Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 89465 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 447(@200wpm)___ 358(@250wpm)___ 298(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89465 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 447(@200wpm)___ 358(@250wpm)___ 298(@300wpm)
I hate the look in her eyes when she finally turns and looks at me over her shoulder.
“Lost my appetite,” she says with a shrug before she disappears around the corner.
“I’m such an asshole,” I mutter after hearing the snap of her bedroom door close a minute later.
My skin crawls at her implications, but she was right, wasn’t she? I blamed how she was dressed like a fucking creep who can’t control how he reacts when he sees a woman.
My poor momma would be so disappointed in me, because for a minute there, I did forget my raising.
Misery settles inside of me as I make my way back to my own room. This is one of those times I wish Cory hadn’t royally fucked me over. I can blame Emily as much as I like, but the man had free will. He didn’t have to fall into bed with my wife. He could’ve told her no then let me know what she was up to. I don’t care how vulnerable he was after landing on the injured reserve list and having to have surgery. His damn bum knee didn’t keep him from jumping inside my wife.
I realize as I head to the shower in my en suite that although I’m angrier at her than anyone else, I still hate him. Mostly because I lost someone I thought I could trust. It’s a given that I’m supposed to be able to trust my wife, but Emily isn’t really the type that breeds confidence and faith. She was always a loose cannon, and, if I’m being honest with myself, I’m surprised it took me so long to discover that she was having an affair. She swears it was the only one, and it was a moment of weakness. Well, that was her stance before she found out I was cut from the team. She didn’t even try to support me and argue that I had one off season in ten years, like I did during that meeting.
She switched gears so quickly, claiming Cory was the love of her life and I wasted so much time she could’ve spent with him. My friend was a manwhore, and the crazy thing is Emily knew that. She’s been a firsthand witness to the things he’d get up to.
I shake my head as I pull my shirt off. I need all of it out of my brain. I don’t want any part of either of them tainting the life I’m trying to build.
I can be just as obsessed with getting the store ready for sale as I was with hockey and my personal fitness. I can focus all my energy on my boys. I know I’ll be happier, not having to work so hard for a woman who’s capable of stabbing me in the back without blinking.
As I hold my breath and let the cold water pelt me in the face, I have a hard time keeping my mind off Madison. Maybe it’s because she’s in the house. I knew it would be a problem the second I wanted to tell her yes when she demanded it be a live-in position. It’s why I immediately told her no. She’s a distraction I don’t need.
I tell myself that very thing throughout my entire shower. I say it so many times in my head, I find myself whispering it out loud as I dry off.
By the time I climb into bed, I feel it in my soul.
Madison Kelly is a distraction I don’t need.
Still, as I close my eyes, I can’t fall asleep. Knowing she’s a distraction and preventing her from being one are two very different things.
Chapter 10
Madison
My eyes snap open, darkness surrounding me in the room except for a tunnel of light behind me.
Confusion clings to me as I roll over. I gasp at the figure standing in the beam of light.
“Madison,” a man growls.
A second later, light fills the room, and the rush of it into my eyes is painful, a shock to my system that makes me wince.
“What’s wrong?” I hiss, lifting my arm to shield the light in my eyes so I can glare at him.
“What’s wrong? Why are you still in bed?”
Pissed beyond words, I grab my cell phone from under my pillow and look down at it.
“It’s four in the morning,” I hiss, turning it around to show him. “The store opens at eight. I figured I had until at least six thirty. Wait. The store is closed on Mondays. Is something wrong?”
Fear begins to settle inside of me as I sit up and turn on the bed so I can put my feet on the floor.
“What did I say about wearing bottoms?” he growls.
“Don’t start that shit with me again,” I grumble. “Is the house on fire? Are the boys okay?”