Steve’s head turns and he spots us. His eyes widen at seeing me, then narrow.
He looks…pissed.
What the hell? Is he angry that I’m here? I have a right to be here. I’m still an Aces fan.
Steve forces a smile at seeing the kids. He’s met them many times, of course. They don’t know what happened at the wedding since they weren’t there, luckily, and they’re happy to see him.
“Hi guys,” he says, pausing. “How are you?”
“Good! We just played ball hockey with Blade.”
“Cool.” Steve raises his eyes to me and says curtly, “Hi, Molly. I can’t believe you’re here.”
“Why not?” I frown. “I’m a fan too.”
“I mean, I just saw a picture of you…”
“What?” I’m confused.
“We need to talk.”
I shake my head, trying to figure out what’s going on. “Obviously this isn’t a good time.”
“Oh hell yeah, it is.”
“Hey, language,” I mutter.
“Blade!” Steve calls to the mascot. Blade turns and lumbers toward us, a big dog smile on his enormous face. “Can you take these two guys and get them T-shirts?”
Blade claps his hands and holds them out to the boys.
“No…” I start to protest.
“They’ll be fine, right, Blade?”
Blade nods his big head.
“Bring them over to the autograph table after,” Steve says.
“What are you doing?” I demand under my breath.
“Come this way. I need to sign autographs in a few minutes.” He pauses. “With Jax.”
My heart bumps.
Steve takes hold of my upper arm and pulls me along with him. We go behind the table where a couple of players are signing autographs for a line of fans.
Jax is there.
Great. Perfect.
“Wynn,” Steve snaps at him, jerking his head. “Come here.”
Jax’s head swivels, and he takes in me and Steve together. His jaw tightens and his shoulders tense, but his face stays remarkably expressionless. “What’s up?” he asks, ambling forward.
Steve moves us behind a tent set up beside the autograph table. He pulls out his phone.
“Just tell me…” He unlocks it and swipes a few times, then holds it up for us to see. “What the hell is this?”
I peer at his phone and see a photograph of Jax and me at Clear Lake. We’re standing on the beach, arms around each other, smiling up at each other.
I freeze. I feel like darkness descends over the festival and only Jax, Steve and I are standing here, in a quiet bubble. I look at Jax. He looks at me.
What the hell do we do now?
My throat has gone dry, and I swallow.
I turn my gaze back to Steve. “Uh…”
“This is who you were with all summer?” he demands.
Welp, there’s no point in lying about it. I don’t like lying anyway, but he’s holding proof in his hands.
I look at Jax, trying to convey my regret. He gives a tiny, resigned nod.
“Yes,” I say to Steve.
I don’t offer any other explanation or info. What more does he need to know?
His face reddening, Steve shakes his head and turns to Jax. “What the fuck, man?”
Jax holds up his hands. “You two weren’t together anymore.”
“I know, but Jesus Christ! We were engaged! She dumped me at the altar. What did you do, go after her?”
“No,” Jax says quietly, lifting his chin. “She asked me to help. She wanted to get away from the wedding and she wanted to get out of town.”
“He tried to talk me out of it,” I put in. I know this is bad for Jax. Steve can go jump in Lake Michigan, for all I care. “He encouraged me to stay and talk to you and maybe go for counseling. Really.”
“Counseling?” Steve’s eyebrows fly up and his face gets even redder. “What the fuck?”
“I was trying to help.”
“You call this help?” Steve shoves the phone in Jax’s face. “I can’t fucking believe this!”
“Where did you get that picture?” I ask, as if that even matters.
“Rico showed it to me. He just stumbled across it on Instagram. Somebody tagged the Aces because of the festival today.”
“I saw it yesterday,” Jax says quietly.
“Shit,” I say, dropping my head forward.
“You were just going to keep this secret?” Steve says. “Forever?”
“It’s over,” I say, but unexpectedly my throat closes up. I try to say more, but I can’t get any words out. To my horror, tears prickle the corners of my eyes.
Jax watches me with concern, and jumps in. “It’s over, Chucky. It was just a summer fling.”
If possible, Steve appears more outraged at this. “You fucked her and it was just a fling?” he yells.
“Shhhh.” I cast a nervous glance around. We sure don’t need anyone else hearing this.
“She’s better than that, goddammit!” Steve roars. “You’re nothing but a manwhore, fucking everything in sight! But Molly? Jesus!”
Jax’s expression becomes alarmed. He’s been doing so well at staying calm. He holds up his hands, palms out. “We both knew what it was going in,” he says quietly. “Calm down, Chucky.”
I shove at Steve’s shoulder. “I can have a summer fling if I want to!” I speak up, now able to talk again.
He stares at me in disbelief. “That’s what it was?”
No. That’s not what it was. My chest fills with emotion and I want to burst into tears. I’m scared and wretched and…and I’m in love with Jax and I can’t admit it. But I can’t deny it, either.
Steve gets it.
His jaw drops. A vein in his temple pulses. “You fell in love with him?”
I swallow painfully and give a tiny nod.
Steve’s lip curls as he turns back to Jax, who’s staring at me open-mouthed. “You motherfucker! You broke her heart!”
Jax shakes his head quickly, but his gaze is fastened on me, not Steve, who’s lifting his fists.
“Don’t hit him!” I cry, grabbing Steve’s arm.
“I’m gonna break his fucking nose!”
“No! No, stop. It’s not his fault, Steve. We agreed it would just be a summer thing.”
“You fell in love with me?” Jax asks quietly, putting out a hand to shove Steve away. Apparently Steve’s fists don’t concern him.
“I—I’m sorry.” A tear tracks down my cheek. “I didn’t mean to. I thought it was a fling. I thought it was a rebound fling. But I—I can’t get over you.”
“Jesus.” Now Jax is cursing.
Steve’s coming at him again.
Jax turns to him. “Fine,” he says with resignation. “Get your shots in. I deserve it.”
“No!” I step between them. “This is ridiculous!”
My heart is racing, my hands shaking. Every coherent thought has spun out of my head. All I know is I can’t let Steve hit Jax.
“Stop this,” I order Steve. “This is ridiculous. This is none of your business, Steve.”
He goes still, slowly lowering his arms. He scowls at Jax. “You need to apologize to her.”
Jax scowls back at him. “Are you fucking kidding me? You screwed around on her. You broke her heart. You two were done. It was crystal clear. I know I probably shouldn’t have fallen for the ex-girlfriend of a teammate, but I did, and I’m not sorry.”
My eyes fly open so wide I’m amazed my eyeballs aren’t bouncing on the ground. “What?”
“So go ahead and hit me,” he prods Steve.
Steve stares at him, his eyebrows pulled down low over his eyes. “You fell for her?”
Jax lifts his chin and clearly says, “Yeah.”
Steve looks at me. “Are you two still together or not? You said it was over.”
My bottom lip quivers. “I don’t know what’s going on,” I whisper. I twist my fingers together. My gaze bounces back and forth
between the two men. Steve seems to be calming down. Jax is…unruffled.
“I don’t either.” Steve scowls.
“I do.” A slow smile slides over Jax’s face.
Someone appears around the corner of the tent. “What the hell are you doing back here? You guys are up. Get out here and sign some autographs.”
“Oh my God.” I press the heel of my hand to my forehead.
“Be right there, Modi,” Steve says. He steps away from Jax. “Are you okay, Molly?”
“I’m…” I float a glance Jax’s way. “I’m not sure.”
Steve turns a glare on Jax. “She’s not sure.”
“It’ll be okay.” Jax moves to me. He cups my face in both hands and, nearly nose to nose, he stares into my eyes. “It’ll be okay. Got that?”
I nod slowly, mesmerized by the affection and heat I see in his dark eyes.
He presses his lips to my forehead in a long, tender kiss, then draws back. “We’ll talk when I’m done. Okay?”
“Okay.”
I’m blinking rapidly. My heart thuds against my ribs and my hands are shaking. I glance at Steve, who has looked away, his jaw tight, then I follow him and Jax back to the table where fans are waiting.
Blade returns with an ecstatic Josh and Cam, who are carrying T-shirts and pennants.
“We need to get these autographed!” Cam says.
“You guys have Steve’s autographs,” I remind them, tapping the big number of the back of Cam’s jersey where Steve signed it last year.
“We’ll get Jax Wynn’s, then!”
“Okay.” I get in line with them.
The boys are bouncing with excitement, and I’m vibrating with nerves and uncertainty. What did he mean, he fell for me? What, what, what?
When we get to the front of the line, the boys hand their pennants and shirts over to Jax.
“These are my nephews,” I tell him. I set a hand on Cam’s head. “This is Cam. And this is Josh.”
“Good to meet you, guys.”
“You too!” They both nearly shout. “You’re a great right-winger!”
“Thanks, guys.”
“I can’t wait till your first game!” Josh says.
“Yeah, same.” Jax grins. “The start of the season is exciting.”
“I’m so glad you’re playing,” Josh says, aware that Jax almost missed training camp.
“Me too.” Jax’s smile turns wry. He meets my eyes over the heads of the boys.
Once again, our gazes hold. I’m a buzzing ball of nerves and confusion. I don’t know what’s happening.
Steve’s signing a jersey for another fan, and he glances up. He gives me a wry smile and a nod.
“I’m done here in twenty minutes,” Jax says. “Can you stay?”
The boys look up at me. “We’re staying longer than twenty minutes, right, Aunt Molly?”
“Er, yeah.” We haven’t actually seen much of the festival yet. There’s also an open scrimmage we could go watch with about half the players trying out for the team this year. “We’ll be here for a while.”
“I’ll text you when I’m done,” Jax says.
Steve’s mouth twists up overhearing this, then relaxes. “You two have some stuff to sort out, apparently.”
I’m so frickin’ grateful to Steve for not making this a hundred times worse than it already is, although I don’t condone his threat to break Jax’s nose. I shoot him a grateful smile as I shepherd the boys away so the people behind us can get autographs.
We pass a face painting session and the boys want the Aces logo painted on their faces, so we do that. Then Cam and Josh want mini donuts, and how can I say no to that when I love mini donuts myself? We’re munching on those as we enter the practice facility to watch the scrimmage.
We’ve just found our seats when my phone buzzes. I pull it out of the cross-body purse I’m wearing. It’s Jax.
Where are u?
Watching the scrimmage.
I’ll find u.
I don’t know if this is a good idea with my nephews here. What are we really going to be able to talk about?
I can’t sit still, shifting on the hard bench in the stands, my muscles quivery and twitchy. I see him enter the rink area, looking around. I lift a hand, and he spots us and heads our way.
There’s room for him on the bench if we shift over, so I nudge Josh and Cam to move down. They’re big-eyed as Jax bumps fists with them.
There’s a buzz of excitement around us as everyone realizes who he is.
“Mini donuts,” Jax says. “My fave.”
Cam wordlessly hands him the paper bag, and Jax takes one solemnly. “Thanks, man.”
I’m shivering, both because of the cold in the arena and my nerves. I’ve barely had time to process what’s happening. Why did I say what I did? Why didn’t I lie? Why did Jax say that? I don’t understand any of this.
“So,” he says in a low voice near my ear, “we’re busted.”
I clap a hand over my mouth to stop my startled laugh. “I guess so, yeah.”
“Sorry about that.”
“Why are you apologizing? You didn’t do it. I should be apologizing to you. You’re the one who has to work in an, um, awkward situation.”
“Seems like Steve is more pissed about me hurting you than about us being together.”
I suck on my bottom lip and turn my eyes up to him. “That’s what it seemed like.”
Steve’s already shown he’s not in love with me anymore, but it seems like maybe he still cares. That’s…nice.
“When do you get rid of the tadpoles?” he murmurs near my ear.
“Their parents get back around six tonight. I guess seven-ish by the time they get home from the airport.”
“Can I come see you after that?”
I swallow. “Okay.”
“I need your fucking address.”
Thankfully, he’s talking in a quiet voice on the side opposite to where Cam and Josh are sitting. “Why do you sound angry about that?”
“Because I don’t even know where you fucking live. I should know that.”
Oh. I give him my address and he enters it into his phone.
He says goodbye to the boys and leaves, everyone around us watching all of this take place.
What is even happening?
25
Jax
What the fuck just happened?
I try to smile and focus on the fans as I sign autographs and make small talk, aware of Chucky next to me doing the same.
I thought Chucky was going to deck me, and I was ready to take it like a man. But maybe I should be thanking him. Haha.
All I know is, when Molly said she fell in love with me, I was done.
Done. Finished. Dead. My heart cracked at what she said. I can’t bear that I hurt her. I didn’t know.
Okay, maybe I did.
I sign another jersey and pose for a photograph, smile in place.
I knew it was hard for us both to say goodbye at the end of her stay. I knew I was a miserable bastard after she left. I guess I didn’t realize how hard it was for her.
Then she was crying and apologizing for falling for me, and fuck! That’s not right!
She said she can’t get over me. Christ. What have I done?
I think I fucked up big time.
All I know is, I can’t lose Molly again. She’s what’s been missing in my life. She’s why I haven’t been interested in seeing other women. She’s why signing this contract hasn’t felt that celebratory. I need her to celebrate with. I need her to commiserate with. I need her for every damn thing.
I’m still not sure what happened there with Steve getting pissed at me for hurting her, when he’s the one who broke her heart.
When Modi finally tells us we’re done, we push back our chairs and stand. I meet Chucky’s eyes and jerk my head to the back of the tents where we were earlier. “We need to talk.”
He narrows his eyes, lifts his chin and follows me.
; Behind the tent, I turn to face him, my shoulders hunched. But I hold his gaze steadily when I say, “I’m in love with Molly.”
“I got that,” he says quietly.
“I’m sorry, man. I know it’s weird and awkward and I never meant for it to happen.” I suck air into my lungs. “We both agreed we’d just have fun over the summer, but it turned into more.”
“For her too, apparently.”
He’s remarkably calm. Although there is a vein pulsing in his forehead.
I swallow. “I have to find out. If she really feels the same.” I still hold his gaze.
He stares at me and I start to think he’s going to try to hit me again. Then he says, “I get it.”
“We have to play together. I don’t want things to be…weird and awkward,” I repeat lamely.
“Oh, it’s going to be weird and awkward.”
My gut tenses.
Then Chucky sighs. “We’ll get over it. Go do what you have to do. Just…don’t be an idiot. Like me.”
Shared understanding vibrates between us.
Maybe this will be okay.
I give him a short nod and turn to bolt.
In my vehicle, I sit for a moment before starting the engine. It’s goddamn bizarre, but whatever. It feels…right. Like this had to happen.
I grip the steering wheel of my SUV. Okay. I got this.
No. I don’t. I don’t know what the hell I’m doing.
I don’t know what to do. I’ve never been in this position before. I’m always the one making a quick exit, and this time…well, I tried, thinking that was what we had to do. But I screwed up.
I tip my head back and let out a long stream of breath.
Who can I talk to? I need help.
Fuck.
I don’t have friends I can talk to about this. I mean, Rico and Heart are my two best buddies still left on the team, now that Gander is gone. But I don’t share all my deepest secret crap with them. That’s not me. I haven’t said a word to them about Molly, out of fear it would get back to Chucky.
Too late for that, though. Rico apparently saw the Instagram post that led to this shit show.
I remember my mom lamenting that I don’t talk to her. And Molly commenting about all the time I’d lost with my dad because of not talking about what happened.
Shit.
Welp, if Mom wants me to talk to her, she’s about to get an earful.
Game Changer Page 23
