Page 32 of Break

Landon drops his towel right beside me and I glance away as he gets dressed. “What are you up to this weekend, J?”

I shrug and stand, grabbing my wallet, phone, and truck keys. “Not sure what Alex wants to do before we leave. What about you?”

He turns and grimaces at me, clearing his throat. “Marie is hosting a cookout… Most of the team is going.”

I lick my dry lips and nod. “Nice,” I croak out and step away. “Have a good time.”

“I… We’ve tried to invite you and Alex out several times. You never show up anyway unless Alex is busy and that’s like once a week, plus this is Marie’s deal. I’m not getting in the middle of what’s going on between you and your family, but Marie is still close to the team, man.”

I shrug. “And now everyone has her address aside from me. Nice.”

He sends me a look and pulls his hoodie over his head. “Yeah, and whose fault is that? She knows what would happen if you had it. You wouldn’t leave her alone, and your girlfriend would probably terrorize her, too. She doesn’t need any of that shit right now. She has enough going on.” He waves as he passes me and leaves me in the locker room.

I glance around and find Nolan heading out and he winces at me. “He’s right, J. Just give it time. She’ll eventually come around. If not, at least you have a hot piece of ass, right?” He chuckles sarcastically and leaves, too. I sit down on the bench in front of the lockers and groan into my hands.

My phone rings in my pocket and I pull it out, seeing the doctor’s office finally calling.

“Hello?”

“Hello! May I please speak to James Carter.”

“This is he.”

The girl clears her throat. “We have your last results, you’re clear! No swimmers, zero sperm count.” She chuckles. “I’ll make another appointment for next month just to be sure, is that okay?”

“Wow. Yeah, that’s great…”

“Perfect, how about January twentieth at three PM?”

I confirm and hang up, a bounce in my step.

I can finally fuck my girl, I never have to worry about kids. Maybe this will fix my issues with her, too. All that pent up… everything.

I’ll just have to keep myself busy this weekend since the entire fucking team and their wives and girlfriends will be at Marie’s house with my little sisters.

Good thing they’ve been around them for years and I trust all of them. That’s not the major issue I’m having. I feel like shit and don’t know how to fix any of this.

I sigh as I make the drive home, finding Alex sitting out back, talking on the phone. I open up the door and wave to her and she waves at me as she finishes up her call.

“Hey! How was practice?”

I lean down and kiss her cheek. “It was fun. Any plans for us this weekend?”

She hums and shoves her hands up my shirt, her tiny, cold hands are pressed against my abs. “Can we go on a quick trip? You leave on Monday, right?”

I nod. “Yeah, but I have practice this weekend, it’s mandatory this time since it’s before away games. We can go out to eat tomorrow?”

She reluctantly nods and bites down on her plump red lip. “Sounds good. We can go shopping! We can get me a new dress for Christmas and for your friend’s wedding.”

I sigh internally and nod. Of course. Shopping. “Sounds good. What do you want for dinner tonight?”

She shrugs and winks at me. “Surprise me, you know what I like. I have an open bottle of red wine on the counter if you want some.”

I kiss her forehead again as I head to the kitchen, finding it bare aside from alcohol inside of the fridge. There’s no food in the house at all. Not even leftovers.

Fuck, I miss the girls, they almost cooked as well as Marie did.

The more time I spend with Alex, the more I realize we have nothing in common aside from passion and attraction. We don’t talk about hockey, or her work, or anything withsubstance. She usually just sits around the house, watching movies or sits on her phone. She seemed perfect for me for selfish needs. Did I make a mistake?

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