Page 2 of Forever Player

“Damn straight,” Jacob says from beside me.

“Hi, Jacob,” Eden giggles.

Jacob rolls his eyes. Eden had come to visit after I gave birth to Maylee and she had a major crush on my brother. Problem is, Jacob has been shut down since his injury so he just didn’t pay Eden any attention.

“Hi,” Jacob says gruffly but it sounds forced, and I feel embarrassed over his rudeness.

Ellie is married to Connor Donaldson, one of the players on the Rangers, so she is going to watch Connor play tonight.

“Eden, are you coming back to the farm to sleep?” I inquire.

I know Ellie is staying with her husband in the hotel where the team will be sleeping tonight.

“I can just get a hotel room. We don’t know how tonight is going to go. Maybe Brett will want to come back to the farm to see Maylee,” Eden says.

Her words give me palpitations. “I honestly didn’t consider that as an option.”

“Okay, we’re pulling up to the arena,” I say. “Pray I have the strength to do this.”

“We’re rooting for you,” Ellie says. “We’ll see you soon.”

I end the call with my friends.

“I appreciate you, Jacob, seriously. I don’t know how I would’ve made it through the last year and a half without you.”

“That’s what family is for,” Jacob reminds. “I just hope Noble understands that.”

Jacob has friends playing for Nashville tonight since that was his team. We have front row seats.

My legs feel wobbly as we head inside. Jacob heads to the concession stand and buys some popcorn and each of us a drink before we head into the arena. The arena is packed.

My muscles feel locked from being so nervous.

“Relax, would you?” my brother says with a curt nod. With his jeans, thick flannel shirt, and backward baseball cap he looks like a farmer, which is so different from who he was when he played for Nashville.

“Easier said than done.” There is no way I can focus when I am about to come face-to-face with my one-night stand. The anthem plays and we all stand. I watch Brett standing tall and my heart stutters. Damn, he’s a handsome guy. Memories from the night we met flood my mind once again, so does the hurt I felt when he rejected my pregnancy. I remember the suave way the guys from the team walked into Focus in their spiffy suits and cool running shoes. They are all good-looking men, but Brett stood out to me. With his blue translucent eyes and his brown mid-length hair slicked back, he was a burly man and something about his presence caused heat to unfurl inside me.

The guys spent some time hanging out around our table and chatting, but it didn’t last long when Patty went to go dance with Evan. There was clearly some major chemistry going on between those two. I personally was thinking of finding myself a hot guy to fuck my brains out and forget my life for a while, but I knew it couldn’t be one of the guys from the team. Skylar was with Liam, one of the players, and at that point it looked like Patty was falling hard too.

Brett began to chat me up, but I didn’t pay him much attention. I acted oblivious to his good looks because I knew of his reputation, and I wasn’t going to feed his ego.

“Are you going to dance with me, Willow? Everyone has taken off,” he said, holding out a hand to me.

I looked at his hand but I didn’t move. “Why don’t you go find someone else to dance with, Brett?” I said, holding on to my almost empty glass of whiskey. It was that kind of night.

“Maybe I don’t want to dance with someone else. Maybe I want you,” he said and, damn, his words did things to my lady parts, but I wasn’t going there with this guy.

“Sorry to disappoint you,” I replied and stood from the table. I walked over to the bar.

To my dismay, he followed. “You can’t get rid of me so easily.”

“I’m getting a drink,” I deadpanned. Why else does someone wait for a bartender at a bar?

“Let me buy it for you.” He grinned all sexy. He smelled good too, like mountain freshness.

“I can get my own drink,” I shot back.

“I don’t doubt you can, but you just so happen to be the most beautiful woman in the room, maybe I want your company a little longer.” He flashed a smile with teeth that were too perfect for a hockey player.

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