My stomach roils at the thought, but Sawyer’s calm voice helps it to settle.
“Talk to me, Emmett. There’s got to be a way to make the guy see reason. He’s clearly overreact?—”
“I gifted him money to help settle Billie’s student finances and then to get her and Blake set up in their own place.”
Sawyer’s head whips to me, jaw agape. “Y-you w-what?”
My forehead finds the steering wheel as we sit in the entrance to the practice rink parking lot. No one has tried to enter or leave so far, which is just as well because I don’t think I’m capable of driving right now.
“It’s not how it looks,” I grind out. “You need to trust me on that.”
Sawyer doesn’t initially respond, and I turn my face to look at him.
Like he’s connecting the dots, he slowly nods his head. “Scott thinks that you basically bought his daughter or at least took advantage of a situation.” He winces. “It’s like the perfect storm—your divorce from Maria, leaving you single and out looking for someone else to boost your ego, Tucker and his family pulling financial support, Scott’s accident resulting in Freya needing to work all hours. I can see how this looks bad to him. Manipulated even.”
“I haven’t manipulated shit,” I declare, voice commanding, frustration threatening to bubble over.
Sawyer exhales into my car. “Yeah, I know you haven’t. I guess the question is, what are you going to do about it?”
“That’s what I was deciding when you showed up. If I take aleft, then I can be at Scott and Freya’s place in ten minutes, which is likely where Billie and Blake are.”
“And right?”
I crush the steering wheel in my grip as anger over Maria’s audacity ripples through every muscle. “A right turn will take me to the house I haven’t set foot inside since I moved out last year.”
Deep in thought, Sawyer chews on the inside of his cheek. “Hear me out with this.”
I’m already sighing, knowing I won’t like whatever he’s going to suggest.
He holds up a hand in surrender. “Go to Maria’s and get all of the facts before you fly off the deep end.”
Jack’s statement to Scott about facts rings true, and once again, I’m resenting my perceptive teammates.
“And then?” I press.
Sawyer’s smile is the perfect blend of determined and alpha. “And then it’s simple … go get your girl and don’t walk away until you have her safely back in your arms.”
Maria’swhite BMW sits in the driveway of where we spent night after night arguing.
Most of our fights are a blur to me, each one feeling as trivial and inaccurate as the next. As I ring the smart doorbell and take a step back, I wish I could say the same about today and the conversation we’re about to have. Maria overstepped and let her jealousy and need to control get the better of her, and I’m not about to leave my former home without setting the record straight.
For years, I let my ex-wife get her own way, whether it was to do with my hockey career, heading out after games, or general shit like how we would redecorate the living room.
Not anymore.
Everyone has their limits, and I reached mine the second she decided to interfere in my dating life, pretending like she caredabout my girlfriend’s well-being when all she really wanted was to drive a wedge between us, convinced that I’d never be able to move on from our marriage.
News flash, Maria: I moved on years ago and then—after our divorce—fell in love with the woman of my goddamn dreams.
“Emmett.” Maria’s face is rosy and all smiles when she swings the door open, acting like she was expecting to see me.
Taking in her perfect makeup, hair, and outfit, I thumb over my shoulder. “Are you headed out?”
She tips her head to the side, broad fake-ass smile still plastered to her face.
Yes, I’m bitter andreallyfucking angry right now.
“Why would you think that?” She shimmies in the doorway. “Or did you forget that this is how I look on the daily?”
