Page 5 of Breakaway (Nashville Knights Hockey #3)

Chapter Five

CHLOE

I can’t sit still. Pacing around the bedroom of the cabin, it’s hard to keep the antsy thoughts at bay. It’s only been a few days, but being out in the middle of the woods is making me stir-crazy.

I’ve never been one to sit around. I thought spending time with Dax at his home away from home would be just what I needed to clear my head and get past my fiasco of a wedding.

Turns out, I might need to get a move on with my list. Give me something to focus on instead of the repetitive cycle of thoughts.

Wedding. Duncan. Cheating. Running away. Wedding. Duncan. Cheating. Running away.

Rinse and repeat.

Is hiding out really going to solve any of my problems? Will my list help?

No. But it will help me feel better.

The high-pitched trill of my phone echoes through the tiny cabin. Glancing at the screen where it sits on the bed, I see it’s my mom calling .

Again.

Sighing, I know I can’t ignore her much longer.

It’s been three days since I ran out, and the only person I’ve seen or talked to is Dax. Which is how I like it.

Sliding my thumb across the bottom of the screen, I answer. “Hi, Mom.”

“That’s all you have to say to me? ‘Hi, Mom’ after you ran away from your fiancé?”

I swallow down the annoyance that threatens to spill over. It’s not like she knows the reason why. The only person who does is Dax. Well, Duncan should be able to figure it out, but I doubt he has.

“I could have sent you to voicemail.”

“Chloe Ann Davis. Is that any way to treat your mother? I’ve been worried sick about you.”

“Look, Mom, I’m sorry, okay? I overheard a conversation Duncan was having and I couldn’t marry him.”

“What could you have possibly heard to make you run out on your wedding? You were so happy.”

“He was cheating on me!” I hiss. “How could I marry someone that can’t be faithful to me?”

“Cheating? I’m sure he wasn’t cheating. Duncan loves you.”

“Does he?” I spit out. “Because it sure sounded like he loves this other person more.”

“Nonsense, Chloe.” I can picture my mom—blonde hair fixed back in a neat bun, lips pursed together. “You must have misunderstood him.”

“Hard to misunderstand someone when they say ‘I love you’ to someone else.”

“And what if it was his mother?”

Now I can picture her quirking her brow at me. The same way she did when I was a kid and she was trying to figure out if I was lying or not .

“Why would he be on the phone with his mom before the wedding? I wouldn’t be calling you.”

“That would require you to answer your phone if I called.”

“Mom.” I give her an aggrieved sigh.

“There’s still time to make this right. Duncan has oh so generously said he would still marry you if you come back.”

“Oh he will, will he?”

“You don’t have to be so childish,” Mom snaps. “You need to be an adult about this situation. Who cares if he’s cheating? Duncan can provide you with the kind of life you’ve always dreamed of.”

“A cheating husband is the kind of life I’ve always dreamed about?”

“Chloe, I expect you back here at the house by Saturday at noon so the wedding-”

“Well, I’m sorry to tell you, Mom , that that will absolutely not be happening. I have no intentions of marrying Duncan. And since you seem to be in contact with him, you can tell him to fuck off!”

I hang up, feeling more frustrated than before. Should I have spoken to my mother like that? Probably not.

But when she puts Duncan’s well-being before mine and thinks she knows what’s best for me? I really don’t care.

I toss the phone onto the bed and storm downstairs. Dax is working out in front of the TV. Dax has been in my life longer than he hasn’t been in it. No matter what is going on in my life, Dax is always there for me.

So seeing him like this? Working out in his living room in only a pair of shorts and tennis shoes?

It’s something I’ve seen before. But the butterflies in my stomach that it’s conjuring up? That’s a new feeling .

Sweat clings to his bare chest. His abs and biceps flex as he squats and thrusts his arms over his head. The hockey charm necklace I made him when he first got drafted—a set of crossed hockey sticks with number fourteen on it—hangs around his neck.

I shouldn’t like looking at him like this. Ogling him, more like it.

It’s only because I’m in such an emotional state that this is happening. That has to be it.

This is Dax. My best friend. My ex-fiancé’s brother. I cannot be having feelings for him.

“You okay?”

Dax’s voice breaks me out of my thoughts.

“What? Umm, yeah.”

I shake myself out of my stupor.

“You don’t seem it.”

He grabs the towel from the mantel and drags it over his face and down his chest. I shouldn’t be watching the movement, but I am.

A single bead of sweat trails down the path between his pecs. Really nice pecs, I’m now discovering.

“Chloe?” Dax says again. “You sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine.” This time, I swing my gaze to meet his and don’t let my eyes betray me. “Just had a conversation with my mom.”

“Ahh.” He tosses the towel down and walks around to me. “Tells me all I need to know.”

I nod. “Apparently if I show up to her place by Saturday at noon, Duncan will still be willing to marry me.”

“What? Are you going to do it?” he asks, shock lacing his voice.

Shaking my head, I make up my mind on the only thing I want to do. “I’m going skinny-dipping. ”

“What?” Dax looks confused now at my one-eighty.

“The only thing I want to do right now is start on my list. And that means I’m going skinny-dipping.”

Throwing open the French doors, I jog down the steps that lead to the dock. Sunlight sneaks through the high treetops as leaves and sticks crunch under my feet. Steam rises from the rain that’s finally stopped after the last few days.

“Wait,” Dax calls out after me.

“No. I’m tired of everyone thinking they know what’s best for me. I’m starting this with or without your help.”

When the trees break, a small lake appears with a tiny dock that extends from the edge of the water.

I breathe in the clean air, letting it fill my lungs as I tug my T-shirt over my head.

“Jesus, Chloe. Warn a man.”

Dax draws up short behind me. When I turn around, his hand is covering his eyes.

“I told you I was doing this. Not sure how else I should warn you. Are you going to do this with me or not?”

“I…I guess I’m going to do it with you.”

“You could sound more excited.”

I shimmy out of my shorts and chuck them his way. They fall in a heap at his feet as he peeks at them.

“Is it weird we’re going to see each other naked?” he asks, voice quieter than I’ve ever heard it before.

I give it a thought as I unhook my bra and slide it from my arms. “How about I jump in first and then close my eyes and then you jump in?”

“Fine.”

Taking off my underwear, I don’t think twice before I jump into the lake. I try not to suck in water as the cold feels like thousands of tiny needles pricking my skin .

Erupting out of the water, I get a flash of Dax jumping in on the other side.

He shoots up out of the water, teeth already chattering.

“Holy shit! Why did you let me do this?”

“You could have said no.” I splash water his way. “Besides, you’re all sweaty after your workout. It should feel nice.”

“There’s refreshing, Sunshine, then there’s jumping into sub-Arctic water.”

“It’s not that cold.”

Dax swims closer, water clinging to his hair. “Your lips turning blue say otherwise.”

“They are not.”

As I tread water, the sun beats down overhead, warming my face. The trees rustle in the wind. Pushing onto my back, I swim farther into the lake.

There is something entirely freeing about being stark naked in the middle of a lake. Having been to Dax’s cabin before, I know others live around here. It’s not just his lake. Any one of them could happen upon us out here.

But I don’t care.

That’s half the excitement of it.

“Okay, I want to move out here so I can do this all the time. I don’t know why you’ve never done it.”

“Who says I haven’t?”

I peek one eye at Dax, swimming closer to me. The water is murky at best, but it doesn’t do much to hide our bodies. Flipping onto my stomach, I aim for some modesty. I don’t need Dax seeing everything.

“I feel like you would have told me already when I made the list.”

Dax laughs. “I was too distracted by the fact you want to go to a sex club.”

“Have you done this?” I ask, ignoring his comment .

“No. I guess I’m boring like you.”

“Should we make a ‘Dax needs to not be boring’ list too?”

This time, it’s Dax splashing me. “I don’t need a list to know I’m boring. I’m happy with my life as it is.”

“You play for the Knights. That’s about as un-boring as it gets.”

“Which is why I like my life as it is,” he says. “No more excitement is needed.”

I point a finger his way, swimming closer. “Except for the excitement you’re going to help me with, right?”

“Do you remember when you came to look at that one school with me?” Dax asks. “The one I didn’t go to, but my parents couldn’t come with me because Duncan had something more important?”

The memory of that day is so vivid. Duncan has always come first with their parents, and I hate it. Dax has always been living in his older brother’s shadow—whether with his family or the NHL. It’s like he’s never been good enough.

“How could I forget?”

“You made us a road-trip playlist, bought us the worst kinds of snacks, and made it the best day. I still love peach rings because of that trip.”

“And we took the most ridiculous pictures around campus. I think they would have barred you from the school on that alone.”

Dax smiles at me. “That’s why I want to do this with you.”

This is why Dax has always been my best friend. With Duncan, I felt like I had to act a certain way. Tone my real self down for him. It’s not until I left him that I realized just how much I was doing to make him love me.

Dax? Dax loves me without question. In the best friend kind of way. We’ve always been our real selves with each other.

Singing bad songs at the top of our lungs. Rescuing each other when we need it. Helping with lists.

Dax might think I’m crazy for doing this, but he will be there right alongside me every step of the way.

That’s what I need in a partner—if I ever decide to leave the single life behind. Duncan has scarred me for life. How the hell am I ever going to trust another man, other than Dax?

“Okay, I need to get out before everything on me freezes off.”

“You’re such a baby.” I laugh.

“Well, I want to protect the important parts. Close your eyes while I get out.”

“Okay.”

I make a show of covering my eyes with my hand so I can’t see him. When the sloshing of water hits my ears followed by Dax cursing, I can’t help but peek between my fingers.

“Are you okay?” I ask.

Dax has one leg on the metal ladder, trying to climb it. With his bare ass on full display.

“Shit. I’m fine. Just slipped.”

“Do you need help?”

“No!” he shouts. “I mean, I’m good. Totally fine.”

“You sure?”

“Are you looking?” he fires back.

“No.” I smack my hand back over my eyes. Holy shit. How come I have never noticed how nice of an ass my best friend has?

There were times Duncan and I were broken up over some stupid fight. Dax was always there for me, but always only as my friend. I guess I never let myself notice him. Because wow.

You could bounce quarters off that ass.

“You better not be,” Dax calls out.

There’s no point in letting him know I’m looking. I’m his best friend. He doesn’t see me as anything other than that.

“No. I promise.”

“Good.”

Taking a deep breath, I sink under the surface of the lake. I let the cold water flow around me. I need it to quell the thoughts about Dax’s ass.

Not something I need to be thinking about. It’s only because I’m in such a bad headspace right now.

That’s it. Nothing else.

I’ll let myself have that peek and move on.

It won’t be hard, right?