Page 108 of Unravel Me

Mittens’ head whips around, and with ameowthat echoes across the galaxy, he launches himself off my chest. Jaxon chuckles, crouching to catch him in his arms. My heart warms at the sight, Mittens tucking his fluffy white and orange head into the crook of Jaxon’s neck, the perfect fit.

“Hey, Mitts,” Jaxon whispers against his fur. “You’re coming home, marshmallow.”

I disguise my laugh as a cough when Mittens scurries up Jaxon’s shirt and drapes himself over his broad shoulders. “Does your shirt sayCat Daddy?”

Jaxon doesn’t even bat an eye. “Fuck yeah, it does. I wanted it to saySlutty Cat Daddy, but Adam wouldn’t let me. He’s no fun sometimes.”

Clearing my throat, I start flipping through the adoption paperwork. “Almost didn’t recognize you without your mustache.”

His smirk is proud as he rubs the spot where that fake monstrosity was when I first met him. Now, there’s only stubble. “Thinking of growing a real one. I can rock it, right? Garrett looked ridiculous with his, though. Right? I looked better?”

“Is who wore the fake mustache better when you came to spy on me really a competition?”

“Everything’s a competition between me and Garrett. And we weren’t spying on you.” He chuckles at the sassy eye roll I hit him with. “Okay, we were spying on you, but only ’cause Adam wouldn’t shut up about you, and we were tired of waiting for him to bring you around.”

My heart sinks at his harmless words, and I clutch the clipboard in my hands. “Um, so, you brought a carrier to take Mittens home, that’s great.”

“Rosie.”

“I don’t think you’ll have any issue, given how much he loves you—”

“Rosie.”

“—but there may be an adjustment period where he hides away and—”

“Rosie.” Jaxon’s chest appears in my field of vision, and Mittens reaches across, laying one paw on my shoulder. “That came out wrong. Adam wasn’t hiding you away from us or anything.”

“Wasn’t he?”

“Nah. That’s not his style.” He laughs suddenly, scratching his stubbled jaw. “Actually, he would, but only because he’d be afraid we’d scare you off. We’re kind of an overbearing group. Like a big, dysfunctional family. A big, dysfunctional,very lovingfamily,” he adds with a pointed look.

“I believe you,” I say quietly, moving past him to inspect his carrier.

“You do?”

“Of course I do. The media loves your relationship.”

Not a lot of what I found online made me smile, but one thing that did was this little family Adam seems to have formed with some of his teammates and their partners. Every time they’re photographed on a night out on the town, they’re together. The media loves referencing their social media accounts, too, especially Carter Beckett’s, the underwear model with the huge dick from the bus shelter and, apparently, the team captain. His Instagram account is bogged down with pictures of his family: his daughter, his wife, and his best friends, always together.

“The media doesn’t know everything,” Jaxon reminds me. “They spin stories to make them seem more interesting than they are.”

“So Adam isn’t really the NHL’s most eligible bachelor?”

He hides his smile behind his hand. “Nah, he really is. Or was, until he met you. But look me in the eyes and tell me all those articles about him being a serial dater didn’t make him sound like the biggest fuckboy.” Amused eyes move between mine. “You can’t, can you?I’mthe fuckboy, not Adam. I was just trying to get laid; he was just trying to find his happy place. And he failed, every time, until he took you on a picnic date and stole your hat just so he’d have a reason to see you again.”

My heart flutters, and happiness crawls up my face, tugging at the corner of my mouth. “He told you about that?”

“I told you, he never shuts up about you. Connor too.”

I take Mittens from Jaxon, snuggling him for the last time. “Did he tell you he started a new scholarship at my school just so I could graduate on time?”

“I thought he was staying anonymous?” Jaxon’s face falls at my smile. “Ahfuck.” He shakes his finger at me. “You sneaky little shit. Adam’s gonna kill me.”

It hurts to think about Adam, all the ways he’s been so selfless, so supportive. I’ve wanted to be angry with him for being selfish in his decision to hide himself from me, but in all my research, in everything I’ve read between the lines on the internet, I understand. I don’t like it, but I do get it. He’s been hurt, time after time, and I can’t fault him for being afraid to get hurt again.

Aren’t we all afraid of heartbreak? It comes in too many forms, from the people you least expect, and it never hurts any less.

Thing is, though, in trying to guard his heart, he broke both of ours in the end. And Connor’s, who asks forDadaevery single day, breaking my heart all over again.

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