Page 44 of Power Forward

I press light kisses to his skin as I move down his body, taking in his tattoos up close. Each one is incredibly beautiful. Not just for the artist’s sheer talent of creating these impressive images but for how each one tells a story. He endured the pain of getting these pieces of ink in order to shut down the pain in his mind. Each one represents how Hayden chose life.

There’s also evidence of my daughter on him, where she’s colored in one of his arms.

By the time I drop to my knees in front of him, my throat is thick with emotion, and my chest aches so much it hurts to breathe. Water clings to his eyelashes as he watches me rub my hands over his thighs to his knees. The scars from his surgeries are healed, but it causes another wave of… something to rush through me. Guilt? Fear? Pity? I don’t know, but all I know is I will do anything I can to ensure he doesn’t suffer. If it means carrying him up and down my goddamn stairs, I’ll do it. I’ll do anything.

I stand up, and Hayden immediately takes me into his arms. Our mouths collide with urgency and hungry sweepsof our tongues. My cock hardens, becoming a steel pipe between us. But I ignore it. Because tonight, it isn’t about sex. It’s all about reuniting with the man I once loved more than life.

He drops his head to my neck, trailing kisses under my jaw and dragging his teeth over my Adam’s apple.

“I hear you’ve got some of my hockey cards,” he murmurs.

I laugh softly, hands skimming his ribs.

“Who told you that?”

“Your son.”

I snort. Of course Ryan told him. “The little shit. I told him to keep that a secret.”

He lifts his head to look at me with one eyebrow raised. “You wanna know a secret?”

“Yeah,” I croak.

“I have yours too. I keep them in my office.”

“You do?”

He kisses one corner of my mouth, then the other. “Yeah. It’s always been you, Jax.”

And I know, right there and then, while we exchange tired kisses and gentle strokes of hands over skin, that it’s always been Hayden for me too.

Chapter Sixteen

Hayden

I wake up in Jackson’s spare room the following morning. The sheets smell like him, all clean and fresh.

I would prefer to be waking up in Jackson’s actual bed, but after we made out in the shower and I bared yet another fracture in my wing to him, he explained that his kids have a habit of climbing into his bed during the night. And while he really wanted to continue our epic make-out session in bed, it was best we slept separately for their sake, which I fully understood. They’ve literally just met me. I can’t imagine the shock they would experience if they found me in bed with their dad. So after we managed to tear our mouths away from each other, I had the best sleep I’ve had in a fucking long time.

I still can’t quite believe he wants to give things a try again. Yeah, we have a lot to talk about, and that’s going to be a tough conversation, but it’s needed. We need to clear the air in order to move forward.

I’m grinning into the pillow as I slowly roll over to grabmy phone from the bedside table and pull up the text thread with Roberta. She was understanding yesterday when I had to reschedule our appointment because she knows how it is with my pain. Sometimes we swap to video call, even though I don’t find them as personable. I know it’s very much a me thing, but like I said yesterday to Jackson, I’ve trained my brain to use those jellyfish as a marker, and I can’t see them when we video call.

I don’t want to alarm you. I may have done something reckless yesterday, but it had the best payoff.

Roberta

Do I want to know? Do you need bail money? Because I hate to break it to you, while you pay me very well, I don’t know if I can stretch that far.

I let out a bark of laughter.

No, it’s nothing like that.

Jackson called me sounding very stressed out. His kids were sick, and he was spiraling. I may have gotten on a plane and flew to Chicago to help him out. And he may have kissed me late last night and agreed to give us a try.

I hold my breath and watch as those three dots bounce across the screen.

Roberta

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