Page 4

Morgan

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I take a quick look at Lillian and sigh internally. She's young, too young to be here on her own and essentially giving up her dreams. But, she’s my only option right now. I’m out of time.

Mandatory practices start today and I can’t let the team down, especially not so close to the end of my contract. There’s no way Daniel would keep me on, he’d rather risk trading my ass, and I will not uproot the girls from everything they know.

I clear my throat and lead Lillian to the kitchen.

“Since you already offered them cookies, I’ll go over their diets.

Basically it’s what ever the fuck they will actually eat.

I’ve tried everything under the sun, and they would rather eat McDonald’s, chicken nuggets, or macaroni and cheese.

Hopefully you have a few tricks up your sleeve with your fancy degrees, but I honestly don’t care at this point, I just want them to eat. ”

She nods and follows me down the hall towards the living room.

“The kids have their own area in the playroom, as you’ve already seen.

Here is where the adults hang out, also known as…

me, and now, you. The remotes are in the cubby right below the TV, help yourself when they’re napping or sleeping at night.

Through the back doors is our backyard. I have the gates up so they don’t go out and fall into the lake.

I would prefer for you not to swim with them without me here, but there is a community pool a few streets south if you’re so inclined.

There’s also a playground, arcade, movie theater… ”

She hums and her gray[5] eyes seem to glaze over.

“All right, down this hall is mostly storage, you’ve seen my office.

Then here’s the access to the garage. And this door leads to the basement.

It’s all storage and unfinished, but I’m going to be converting it into a gym eventually.

Hopefully. Maybe once Avery is in school and Nessa is back in daycare or preschool.

Easier to deal with just Tilly while construction is going on, I’m assuming. ”

I lead her to the other end of the house, pausing to glance in the playroom to find all of the girls sitting in front of the TV and the room is actually mostly cleaned. I wave at them and continue down the hall and point to the sitting room.

“This is a formal sitting room, attached to it is a formal dining room that we never use, too damn far away from the kitchen and also - who the fuck wants to host fancy dinners with three rugrats?” I wink at her and she chuckles, glancing around at all of the family photos on the walls.

Brittany is still hanging up on the wall, several times over. I don’t have the heart to take them down just yet. Even if the kids don’t really even notice her missing, she’s still their mom.

“Down this hall are the bedrooms. Mine is through the double doors at the end, and it stays locked. The closest two rooms on either side are Avery’s and then Nessa and Tilly share a room.

You can choose any guest room you want. All of them have walk- in closets and ensuites…

but this one…” I open it up and point to the patio through the French doors.

“Has access to the backyard. I can set you up with a table and a chair if you want to sit out there at night or early in the morning or something.”

She blinks around the room and frowns. “It’s so… white. And bare. Are all of the guest rooms like this?”

I bite down on my lip and nod. “Yep. My ex-wife chose all of the décor for all of the rooms, except for the playroom. That was all me.” I lean against the wall and think about what I can go over before I have to race out of here.

“Like I said earlier, anything outside of the gates needs to go through me. Nessa and Tilly go down for naps after lunch, and that’s usually when Avery goes to her own room for a quiet time.

She loves to read and write. No medications or health issues, and no allergies.

Is there anything you want to know? I need to get going. ”

She shakes her head. “Not really… I’ll go sit with them and get them some snacks.

Maybe we can play outside before lunch to wear them out.

” She pulls out her phone and hands it to me, she already pulled up a new contact.

I enter in my phone number, and the address to the rink in case she ever needs to go there.

I also add in Nolan and James’s contact information in case I’m ever unavailable, in case of an emergency.

I tell her so as I hand it over after I call myself so that I have her number.

“Also, there’s a file in the kitchen, in the drawer on the right side of the fridge.

It contains addresses and phone numbers to their doctors, their health insurance information, and the spare keys to the SUV and to the house in case you need it today.

It already has Nessa and Tilly’s car seats in it… ”

She nods and shoves her phone back in her pocket.

“I can’t think of anything else. I’ll text or call if there’s anything important.

Plus I’m sure your contract covers everything.

” She chuckles and then grabs her keys out of her purse, pulling off her house key.

“I’ll text you my address, if you are serious about hiring the movers.

Should I go there tonight after you get home and box everything up? ”

She chews on her bottom lip as she rubs her hands down her legs. She's nervous. I chuckle to myself as I pocket her key.

This is bad news, she's damn gorgeous. Innocent and sweet.

“No… the movers my buddy’s fiancée hired last year did everything for her. Boxing up, moving it out, and even unpacking and unloading, I’ll even have them put your furniture in storage if you’d like? I just need to call him to get their number.”

She just blinks at me and shakes her head.

“Okay then. None of the furniture is mine, it came furnished since I only drove here with literal duffle bags and a jewelry box.” She chews on her lip and glances away.

Probably for the better… her gray eyes are hypnotizing.

Well, really every part of her is. “Anyway, just call me if they have any questions.” She heads back into the hall and looks at me over her shoulder.

“You should get out of here before you’re late… I got your girls.”

I blow out a breath and follow her to the playroom and watch as she sits beside them on the carpet and watches the show.

“I love you girls, I’ll be home later… I’ll try to be home for dinner.”

They race up to me and give me hugs and kisses on my cheek as I get down on my knees for them to reach. Avery steps back and frowns at me. “Are you going to be gone a lot again?”

I lick my lips and slowly nod. “Yeah… But my contract is up at the end of this season, Ave. Only a few more months of this and then I’ll be home a lot more.”

She sighs and stalks away, sitting right beside Lillian. I wonder how someone so young already went through such a hard break up, Lillian that is.

She didn’t go into specifics, but she did mention she doesn’t talk to her family. Which is just sad. A young woman, clear across the country, with no support.

I take one last look at them before I stalk to the kitchen to grab a water bottle and my keys.

Maybe I shouldn't have been so picky over these last few weeks.

I just tossed this poor young woman into the viper's pit and didn't really get to know her aside from the file that the nanny service sent me on her.

If only they updated the files with photos.

I sigh as I jump into my truck and back out of the driveway, heading straight to the rink. Fingers crossed that there are no damn reporters or paparazzi around.

My lovely ex has been seen in Paris, Munich, and the Netherlands with her new man, and now our separation and subsequent divorce has been leaked.

Luckily I’ve been able to stay home for the past two weeks. Avery wasn’t happy about missing the last week of summer camp, but I dealt with her wrath to keep her safe. I just pray that when she starts school none of the little shits in her class open their mouths.

I parked in the lot about twenty minutes after I left my street, grabbed my bags from the bed of the truck, and raced through the doors. The locker room is empty when I emerge and I groan.

Fuck. Me. I’m late.

I suit up in my gear, tie up my skates, and drop my helmet over my head.

My stick is in my hand as I rush to get to the ice, seeing the coaches in the middle of a huddle with all of the guys…

I glance around, making sure Daniel isn’t here and let out a sigh of relief.

He’s someone I do not want to have a conversation with today.

“Bale! Glad you can join us, even our resident fuck up is here on time,” Coach Williams calls out and points to where he wants me to skate to, sending a quick glance to our captain, James.

“As I was saying, we’re going to train as hard as we can.

I know there were a few of you who were in here over the last few months, staying in shape, and getting ready for the preseason.

We also have three rookies joining us. We started with ten at the beginning of training camp, and we’ll see how these three mesh.

Daniel will make the final call. Be nice, boys.

” He skates to the wall and calls out our drills.

I toss my stick onto a bench and then get back in formation, already panting and sweating.

Fuck my life. I should have just built the gym, or I could have taken the kids here with me over the last several weeks. I’m going to regret this tonight and in the morning. And then I’ll be back here again.

“Grab your shit and I want the first line against the second. Rookies and third line, stay close and watch.” I glance over to the three new men and notice how fucking young they look compared to most of us. Shit, is that really how I looked when I was picked up?