Page 11

Chapter 10

Taylor– Two Weeks Later

“I can’t thank you both enough for coming today. Honestly, I don’t know what I’d do if I came alone,” Tony mutters as we walk up to the large house before us, and I grin wide, knowing full well there would be a fight.

Tony is Dylan's teammate; he’s the tight end with the Hawks, and we all went to the same school. He’s the same age as Dylan, two years older than me, but once I started high school, the fucker took me under his wing, and we’ve all been close since.

Dylan chuckles and remarks, “You think we’d miss you trying your hardest not to hit your brother?”

Tony rolls his brown eyes, and I chuckle as I put my hands in my jeans pockets. My left-hand grabs the bracelet like always, centering me a little.

Tony’s brother Harry is a jackass, a fucking big one at that. He’s nasty, a bully, and abusive, complete opposite of Tony.

“Is his wife going to be here today?” Dylan asks, and I look at Tony as he stops outside the house, pulling a face at the monstrosity.

There is only him and his wife, yet he lives in a nine-bedroom mansion in the Hamptons with a staff.

“Yes, she will be, and if you two want to distract the fucker for a little while so I can speak to her, I would really appreciate it,” Tony asks as he looks our way.

I nod, not even hesitating. The night I met Pen and went home with her, he went home with a girl called Avery.

She gave him her virginity, like Pen with me, then vanished, only for him to see her again at the rehearsal dinner for his brother’s wedding. Turns out Harry and Avery were in an arranged marriage, and Avery wanted to live just once before she married the fucker.

On their wedding night, the fucker beat her up when he realized she gave away her virginity, not knowing to who, and yeah, Tony has admitted they’ve slept together since the wedding, and by ‘they,’ I mean him and Avery despite her being married to his brother and most likely screwing him as well.

She doesn’t love Harry, and Harry doesn’t love her. He wants the firm that the Vines and the Calvins have joined up becoming the most powerful criminal law firm in the state. Whereas Avery, she wants Tony, and Tony wants her, but she can’t leave her husband without fucking things up for her family. That’s something Tony can’t understand especially when there is so many affair stories surrounding them.

“Is he still hitting her?” my brother asks with narrowed eyes.

Tony shakes his head and admits, “No. After he put her in the ER, he hasn’t laid a finger on her and they haven’t had sex either. He has a mistress.”

“How in the fuck has she managed that? Was it because you kicked the shit outta him, or was it your dad?” I ask in shock, and he scoffs.

“No, shockingly enough. It was actually her dad through her sister who threatened to go public with the marriage contracts,” he smirks, “She threatened to tell everyone that her parents were selling their children for money and ensured my brother knew his name would be dragged through the mud.”

I laugh as my phone rings and pull it out of my pocket to check it and see it’s my lawyer Billy, but I silence it, knowing he’ll leave a message. Then put the phone back in my pocket and go to walk but halt when Tony says, “Even after they disowned her, Carl Vine ensured my brother didn’t lay a finger on his daughter, fuck, he even got the Andrews out of the firm with dad's help.”

I frown, “He disowned his pregnant daughter?”

Tony shrugs, “Apparently so, but I don’t know the whole story. Avery has struggled without her sister. They were close, but with her disowned, they’ve had to cut all contact. She wouldn’t get in deep about it and that might be because I’ve been pissed with Avery for going along with her family. Her sister always stood by her and yet she couldn’t do the same.”

Tony continues walking, and I furrow my brows, a niggly feeling hitting me, but Dylan shoves me. I give him a smile and follow Tony up the steps.

“Why the fuck is everything white?” Dylan mutters, “It’s like how my wife tries to fucking decorate everything.”

Tony sniffs, “It’s more what Harry told the decorator to do. He doesn’t care for his wife,” then mutters, “Unlike me.” I chuckle and slap his back.

Infidelity isn’t okay by any means. I don’t agree with it, but Avery belongs to Tony, like Pen is mine. She’s his, though she can’t be as sweet as he makes out if she ditched her sister so easily in her time of need, because that is just fucked up.

Tony is just lucky he knows where his girl is because Pen is still MIA. I’d give anything to lay my eyes on her again.

I fucking wish I got her last name, wish I’d gotten her number or fuck, kept my alarm on for that morning so I woke with her in my arms.

One night, she enchanted me, ruining anyone I could want to move on with.

“Tony, it's about time you got here,” Harry snaps as soon as we walk into the bland living area, I snort while my brother rolls his eyes.

The room is full of pompous idiots in suits trying to brown-nose Harry, not because of Harry, as he believes, but because the Vines are here. Today is supposed to celebrate Harry getting a promotion, one below partner, or something. I don’t know; I wasn’t listening, but he isn’t the main attraction.

The idiot’s brown hair is slicked back, and he looks like he should be serving food with his bow tie.

Tony scoffs and states, “I’m five minutes late because practice ran late; Dad was aware.”

Harry narrows his beady eyes and snaps, “Whatever. Don’t embarrass me today, okay. It’s bad enough the disowned daughter is here with her brat.”

Tony growls and steps forward, both Dylan and I move, ready to grab him but he pauses and softens, making me and my brother look to see what caused his reaction. My mouth drops as Dylan stutters, “Wait, is that? I mean, isn’t that?”

I ignore him and push past Harry, ensuring to shoulder-check him in the process, making him gasp and rush over to the redhead. Her eyes come my way, and they widen, but all I can focus on is her features, which are so much like Pen’s except for the eyes—this girl has blue.

“I know you,” I state, and she tilts her head at me.

“What do you mean you know her?” Tony demands possessively, I can’t even make fun of him because I have only one person in mind.

“Well, I don’t know you, but I know the girl you were with that night, your bachelorette party. You’re Penelope’s sister, right?” I say, and the girl, I’m guessing Avery, nods once as Tony stands beside her protectively. Everything in me settles, and my brother sighs in relief, stating, “Thank fuck for that; we’ve been searching for your sister for months.”

Avery doesn’t look at him, keeping her eyes on me. I confirm, “I’ve been looking for her since she upped and disappeared on me.” Tony cuts in and mutters, “It must be a sister trait,” making Avery scowl at him playfully, a small smile on her face before she looks back at me.

“How do I know you’ve been searching for her?” she asks sweetly though I see the fire in her eyes like my Firecracker, “She has spent months trying to get in touch with you, even came to a game only to be blacklisted.”

She really did try to come to see me .

My heart pounds seeing her truth, and I admit, “I sent her season passes for the games. I can even call my dad up, and he’ll give you the receipts proving I’ve been trying to find her but struggled because I didn’t know her last name.” My eyes race between hers, and I beg, “Please, where is she?”

She looks over me for a moment while my brother stands next to me, holding his breath, ready to step in if need be. Then she says, “She’s in the kitchen with my dad but….” Halfway through her talk, I rush away from her as Tony points to where the kitchen is. She calls, “Taylor,” but I ignore her.

I can feel my brother following, but my only focus is seeing my girl again, and yes, she is my fucking girl. I have been looking for her for so long, not once looking at anyone else. She belongs to me, and I her, or I fucking hope I her. If not, I’ll be wooing her until she wants me back.

I rush into the kitchen, my eyes roaming the overly bright room before they lock on Penelope wearing an off-the-shoulder dress that stops just above her knees, her feet in pumps, her hair down and curled perfectly, looking like a fucking vision. I halt seeing what is in her arms, looking around the room with curiosity and my dark blue fucking eyes and Tony’s confession outside hits me like a ton of bricks.

Harry’s wife abandoned her pregnant sister when their parents disowned her for money.

“Fuck me, that is Nurse Vine,” Dylan mutters next to me.

Kaylah’s nurse, the one she wanted me to marry, the one who went on maternity leave. My fucking girl and my…

Oh shit, she was at the charity game just over a month after we slept together not once, not twice, but seven fucking times where I didn’t wear a condom, and her sister said she’s been trying to get in touch with me for months, fucking months.

Fuck me!

My heart pounds, my palms sweat as I look over her and the kid, and my mind can’t seem to catch up.

“Shit, that baby has our…,” Dylan’s words trail off, sounding underwater as Pen looks my way, probably feeling my eyes. Ours lock and everyone around us disappears. The electricity, the chemistry I felt that night, the all-consuming feeling that scared the living shit outta me is still fully there but fuck me it's magnified.

Her eyes tear up, and I don’t think; instead, I move, but before I can get close, she turns from me, handing the baby off to a man beside her, a man I fucking hope is her father, before she moves and meets me halfway around the kitchen.

I plan to grab hold of her, to hold her tight, and never fucking let go, but Penelope has other ideas.

Shocking the shit outta me, she grabs me by my ear, my fucking ear making my brother laugh, and drags me out of the kitchen and through the living area.

“What the…,” I gasp, and she yanks my ear harder. I lock eyes with her shocked sister and a grinning Tony, all while Harry narrows his eyes, but not at me but at my Firecracker.

Fucker, he goes near Pen, I’ll knock him out.

“Firecracker, can you please let go of my ear?” I demand as we get outside, trying to keep the humor out of my voice. But she doesn’t answer back. Instead, she lets go of my ear, walks over to a dark blue Ford, and opens the door.

“Penelope,” I call out, but again, nothing, and now, fear is coming out of me by the tons.

Why won’t she talk to me?

She finally climbs back out of the car, walks over to me, holding a piece of paper, and slams it against my chest.

I frown and grab it before turning it over and reading it, but shock fills me, and I look at her sharply.

Tears filled her beautiful dark green eyes again, and she finally speaks, allowing me to hear her sweet voice again, that is full of pain.

“You’re a little close. I think you need to back up until my father can arrange the court date,” she says, and my jaw ticks.

“There won’t be any court date,” I growl, full of anger, before tearing the paperwork up. “I didn’t request this. I have been trying to find you for fucking months, Penelope, and if I had known you were trying to find me, I would have opened the front fucking door for you, not sent you a restraining order.”

She looks away from me, and I hate it. I fucking hate it.

Throwing the shredded paperwork on the floor, I get into her space and cup her cheek while wrapping my left arm around her waist. I make her look at me as I bend a little, ensuring our noses nearly touch and our breaths mingling as my body finally feels at ease for the first time in almost a year.

“What’s his name?” I ask in a whisper, changing tactics while keeping my eyes locked on hers, unwilling to ask if he is mine because I know he is.

She’s been trying to contact me for months to find out. If what Tony said outside was true, her family wanted her to have an arranged marriage, meaning she didn’t expect to see me again.

For a moment, one moment, she relaxes into me, her eyes closing like she was trying to memorize my touch. In the same breath she moves out of my hold, making me feel suddenly cold.

“His name is Hudson Evans,” she admits, and my heart pounds, “and you tearing that paperwork doesn’t change the fact it exists.”

That said, she moves past me quickly and back inside while I stay still, wondering how this could have happened. A feeling pulls at my gut, knowing Elena has something to do with this.

She tried banning her from the arena, claiming she was crazy when confronted by security. I’d bet my entire bank account that she knew about my son.

Taking deep breaths, I turn and head back inside with one destination in mind – my Firecracker – not willing to lose her for a second time.

Fuck I’m an idiot for not meeting Nurse Vine, a fucking big idiot. The fact she gave him my middle name as a first and my last name, I know I can win her over.

One way or another, she’ll be mine and in my arms, where she belongs. Her and our son, all before we win the Stanley Cup again, mark my fucking words.