Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 106346 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 532(@200wpm)___ 425(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106346 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 532(@200wpm)___ 425(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
When we get to room number three, we are the only ones in the room for now. Brown benches line the white cinder block walls. Off to the side is the bathroom and then there is a half cinder block wall on the left side that leads to the shower. “Where do you want to sit?’ I ask Dylan, and he walks over to the bench, sitting in the middle. I put his equipment bag down in front of him and open the blue gym bag, taking out a royal blue pair of shorts with matching shirt. The shorts have Justin Stone on one leg and then Woods on the other. “Let’s get changed,” I say, and he undresses faster than he’s ever done before, slipping on the shorts and then the matching shirt that has his name on the back. He sits down, and I grab the blue running shoes out of the bag and tie his laces for him even though he wants to do it himself. By the time we finish, two other kids have walked into the room with their dads along with Justin.
“Is everything okay in here?” he asks, looking around. I look at Dylan, who just nods.
“Great. How about we get things started by going upstairs and getting our spots for the meeting?” he says, clapping his hands. Two more kids who are a bit older walk in the room and freak out when they see Justin, who just smiles. He gives the kids high-fives, and then he looks up at me. When our eyes meet, he just smiles, and I have to look away because my heart just started to beat faster.
“Let’s go get you set up,” I say to Dylan and rush out of the room and away from the man with the brown eyes.
Chapter Three
Justin
My eyes follow her as she walks away from me as if I’m in a trance. The minute I pulled up and got out of my car, my eyes went to her as she walked with his hand in hers. I almost jogged to make sure I would get to the door so I could hold it open for her. I was only planning to help her, but then she looked up and her green eyes knocked me back and made my chest tight.
“Justin,” Amy says from behind me, and just the sound of her voice makes me shiver like nails scraping down a chalkboard. “It’s time for you to go upstairs.” I turn to look at her and try to stay out of her grabby hands. She’s been working with the foundation for six months and has tried to get me in her grasp since then, but it will never happen. One thing I’ve learned is you don’t fuck with anyone who works for you.
When we walk out of the room, and she starts to tell me everything I need to do and say, I zone her out. Climbing the back stairs, I come to the tables where the kids are sitting and the parents hang out in the back. I nod at everyone and try to find her without making it too obvious, but I don’t see her when I look around. Dylan sits at the table with another child, and when I step up to the front, the kids get quiet. Looking around, I think back to how I got here. I mean, if you think about it, there really was no other choice for me. I was born a Stone, and anyone who knows hockey, knows the Stone name.
I started skating as soon as I could walk, and I even have a picture in my condo of me on the ice with my father holding me up. I loved it, and it was a good thing because we were always at the rink, whether it was for my father or for Matthew, my brother who was drafted first overall. We have that in common, but that is where it stops. Where he got drafted to Los Angeles, I got drafted to Edmonton, and we both handled it differently. He went out and partied while I sat in my room missing home and everything about it. Mind you, Edmonton is no LA.
It was so fucking hard, and I suffered from homesickness so bad that my parents would come out every other week. Slowly, I got into the groove, and now six years later, I’ve settled, knowing that I will probably never leave Edmonton. They have me signed for another two years, and I’m not one to toot my own horn, but the stats don’t lie. I’m at the head of the leaderboard every year, and just last year, I finally beat Evan, my brother-in-law who plays with New York and is married to Zara, one of my twin sisters. My other brother-in-law, Viktor, who is married to the other twin, Zoe, finished third, and from what he told me last week, the next season will be his last. Better to go out on top than be asked to leave, he said to me. That and Zoe wants to have another child, and he wants to be home for it all this time.