Page 6 of Breakaway

I shook my head. “No. They mentioned her on the news and that she’d died. Something about being surprised her uncle hadn’t taken over. But that’s all I know.”

Fletcher looked at the guys, their faces resembling mine. Dax’s forehead crinkled, deep in thought, and I wondered if he was trying to recall something.

“Emila was my best friend. We did everything growing up. I never even knew her family owned HTC. She didn’t act like a rich snob or anything. She went to the same school as me, wore the same clothes, and seemed like all the other kids. It wasn’t until I started playing hockey that I noticed anything. They lived in a bigger house, but again, it was nothing like Carly’s. It had a pool which wasn’t common, but otherwise, it was only slightly bigger and nicer than my family home. And I guess since I’d been there a bunch as a kid, it didn’t seem like anything out of the ordinary.”

He paused, his hands flexing on my body where he held me. I rubbed his forearms, wanting him to know I was there. Fletcher bent down, kissing my forehead before he continued.

“She started having extra hockey equipment or things she said her brother had outgrown. It was all brand new, though, and top-of-the-line. As a kid, I didn’t question it; excited to have some of the best equipment around. When we were in high school, things became more obvious, so I questioned her one day. She simply rolled her eyes at me, not caring that I was over 6ft tall by then. Her sass knew no bounds, and she let me have it.”

Fletcher chuckled at the memory before clearing his throat, talking in a high voice. “Who cares, Fletcher? My family has lots of money, but it doesn’t change who I am. You’ve been my best friend since we could walk. Does me being rich change that?” The love he held for her could be heard in his voice, and I smiled, wishing I’d gotten to know her.

“I told her she was right, and I was being an idiot. Things went back to normal between us. We both enrolled at Wellington University and picked out our classes together. But just before graduation, her father and brother were killed in a plane crash. Her mother couldn’t handle the grief of losing them both and checked out, surviving on pills and booze. Emila was named the CEO and sole owner of HTC at eighteen. It had never been her dream, but after her family’s tragedy, she felt she owed it to her father to continue his legacy. She withdrew from college, taking business courses online while getting a crash course in running a multimillion-dollar company.”

“Whoa. I hadn’t expected that turn,” Dax mumbled. “I’m starting to remember a little about this. My father had mentioned it or something.”

Fletcher exhaled, his body trembling beneath me, and I knew we weren’t even at the worst part yet.

“Naturally, we grew apart, not seeing each other every day. We still talked on the phone, and she’d come to the games when she could, but our lives were too different for the first time in our friendship. I was going to college parties, and she was attending black-tie events. When I went pro, she reached out to me and asked to meet up. It had been a few years since I’d seen her, so I readily agreed. Emila had become a woman in those four years, and I hoped for a second there might be more between us. I asked her to go on a date, but it ended in disaster, proving we were better as friends. We decided to try harder to be in each other’s lives from that point on.”

Reed turned his phone, showing us a picture of a petite brunette in a blue evening gown, a younger Fletcher on her arm at some charity event.

“She’s gorgeous. You look so different without your beard.” I tilted my head, worried I’d find lost love in his eyes, but he stared at me with only sadness at losing a friend. I touched his beard, rubbing my fingers over his chin. Fletcher closed his eyes, his body shuddering at my touch. After a few seconds, he opened his eyes and kissed my fingers.

“When she needed a date for fancy corporate events, I’d go so she didn’t have to fend off unwanted advances. Emila realized she was gay by this point but didn’t want to broadcast it yet, afraid it would have a backlash on the company. It was around this time that HTC exploded, becoming the huge conglomerate it is now. Despite not wanting to run the business, she had a natural flair for it and amassed several other sources of revenue under the HTC name and created their tech department. She even started the process to be part of the Olympic Committee, with the goal of being more vocal about equal rights in the sports and ensuring the Olympics was inclusive.”

“She sounds like an amazing woman, Fletcher. I think we would’ve gotten along great.”

“Yeah. She would’ve loved you,” he said, his eyes shiny. Squeezing his arm, I gave him time to find the words for the rest of the story.

“A few years ago, Emila was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She was given one to three years to live. Danielle—her life partner—and I were devastated. We encouraged her to do the treatment. She refused for a long time, knowing it wouldn’t guarantee her that much more time. She only gave in once I agreed to give her the one thing she really wanted.”

Fletcher sucked in a breath, letting it out slowly, his lip trembling with emotion. Dax and Reed were stoic as they listened, their earlier irritation with Fletcher wiped clean. This hadn’t been a simple thing to share over breakfast as we ran out the door for practice; we could see that now.

“She wanted to be a mom and asked me to be the sperm donor. I never could say no to her, so I agreed. She had me sign a bunch of documents for the company and baby, wanting to ensure it didn’t go to her uncle. She’d caught him giving secrets to a competitor; he’d been angry he hadn’t been named the CEO in the wake of her father’s death. Danielle and I promised we wouldn’t let that happen.”

His forehead dropped onto my shoulder as he held me closer.

“My mistake was assuming Danielle would carry the baby. Emila had her eggs frozen years back, surprising us both when she took a pregnancy test, and it was positive. Danielle got so angry with Emila that she left, not wanting to be part of Emila’s ‘death brigade,’ as she called it. Emila strongly stood by her decision, saying she understood but that this had been her choice to make and it was how she wanted to spend the last year of her life. But it broke her when Danielle left. With her gone, I stepped up, feeling responsible since the baby was mine. Shockingly, life was great for the first few months. I was doing great on the ice and playing house with Emila on my days off.”

I turned in Fletcher’s arms, embracing him. I didn’t know if I wanted to hear the rest. All my anger from earlier had fled, my heart breaking for his pain. I didn’t know how he was still so caring and loving, but he was, and I wish I could take some of this pain away from him.

“Things declined quickly, and Emila asked me to marry her in a desperate plea. I thought she was crazy, but she wanted the heir to HTC to be legitimate, so there was no questioning from the board. At this point, I would’ve done anything to give her any sense of peace. So we got married in a courthouse, with my mother and sister as witnesses. They disagreed with my decision but supported me, knowing how much Emila meant to me… to them. Everyone in our hometown loved her. It was impossible not to. She was the heartbeat of the place.”

He sucked in another wobbly breath, blowing it slowly out.

“When she was seven months pregnant, she went into early labor, her body shutting down as her cancer wreaked havoc on her. It was the worst day of my life, and I honestly never thought I’d smile again… Emila didn’t make it. The baby didn’t make it.”

I didn’t hide the tears, letting them fall for Fletcher, for Emila, for the child he never got to know. Fletcher quietly sobbed into my hair, pulling back once he could talk again.

“Apparently, one of the things I’d signed was Emila naming me as the owner and CEO of HTC until her child could take over. In the event her child didn’t survive, then I had the power to do with the company as I saw fit. It was her last giant fuck you to her uncle. I hated her for a long time for putting that responsibility on me. For making me have to go to the place she created and not be there. HTC took so much from her, and yet she wanted me to just continue it on, like it wouldn’t hurt? I couldn’t do it. In my grief, I placed the board in charge, retired from hockey, and moved to a cabin in the woods. I ignored everyone, drinking all day and crying every night until I started the process over again.”

Fletcher pressed his lips together in a bid to keep some of his pain inside. His body vibrated beneath my arms as he relived those horrendous moments. I rubbed his back, hoping to soothe him. I didn’t know what else to do, but he seemed content with me like this, so I stayed there, stroking his back.

“Dmitry found me. He tracked me down to that awful cabin and dragged my ass here. He got me back on the ice and gave me something else outside of the grief to focus on. In my second year here, I started to smile and found my love of hockey again. Dax moved in, and a friendship bloomed, healing a part of my heart I didn’t know would ever heal. By my third year, I enjoyed my work and looked forward to coaching, and then you came along and made me believe in love again.” He smiled, some of the sadness falling away.

“I’d ignored the board for the most part over the years, only going when they needed me as a figurehead or vote. But Owen’s been stirring up trouble, pushing the board to replace me. I hadn’t wanted to deal with him, figuring he was easier to control at HTC. But when I tapped into the accounts to deal with Carol, the board took that as a sign I was ready to fulfill my role.”

“What? You did something, didn’t you? That’s why the cashier’s check came back.”

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