Chapter 9 – Breaking the Ice Novel (Easton & Caroline) Free Online

I didn’t smile back. I forced my gaze to meet his and blurted out the words, my carefully written speech all but forgotten. “You’re a father.”

He’d just brought his beer to his lips, and he choked on it. The glass slipped from his grasp, hit the edge of the table, and sprayed all over both of us before crashing to the ground and splintering into a million pieces. The attention of every patron in the place was drawn to our table, followed by gasps as the crowd recognized one of the newest members of their defending Stanley Cup champions.

Easton didn’t notice the mess or the gathering crowd of people. He gaped at me in utter, absolute shock. The staff rushed to clean up the mess, and I slid out of the booth so they could wipe it down. As the crowd converged on us, they blocked my view of Easton.

I took advantage of the chaos and bolted for freedom.

Easton point of view

In the ensuing melee of fans begging for my autograph and staff scrubbing the booth and floor, I lost sight of Caro. When things finally calmed down, she was nowhere to be found.

She’d hit me with a bombshell and fled like the guilty party that she was. I had a child? I was a father?

I pushed past the remaining fans, tossed a fifty on the counter for my drinks and uneaten dinner, and dashed out the door. No sign of her in the parking lot. She was long gone.

Maybe her disappearance was for the best. I needed alone time to process my change in status from single guy with zero attachment to single father.

What the fuck?

Anger replaced confusion as I drove out of the bar parking lot. She’d dumped this on me and disappeared, offering no details. Did I have a son or a daughter? How old was he or she? How did Caro know I was the father? Why was she telling me this now?

I did the math in my head. My child should be around six years old. It’d been over seven years since that summer we spent together.

Why hadn’t she told me she was pregnant?

My mind raced back in time, running through that last conversation when I’d dumped her. She’d been devastated, and it hadn’t been easy on me either. Had she known then?

What kind of mother waited seven years to tell a father he had a child? I missed all those years. I was angry and hurt, along with confused. I itched to call her back, but I had to calm down first. Think about what she’d said, which was very little. Being a father wasn’t anything I’d considered. I was pretty good with kids, but having one of my own was far different than coaching a group of kids.

Those two children I’d seen outside her house…was one of them mine? I searched my memry for images of them, but I’d been so caught up in seeing her again, I had very little recollection beyond a blonde-haired girl and a dark-haired boy.

I drove home despite not wanting to answer a bunch of questions from a nosy Kaden or endure a penetrating and all-knowing stare from Steele. Regardless, I had to talk to someone, and they were my someones.

I walked into the condo, praying they weren’t partying and were relatively sober. I wasn’t in the mood for drunks. Instead, I heard the crashing of pots and pans in the kitchen and smelled the aroma of baking cookies. Kaden was at it again. The man loved to cook, and he loved to eat. I guess one of his parents was a chef.

I followed my nose into the kitchen, which was a disaster. Kaden had a habit of using every available pan and utensil when he cooked. Steele, our resident neat freak, was trying to clean up, but Kaden was messing shit up as fast as Steele could clean it. If I hadn’t been traumatized by Caro’s revelation, I’d be snorting with laughter at the two of them.

They didn’t need one more ass in the kitchen, so I sat on a barstool at the counter and snagged a warm chocolate chip cookie from the dozen cooling on wax paper. Despite the evening’s earlier news flash, I allowed myself a moment to savor the warm cookie oozing with melted chocolate chips.

“Help yourself,” Kaden said sarcastically.

“Like you were going to eat all these?” I shot back.

“The team captains want them for the road trip tomorrow.” Kaden sighed and spooned piles of dough onto a cookie sheet. The life of a rookie. We were subjected to the whims of veterans and their stomachs. On the last road trip, the captains decided they wanted our seats, and we were stuck with seats up front with the coaches. Now every time we got on the plane, no matter where we sat, they demanded our seats.

I grabbed another cookie, ignoring my bud’s deepening scowl. Steele wiped the soap off his hands and crossed the kitchen to take the stool next to mine. He grabbed a cookie for himself.

“Give up?” I asked Steele.

“No point in cleaning up until he’s finished his destruction.”

“My thought exactly.”

“Where’ve you been?” Kaden asked as he bent over to check the cookies in the oven.

“Meeting a girlfriend from my past.”

Kaden and Steele exchanged glances. Both sets of brows shot upward, but they said nothing.

“The one that got away. The one I can’t seem to forget.” I was stupid to admit such a thing to these clowns. They’d surely use the information against me sometime in the future.

Steele’s brows crept up farther into his hairline. Kaden frowned, not sure what to think of my statement.

“Where’s she living?” Steele said.

“I’m not sure.”

“Does she want to get back together?” Kaden narrowed his eyes.

“I’m not interested in a long-term relationship with her or anyone else, but there are complications I didn’t know about until now.”

“Complications?” they both stated at the same time. Kaden pulled the next sheet of cookies from the oven and grabbed the batch ready to be baked.

“Yeah, a complication. I’m a father.”

Steele spit out his cookie, and Kaden dropped the cookie sheet full of raw cookies on the floor.

“What the fuck?” Kaden blinked several times and stepped over the mess to stand across the counter from me. His mouth moved, but nothing came out, as if he couldn’t quite figure out which question to ask first.

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