THE STAR PLAYER IS HER EX

CHAPTER ONE The stadium lights buzzed against the darkening sky, and every seat in the bleachers was packed with people screaming his name. Killian had the ball tucked against his ribs, dodging one linebacker, then another, cutting left with a burst of speed that made the crowd rise to their feet as one. He crossed into the end zone and the whole place exploded.He ripped his helmet off and threw both arms into the air, sweat dripping down his jaw, chest heaving from the run. This was it. His last home game. His last touchdown as a Riverton Hawk, and it felt like flying.Mara and Olivia were already screaming from the sideline, pom-poms shaking, but only one of those screams was for him. Killian's eyes found Olivia in the crowd of blue and gold, and nothing else in that stadium mattered anymore.He ran to her, cleats tearing up the turf, and she met him halfway, throwing herself into his arms so hard he nearly stumbled backward. He caught her anyway. He always caught her. Their lips

Chapter threeSeven years later…The mop bucket tipped over before Olivia could stop it, sending dirty water sloshing across the floor she had just finished scrubbing, and somewhere behind her, she heard Mara laugh.Seven years of this, and her hands still shook every single time.Olivia crouched down at Hart Sports Agency, her knees aching against the cold tile, wiping at a coffee stain that had been ground into the floor since morning. Her mother's agency. The one with her mother's name still stitched into the leather chairs in the lobby, though her mother had been gone for three years now and everything that once belonged to her had slowly, quietly, been stripped away.The door chimed. Olivia didn't look up right away. She'd learned a long time ago that looking up only invited trouble."Who is that janitor?" a voice asked, sharp and amused, followed by the click of expensive heels crossing the lobby.Olivia recognized the voice before she even lifted her head. Trisha. Mara's shadow

CHAPTER 5Mara's shock lasted all of two seconds before her whole face rearranged itself into something practiced and pleased."Oh my God, Killian." She bit her lip, tilting her head, looking him over like she was checking to make sure he was real. "So you're our new team captain?""You two know each other?" The agent's brow lifted, glancing between them with obvious interest."Of course we know each other." Mara stepped in close, looping her arm through his before he could pull away, her voice dropping into something syrupy and intimate. "We go way back. High school, actually. Before my stupid stepsister ruined everything."Killian's expression didn't change. If anything, it went flatter, more bored, like he was watching a rerun of a show he'd never particularly liked. He said nothing, and Mara barely seemed to notice, already rambling on, her fingers tightening around his arm."We are so thrilled to have someone like him leading the Thunderbirds," she said, beaming at the agent now.

CHAPTER 7 The bathroom door clicked shut behind her, and only then did Olivia let herself fall apart.She pressed her back against the cold tile wall and slid down until she was sitting on the floor, knees pulled to her chest, her ruined hand cradled against her stomach. The tears came fast and ugly, the kind she hadn't let herself cry in years, not since the night she watched Killian kneel on David's porch with a torn abortion slip shaking in his hands.Seeing him again was already more than she could handle. Watching his face shift from that cold, unreadable mask to something close to horror when he found her on that filthy floor, that was worse. Seven years spent rebuilding herself into someone who didn't need anyone, and it had taken exactly one look from him to remind her how small she still felt underneath it all.She didn't know how long she sat there before Karen's voice carried through the door, frantic, calling her name."Olivia, open up, it's me."She dragged herself uprig

CHAPTER 9The apartment was dark except for the glow of the television, muted, casting flickering blue light across the small living room, and Olivia paused in the doorway with her key still in the lock, hoping against hope that Charles had fallen asleep in front of it like he sometimes did.He hadn't.He sat upright on the couch in his dinosaur pajamas, a scuffed football tucked under one arm like a teddy bear, his eyes drooping and snapping open again in the determined way of a six year old refusing to lose a battle against his own bedtime."Mommy." His whole face lit up the second he saw her, and he scrambled off the couch, football and all, before the smile suddenly dropped away.He'd seen the bruise.His small feet slowed halfway across the room, his eyes going wide and serious in a way that looked far too old for his face. "Mommy, who hurt you?"Olivia dropped to her knees right there in the doorway, ignoring the ache still radiating through her shoulder, and pulled him close be