Page 39 of Power Forward

“You remembered.”

He nods softly. “I’ve never forgotten anything about you, Jax.”

I press my lips together, emotion clogging in my throat.

Fuck. I don’t know how I can resist him any longer. He dropped everything for me and flew across the country because he wanted to help me. He’s made me my favorite pregame snack, something he used to do for me all the time.

The twin flames are burning bright again, and the pull to him is stronger than ever. Maybe it’ll be different this time. We’re older. Wiser. We’ve learned from our previous mistakes.

Maybe before, it was the right person but the wrong time.

But now… Maybe this time, it’ll be right, and we’ll have the kind of love story that’s in the books I read to my kids at night.

“Thank you,” I manage to croak.

He winks, then slips his hands into his pockets. “Go. They’ll be safe here with me. Bring back the win and continue to make your kids proud.”

“And what about you?” I find myself asking.

“What about me?”

“Will I make you proud?”

His eyes shine with so much adoration my breath hitches. “You’ve always made me proud, Jackson. You make me proud by simply being you.”

Chapter Fourteen

Hayden

“So, let me get this straight,” Zara says with a hint of amusement in her voice. “Jackson called you because he needed someone to talk to, and you took it upon yourself to call a plane and fly to Chicago so you could watch his kids?”

I wasn’t quite sure what I was doing until I turned up on Jackson’s doorstep earlier. All I knew was I hated the sound of panic in his voice, and I wanted to take away his stress. I wasn’t thinking about how terrible I am with kids or how I can barely take care of myself when I’m sick, let alone two little humans. I haven’t even booked a hotel room for the night. I kinda acted and figured I’d think about it later.

I’ve always been impulsive when it comes to Jackson.

“Well, when you put it like that, it sounds kinda desperate, doesn’t it?” I groan.

I can hear the smile in her voice when she sighs, “No, Hayden. It sounds incredibly thoughtful and caring. I’m just… surprised, is all. You used to run away whenever babies or children were around. You never ran to babysit.”

It’s not a lie. When we lived in Boston, I would try and stay away whenever a teammate had a baby. I’d linger near the back of the room because what the fuck do you do with a baby? They just sleep. Or scream, and hell, I didn’t want to drop it or make it cry. I would’ve felt like the worst person in the world if I made a baby cry. Even during the team hospital visits, it wasn’t so bad with the older kids because I could talk hockey or whatever the latest superhero movie was, but otherwise, I was this awkward, robotic guy who didn’t know how to speak to a child.

I mean, all I did when I was a kid was talk about hockey.

But now, I’ve willingly volunteered to take care of two sick kids. I’ve flown halfway across the country because the man I want more than anything needed help. He didn’t ask for it, but I also don’t want to let him down or make him regret this, so I’ve been on high alert since he left for the arena an hour ago.

“Maybe this was a mistake,” I mumble, running a hand down my face. “What if they need something and I can’t get up the stairs quick enough because I’m hurting?”

She ignores my panic and focuses on the last part. “You’re in pain?”

“Yeah. I had to cancel my session with Roberta and my trip to Seattle to see that ball player.”

“Hayden,” she scolds. “If this was anyone but Jackson, I would be giving you so much shit right now. Please tell me you’ve taken your meds?”

“Of course I have. I’m not that dumb.”

She curses under her breath. “I swear, you stress me out so bad.”

While I know she doesn’t mean it in a negative way, I can’t help but take it in that sense. I stressed her out with my pain. With my depression. I stressed her out to the point we got a divorce because I was too much to deal with.

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