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Chapter 2

Taylor – A Week Later

I skate as fast as my legs will travel, my eyes on the barrier—the only thing I’m focusing on. As soon as I reach it, I skid sideways, spraying ice everywhere then push off and skate to the other end of the rink, doing sprints instructed by Coach Williams. Ezra is just shy of keeping up with me, but as Captain, I need to keep up the speed to get the guys to follow.

I want my team to hold that trophy, and to do that, I need to push them.

I reach the other end of the rink, skid, spraying ice again, then push off, knowing Coach won’t blow the whistle for another three laps at least, picking up speed again as I bend down a little, swinging my arms as I go trying to allow the ice to silence everything for me like always, but my head is fucked up over one girl, one fucking girl.

She fucking left before I even woke up.

My phone rang, and as I answered, I noticed Penelope gone. For the first time in my life, real disappointment and horror hit me.

I hung up on my mom, something she still won’t let go, and ran to the elevator only to see the doors already closed, and by the time I called the reception, she was fucking gone, and my agent wanted buzzing up, something that fucking pissed me off.

We didn’t have a meeting, and normally, I’d meet her at the rink. Not fucking once has she been inside my apartment, and not only did I have reception send her away, but I had to get my fucking lawyer, Billy, and Coach Williams involved because of her actions knowing she’d done this with other players.

I never should have fucking touched her once, let alone twice; I was drunk, and it was here at the fucking rink in the changing room after a party held for the foundation.

Biggest mistake of my life because now she won’t leave me the fuck alone.

Coach blows the whistle as I reach the wall roughly three minutes later, and I skid to a halt, breathing heavy as the guys slump against the wall, looking at me with wide eyes.

Fuck.

I cringe because I hadn’t realized I was going so fast, my mind on Penelope.

A week, it’s been a fucking week, and I can’t find her; Elena can’t find her after I demanded her to look into it, lying through my teeth that Pen took my watch after our night together but a week later and fucking nothing, it’s not lost on me that she most likely hasn’t done as I asked. Elena is jealous, something I have found over the years, and honestly, if her shit continues, then I’ll be speaking to Billy about terminating her fucking contract.

“Fuck Tay, you trying to kill us?” My right winger Levi gasps as he grabs his water bottle, squirting shit loads into his mouth, his brother and backup right winger Seth gasping for breath next to him.

I wince and rasp, “Sorry,” as I grab my water bottle and squirt some a lot in my mouth before noticing a figure, and I groan.

“Right boys, the second line on the ice ,” Coach shouts, and I slap Levi and Seth’s backs in apology and skate to the stands where my father is standing with his arms crossed, looking pissed as fuck.

Ah shit…

“Guess your mom is still upset about you hanging up on her.” Ezra mumbles as he slaps me on my back, skating beside me.

“Yep,” I admit, “but that is only because I haven’t told her why I hung up. I wasn’t willing to tell my folks until I found Penelope.”

He winces and reminds me, “Which you still haven’t managed to do. CCTV was no help, and Elena is definitely no help because, let’s face it, she’s probably raging with the fact you won’t fuck her again, drunk or sober,” he gives me a sorrowful look as I stop for a second to glare at him, he holds his hands up and continues, “You may need to get your parents involved. We both know your dad has connections, and let’s face it, how many Penelope’s are in the New York state area, so it can’t be that hard, right?”

I raise a brow at him and mutter, “Over five hundred,” and his eyes widen. I nod, “Yeah, I’ve already looked…”

“Fuck...” He mumbles and looks around the rink, seeing the boys fight for the puck. I glare at the rookies trying to stay out of the danger zone, and I shout, “Anders, defend the fucking puck, not pussy foot around it, or you’ll never make first line!”

Ezra chuckles as Anders winces while Coach grins my way.

“Fucker needs to buck up, or he’ll lose his spot,” I say as he trips over the puck for the third time while Ezra nods in agreement and winces at the idiot's long dark blonde hair that falls over his face because yet again, the idiot can’t tie it back like I’ve told him several times.

“Taylor!” I hear my father snap, I groan knowing Coach won’t call me to the ice when the great Nico Evans needs to speak to me.

“Fuck,” I grumble and continue my skate to the stands where my dad is, as Ezra’s and Coach’s chuckles follow me.

Dicks .

I lean my arms on the wall and raise a brow, “Since when does my father come and interrupt training, especially knowing we’re in the next round of the finals and some of the rookies are fucking idiots as you can see?”

He sighs, “Since your mother is making me lose my mind after her son hung up on her.” I say then groan, dropping my head, and he demands softly, “Talk to me, son; it’s not like you to disrespect your mother that way or more likely are willing to put up with her pissed off.”

I swallow and look behind me to see Leo and Jack now on the ice, showing the rookies how we claim the puck and keep fucking hold of it, making me scowl before looking back at my dad and admitting, “I brought a woman home,” his eyes widen in shock.

Yeah, his reaction doesn’t surprise me because never, fucking never have I brought a woman home.

Sighing, I continue, “When my phone rang, and I answered, hoping not to wake her, I noticed her side empty, and I didn’t fucking think, Dad. I hung up on Mom and ran after the girl, but the elevator had already gone down, so I called the front desk, and the girl was gone,” huffing, I admit, “I’ve spent the past week trying to find her, but all I’m going off is her first name and a blurry CCTV photo.”

Dad eyes me, his blue eyes assessing me, seeing if I’m just trying to get myself out of a hole with Mom, but when I don’t change my expression, when my eyes show the pain I know they hold, his eyes widen as he straightens and stutters with realization, “You-you, holy fuck, you’ve fallen?”

I wince, “Can it really be classed as fallen after one night? I mean, falling for someone after one night isn’t even possible, is it?”

Fuck, even I can hear the fear and confusion in my voice, and by the wince my dad gives me, I know it’s fucking obvious.

“I fell for your mother within two hours, son,” he reminds me, “And I’m guessing it took you a lot less to fall for this girl if you took her home. " He tilts his head and asks, “What’s her name?”

I clear my throat and look to the team, hoping and praying they’ll call me. Instead, Coach is running the next team, and I silently curse.

I don’t tell him, I’ll struggle on my own trying to find her with the limited resources I have; I tell my dad, he’ll want to get involved, especially when my parents have wanted me to settle down for fucking years, wanting more grandkids, knowing they won’t get any from my brother right now.

A few days ago, Dyl called and admitted he believes Xanthe is cheating with a defender on the Lions football team, trying to get pregnant and pass the kid off as his. He’s looking for evidence, and if it’s proven, she’s fucked and gets nothing, not even her engagement ring, due to the iron-clad prenup he had her sign after they got married on a whim, something our family, something I was not aware of, believing he fell in love with her and eloped.

“Son,” Dad says, and I look his way. His eyes soften as he says, “If you’re this cut up about her being gone the next morning and spending a week trying to find her, then she’s clearly the one.”

I swallow hard, knowing he’s right, but I’m still not ready to admit that to him, let alone myself. I admit, “All I got was her first name, Penelope. She’s no taller than five-five, with dark red curly hair, a lot darker than Kaylah’s and dark green eyes. She has a sister, two years younger who was due to get married.”

He nods and replies, “It’s not a lot to go on, but I’ll try my hardest." He looks towards Coach, then back at me, “You met her at Bull's bar?” I nod once, knowing there’s no point in lying, especially when everyone knows that is our go-to bar after a game. He sighs, “And how sure are you this woman isn’t like Dylan's wife?”

I flinch, hating that my parents have picked up that Xanthe is a jersey chaser, I know Dylan will hate it as well – No child wants to disappoint their parents.

“Because she didn’t even look at us when we walked into the bar, and I know this because my eyes latched onto her within seconds before some girl got pushed into me,” I admit, “She didn’t approach any player the whole time we were there. Her sole focus was her sister, and when her sister left, she walked straight past me to the bar without a second glance,” I look at Coach when I hear the whistle being blown, then back at my dad and I lick my bottom lip, “I was the one who came onto her, practically pleaded with her to come home with me,” I lower my voice, “She gave me her virginity.”

Dad’s eyes widen in shock, and I finish, “Dad, she didn’t even know who I was.”

He eyes me for a moment, then clears his throat when he sees my sincerity as he does his long black coat up, then says, “I’ll look into it. I’m sorry I disrupted your practice; I know how important the next month is going to be for you, and it won’t happen again.” I furrow my brows at how diplomatic he’s being but soon groan when he says, “I’ll give you a week until your mother comes banging on your door,” then walks away laughing, and I hang my head. My mother is going to become the bain of my existence.

“Come on, Evans ,” Coach shouts, laughter lacing his loud voice, “Get into position; we have a cup to win.”

Fuck’s sake.

I groan and lean back on my couch, my body aching.

“Fuck, I swear Coach is getting more brutal,” Jack says as he takes a seat on my lounger while Ezra slumps down on the other end of the couch.

“He wants that cup back where it belongs,” I say, leaning my head back as I clutch the bracelet hard in my hand.

I hurt, and not just my body.

How in the fuck did I, the biggest player on the team, fall in one fucking night. I didn’t want a woman; I didn’t fucking need one and I want her.

“You’ll find her, Tay, and if you can’t, we all know your dad can. It may take a few months, but he’ll find her,” Ezra says from beside me, reading me instantly. I nod as I hold the silver bracelet up, my eyes going to the two charms on it. One is a heart with the name Penelope, and the other is a daisy with sister in the middle.

“I still can’t believe you’ve fucking fallen,” Jack says, “if Elena finds out, she’s going to fucking flip.”

I hum, knowing he’s right. The woman in question showed up at practice again, but our assistant coach, Henry, told her to piss off, knowing none of us had a meeting with her.

She’s starting to turn into a fucking stalker.

“I have a new charm on the way. How pissed do you think Pen will be if I buy her one a month for each month I’ve known her?” I ask, redirecting the conversation from our crazy stalker agent who last year Jack fucked, and she stalked him for months as well until he threatened her job.

Knowing my luck, if we talk about her, she’ll pop up like an unwanted fucking daisy.

“Fuck me, he’s whipped,” Ezra says, and I grin, not denying it.

I don’t know what it is about the girl, but every inch of my body needs to be surrounded by her; my skin itches to hold her.

My head, heart, and body know she belongs to me, and now, after one night, I feel fucking lost.