Southern Riders (Scars Book 1)

by Robin Edwards

  Mariah was constantly trying to cheer me up, promising to be with me every step of the way, as if that was what I wanted. I loved Mariah and was grateful to have such a supportive and encouraging best friend, but she couldn’t be a father to my child.

  After reading every pregnancy book I could get my hands on, I decided to focus on being positive and as happy as possible, once I learned that my energy could be transferred to the baby. I didn’t want to pass on anxiety or fear, so instead, I put less attention into what I didn’t have and celebrated all that was working in my favor.

  Although I had yet to have an ultrasound, Dr. Lindsey had run some tests, which confirmed that the baby was healthy. I was still able to work, although she suggested I refrain from some of the more straining exercises. While I hadn’t been very responsible in my private life, my professional life was very well taken care of. There was no insecurity or pressure regarding the financial responsibilities of having a child, and that I considered being a major win.

  Mariah had decided to come over to cheer me up since it was Saturday night, and I wouldn’t be hitting the town to party and drink as we had in the past. I’d just put the lasagna in the oven when the doorbell rang. Luckily, my nausea had passed, so now I was happy to cook all of my favorites in my spare time.

  “Best Friend!” I grinned as I opened the door. Mariah held a champagne bottle up, and I frowned in confusion. Sure she didn’t know much about pregnancy, as I hadn’t a few weeks prior, but everyone knew you couldn’t drink alcohol while pregnant.

  “It’s sparkling grape juice!” She explained before hugging me and leading the way into the living room.

  We were relaxing on the sofa as Mariah filled me in on the details at her office. She’d been an investment counselor at her firm for four years, and she was working her butt off for a promotion.

  “Mark was telling me that he may be able to get a list of the attendees at the fundraiser,” she said nervously.

  “Who is Mark?” I asked confused.

  “He’s the one that gave me the tickets. I was thinking maybe if you saw his name it could spark a memory,” she said in an optimistic tone.

  “I don’t know. It’s not like I forget his name. I just never knew it. I doubt seeing, or even hearing it will jog my memory,” I explained just as the timer on the oven went off.

  After removing the glass casserole dish, I tossed my oven mitts onto the counter before grabbing two plates out of the cabinet. After making a plate for Mariah, and another for myself, I returned to the sofa, where my best friend had spread out comfortably.

  “What’s this?” I asked as I noticed her choice in entertainment.

  “Come on! You know I love the Kings, and they’re playing the Capitals, it should be a good game,” she nodded while motioning towards the hockey game blaring from the television.

  I didn’t really understand how she could watch such a barbaric sport. Not even two minutes into us watching, and one of the players rammed into another, shoving him into the plastic barrier surrounding the rink. I shook my head; happy the game was pausing for a commercial.

  Nervously, I tried the sparkling grape juice. I’d read in one of my pregnancy books that carbonation could sometimes cause the baby to move, and I was really anxious about it. But when I sipped nothing happened, I guess it was too soon. The pregnancy app I’d downloaded said that my baby was probably about the size of a grape by now. I giggled to myself as I imagined a tiny little baby floating around in my belly.

  “Oh my god! There he is! I absolutely love him!” Mariah shrieked, snatching me out of my thoughts.

  “Who?” I asked while looking up at the television. It was a sports drink commercial with a group of men ice-skating with hockey helmets on, before one of the men grabbed a bottle of the purple sports drink and poured the contents through the opening of his helmet.

  “Aiden Beckett! He’s so fine!” She smiled at the screen as if the man could see her.

  “You can’t even see his face,” I giggled at her fawning over this hot man in a helmet that probably smelled like feet.

  “I don’t even need to see his face. Aiden Beckett is the type of person that should be required to wear a helmet in everyday life. He’s just too damn fine!” She smiled as the game came back on.

  “I don’t get the hype,” I mumbled under my breath, but Mariah’s eye roll lets me know that she’d definitely heard me.

  We’d finished our dinner, so I began gathering up our dirty dishes before heading into the kitchen. I was just finished loading the dishwasher when Mariah yelled over to me.

  “There he is! Look at him!” She yelled without looking away from the game. Glancing up at the television, I saw a banner being raised into the rafters. Walking back to the living room I watched as Mariah beamed with pride before explaining.

  “He broke another record! He has the most goals in Kings history, so they’re honoring him tonight. We should’ve gone to the game. I bet the arena is electric!” She exclaimed, a little disappointed to be watching it from my sofa.

  I was just about to promise to go to the next game with her when all the breath escaped me. I placed my hand over my heart as my vision focused in on the jaw line I’d spent more hours dreaming about than I cared to admit. His smile was as charming as I’d remembered it. I stared at the television in disbelief as I saw the man I’d slept with 9-weeks ago waving to a roaring crowd before running his fingers through his thick brown hair and taking a seat.

  “See! You’re affected! Don’t deny it, the man is gorgeous!” Mariah said, watching me for a reaction.

  “That’s him,” I said breathlessly, my words barely audible.

  “What?” Mariah asked half paying attention and watching the television.

  “What’s his name?” I asked, my hand instantly dropping to my belly as I struggled to regain my composure.

  “Aiden. Aiden Beckett. He must be injured, but it’s our treat because he looks even better in a suit,” she smiled before looking towards me, instantly noticing something was wrong.

  “Are you okay?” She asked.

  “That’s him, Mariah.” I paused as I looked at my best friend. I could tell she couldn’t put it together, so I simplified it for her, “Aiden is the man from the fundraiser. He’s my baby’s father.” I rubbed my belly while turning to face the television again. The camera panned to Aiden as he looked around the arena, that contagious million-watt smile splayed across his handsome face.

  “Are you fucking kidding me?!” Mariah yelled while moving to sit on her knees as her eyes looked ready to pop out of her head.

  “I guess I should’ve been watching hockey, huh?” I giggled.

  “You mean to tell me you slept with Aiden fucking Beckett and you didn’t know it?!” She yelled.

  “How would I know him?” I threw my hands in the air.

  “He’s like the most famous bachelor in the city, Emily! The man is a billionaire for Christ’s sake!” She seemed to be annoyed with my naiveté.

  “If he were a billionaire, he wouldn’t play hockey for a living,” I scoffed while settling onto the sofa.

  “Oh, but he is,” she insisted before continuing, “his dad is an investment banking legend; he was rich before he ever picked up a hockey stick.” She motioned toward the television as she said the last sentence before reaching towards my coffee table to grab my MacBook.

  “What’re you doing?” I asked.

  “We’re Googling your baby’s dad,” she teased as she opened the silver laptop.

  After a few clicks, there was everything you could want to know about Aiden Becket, or ‘Hockey’s Bad Boy,' as ESPN described him. Mariah clicked through the images, shaking her head in disbelief every few seconds. There were plenty of pictures of him in his hockey uniform, as well as others of him topless, posing in magazines, and even some of him with women draped over him. After the third page of pictures, Mariah decided she’d had enough and handed me the lapto
p. I closed it, pretending not to care much.

  “So what are you going to do?” She asked while turning to face me, her legs crossed underneath her.

  “Well, I have to tell him. That much I know for sure. Do you think I should message him online or something? He’s got to have social media, right?” I sounded clueless.

  “Are you kidding me? He has millions of followers, you’ll never get through on his social media. Besides, what are you going to say? ‘Hey, we met at a fundraiser a couple of weeks ago, kinda got something to tell ya.' No, you should go up to the arena. They practice every day, and you’re gorgeous, you can manage to sneak into practice,” she teased, and I let out a nervous giggle.

  “What will I even say?” I thought aloud, and Mariah rubbed my back, realizing her faux jealousy would have to take a backseat to my very real dilemma. In a way, I had solved one huge problem and exchanged it for another.

  Mariah and I went over several possible scenarios and different ways I could go about talking to him before it was time for her to go home. She promised she would call the next day to help me come up with a plan. Then I packed her an extra piece of lasagna in Tupperware, and she left for the night.

  As soon as the door shut behind her, I rushed to the sofa to open my laptop, determined to learn as much as I could about Aiden, but preferring to complete my investigation without my best friend hovering over my shoulder.

  It ended up being a good idea because although I’m sure she already knew it, I didn’t want to read the disparaging articles I read about him in front of Mariah. Several blogs called him a womanizer and told tales about how he slept around and never actually dated. There were also a handful of first-person accounts of him being a complete asshole, which included screenshots of text conversations with him. Apparently, Aiden Beckett was the wrong man to love because he never seemed to reciprocate the feeling. He was anything but a gentleman according to every blog post I read.

  After an hour of investigating I decided I’d had enough, forcing myself to close the MacBook before I overloaded on information. I went running a bath with the hopes of quieting my thoughts. Stripping down as I prepared to soak until my mind relaxed, I looked at my naked frame in the mirror. Leaning back, I tried to poke my belly out, but there still was no baby bump.

  My first ultrasound appointment with Dr. Lindsey was coming up soon, and as I climbed into the shallow tub, I wondered if Aiden would be going with me. I knew that I didn’t want to force him to be a part of the pregnancy or the baby’s life. He had done pretty much everything he could to prevent pregnancy, so it was evident this wasn’t his intention.

  I tried to imagine every possible reaction from him as I scrubbed my skin with a lavender exfoliating sugar scrub. Would he be excited to see me? Then the thought that I had yet to considered hit me. Maybe he wouldn’t even remember me. That would be so embarrassing.

  Taking a deep breath, I forced myself to calm down and let the day play out how it may. There really wasn’t much else I could do about it. Regardless, no matter what Aiden said or did, I was having a baby, and I couldn’t stress about any of it because then I’d cause stress to my child.

  I settled into bed after putting on my fuzzy pajamas. I had a big day ahead of me tomorrow. I was nervous and excited. For weeks I’d wanted to know who the mystery man was, and tomorrow I would get to see him face-to-face. I just hoped he was ready to meet me, and his baby.

  Chapter Six

  EMILY

  I was riding in the backseat of a taxi when I began to question if this was a good idea. I guess I’d started asking it the moment Mariah called me with the plan. How was I going to just walk into a professional hockey team’s practice? And then what would I do? Blow a whistle and signal Aiden off the ice?

  Maybe I should’ve taken Mariah up on her offer to come along, but I really felt like it was a task I had to handle on my own. I’d gotten myself into this mess, and a part of me wanted to find the bravery to face him alone. Wanting this to go well, I’d changed outfits four times as Mariah gave me feedback on every option. Eventually, we decided on a white and blue floral print knee length sundress. My back was completely exposed, so I styled my blonde hair to fall over my shoulders in big curls.

  By the time the taxi rolled to a stop outside the back entrance of the arena, my heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest. I rubbed my belly, which had become a calming mechanism for me, despite my lack of a baby bump. There were about forty cars in the parking lot, so I figured they probably belonged to the players. Looking around at a lot of luxury cars, I wondered which one belonged to Aiden. There was a bright yellow Lamborghini, three Bentleys, a Porsche, a couple of Ferraris, and countless Mercedes Benzes. I just hoped the Lamborghini wasn’t his.

  After paying the taxi driver, I decided to head towards the entrance. Just as I approached an overweight man with a receding hairline, wearing a security guard uniform, made his way towards the door after jumping up from a nearby bench.

  “Hi, beautiful. I know this move. Sorry, I can’t let you in,” he said while rubbing his hands together as if he had a master plan up his sleeve.

  “Oh, I just need to go in really quick and see someone,” I explained while smiling how Mariah had instructed me to.

  “Believe me, I would be happy to give you whatever you want, but I can’t let you in there,” he half smirked like there was a way I could negotiate, but he was too sleazy for me to even continue the conversation. Instead, I just chose to find a seat in the shade and wait for the men to head back towards their cars.

  I called Mariah to pass the time quickly, while also easing my nerves and discouraging the offensive security guard from continuing to talk to me.

  “What happened?!” She yelled into the phone, seemingly out of breath.

  “I called you to calm me down. You can’t answer out of breath,” I teased while picking a small piece of lint from my dress.

  “I figured you must have made your way in, to call this soon. How long have you been there?”

  “Only a couple of minutes. The security guard won’t let me in, and he’s too creepy to flirt with,” I whispered the last part, hoping he couldn’t hear me.

  “Oh, well the practice should be over soon anyway,” she assured me.

  “How do you know that?” I questioned.

  “Emily, there’s a lot you don’t know about my level of fan-hood for the Kings. There isn’t much I don’t know about them,” she joked, and I felt relieved, as I laughed a bit.

  We discussed what could possibly happen with Aiden after Mariah updated me on her office drama. I was just telling her about the results of my best student’s performance at her latest gymnastics tournament when three black vehicles pulled up. First were two SUVs, and last was a Mercedes-Benz Maybach.

  I was staring at the cars, wondering who could be inside when the door several yards behind me swung open, followed by the boisterous sound of guys joking.

  I didn’t recognize any faces from the first crowd of guys, but I instantly noticed Aiden in the second group as he walked with a younger looking blonde man. I quickly explained everything to Mariah before rushing off of the phone and preparing myself to face Aiden. Taking a deep breath, I ran my hands down the front of my dress before tossing my phone in my purse and feeling my hair to ensure my curls were okay.

  I was only a few feet away from Aiden when he noticed me. He instantly stopped walking, squinting his eyes as I approached. The blonde man followed his gaze before turning to me and breaking the silence.

  “Please tell me you’re here for me, and not this old man,” he teased as he smirked at Aiden, whose eyes were locked with mine. The blonde guy might as well have been invisible.

  “I’m Josh,” he introduced himself while extending his hand and demanding my attention. Reluctantly, I released my gaze from Aiden before looking over to the blonde, realizing how attractive he was for the first time.

  “Hi, I’m Emily,” I
smiled before looking back to Aiden who was nodding and silently repeating my name. I realized that he must have wondered what my name was just as I’d wondered about his.

  “Well, I’ll leave you two to it,” Josh said awkwardly before scurrying off, the tension between Aiden and I must have been a bit uncomfortable for him.

  “Hi,” he said with furrowed eyebrows, the sound of his voice instantly brought a smile to my face.

  “Hi,” I repeated back with a bashful smile.

  “I’m a little shocked to see you, but I’m happy you’re here,” he halfway exposed the charming smile I remembered so well. Focusing on his jawline, my eyes began to drift all over his face, taking in every detail. His skin looked so smooth I wanted to reach out and touch him.

  “I didn’t mean to bombard you, I just wasn’t sure of a better way to run into you, and I really need to talk to you,” I explained.

  “You didn’t bombard me,” he responded in a low voice as if that was all I’d said.

  “Do you think we could talk in private somewhere?” I asked a bit nervous, hoping he would be okay with that.

  “Yeah, my apartment is less than a mile away,” he looked off into what I’m assuming was the direction of his home. I didn’t know if going to his apartment was such a good idea. I’d imagined a public place when this scenario played out in my mind. Then I remembered I was already pregnant by the man and figured his apartment was probably the best place to break the news to him. Besides, it would be entirely private so I wouldn’t have to worry about anyone overhearing us.

  “Okay, that’s fine,” I said after contemplating his offer. He nodded before heading towards the parking lot. I smiled wondering which car he would head to and was shocked when he stopped at the Maybach parked along the curb.

  “What?” He asked as he opened the back door for me.

  “I was just hoping the Lamborghini wasn’t yours,” I smirked before climbing into the backseat. I could hear Aiden chuckling behind me.