“You are the worst liar I’ve ever met,” Lucy said with a disbelieving chuckle. “Okay, well, no one who’s not on the list can gain access—not even Wayne Gretzky. No press. No nothing. This one-on-one time with the kids is a sacred event for the Ice Knights.”
An hour later, the rush of kids and their parents had slowed and she finally had time to scan the area for attack kitties and pretend she wasn’t spending every other breath thinking about Ian. She’d made the right decision to cut things off completely, even if it made her feel like shit—at least that’s what she kept telling herself to squelch all the maybe-I-could or if-only-I-did thoughts swirling around her head and making her heart ache.
“Hey, Stacey, right?” David Petrov strolled up to the entrance flanked by two guys with press badges around their necks.
“Shelby,” she said, more than used to people mixing up her name that way.
“Oh man. Sorry about that. Too many hits to the noggin.” With an amused chuckle, he tapped the top of his head with his knuckles. “Don’t suppose you can let me inside to go find my boys.”
Her gut twisted. The man was obviously trying to make amends with Alex and Ian. She could understand how hard that was and admired his determination to set things right, but a skate with fifth graders may not be the time to do it—especially with Lucy’s instructions.
“I’m afraid I can’t do that.” If Wayne Gretzky couldn’t get in, David Petrov couldn’t, either. “It’s just for the junior athletes and the team. I can let them know and they can call you after it’s over?”
“It’ll be quick.” He took a step forward as if to barrel past her. “Believe me, no one loves the little players like I do.”
“I wish I could, but I can’t.” She took a quick step to the left, blocking his path forward. Ugh. She hated having to do this, but she didn’t have a choice or another option. There had to be a way to buy some time or distract him with another possibility—oh wait! “What if I could set up a dinner with the three of you for after the event? I mean, I can’t guarantee it or anything, but—”
“Aren’t you a doll to think of arranging a dinner between a father and his boys,” he said, a snide, patronizing timbre sneaking in under his tone. “I still need to get in there now, though. These reporters came all the way from Toronto to talk to the three of us.”
Ian plus a surprise visit from his dad and reporters? That would go nuclear fast. “I’m sorry, but I can’t.”
He shot a don’t-worry-about-it smile at the Canadian reporters, but when he turned back to her, his face was hard and angry.
“Which one of my sons are you fucking?” he asked, his voice quiet and mean. “Is it Ian or Alex? I hope you’re smart enough to snag Alex. He’s more talented by about a zillion and he’ll have the endorsements. More money to be had that way. You’re a smart girl; you can see what I’m leading to, can’t you?”
Like he was wearing a neon sign saying puck bunny, but it didn’t make sense. He was here to make amends, a little fatherly twelve-step program. That was the only reason she could even fathom for all of this. He was David Petrov. The hockey world revered him. He was a good man who’d made a mistake. That’s what he’d told the world and everyone had believed him—she’d believed him.
“Look, Shelly,” he said with enough emphasis on her name to broadcast that he was getting it wrong on purpose. “Walk me inside to my boys right now or I’ll work it so Alex breaks up with you.” His eyes narrowed. “Shit. It’s Ian, isn’t it? You’re not bright at all. That boy doesn’t have it. I told him when he was young, but he thought hard work would be enough. It isn’t. This league chews up and spits out players like him all the time. He’s not worth your time.”
And that’s what it took to snap her out of her shock that David the Great was a total and complete asshole. Not worth her time? Ian was worth that and so much more.
“How dare you,” she said, emotion pushing her voice up to the squeak ranges. “He’s your son.”
He snorted. “I’m in the Hall of Fame; he’ll be lucky to last another year. He’ll never be another me.”
Fury at this man’s absolute callousness toward Ian set her blood on fire and the words flew out. “Thank God, because that means instead of a narcissistic asshole, he’s a good man who holds babies when they’re fussy, who volunteers to drive down a snow-packed mountain rather than let someone with bald tires do it, and who thinks more about other people than himself. He’s a million times a better man than you could even imagine.”
By the time she was done, her face was hot, her chest was heaving, and her heart was going a million miles an hour, powered by adrenaline, love for a man she couldn’t have, and fury at the man who’d toss him aside.
“Nice speech,” David said, sounding bored. “Are you going to let me in or do I need to call up Jasper?”
She crossed her arms, never more confident in her life that things were going to go her way. “Go ahead.”
He took out his phone, as smug as only a complete jerk like him could be. “Jasper. I hate to tell you this, but I’m having a problem with one of your employees. I think you need to set her straight. Yeah, her name is Shelby… Yeah, that’s the one.” His face turned red. “What? Fuck me? Are you kidding? Do you know who I am?” He paused and then brought his phone down to look at the screen, jaw open in shock. “He hung up on me.”
Thank you, Jasper
