Page 21

PIERRE

“ C an’t believe you’re a free agent, man, this is fantastic news. I bet you feel relieved,” my brother asks.

I would have felt better if he hadn’t walked in on what was happening between Issy and me.

Seeing her on her knees between my thighs did something to me.

The way she was consoling me when I know it hurts her being around me, but she pushed her hurt aside because she could see I was on the verge of a panic attack.

We had a moment. I think she would have let me kiss her if we were able to continue uninterrupted, and now, I can’t think of doing anything else.

I also liked the way she eyed my dick when I got up and the way she searched it out when I came back in.

Was there disappointment there when I was no longer hard for her?

I mean, all she needs to do is say the word and I’ll be hard for her.

Shit. My dick twitches at the thought of it.

“Yeah. I feel relieved. It was a tense conversation. Bill was gloating about how he was able to get Kitty and that she’s a gold digger, and I should be thanking him for taking her off my hands.”

My brother stares at me in shock. “He didn’t say that.”

I nod. “He sure did. It was mind-blowing the level of anger he has toward me. Like, he hates me.”

“You did nothing wrong.”

“Right? I don’t know what his problem is, but he is no longer my problem. Marcus is looking into options for me now that we have the go ahead. Fingers crossed I hear from The Mavericks soon,” I tell him.

“Harper and Issy had dinner with her dad last night and have asked him for a favor.”

“Issy and Harper?” I ask, surprised by this.

“Did she not tell you?” Felix asks. I shake my head. “Maybe she didn’t want to get your hopes up. Harper’s father is on the board of The Mavericks, so he has some sway, but of course it would only be possible if there is space.”

“I’ll sit on the bench if I have to,” I tell him.

Felix claps me on the shoulder. “There is no way in hell they are benching you.” My phone starts ringing, and when I look down it’s from an unknown number. “Answer it, it could be The Mavericks,” he pushes.

“Hello,” I answer.

“You’re leaving the Devils?” Kitty shrieks into my ear. I’m stunned. This is the last person I thought I would hear from. Felix hears her and tells me to put it on speaker, then he pulls out his phone and starts recording. Good thinking, little bro.

“I’m guessing Bill called you.”

“He didn’t have to call me. I’m still in Italy at his place. You know where we were supposed to get married,” she answers. Of course she is. “I can’t believe you are doing this to him.” To him? What about me.

“I’m glad you are more worried about his feelings than mine.”

“Of course I’m worried about your feelings, I just think it’s a stupid move. You’re going to be a free agent at this age. Good luck with that,” she scoffs.

“What I do or don’t do is none of your business.”

“It damn well is my business. You are still my fiancé.”

I’m still. “No, I’m not.”

“To the public you still are,” she snaps.

“One post and I can sever that,” I tell her.

“What are you going to tell them? That you left me at the altar because you had cold feet. You promised Bill you wouldn’t say anything. The public are going to crucify you.”

“You seem to think I care what the public think.”

“Oh, you will when no one wants to hire you because of all the hate you are getting. You’ll be a PR liability.” She chuckles.

No screw her. “I’m willing to risk it.”

Kitty squeals. “Do you hate me that much?” she questions me.

“Come on, Kitty, this marriage was going to end in divorce before our first wedding anniversary. You know we weren’t working. I guess I thought it was me, but now I realize it was because of you,” I tell her.

“Not my fault I found a real man,” she snips.

“A real man,” I scoff. “Would a real man be cheating on his wife of forty years with someone young enough to be his daughter?”

“You know nothing about Billy and me. He's going to leave Michelle, he’s just organizing his assets so she can’t take them.”

“Who are you? The Kitty I used to know wasn’t this vindictive. Michelle was always lovely to us. As were their kids, you’re friends with them for fuck’s sake,” I remind her.

“They will get over it once they see how much Billy loves me.”

Is she delusional? “He called you a gold digger in the meeting today.”

“Billy would never. You’re just trying to hurt me.”

Yep, she’s delusional. “Look, now that my contract is sorted, I’m going to talk to my PR, and you should talk to yours and ask them to release a statement telling the world we have decided to break up.”

“Do you have any idea the embarrassment you have caused me? The amount of money we have to pay back for services that we never used that I was supposed to post about. The mental anguish of being left here to deal with the aftermath of you walking out on me.” She cries.

Usually, her tears would work on me, but they don’t anymore. “You seem to keep forgetting that you cheated on me, Kitty. You did this to yourself. So many times, I asked you to cancel this wedding, and you wouldn’t. You wanted this moment more than you ever wanted me.”

“That’s not true.” I can hear the pout through the phone.

“Why did you do it?” I ask.

“That’s none of your business,” she snaps. I don’t think I’m ever going to get closure from those two. Am I okay with that? Yeah, I think I am.

“That’s fine. I think from now on it’s best we talk via our lawyers,” I tell her.

“I am trying to sort things out civilly,” she says.

“That’s not the impression you’ve given me.”

She lets out a loud sigh. “I’m trying, but you’re being very combative.

” I pinch my nose, and my brother claps my back.

“But I’ll be the bigger person and start the conversation.

I’m going to stay in Europe, this entire fiasco has stressed me out.

I’m going to take some well-deserved me time.

And Billy said I can stay as long as I want at his home in Italy. ”

“You can take all the time you want in Europe, Kitty. But what I am going to do is send the following requests to my lawyer, and I hope you can understand and continue being mature about this breakup like I know you can be. I will be selling the home in South Dakota.”

“You’re doing what? That is my home. You can’t just sell it,” she screams at me.

“I can and I will. The name on the home is mine and mine only. I will contact a moving company to come in and pack up all your belongings and put them into storage or send them to a nominated place.”

“You can’t do that. I won’t allow you to touch my things.”

“Then you will need to arrange your own movers, but your things will be packed up within the month,” I tell her.

“That’s unreasonable. I’m not in the country.”

“You have been given plenty of warning. Also, Frankston is mine. There will be no co-parenting regarding him. I got him when we were not together. If you remember, I got him when you cheated on me the first time.” Kitty splutters and huffs but thankfully doesn’t fight me on that.

“I will also be sending over an NDA regarding our relationship. We will create a joint statement saying we are better off as friends, and we realized that in Italy, and we want people to respect our privacy at this time. I will not speak ill of you in the press, and I hope I am granted the same courtesy from you.”

“This is outrageous.”

“I’m happy to also release a statement that you were cheating on me and I caught you.”

“You promised Billy you wouldn’t say anything,” she whines.

“I won’t mention him, if people speculate then that’s on them.”

“You wouldn’t,” she hisses.

“Try me, Kitty.”

“I don’t know who you are anymore,” she shouts at me.

“Ditto, baby.”

“My lawyers will be in touch.” And with that, she hangs up on me.

“Wow, what a bitch,” Felix says.

“How the hell was I blind to who she really was all these years? I’m a fucking fool,” I tell him, raking my hand through my hair.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself. She showed you what she wanted to show you. You loved her faults and all. Why did you never talk to me about how bad things had gotten?” he asks.

“I pushed it out of my mind. We had the play offs and Alberto passed, you found out about Cynthia, and I was dealing with the wedding. Things kind of just snowballed, and I tried to get off plenty of times, but I couldn’t, and I guess I just pushed my head into the sand, and now here we are.”

“I’m sorry, man, I think having this party tonight is exactly what you need, a freedom party. Saying goodbye to the old you and saying hello to the new you. Like you’re shedding your old skin,” he explains.

“Where the hell did you get that hippy dippy shit from?”

“I’m being supportive. Honestly, it will do you good. Let me call Sam, and let’s make this a great night.” He grins.

Maybe this is exactly what I need. Saying goodbye to the old Pierre and embracing whatever the future is going to hold for the new me.

“Can’t believe you went to all this effort,” I say, looking at Felix and thanking Sam Rose, Harper’s brother.”

“I knew Sam would know people.” He smirks.

“Thanks, Sam,” I say, shaking his hand.

Sam laughs. “Look, if I were really planning a Sam Rose party, I would not be including my sister and her friends, no offence.” He looks over at my brother who rolls his eyes. “Honestly, the women would flock here knowing Pierre St. Pierre is back on the market.” He grins.

“Sam is a womanizer, do not let him corrupt you,” Felix warns.

Sam rolls his eyes. “I’m trading you in, Felix, for your brother. You’re too loved up with my sister to be an effective wingman. What do you say?”

“Not sure if I’m ready to get back out there. I was supposed to get married last week,” I remind him.

“True. The optics wouldn’t look great. What is a good time? A month?” he asks.

“My brother is more focused on his career than getting laid,” Felix adds.

“Speak for yourself, it’s been a while.” They both stare at me. “Yeah, Kitty and I were not having sex, I understand why, now.”

“You’re Pierre St. Pierre.” Sam likes to say my full name all the time. “You should be getting laid all the time.”

“You need to stop watching hockey porn, hockey players are normal people,” Felix teases.

“Hey, let me live in the fantasy.” Sam chuckles. “Didn’t you and Issy date when you were kids? I remember vaguely Harper talking about it.”

I think I met Sam maybe once at a party when we were younger, I can’t remember, he was in college when Issy and I were dating in high school, and I never saw him around when we made it to college. “Yeah, but we’re friends now.”

“Friends with benefits?” He elbows me teasingly.

“Don’t let her hear you say that she will castrate me. We’ve kind of only just become friends again over the past couple of days.”

Sam stares at me. “You’re joking.”

I shake my head. “We haven’t spoken since she caught me cheating on her in college.”

Sam’s eyes widen. “You cheated on Issy. Why? She’s great. Oh shit, is that the reason she moved to London? I remember how devastated Harper was.”

I rub the back of my neck. “Yeah, I’m the reason.”

“Damn, man. She was there for a long time. So, you two never spoke for all that time, and now you’re living together?”

“Harper kind of forced it on them,” Felix adds.

Sam is surprised. “That sounds like her. And how are things going there?”

“I’m only here till I find somewhere to live,” I explain to them.

“I thought you had to get out next week?” Felix asks.

“She let me stay a little longer. It’s hard to find somewhere to live when you’re in hiding.”

“Wow, that’s not at all what I expected from her. I guess that’s progress,” Felix adds.

“She’s trying. Especially since Frankston has been playing up and eating her shoes because he’s stressed. She said she didn’t want to stress him more than he needs. So, guess I have Frankston to thank for not being kicked out,” I explain to them.

“The old don’t want to stress the dog excuse, I like it,” Sam teases.

“What do you mean?”

Sam’s brows raise. “Seriously, oh my sweet Canadian friend, you think she’s doing it for the dog?”

“Issy hates me. No, it’s more she tolerates me.”

“I thought you were friends,” Sam questions.

“It’s fragile right now. She’s being nice. I’m her client.”

He nods. “So there’s nothing there?”

“Issy’s a beautiful woman, but there is nothing there between us. I don’t see her like that. We are just friends,” I tell him.

“Oh hey, Issy,” Sam says, looking over my shoulder.

I still. Did she just hear what I said? I turn around and see her hugging Sam. But I see nothing on her face to indicate she heard me.

“I know a Sam Rose party when I see one. I’m surprised there aren’t topless waitresses walking around.”

“Felix didn’t think it was a good idea,” Sam jokes.

“You’re home early,” I say.

“I thought you guys might need help, but it seems you have it all sorted. I might go grab a shower and get ready. What time are Harper and Kimberly coming?” she asks.

“They are on their way,” Felix says. She nods and disappears.

“You don’t think she heard me?” I ask them.

They both shrug. “Would it matter if she did if you’re just friends?” my brother asks.

“It doesn’t. I just want to make sure I didn’t offend her in any way,” I tell him. Felix nods.

“Come on, let’s grab a drink and celebrate your Freedom Day,” Sam says.