Then there’s Roman. He’s never stopped knowing me, not really. Not when I tried to pull away, not when life tried to wedge space between us. He’s the one who reminds me, without ever saying it out loud, that I’m his world. He’d rip the stars from the sky if I so much as asked, because with him, it’s not just love—it’s always and everything.
My phone is a mess of reminders right now. Pack boxes. Call the utilities. Meet with the realtor. Sign the papers. Cancel the auto debits. Every task checked off gets me one step closer to them, and if I can get everything in order and tie up every laststring, I’ll finally be able to walk away from this town and run straight into the life waiting for me on the other side.
It’s been a full, jam-packed, emotional roller coaster of a day—the kind where you’re constantly swinging between exhaustion and excitement. Now, I’m sitting in my parents’ living room, surrounded by decades of memories and twinkling Christmas lights, staring at the stockings hung along the mantel.
I’m just waiting for Willow to arrive.
My sister knows about the divorce and about my men. What she doesn’t know is that I’m leaving, and I know that’s going to hurt her.
Ten minutes later, she walks through the front door, calling out a quick hello as she shrugs off her coat. Thankfully, she’s alone. I’m guessing Warren has their kids until tomorrow.
She steps into the living room, eyes bouncing between all of us. “Well, you three look weird,” she says, raising an eyebrow.
“Thanks,” I say with a nervous laugh, trying to play it off even as my palms start to sweat.
“Addison’s got something to talk to us about,” my mom chimes in quickly, but it’s my dad who reaches for my hand, and suddenly my heart is thudding in my chest.
Willow narrows her gaze, tilting her head. “Wait… has this got anything to do with…”
“Yeah,” I say softly, nodding.
She lets out a low whistle, then leans in and whispers, “Dad knows you’re with them.”
“Traitor,” I murmur back, but there’s no real bite in it. Not when I glance at my dad and see it written all over his face that he’s okay with this. There’s no anger or confusion, only support.
“Can somebody please tell me what’s going on?” my mom says again, sounding more anxious as the seconds pass.
“Yeah… I, uh…” I swallow. “I’m leaving.”
“Wait, what?” Willow blurts, her eyes going wide with shock. My dad just smiles and rises from his seat, still holding my hand. “Where are you going?”
“She’s leaving for Boston,” he says, answering before I can. “And it’s about damn time.”
CHAPTER
TWENTY-FOUR
JASPER
It’s beentwo days since Addie left us, and I swear, the second I get my hands on that girl, I’m bending her over and spanking that pretty little ass. That little lipstick note on the bathroom mirror? Cute. Thoughtful. But it wasn't even close to enough. Not when I wantedmy goodbye—my hands on her body, my lips on her pussy, and my name on her tongue. I wanted to fuck the goodbye into her and make her feel it for days. Instead, she robbed me of all of it.
Right now, though, we’ve got bigger problems. Coach is currently eyeballing us with that stone-cold face he saves for when he’s really pissed, and I’m doing my best not to care. Mostly, I don’t, but I care about Zeke and Roman and what all this means for them. There’s this gnawing guilt, too, because my little outburst might’ve forced them to open our secret before they were ready.
My guys have done everything they can to reassure me—loving words, rough hands, more orgasms than I can count—but no matter how many times they tell me it’s okay, I still can’t shake the worry that I’ve screwed things up for them here.
Coach’s eyes are as sharp as knives as he looks between me, Zeke, and Roman. “You wanna run that by me again?”
Roman’s teeth are clenched tight. “Do I need to?”
I know that tone. One wrong word and Roman will lose it. He doesn’t tolerate disrespect, especially not toward us. So I step in because if anyone’s going to lose it here, it’s not going to be him.
“Look, Coach, it’s not some big dramatic thing. We’ve been together for years. We’ve kept it professional, we’ve kept our heads down, but we’re done hiding. We won’t be on the ice forever, and we’re done pretending.”
Coach lifts his chin slightly. “Hiding what, exactly?”
I blow out a breath, run a hand through my hair, and meet Coach’s stare dead-on. “That we’re fucking boyfriends, the three of us, Jesus. We live together, we sleep together, we love each other… Is that enough for you, or should I break out a fucking diagram?”
Yeah… now I’m the one who’s snapped, and honestly, it feels pretty good.
