Page 76 of Lucky Shot
I run my palms down my thighs. “I asked to be traded here when my last contract was up.”
Her brows shoot up in surprise.
“You know, I read about the trade when I first got here and the server at MVP said something about it being a big deal that you were here, but at the time I didn’t really understand it. You led the Wildcats in goals during the playoffs the year you won the championship. No one thought you should be traded based on your performance, so they speculated that it had to have been intrapersonal friction or contract disputes.”
Plenty of people weighed in on the Wildcats’ decision to let me go. There were rumors that I was mad about playing time or not getting along well with my teammates, even some that said I wanted more money, but that was all bullshit. The truth is I did it for Aidan, but I don’t want that out there. Sure, people would understand me wanting to move closer to family, and they’d probably even spin it to make me a hero, but it’s none of their business and I don’t need their approval.
“It’s all bullshit. My contract was up, and I wanted to be here. It was the best thing for Aidan. He’s thriving and happy. And the team is great. The organization has gone through a lot of changes the past five years, but the GM and coaches are some of the best I’ve worked with. The players too.”
She stares at me a beat. I can’t read her expression, but the intensity of it makes me squirm.
“Please don’t tell anyone. Most of my old and current teammates know the real reason, but I don’t want it to gettwisted or for Aidan to overhear and get the wrong idea. I made a decision, and I stand by it.”
I don’t ever want Aidan to feel the weight of the sacrifices I’ve made for him. It’s my job to make hard choices that make his life better.
“Of course. I would never.”
I think I already knew that, but I smile at her with my appreciation.
“You have a knack for getting me to talk,” I say, feeling like I’ve overshared. “Here I am blabbering on.”
She laughs. “This is you chatty?”
I hold her smile until she looks away. She tucks her hair behind her ear and looks down at her notes.
“What about you?” I ask because I’m not ready to answer more questions and because I want to know more about her. “Why’d you and your ex break up?”
“Oh…it’s not a very interesting story.” She shifts uncomfortably in her seat.
“Neither is mine, but you’ve been making me answer questions about it for weeks.”
“It’s only been two weeks.” A little of her spunk returns.
I lean back and cross my arms at my waist, waiting for her to go on.
She does after a few beats. “He’s an author, like me. I met him at an event.”
I’m quiet, giving her room to keep talking, which she does, thankfully.
“He was just getting started in his career and so full of excitement and energy. It was…” She pauses, choosing her words carefully. “Inspiring. I got wrapped up in him and his enthusiasm. We dated for about six months. We were both in the middle of writing a book, so we spent those months mostly holedup in coffee shops or one of our apartments, typing and sharing smiles over our laptops.”
A pang of jealousy twists in my gut. I don’t know why the idea bothers me so much. I guess sometime over the past two weeks, she’s gotten under my skin. I like her. She’s gorgeous, of course, but it’s more than that. I think she might be the most fascinating person I’ve ever met.
“What happened?”
“He finished his book and sold it to a publisher. It did well and then he pitched another book idea, this one slightly different than his previous two, but he sold it quickly.”
“I meant what happened between the two of you.”
Her gaze drops to her lap. “When I saw the publisher’s deal announcement, I thought it was a mistake. And then I thought maybe I was legitimately losing my mind.”
“I don’t understand. You broke up because he got a book deal?”
Her head moves side to side slowly. “I have this notebook filled with story ideas. Most of them are silly—one-liners or an interesting character or piece of dialogue. Sometimes they’re more fleshed out and I’ll pull them for my next book.”
My chest tightens as I get a good idea where this is going.
“I had this one story that had been percolating in my mind forever. It was so silly I kept dismissing it, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it either. I would jot down scene ideas as they came to me and little bits of dialogue or scene description. I had ten pages of an outline and rough chapters.” She pauses and lets out a breath as if letting it sink in all over again. “Anyway, I guess it wasn’t as silly as I thought because he received a very nice seven-figure advance to write it.”
