Page 4

THREE

WRENLY

Ryan and I find our seats in the arena. I was able to get seats just beside the team box. Where the players stay during the game and jump in and out. I don’t know much about hockey, but I started watching it about the time Ryan was born.

Honestly, I still don’t understand much, and every time they get into fights, I have to close my eyes and hold my breath because I don’t want anyone to get hurt. It’s ridiculous. I know it is, but it scares me.

Now I’m sitting in this arena, watching the game in real time. Waiting to catch a glimpse of him and wondering if I’m going to regret this. I probably will, but not for any reason other than I’ll regret my part in this and my cowardice.

When Ryan tugs on a lock of my hair, I shift my attention from the ice to him. He’s smiling up at me, a toothy drooly smile, and tears prick my eyes because I know that this is the right thing. Eli deserves to know his son.

Even if he hates me for keeping the pregnancy and birth from him for two years, he still has a right to know. And Ryan has a right to know his father, too. I messed everything up. I just hope I’ll be able to at least patch it.

The announcer speaks over the loudspeaker, but I can’t make out what he says. Then I watch as the men in blue and white start skating out. It’s them. The Cleveland Vortex. And when they turn around, my eyes scan the names on the backs of the jerseys until I find his.

ABBOTT

15

The game is probably fun, and I would likely enjoy it if I weren’t focused on the anxiety of what is to come and also on watching Eli. Every slam against the wall, every time he passes the puck, I gasp, and then Ryan starts to gasp with me.

Except Ryan thinks it’s a fun game we’re playing.

It’s comical. Again, I would laugh if I weren’t scared shitless.

When the game is finished, and they win, of course, I watch as they all skate toward the locker rooms. I’m not sure what to do next. I head to the bathroom and am washing my hands when I notice a group of girls around my age. They’re all huddled together and giggling.

I do something desperate and maybe stupid. I eavesdrop on their conversation. They’re all going to go out to the back door, where the players are going to exit and wait for them. Something it seems they do often. I hear a few of them talk about how they’re going to try and get one of them to go home with them—I try to ignore that part.

I follow them, keeping as much of a distance between them and me as possible so they don’t realize I’m following them. I’m sure they do. Honestly, I’m not very covert, especially with a sleepy toddler.

I’m not sure why I thought this was a good idea. Maybe I should have tried to find out where he lived and showed up at his house instead of here—standing outside of the arena, next to a bunch of women in tube tops, leggings, short shorts, and high heels.

Then there’s me.

Next to all their sexy outfits, I’m wearing wide-leg jeans, a long-sleeved body suit, and I have a baby on my hip. Definitely not passing the vibe check with the rest of the girls here, but I’m not like them. Not in any way except maybe age.

Nervously, I shift from foot to foot as I stare at the door, both wishing it would and hoping it doesn’t open.

With mixed emotions, I watch as it slowly opens, and the girls around me start to scream. The moment they do, my gaze shifts to Ryan. His bottom lip starts to tremble, and I know he’s going to start crying.

I move down the line of women in hopes that if we stand a little bit away, the noise won’t bother him so much. And secretly hope at the same time that we aren’t noticed, and I can slip away.

But that wouldn’t be right, even if I hope it happens that way, just for my own selfish reasons. The men begin to file out of the arena while the women cry out with a shrillness that causes my own spine to straighten.

Covering Ryan’s ears, I hope it doesn’t bother him too much. I watch as they walk, some of them stopping to talk to the women while others just act as if they don’t see them.

They walk out, one by one, and this is when the panic begins to set in because what if I don’t recognize him? I mean, I’ve stared at his pictures online and that one selfie he sent me so many times that I’m certain I could recognize him in a crowd, but now I’m not so sure.

Then, as if something is calling me to him, I notice an almost glow around him. Just like he said he saw around me that night at Midnight Hour. I recognize him instantly. It’s Eli Abbott in the flesh.

The past two years have been good to him, really good.

I think he looks even more muscular than he did before. Sexier, too. To top it off, he has a beard. Which should have made it harder to recognize him, but it didn’t, at least not for me. I’m drawn to him and only him.

I also don’t look like I did two years ago, either.

But I definitely don’t look better.

I’m curvier than I was, for starters. My hair isn’t as long as it was back then. Ryan and his need to grab and tug have made it to where I find myself going into the salon, what feels like every other month. Cutting a little more off each time.

Staring straight at Eli, I wait for him to step away from the women. He’s not really engaging with them, his gaze looking over their heads into nothingness. I take a moment to truly observe him.

This is his environment. This is his life. He’s a celebrity to them.

When I take a step backward, then another, Ryan starts to babble, something he does when he’s tired, and right now, I know that he’s exhausted. The overstimulation of the game has finally left, and now he’s ready to sleep.

But at Ryan’s noises, Eli’s gaze shifts in my direction and meets mine.

We stare at one another. Both of us frozen in our places. Our feet cemented to the ground.

Oh.

My.

God.

ELI

Someone is watching me, which is an odd sensation when you’re surrounded by people. I don’t know how to explain it. It’s not any of the women who are calling out my name or my teammates’ names. Sure, they’re looking at me, but they aren’t watching me.

Glancing around the parking lot, my gaze homes in on a woman holding a toddler. Blinking, I watch as something around that woman begins to glow. It reminds me of…

Holy shit.

Not just holy shit, but holy fucking shit.

I am unable to move. I cannot pick up my feet. I can’t lift my arms. I am completely frozen in place. I think my heartbeat stops, and I know without a doubt that my breath stops.

It’s her.

“Eli, we’re all going to grab something to eat. Want to join us?” Luke asks from beside me.

I can’t even turn my neck, my head, my eyes—nothing.

It’s her.

She’s real.

Standing in front of me, her eyes on mine. Wide, green, and fucking beautiful. My breath hitches, and that’s when I hear Luke humming before he grunts. Then he lets out a chuckle,

“Well,” he says. “You seem busy.”

Then he slaps me on the shoulder, which propels my body forward with force, something I’m sure he did on purpose. As if knowing exactly what I needed.

My legs begin to move, taking me straight to Wrenly. She’s standing a bit away from everyone else, which is good because I’m not sure what this conversation is going to entail.

I don’t know why she’s standing in front of me after two years of radio silence. But she’s here, and I’m going to find out why the fuck she is. I stop only when I’m close enough to talk to her where nobody else can hear us clearly.

I dip my chin down slightly, my eyes connecting to hers. I want to look at all of her, and I’m sure I’ll get the chance, but at this moment, I focus on those wide green eyes staring up at me.

“Wrenly?” I ask, breaking the silence, unsure of what to say. I know I sound as surprised as I am. There is no fucking way I can act cool in this moment.

She blinks, then tears her gaze away from mine, shifting it to the side before she brings it back. I hold my breath as I wait for her to speak, but all she does is say my name. It hangs in the air, and I feel like she has something else to say, so I wait.

“Eli.”

Searching her gaze with mine, I arch a brow as I wait for more. But I don’t have to wait for anything because the next words that are said blow me out of the fucking water, no, out of the universe.

And they are said by the little human Wrenly is holding in her arms.

“Dadda, Dadda, Dadda.”

Then I feel his tiny fingers grip my shirt as he reaches for me. “Wrenly?” I ask.

“I’m sorry. I should have told you a long time ago. I just… I panicked,” she says, her words coming out in a rush.

“Are you telling me something here?” I ask.

He said those words, but that doesn’t mean anything. He could call anyone dadda. Hell, I don’t know anything about kids, but Luke’s daughter babbles all kinds of crazy shit.

She doesn’t move, her eyes staying connected and focused on mine. She makes a noise in the back of her throat before she nods a couple of times.

“I’m telling you something,” she whispers, her green eyes still wide and her chest quickly rising and falling with her breaths.

I never understood that saying the Earth spins on its axis until this exact moment, and that’s because my world feels as if it is literally turning on its axis in slow motion and then in the next instant at warp speed.

What the fuck ?