him still sitting down in his gear, a protein shake in his hand.
“Yeah,” I answer, sitting down and finally taking off the skates I untied as soon as I sat down. “She applied for the job.”
“She has no job experience.” I look over at him as I place one skate in the bag.
“What are you saying?” I will not play this guessing game with him. “If you want to ask me something, then ask me.”
“You two…” He puts his drink beside him and all I can do is look at him. The whole locker room is filled with noise from different conversations going on all around us, but it feels like it’s just the two of us. “You guys acted like you knew each other more than just meeting for the second time when you had dinner at our house.”
“Yeah,” I say and take off the other skate, and I know he’s waiting for more. “We”—I place the skate in the bag—“ran into each other in Phoenix.” His eyebrows shoot up like he was not expecting that answer. “She was doing a fundraiser at the hospital I volunteer at.”
“No way.” He takes off his own skate now and places it in the bag in front of him. “So you met her husband?”
“Oh yeah.” I nod, the lump in my throat getting bigger as I think about him.
“Is he as big of a piece of shit as I think he is?”
“Even bigger,” I confirm, taking off my hockey pants. “Listen,” I say, stopping the conversation when it comes to Lexi, “I don’t want to sit around and talk about her and her life back there. I won’t do it. You’re my best friend and I love you like a brother and would fight right next to you, but I can’t.” I shake my head before tossing my pants in the bag. “I am not going to talk about her or her dickhead of an ex.”
“Wow,” he says, chuckling, “so Ariella was right.” He gets up and folds his arm backward to grab the back of his jersey. “There is definitely something going on between you two.”
“I can confirm that,” I start, pushing down the lump that is growing in my throat, “that is not true. She works for me and I’m her friend. It’s nothing more.” I leave out the word sadly, because I’m fucking sad it’s not more. But I also have to respect her wishes.
“I’m happy she has you at least,” he states, shocking the shit out of me. “I didn’t know her that well when all of that was going on, but knowing her now and seeing how amazing she is, I’d love to meet her ex…with my fist in his face.”
“Trust me”—I shake my head—“he’s not worth it.” I toss my shin pads in the bag. “People like him feed off attention of other people. The more you ignore him, that’s what really gets him.” I stop talking because just the thought of him makes my blood boil.
I finish my shower, getting dressed in my black joggers with matching black T-shirt before putting on one of the team sweaters with the logo in the middle of it, my number seventy-seven on the upper left side.
I get into the SUV and pull out of the parking lot, the garage door opening as soon as I drive up the ramp. I pull out and look over at the center console, seeing it’s just after one in the afternoon. I stop by and pick up lunch before heading to the office. I take the brown bag off the passenger seat before reaching into the back seat and taking out the blue bag with white handles and a white ribbon on it and shutting the door with my hip. I look and see that Lexi’s SUV is here and then see the space beside her empty. Kylie told me she would be working from home today, but I wasn’t sure if things had changed.
I press the elevator button and bounce on my feet, waiting for the doors to open. It’s been four days since I last saw Lexi, and four days that I’ve done nothing but tell myself this is the way it’s going to be until she makes a move. The doors open and I step in, pressing the button and then stepping back. A couple of people get on when I get to the lobby floor, and by the time I get to my floor, I’m the only one left.