Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 113072 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 565(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113072 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 565(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
“This is invigorating,” I manage to say as we accelerate.
“Can’t let ’em leave us in their dust,” he says.
I’m running full out now, my bag bouncing against my hip. But I’m also grinning. This is why I couldn’t quit sports entirely. I need to be surrounded by people who think that a morning sprint to work is a fun way to start the day.
Plus the view is nice from here. I’m watching Chase’s muscled backside power toward the Legends’ headquarters.
He must feel my gaze, though, because he suddenly angles a smirk at me over his shoulder.
Chase wins the race, holding open the door for the rest of us.
“Such a gentleman,” Tremaine says, patting him on the stomach as he passes by. “My hero.”
“Fuck off.” Chase rolls his eyes and then winks as I pass through.
The wink makes my stomach do a little pirouette. We’ve come a long way from the scowl he gave me on my first day in New York. Now if we could only figure out how to skate together again, we might just be okay.
Since I’m thinking about Chase, I don’t spare a glance at the man standing at the security desk. Until I hear his voice, that is. “Just try her cell,” he snaps, and I jerk to a halt.
“Why don’t you try that, sir?” the guard asks the newcomer.
“B-because he can’t,” I sputter. “I blocked him.”
Every eye in the room zips past me as my ex-husband turns slowly around, his smile firmly in place. “There she is,” he says calmly. “Good morning, Zoe. I thought you’d turn up.”
I’m too annoyed to return the greeting. So I just stare at him instead. I don’t have time for this. I really don’t.
Bruce seems oblivious to my discomfort. He’s giving me his disarming smile, the same one he uses on prospective clients. He’s an objectively handsome man. Everyone says so. When I was twenty, I liked his aura of success, with his dark, shiny hair and a gleaming smile that he whitens regularly. The man is as vain as the day is long.
He was twenty-nine when we started dating, and already a huge success. He had a long list of top athletes on his roster, including skaters, track stars, a couple of female golfers, and a tennis wunderkind. In fact, most of his clients are women. I saw him as smart, sophisticated, and a champion of female athletes.
All those things are true, I suppose. But there’s also a lot of posturing when it comes to Bruce. It took me too long to understand that he cares far more about appearances than about actual people.
Everything is optics, he likes to say, which probably accounts for that slick smile. “Hi, darling,” he says. “We need to talk.”
“I’m late for work,” I reply, instead of what I really want to say, which is something like We talk through our lawyers. But I won’t make a scene in the Legends’ lobby.
“This will only take a moment,” he says smoothly. “I need to know why I’m the last to hear about this?” He raises his phone to show me a certain social media announcement.
“Oh, that?” I squint at him. “You came all the way to New York to ask me about the jamboree?”
“I was in town. And I’m still your agent. You don’t perform anywhere without my say-so.”
“Uh-oh,” mutters DeLuca, making me aware of the fact that nobody has moved through the turnstiles toward our skating session. They’re all standing here watching my ex-husband interrogate me.
“We’ll discuss this later,” I say, my hand closing around my ID in my pocket.
“Now works better for me,” he says, stepping into the space between me and the turnstiles. “Let’s go to your office and settle this. You have an office, right? You said this was a real job.”
Inside, I’m starting to boil over. My position here is precarious enough without Agent Asshole showing up to embarrass me. But I cannot lose my temper. Nothing good comes of that.
“I have an office,” I say quietly. “But no time to visit it. As I already mentioned.”
“Make time. I have a one o’clock flight.”
Inside my Legends jacket I’m starting to sweat. I glance at the hockey players and nod toward the escalators. “Why don’t you all go on up? Get a few laps in.”
“We’re good,” Chase says calmly.
Oh my God. I need to extract myself from this situation, but I don’t know how. Bruce always said he loved me, but he’d boss me around in the next breath. My marriage had a power imbalance that I never figured out how to correct, and I doubt I’ll solve that in the next sixty seconds.
Or wait. Maybe I can.
“Bruce, thank you for stopping by,” I say sweetly. “But you’re released from duty as my agent.” Then I take a step to the side.