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#Chapter 27 Alone at Last
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Related chapters
Hockey Billionaire's Hat Trick #Chapter 28 Surprise
Desperate for a change of subjects, I switched gears to talking about hockey. It was a reflex around Barnett, really, but it was a comfortable subject with him. After all these years, we both still seemed to love the sport, even if it was only from the sidelines.“You were such a great coach,” I gushed, “probably the best I ever had.”I might have had one too many glasses of wine by that point.“You were a great student,” Barnett countered, “and an excellent player. I really could have seen you going to the Olympics, if you had just returned to the ice after your injury.”I tucked a strand of stray hair behind my ear. There was no way I was going to mention the kiss I had stolen from him in the lounge that had led up to that injury. Not when it had happened so long ago.“Things happen. Speaking of which, why did you quit coaching in the first place? I heard that everyone was devastated to see you go.”Barnett cringed. His stoney, unreadable expression melted into one of hidden pain. M
Hockey Billionaire's Hat Trick #Chapter 29 Celebrate
That dream haunted me for days. When I was alone, alternating visions of the sex and the childbirth would flash through my mind. I wasn’t sure which affected me more.Fortunately, I was able to distract myself with other aspects of my life. The money from my divorce settlement soon came in, and as promised, two-thirds of it went to an orphanage. They were so excited to receive such a huge donation that they begged me to come and visit the children. With it being so soon after dreaming about birthing all these children for Barnett, though, I was torn. I told them that I would have to take a raincheck.I was busier than ever at work. Arthur had convinced me to take on other clients and helped me hook up with some top vloggers. They all loved my aesthetic and the close attention that I paid to them.Then Arthur got me an interview with one of the most influential celebrity vloggers out there: Celeste Shoemaker, better known as StarRise. She was an over-the-top fashion vlogger known for
Hockey Billionaire's Hat Trick #Chapter 30 What Does He Want
I met Arthur at a fancy Italian restaurant downtown at eight o’clock. He ordered clam linguine, and I had pasta Bolognese. We both opted for water since we had to drive home.When we received our main courses, Arthur insisted on a toast.“To you, Anna,” he began, “and to your budding career. May it know no limits. Cheers.”“Cheers.”We clinked out glasses and sipped our water. Then we dug into our meal.I found that I had to force myself to eat. The food had suddenly lost all its flavor. Arthur must have noticed, too, because he put down his utensils and looked straight at me.“Is something wrong?” he asked.“Oh, it’s nothing. It’s just…the last time that I was included in a toast, it ended in my husband’s mistress announcing that she was pregnant.”Arthur cringed.“And everyone at the party congratulated them, as though they were the celebrating married couple.”My stomach twisted in knots. It was as though I were living the event all over again.“I’m sorry. That’s horrible. At least
Hockey Billionaire's Hat Trick #Chapter 31 Here We Go Again
Bob didn’t know when to give up. I always hated that about him. That didn’t change with the divorce.Even after I refused to see him, he kept calling me and trying to change my mind. The texts were more annoying than the phone calls. Somehow, he got even more desperate in writing.I thought about blocking his number. In hindsight, I should have. After all, what use did I have for staying in contact with him after the divorce settlement, other than to ensure that the house got sold?Something inside me couldn’t do it, though. Something too polite or too sentimental couldn’t burn that bridge, despite everything Bob and his family had done to me. And I wanted so badly to beat that side of me into line with the rest of me.Instead, I finally took another of his calls.“What part of ‘no’ don’t you understand?” I all but yelled at him.“Please, Anna, just hear me out,” he said in the most pathetic tone I had ever heard from him. “My mom thinks it would be a goo
Hockey Billionaire's Hat Trick #Chapter 32 Cold Shoulder
I was too busy the rest of the day with clients to think about Bob and the reporter. By the time I got back to my apartment, I was just too worn out to remember seeing them. All I wanted was to get to bed and forget that lunch with Bob had even happened.The next day, it felt as though a reset button had been hit. All the anger from my encounter with Bob had dissipated, and I was ready to embrace whatever challenges came my way.Then I got to the office.It was rare for me to see Barnett there. It wasn’t as though he were never there, but it was so big that I didn’t even know where in the building his office actually was. Whenever I did see him, though, I made sure to go out of my way to greet him, and he would greet me back.This morning, we happened to be the only two in the lobby except for the receptionist herself. As soon as I saw Barnett, I raised my hand and started waving to him.“Hi, Barnett!” I said cheerfully.Barnett’s eyes narrowed at me for
Hockey Billionaire's Hat Trick #Chapter 33 Everything is Not What It Seems
“What are you talking about? I haven’t been on a date with Bob!”Barnett pulled out his phone and, after a few angry swipes, shoved it in my face.“Then what’s this?”My jaw dropped at the headline running across the top of the webpage:FITNESS VLOGGER AND CELEBRITY STYLIST ANNA LEONARD CAUGHT ON DATE WITH EX-HUSBANDBelow the headline was a picture of Bob kissing me at the café where we had lunch the day before. What the picture didn’t show was how I tried to reach for my pepper spray or pummeled him with my purse for touching me.Now, the entire incident made sense. The kissing, the hand-holding, Bob meeting up with the reporter afterwards. He had set me up.I pushed the phone back at Barnett.“All of that…all of that is taken out of context,” I said as I struggled to choke back tears.Barnett must have noticed because some of his anger seemed to cool.“Then what is the truth?” he asked.“He told me that Outer U wanted
Hockey Billionaire's Hat Trick #Chapter 34 The Note
I stared at the headline for several minutes before registering the fact that Lily was calling me. I sighed and answered, patching it through the car’s speakers. “Why didn’t you tell me?” Lily practically screamed. “Tell you what?” I screamed back out of annoyance. “That you and Barnett are together!” “That’s because we’re not!” A laugh mixed with a sigh as I tried to pull myself together. “I’m relieved that you jumped to that conclusion, though, rather than the alternative.” “That you got back together with Bob? Ew, no! Of course I didn’t think that!” We were silent for a moment, and I contemplated starting the drive home. “Well, if you aren’t together, then what’s with the pic? The one with you and Barnett all cozy with the
Hockey Billionaire's Hat Trick #Chapter 35 The Meeting
In hindsight, my first move should have been to call the police. If I had been thinking straight, I would have called the cops. Instead, I ran over to Barnett’s apartment and started pounding on the door, hoping he had spent the night there.To my relief, he opened the door. He looked as though he had just been about to leave and was surprised to find my fist in front of his chest.“Anna? What’s wrong?” Barnett asked.I couldn’t say anything. I only dragged him by the hand to my door, where I showed him the red X and the note.He stared at the note for a long time.“Well, that is her signature,” he finally said. He didn’t sound overly worried or even mad, more…resigned, as though he weren’t too surprised this had happened but was tired of all of Julia’s shit.I, however, was still freaking out. The more that I stared at it, the more that the red on my door and on the note looked like blood to me. It made my mind go to a m
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Hockey Billionaire's Hat Trick #Chapter 80: The Hat Trick
9 years later… I sat down in the first row, my coffee cup balanced in my hands. The rink was cold, and I was bundled up in a sweater and a winter coat. Beside me, Lily sat with my daughter on her lap. Winnie was just three years old, and she was already asleep on Lily’s shoulder, the hood of her pink parka pulled up over her head. The sight of them together warmed my heart.“Damn, she’s getting heavy,” Lily said.I smiled. “I know. They grow up fast.”She nodded. Lily didn’t have kids, and I didn’t think she ever wanted to. She was happy being Cool Aunt Lily, and I thought that was amazing. She still traveled all over the world, bringing exotic gifts back for her niece and nephews.“She asks about you all the time now,” I said. “She calls you ‘wi-wy.’”“Adorbs.” Lily hugged her closer. “We’re going to be besties when she’s older.”“For sure.”“Scratch that. We’re already besties.”The first period was about to start, and I sat up straighter. Both teams were on their benches. I could
Hockey Billionaire's Hat Trick #Chapter 79: Journey's End
“I’m the father,” he repeated.I nodded. “That’s why I was trying to find you. I wanted to tell you, but after what Julia said, I thought you never wanted to see me again. If not for Lily, I would have continued to think that. Still, I’m sorry you’re only finding out now.”A sad look crossed his face, and he put his head in his hands. “God, I’m sorry.”I stood up and walked around the desk. His muscles tensed, but he didn’t look up as I ran my hands over his shoulders. “You’re here now,” I said.“I should’ve been with you the whole time.”He swiveled around in his chair and hugged me, his face resting lightly against my stomach. I ran a hand through his soft blond hair. “I’m so sorry,” he said. He looked up at me and gave me a wide smile. My heart skipped a beat. “I’m really happy, Anna.”“You are?”“You have no idea.” He still hadn’t let go of me, but I didn’t want him to. I never wanted him to. If I could have stayed in his arms forever, I would have.“I’m happy too,” I said, tears
Hockey Billionaire's Hat Trick #Chapter 78: The Father
Barnett gestured for me to sit down, and I took one of the plush armchairs across from his desk.“Can I get you anything?” he asked. “Water or something?”I shook my head. “No, I’m alright.”He nodded and sat down in his leather chair. “Either Lily is clairvoyant, or she convinced you to come here,” he said after a moment of awkward silence.“She’s adamant that we talk.”He just nodded again.Another long stretch of silence ensued as I searched for something to say.“You look great,” he said. I wasn’t used to this awkwardness between us. It seemed to squeeze at my throat, preventing the words from rising. So much time had passed, and he felt both familiar to me and completely a stranger.“I heard about your father,” I answered, ignoring his compliment completely. That felt like dangerous territory. “I’m sorry he was sick. Is he doing better now?”“He is,” he said. “It was tough going for a while, but he’s doing a lot better now. Good enough to kick me out, anyway.”“He sounds like a c
Hockey Billionaire's Hat Trick #Chapter 77: Lovers Meeting
“Barnett, open up!” Lily called.Barnett sighed and got out of bed. It was still early in the morning, early enough that he wanted to yell at her through the door and tell her to go away. He hardly slept as it was. The last thing he needed was an early morning wake-up call.He pulled on his robe and stomped over to the door.“Barnett!” she called again.He yanked open the door and scowled down at her. “Do you know what time it is?”She smirked and shoved past him into his apartment. At least she had two coffee cups with her. She handed him one and he took a sip. It was still hot, and it burned his tongue.“It’s a beautiful day,” she said.“Is it?”He sank down onto his couch and pulled his robe tighter around him. Lily didn’t sit down, she just started pacing back and forth in front of him. He was much too tired to deal with all her energy. Lily wasn’t much of a morning person either, but today she was clearly on something.“Did you sleep at all last night?”“Like a baby,” she said, h
Hockey Billionaire's Hat Trick #Chapter 76: Setting Things Straight
I’d been home for nearly a month, and people were still talking about my ‘relationship’ with Arthur. It was really starting to drive me crazy. To the point where I knew I’d have to set the story straight if I ever wanted the rumors and speculation to stop.The nursery was mostly finished now, and the rest of the rooms were looking better, too. I had my office set up with a desk and some of my filming equipment. I planned to use it mostly for behind-the-scenes stuff, but it would work if I needed to film a quick video like I did now.I decided to just film a sit-down video. I’d been filming my vlogs at the gym in my building, and while that was going well, I’d avoided addressing everything with Arthur.I knew people were still talking about it because the comments on my videos were mostly about our relationship. People wanted to know why we weren’t traveling together more. If we were going to get married. What we planned to name the babies.Everyone seemed convinced that they were his,
Hockey Billionaire's Hat Trick #Chapter 75: The Nursery
I wiped my hand across my cheek, realizing at the last second that I had blue paint on my fingers. I rushed over to the bathroom and laughed when I caught sight of myself in the mirror. There was pale blue paint smeared across my cheek, dotted across my white t-shirt. There was even a bit of paint at the ends of my hair that I would probably have to cut off.Deciding to decorate the nursery myself might have been a bad idea, but I couldn’t deny I was having a lot of fun. As much as I was making a mess, it felt meaningful to do it myself. To pour all my love and hope into that one little room.The cribs were arriving in a couple of days, and I already have a tall, white dresser to put in there for all the baby clothes. I bought a changing table from a lady online and it was already up and waiting in my new office. There were still quite a few things I needed before the babies were born, but I was finally on track.After arriving home, I decided that the first thing I needed to do was f
Hockey Billionaire's Hat Trick #Chapter 74: Unhealthy Obsessions
He couldn’t stop looking at the pictures. He knew he needed to, but Barnett couldn’t turn away. They were all over the internet. Everywhere he went, the photos and videos of them taunted him. They were holding hands on a sailboat. Sitting together on a rock, their faces red from their hike. Having dinner beneath the stars in some far-off place with just trees and mountains for miles, looking far more intimate than Barnett would have liked.One headline caught his eye as he scrolled, and he sucked in a breath.PREGNANT FITNESS INFLUENCER ANNA LEONARD TRAVELS WITH FAMOUS BOYFRIEND ARTHUR STARDUSTHe finally forced himself to put down his phone. Agonizing over it wasn’t helping him. Anna was happy without him. He just had to accept that somehow and move on, even if it seemed like an impossible thing to do. She was clearly in love with Arthur.Just as he placed his phone down on his desk, it rang.He picked it up without checking the Caller ID, half-convinced it was Anna calling. That he’
Hockey Billionaire's Hat Trick #Chapter 73: Miscommunications
Lily found Barnett at his apartment. She had to knock a few times before he finally came to the door, a slight scowl on his face.“So, you’re back,” she said.He stepped aside to let her in. She closed the apartment door behind her and trailed him into the room. “How was Egypt?”“It was fine. Saw the pyramids.” He looked interested, but she wasn’t there to talk about Egypt. “Have you been online recently?”
Hockey Billionaire's Hat Trick #Chapter 72: Anna’s Letter
I stopped in front of the mirror and pulled up my shirt. A few months of filming later, and I was really starting to show. I kept having to buy new clothes as my size changed. Those jeans I worked so hard to fit into didn’t even make it past my thighs now.I dropped my shirt and looked over my outfit. I had on a pair of workout leggings, sneakers, and a form-fitting pullover that showed off my protruding belly. Arthur and I were hiking today for our segment. My hair was up in a high ponytail, and I had some natural makeup on. Without it, I had dark circles under my eyes from all the early morning shoots.
