Picking up on book 2 after Ice Hockey Study & His Best Friend's Sister. Imogen is heartbroken after discovering that Cody Brannigan has got another woman pregnant at the start of her relationship with him and decides they need a three month break to get her head together and to focus on mending her broken heart. Cody is desperate to win her back and will do whatever it takes to have the love of his life back in his arms. But what about the other woman and the baby? Is it his baby? Will Immi forgive that he slept with another woman whilst he started seeing her? And what about the long distance relationship, can these two survive everything coming their way? If you enjoyed Ice Hockey Stud and His Best Friend's Sister you are going to enjoy this reeling and angsty sequel.
Lihat lebih banyakCody
“For fuck’s sake.” I mutter as I try to jam my kit into my bag. It’s the same bag I use all the time for travel, and the very same bag that I’ve used for the last few years so why the hell isn’t it going right this morning?
Right, you know why? Because I still haven’t heard from Immi. It’s been a long fucking four weeks and I’ve not had a response to any of my messages and she keeps avoiding my calls. I’m going crazy here and my heart is hanging on a thread.
The loss and loneliness are beyond anything I’ve ever felt before. Literally, I feel torn up and damaged. I have even cried. Yeah, that’s right. Cody Brannigan the golden boy of NHL has been ugly crying. No one has seen it, naturally. I tend to do it at night when I’m laying in a lonely hotel room or when I’m back home alone in my bed.
If you ever told me someone could die of a broken heart a few months ago, I’d have laughed in your face. Trust me, I think this is what is happening to me. I can’t hardly eat; my game is off, and coach is on my case like every five seconds. I feel as if I’m going to snap.
My moods sway between being hurt to angry. I’m on this permanent roller coaster and I just want to get off it. I just want to be able to see Immi, to hold her, kiss her and feel her warm body pressed up against mine.
How can something so perfect just turn to shit like this? And within a bat of an eyelid. My life is completely and utterly turned upside down.
I didn’t do anything wrong. Well except sleeping with the wrong girl, who I do recall I didn’t use a condom with, fuck how stupid could I have been? She had told me she was on the pill and clean. Luna is her name, and it was a one-night hook up only, because that is all I used to do. I never dated for real, I didn’t ever want to get involved not until Immi came back into my life and was no longer that snotty nosed kid sister of Atlas.
When I caught sight of her again standing in my doorway that first day, I was literally blown away with how gorgeous and stunning she was. That little kid Immi with the braces and the pigtails, grew up to be a knockout.
Back to Luna, I rake my hands through my hair remembering how the guys and I had all gone to a club, The Viper’s Den and got absolutely smashed and I’d been drinking a lot of whiskey. By now you’ll know it’s my preferred drink but it’s a demon drink and honestly, I wouldn’t recommend anyone to drink it as much as I did. Not that I’m sworn off drinking right now, in fact I have been letting things slide some.
What with finding out that I’m going to be a dad and Immi leaving me and not having any contact with her whatsoever. Me a dad. Fucking hell. How did I let it slide so easily? Me, I never make mistakes. Not ever and now this is happening.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think having a kid is a mistake per se, it just wasn’t on my game plan, and it certainly wasn’t to be with a hook up, puck bunny. It was in my head and heart to have a kid with a woman I was in love with, the mother of my child to be that one special lady who I intended to get old and grey with, to sit on the front porch with and watch our grandkids play ball out front. Or even better still mucking about with hockey sticks.
This, though. Luna, a baby, me. Fuck it’s scary. So damn scary that I am having heart palpitations. I am still deeply angry with myself. What the hell was I thinking?
And, on top of all this, Atlas is not impressed. We’re still close, don’t get me wrong. Having been best friends since we were about five, you don’t just kick that to the kerb. Nonetheless, he is mad as fuck at me for hurting Immi, his kid sister. It was never my intention to hurt her, it wasn’t my intention to be standing in my bedroom back home here in Minnesota trying to pack a bag for the next game in Winnipeg. I could do without going, my instinct is to get in my car and head straight over to Immi’s folks.
Least ways that is where Atlas tells me she is hiding out until her restaurant is closer to opening and she can move into the unit above it. I know if I turn up she’s just going to kick me in the balls. But I have to see her, I have to talk to her. I can’t breathe without her. It’s killing me.
Everything happened so damn quick. I saw the post outs by Luna on just about every social media site you could possibly imagine. That girl sure didn’t hold back. My manager, coach and lawyer said we had to get this nipped in the bud asap and go for paternity testing.
It’s crazy, I didn’t even know you could do this while the baby is still in the womb, turns out you can from as little as seven weeks. So, I had no choice but to force Luna to do the test. Turns out the baby is mine.
We have so much to handle my team and I, meanwhile I have to keep it together for the games. It’s not easy when all I want to do is drive my stick into someone’s face on the ice. Yeah, I’ve been seeing a lot of the sin-bin. Coach is pulling his hear out over me and he hasn’t even got a lot of hair left.
My management team managed to get some of the posts taken down and my lawyer sent Luna a formal letter to instruct her to have to attend a sit down, face to face meeting with me. Every time we organize one, she has an excuse not to be there.
It’s going to be a long road with her. I never should have slept with her in the first place, but what is done is done and there’s no turning the clock back now. Besides, it isn’t the ideal way to bring a child into the world, but now I know I’m going to be a daddy, well I’m telling you; I will be the best daddy the world has ever seen.
My kid won’t want for anything, and he or she will have every ounce of love I’ve got to give it. I will make that baby my entire life and Luna, well, we’re going to have to get on somehow. At some point she is going to have to come and meet me face to face. Not that I particularly want to see her ever again but as the mother of my child, I’m kind of stuck with her for the rest of my life.
I groan as my phone vibrates on the bed. I have it in vibrate only because I keep being hounded by the nosey bloody journalists, people all sending me DMs via F* and I*. I was going to close my profile down, but my assistant and our team marketing guru told me it was the worst thing I could do. I need to keep my social presence it’s not just good for me but for our hockey team. It’s a fucking drag is what it is. And on top of that, I have got a load of haters too.
Goes to show, one minute you can be the golden boy of everything and the next, they just want to tear the skin off your back. Unfuckingbelievable.
Hey, Man. Where you at? We’re waiting at the stadium. Our bus leaves in twenty. Get your ass over here right now.
Atlas is our team captain, and I can tell from his message tone he is not impressed. With one last effort I ram my tops in the bag and yank on the zipper. Finally, it closes. I exhale. Do a double take that I’ve got my mobile, charger and some cash in my pocket then message him back.
Yeah, alright. I’m on my friggin way. Had some shit to sort out first.
You don’t have time for dealing with your shit right now, that’s what your team is for and if it’s your fucked up head shit, you better have it together, Brannigan by the time we step onto the ice tomorrow evening.
Got it. I message back. I’ve never let them down before and I sure as hell won’t let them down again. As much as I want to ask Atlas how Immi is, I don’t. She told me three months. THREE. MONTHS. It may as well be three years; it’s only been four weeks and I already feel like I’ve had no contact with her or seen her for an eternity.
The time can’t go quick enough for me. By the time I do get to see her again, I am hoping that Luna and I have come to some arrangement with regard to sorting out all the shit we need to sort out. My lawyer has already drawn up the papers for her to sign with regard to my monthly support payments and then some for what the baby needs. We’re also discussing my rights and how often I will be able to see my baby. She is naturally holding out for more and more and being your ultra-BITCH.
Closing the door behind me to my house, I press the fob on my Rolls SUV and get behind the wheel. I’ve never felt so desolate in my entire life.
Bonus Epilogue – CodyI watch Immi holding our baby boy, who we called Miles, he’s just three months old and Immi is a natural mother. My heart swells watching her holding him in her arms whilst her mother fusses around her.Her father slaps me on the back, “you did us proud, Cody. I couldn’t wish for a better man for my grandbaby and little Summer. That girl is a firecracker, she’s got you eating out of the palm of her hand.”“Don’t I know it, Sir. My boy will be the same.” We chuckle as we watch my Minnesota team enjoy a few colds ones on the grass that leads down to the lake out back of my Lake home. Immi and I are back now, we’ve come full circle from the first moment she came back into my life to be my nutironist and the sparring of words that took place back then.Who’d have thought that in just two years I’d be married to my gorgeous wife, have a baby girl who totters around everywhere and is obsessed with her baby brother and a baby boy. We plan on going for six kids, hell I’d
Imogen – EpilogueLife has been wonderful to us; our wedding was a dream with all our friends and family around us and the entire hockey teams for Minnesota and for Austin. Of course, as Cody is such a big name, we had to have one of the top celebrity magazine photographers attending and the exclusive pictures in the magazine were amazing. My mom’s cake she made for us was something out of a movie, five tiers, with one chocolate and one vanilla sponge alternating to the top, frosted in a delicate cream frosting with an iced arch at the top, she even made tiny flowers to match the wedding flowers to decorate it. I’m telling you, my mother is a baking wonder.It's been a year since our wedding and I am the happiest I have ever been. Little Summer is crawling and sort of walking, I swear I need eyes in the back of my head. Her blonde curls are to die for and those big blue eyes of hers, well she is a daddy’s girl and the way that Cody is with her, it makes my heart melt. He is the best d
Cody – December 21st “You look worried, Man you need to chill out. She’s going to be here.” I take a look at Atlas in his striped, grey charcoal pants, his matching waistcoat, the button down white shirt and the cream cravat. We’re matching today, it seems surreal we match on the ice and now we match as I stand in the bedroom of my Lake House nervous as hell, about to go out the back and take my place to wait for my beautiful bride to come down the aisle on her daddy’s arm. I exhale.“I am chilled out, but what if I let her down? What if I’m not the husband she wants to spend the rest of her life with? What if she thinks she wants to fly?” He pats me on the shoulder.“Listen to me, Bro. I like that now we’re going to be proper bro’s no getting away from me now. She loves you, Immi is besotted with you, that girl knows her own mind and if she didn’t think you were right for her, she’d have off-skied a long fucking time ago. So, now stop. This is your day as much as it is hers and you n
ImogenSummer is a dream, honestly you couldn’t ask for a happier baby, she hardly cries and always holds out her chubby little hands when she sees me, and don’t even get me started on when she sees her daddy. Oh, my it makes my ovaries ache something crazy and I literally cannot wait the next two months for our wedding.Where has the time gone? It’s literally insane. Where to start, first Cody did bring the Stanley Cup home for Austin during the event in June. He is now officially a legend, the crowds went absolutely nuts for him and the team, we have been inundated with so much press and media attention that sometimes it feels stifling, but I have to accept it because being married to the man who won both years in a row for his teams with hattricks in both games, is going to be a major thing. He could happily hang his skates now if he wanted to. He has achieved all the dreams he ever had as a child in his ice hockey career. Although, I have to admit, I would miss going to the games w
CodyWatching Luna giving birth was surreal, she didn’t make a fuss or create and scream the hospital down, she took it all in her stride, showing her strength and dignity. Seeing the crown of my baby girl’s head brought tears to my eyes.We’re all in the private room and Luna holds our baby in her arms, swaddled in a pale pink blanket, Immi and I have both held her and oh my, I can’t begin to tell you the way I feel. My heart expanded and fluttered like crazy, the love that I feel for this tiny little girl is unbelievable and the way I want to protect her and keep her safe, Man it’s blowing my mind.“So beautiful, Luna.” Immi says her smile wide on her face, her eyes shining like diamonds. “I think she has Cody’s cute nose,” she touches the baby’s face, yes, we still need to name her.“Cody, can you take her, then settle her down, I’m pretty exhausted and will nap.”“Absolutely,” I extend my arms to take our baby girl. “Come here Princess my daddy’s little girl.” Immi giggles and I ca
Imogen – five months later“I’m coming hold on.” I shout to Cody as he calls me from the front door. We’re due to go riding this morning but we’re both on edge kind of as it has already gone past Luna’s due date by a week. She is totally fed up and just wants the baby to drop. NOW.I rush to step into my riding boots, Ben is coming with us - he has become a real fixture of our bizarre family set up. And the best thing is that he has gotten closer to Luna. How amazing is that since Ben would often keep Luna company on her cabin porch when Cody and I were travelling to his ice hockey games.Fallon has been a dream constantly popping over to see us and also Luna, to be honest I think she has found a friend in Luna too. They’re both in the same position with pregnancies and Fallon stopped travelling to the away games with Atlas about three months ago.Life can be weird at times but in a good way. The one person who caused so much heartache for Cody and I, is now a firm friend and not just
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