7. BILSON

SEVEN

BILSON

Aleks and Dennan stand from their corner seats when they see Miles and me approach.

“Sorry about the loss,” Aleks says, and he almost sounds genuine. “Someone had to end your winning streak.” He laughs and then hugs me.

“And here I was thinking you were trying to show me what I voluntarily gave up.” I move on to Dennan for a hug.

“That too,” Dennan says.

“You guys know this rock star, right?” I pull Miles forward.

Dennan’s the first to shake his hand. “You had some great saves tonight.”

Miles preens under the compliment. Of course he does. He’s desperate for validation. Dennan and Miles talk hockey for a bit, but Aleks turns to me.

“How are you settling in in Nashville?”

“It’s not like I’ve had time to explore the place, but the team is great.”

“Yeah, I was not expecting you to turn up with Miles Olsen. Didn’t you call him a cocky little shit last season?”

Somehow, even though the bar is noisy, Miles overhears. “You called me what now?”

“If you’re expecting me to deny calling you a cocky little shit, you know I won’t. I’ve called you that to your face.”

“But I didn’t think you meant it!”

I almost feel sorry for him, but then he opens his mouth again.

“Oh, I get it. You were insecure because you’ve never been able to score on me.”

“Duh. We hadn’t spoken two words to each other. What else would I base my judgment on?”

Ugh. Now he’s deliriously happy about that, but whatever, it’s not a secret.

“I’m going to go buy you a drink. Maybe that will make you less intimidated by my talent.”

I shove him toward the bar. “Fuck off, you cocky little shit.”

“Sure thing, old man. I’ll see if they have warm milk for your old, old bones.”

“I’m so glad you found a friend on the same maturity level as you,” Dennan says, and he might have a point. Maybe I get along with Miles so well because I have the emotional maturity of a twenty-four-year-old.

Case in point: when a group of blonde-haired women enter the bar, I don’t need to look at their faces to know they’re the WAGs or that my ex will be with them.

“Argh.” I duck around Aleks to steal his spot in the very tight corner and slink down so she can’t see me.

“I see that hasn’t changed,” Aleks says. “Still hiding from your exes?”

“It’s so much easier in Nashville.”

“Won’t be for long,” Dennan jokes.

“Nope. Still not dating. Or fucking.”

They’re both shocked by that, and I can’t say I blame them. It has been a long time since I had sex, and while my dick might hate me, my willpower is still strong-ish.

“Can you two sit down so she doesn’t look over here?”

They humor me and even shrink down with me. They’re probably mocking me, but I don’t care. The less attention over here, the better.

“What are you guys doing?” Miles asks as he puts two beers on the table.

“Shh,” I say at the same time Aleks pulls Miles down with us. “Hadley is here.”

Miles lifts his head. “Where?”

“With all the blonde women.”

“Seriously, why are all NHL wives blonde? I’m gonna marry a brunette to mess up the aesthetics.”

“My first wife was a brunette,” I say and then add under my breath, “when I met her anyway.”

“Which one is she?” Miles is still looking around.

I kick him under the table. “I didn’t see her.”

“Then how do you know she’s here?” Miles asks.

“Because she would be.”

“Surely she’d know you’re here and wouldn’t come out,” Aleks says.

“She barely followed hockey to begin with. It’s why I married her. I thought, ‘This time, I won’t marry a fan.’ Didn’t work out, obviously, but now she’s friends with all the WAGs. She won’t know I’m here. I guarantee it. She probably doesn’t even know what team I play for now, only that I’m gone.”

“Which one is she?” Miles whines now.

Aleks lifts his head. “The blonde in the tight pink dress.”

“You’re going to need to be more specific than that.”

He looks again. “The bright pink.”

I close my eyes tight. “Damn. Is it the one with the cutouts on the side? I love that dress. I will not look. I will not look.”

“I have an idea,” Miles says. In the next second, he’s gone, and I watch in horror as he goes right up to my ex-wife.

“What is he doing?” I ask, stunned.

Aleks’s brow scrunches. “It … looks like he’s flirting?”

“Uh-oh.” Dennan mocks. “Trouble in your bromance already?”

I take out my phone and message him: What the fuck are you doing?

He ignores it or has his phone on silent, I can’t tell.

Miles’s confident exterior apparently has game because it only takes one drink for us to watch in horror as he leaves with her. I don’t have any feelings for her anymore—I realized really fast with her that I had repeated the same mistake I always did—and we were only married for a year, but watching as my teammate, my friend, walks out with her, it feels like a betrayal.

But then when I get a text message back thirty seconds later, I realize he’s not an asshole. He’s a goddamn idiot.

I’m going to get your dog back.

“Hey, babe?”Aleks says into his phone while the two of us hide in the bushes across the street from my ex-wife’s house the prenup agreement bought her. “I’m going to be home late. We have to rescue a rookie player from a cougar.” There’s a pause before he laughs. “No, not a literal cougar, but by the look of her, she does want to eat him alive.”

“Shh.” I softly backhand him. “If anyone sees us out here, we’ll get arrested.”

Dennan didn’t come on this side excursion because his new wife was at the bar with the other WAGs, but Aleks said he didn’t want to miss this mess.

Silly me thinking he was here for support.

Hadley doesn’t close the blinds as she leads Miles into the bedroom, which is on the second floor. The lights are on, and my stomach churns. Is he going to hook up with her? How far is he willing to take this harebrained idea?

I don’t want to watch that.

Hadley steps closer to Miles, but at about a foot away, Miles puts his hands on her hips and holds her steady.

“Oh fuck, they’re going to kiss, aren’t they?”

“Turn away if you don’t want to see,” Aleks says.

“It’s like a car wreck. I can’t not look at it.”

When their lips touch, I screw up my face.

“Sorry, man,” Aleks says. “Maybe your new bestie is actually a psychopath and wants you to be seeing this.”

Just before I start to believe that, Miles breaks the kiss, says something, and then Hadley turns and walks into the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

Miles frantically takes out his phone and looks out into the darkness in our general vicinity. He knows we’re here. My phone vibrates a second later.

Rookie: Where’s the dog?

CB: She usually locks him away in the laundry room when she goes out or has company.

Rookie: On it.

He turns and tiptoes out of the room, looking ridiculous, and it makes me laugh. He’s trying to be light-footed, but we’re fucking hockey players. We wouldn’t know how to do anything lightly. But I’ll give him props, he’s quick.

My heart is in my throat, beating erratically, when my phone vibrates again.

Rookie: I can’t find a dog, only a rat-looking thing. It doesn’t even have any fur.

CB: That’s him! Quick get out of there.

Rookie: Come get him from the front door.

“We’re moving,” I say to Aleks.

We get up and run across the street, reaching the front just as Miles opens the door and hands me my baby. I have to hold in my shriek of excitement.

Killer starts licking me and going nuts. He lets out a yip, and I can’t help it. “Aww” falls from my lips.

“Leave before she gets out of the shower,” Miles says.

“You’re going to stay?” I yell.

“Teammates should share everything. Is ex-wives not on that list?”

This is one of those times where I can’t tell if he’s being his weirdo goalie self or serious.

He grins. Okay weird goalie self.

The water upstairs shuts off.

His face falls. “Shit. She’s out. Let’s go.” He slams the door shut, and she for sure knows now that she’s been ditched. All three of us sprint across the street and jump into Aleks’s car. He gets it started and speeds away before there’s any sign of Hadley.

My heart is still racing, Miles is cackling in the back seat, but I’m happier than I’ve been in such a long time.

I have my Killer back.

“Are you sure that’s even a dog?” Miles asks.

“He’s a Chinese crested and so freaking adorable.” I hug the little guy, who struggles excitedly in my arms.

“If you say so,” Miles says.

Aleks cuts in. “Hey, question. How are you going to smuggle that thing on the team plane? Aren’t you guys on a weeklong road trip?”

Miles and I look at each other, neither of us with an answer.

He runs a hand through his blond hair. “I kinda didn’t think that far ahead.”

Aleks looks delighted. “You guys are fucked.”