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“Marie! Come see me after Mr. Parker’s appointment tonight,” Dr. Patterson calls out from his office and I freeze in the hall.

“Sure.” I croak back and step into my office. Shit, does he know something’s wrong with me already? I barely said two words to my boss today. That man must have a sixth sense.

I’m running on fumes all day. I pull up the files for the rest of the day and furrow my brows when I see the emails from Dr. Patterson about moving me to the rink with him during home games.

He even wants me traveling with the team for the away games…

What? What happened to Annika? She’s the one that focused on the team, I’m happy here in the clinic.

Sure, the majority of our patients are from the Mavericks, but we still see normal guys, along with the local NFL team, the college athletes, hell, even cheerleaders. With a smaller practice, he can’t really open up outside of that, and he’s been cutting back on ‘normal’ people.

I grab my tablet and see that James has an appointment today. My stomach drops when I find he’s on my list of patients… Dr. Patterson is too overbooked for me to switch anything around. Fuck. There’s no way I can look him in the eyes any time soon.

Why today of all days? He couldn’t wait to come in next year?

Ever since that night a few weeks ago at Logan and Bianca’s engagement party, I just assumed he was ignoring the night we had together, too afraid to change our relationship, or lack thereof.

But I have an inkling he honest to fuck doesn’t remember.

How do I even bring that up to him? ‘ Hey, remember when we were wasted and drank too much in the hotel bar… when you tossed me around your room like a rag doll and fucked me until I felt like I was ascending into goddesshood? Well… Good job knocking me up while on birth control. Congratulations, daddy.’

I shake my head and set aside the tablet as I head off to the exam rooms to ready them for the next patients.

I just need to get my head in the game and focus on anything, everything else.

The smell of the antiseptic, the crinkling of the paper as I drag it along the exam table.

The loud sinks as I wash my hands. The boisterous laughter coming from the waiting room.

Time flies as I try to put everything out of my mind.

The pregnancy, James, and now being moved to the rink.

I don’t think I can even skate while pregnant, but I’m going to do it anyway.

I need the money, especially now. What else am I supposed to do?

Tell my boss that I’m knocked up and force him to keep me here in the clinic when something obviously happened to Annika?

Or maybe I’m just making up excuses. I’ve been skating for as long as James has. We learned together, after all.

“Marie, Mr. Carter is ready for you in room three,” Patti winks at me as she skips out of my office.

I see the flash of her black hair swinging behind her as she leaves me alone to deal with him on my own.

I groan and move away from my desk. I feel like my ass has a permanent imprint of the seams along my leather chair from charting so much today.

Anything to keep me in the office and away from people in between appointments.

I pluck up my tablet and sign in, pulling up James’s chart and frowning when I see he’s here for another physical… Odd. They just did those a few months ago prior to the season starting.

I knock on the door, staring down at the tablet as I walk in.

I look up to see a woman standing with James that I’ve never seen before.

My heart lodges in my throat and I feel my blood pressure spike.

I glance between the two of them and want to throw my tablet against the glass window behind them and jump through it.

What the fuck is going on?

“M! This is Alex, my girlfriend,” he winks at her and wraps his arm around her slim shoulders, leaning down to kiss her cheek.

I just stand there, blinking at them in confusion.

Even tilting my head like an owl… or a dog.

Girlfriend? “We reconnected a few months ago and she finally agreed to date me.”

I shake my head as I check out the woman.

Long, thick auburn hair, she’s about my height and build, but has glittering green eyes, lightly tanned skin, and dresses like she has one of James’s black cards in her wallet.

I wouldn’t be surprised if she does. She looks like she’s dressed to kill, even wearing heels and here I am.

Wearing old scrubs, my hair hasn’t been washed in days, and there was no way I was putting makeup on my red, puffy face after crying so much.

I clear my throat and step forward to offer her my hand. “Hi there, I’m Marie, nice to meet you.”

She nods and looks at James with a pout, ignoring my hand and me completely.

“Can we get the tests done now? I’m hungry,” she flutters her long, thick eyelashes at him and sits on the exam table before pulling out her phone and scrolling.

And tapping. And scrolling some more. How old is this creature?

She looks like she barely just turned eighteen.

Cute.

James licks his lips and smirks at me. “I’m here for another set of STD tests. She’s allergic to latex and doesn’t want to… you know… without knowing I’m clean.”

I just nod and tamp down the tears that are threatening to spill. I feel my face draining of color and I pray that he doesn’t look at me too intently. Why did he have to come here? See me? On today of all fucking days.

So, not only is James unavailable now, he’s about to be having unprotected sex with this… woman. That I had no idea about.

Does he really not remember the night we were together? I know that we never talked about it… But, really? I guess this is the answer. If it was as good for him as it was for me, he wouldn’t have a girlfriend, right? Was it only good for me because I’m in love with him?

I huff out a breath, step up to the sink to wash my hands. I sing the ABC song in my head as I scrub before I dry them off and slap on some gloves.

“Do you want to have this appointment alone?” I wince as Alex snaps her head up and clears her throat.

James immediately shakes his head and sits down beside his woman and nods for me to continue my charade.

I nod and clear my throat. “I see Patti already did your vitals. Before I draw blood or any samples, do you have any reason to believe you have any STD’s? ”

I glance back over to James and he shakes his head. “No, I’ve never had sex without a condom… I don’t have any issues down there.” My stomach drops and I feel like I’m going to faint and pass out at the same time.

Yes he has. With me. A few weeks ago.

He blushes and clears his throat and I nod and glance over to Alex.

“What about you? Any concerns?”

She blinks up at me with a frown, “No, I just need you to test us both.”

I breathe out through my nose and frown at them both. “This is a sports medicine clinic. The only reason why James can show up for anything like this is because of his career and Dr. Patterson’s affiliation with the NHL. You’re not a patient here, you’ll need to see your own doctor about that.”

I ignore their whispered conversation as I grab everything I need, focusing on James’s arm to draw several tubes of blood. I hand him a cup and point him out to the hall. “Go ahead and fill that up for me, would you like Dr. Patterson to complete the swabs?”

He nods mutely and shuffles to the door and I focus on labeling the tubes before dropping them in the bag to hand off to our lab. I send a note to Dr. Patterson to come to this exam room as soon as he can and I try to focus on anything aside from the gorgeous woman in the room with me.

“So are you and James close?” Alex asks as she continues to tap on her phone.

I glance at her over my shoulder and roll my eyes. “You’ll have to talk to your boyfriend about that,” I mutter and start to tap out some notes on James’s file. Might as well while I wait. Better than tossing it at the floozy’s head.

She hums. “I’m going to marry him… so if you have any feelings for him, I suggest you back off. He’s asked me to move in.”

I chuckle under my breath and nod. No worries there, girl. I’m not one to chase after a man that obviously doesn’t want or love me. “And what about Alyssa and Caroline?”

Her face pinches in confusion and she shakes her head, “Who?”

I straighten up and grab my phlebotomy bag before placing my tablet under my arm. “Exactly. I’ll see you around, Alex.” I step out of the room, shutting the door behind me. I wait in the hall for James to finish up pissing in the cup.

I feel sick. If it weren’t already for the nausea threatening me to puke up my mediocre meals for the day, I would just succumb to the feeling and let it expel everything out of me.

But I need the nutrients, and I’d rather not have the office knowing what’s going on, ever. Or until it’s obvious, I guess.

This woman doesn’t know about me, his sisters…

He’s getting tested to have unprotected sex with her and doesn’t even remember our night together.

Is he going to remember to make sure that Alex is on birth control?

Maybe we can be maternity ward buddies once he knocks her up once the results are in since obviously his swimmers don’t give a shit about birth control.

The man of the hour steps out of the bathroom and smiles widely at me. His perfect, white, straight teeth are gleaming under the lights and he runs his left hand through his thick blonde hair. “I know it’s sudden… but I really think she’s great. What do you think?”

I shrug and point to the wall in the bathroom where he can place his urine sample. “Go ahead and set the cup over there. Did you label it?”