My Hockey Boyfriend Kept Me a Secret, So I Went Public with Someone Else Chapter 16

My Hockey Boyfriend Kept Me a Secret, So I Went Public with Someone Else Epilogue: After the Wedding

#1

[Logan’s POV]

My wife has a secret.

She’s avoiding me.

Before, all I had to do was whine a little, act needy, and she’d give in.
We’d stay up until morning. Even when she scratched me like an angry kitten, I thought it was cute.

Last night, I barely touched her waist before she kicked me out of bed.

The floor without her was like a freezer.

I sat there for a long time, thinking.

Had I lost my touch? Was I not as hot anymore?

Or…

Had she found out about my secret?

#2

I told her I fell for her at that cross-conference hockey game.

That’s not the real story.

In high school, her essays were the best in our grade.

Every time the teacher read one out loud, I listened.

She wrote about her childhood. About the changing seasons. About the people around her.

How did she see the world so beautifully?

In college, I worked at a convenience store.

One day, some hockey players came in after practice. They were talking, bragging.

Someone said, “I heard Chase got a love letter. Can you believe people still write those things?”

They made him read it out loud. They laughed at every line.

I recognized it after two sentences.

Her writing.

Her letter.

Over the shelves, I watched that guy — who had no idea how lucky he was — read her words and smirk.

He was good-looking. But inside, he was trash.

After they left, I looked down. My nails had left marks in my palms.

Her letter was soft as rain.

Too bad it fell into a sewer.

#3

After that, I joined the hockey team so I could go to Hallowell for the cross-conference tournament.

Soon, I saw her on the ice.

I found out that idiot hadn’t even told people he had a girlfriend?

If it were me, I’d have covered myself in her marks.

You ask why not the other way around — why not cover her in mine?

Please.

She just has to exist. That’s enough.

I like being owned by her.

I like belonging to only her.

That day after spring field day, I confessed while she was half-drunk and looking at me.

My heart almost jumped out of my throat.

I thought she’d say no. I was ready to be hated.

But she didn’t.

She left the garbage on her own.

I gambled. I won.

That night, I couldn’t hold it in anymore. I cried.

I’d been waiting too long for those tears.

And I got to have someone this perfect.

But now she has a secret.

Did she find someone better?

My brain was about to snap.

If she wanted to leave, I would let her go.

Then I would find some place to disappear.

“Logan.”

Thin fingers lifted my chin.

“What are you thinking about? You look weird… is something wrong with the company?”

I shook my head and pulled out the jade bracelet I’d won at an auction last week.

“No. We just closed a funding round. It’s fine. This is for you.”

She lit up and put it on. She loved it.

She turned it around on her wrist, then took it off, looking reluctant.

“What’s wrong? Don’t you like it?”

She frowned. “I can wear it now. But what if my wrist swells up and I can’t get it off later?”

I laughed and hugged her.

“Then we’ll break it off and get you a bigger one. More expensive.”

She slapped the back of my hand where it rested on her stomach.

“No. We need to save money. This little money pit is going to eat us alive…”

She pressed my hand flat against her belly.

A tiny heartbeat pulsed against my palm.

My own heart skipped.

“Logan. You’re going to be a dad.”

I crushed her in my arms. Tears ran down my face.

“You’re still such a crybaby,” she whispered.

She turned and kissed my eyelids.

I buried my face in her shoulder. Her familiar scent filled my nose. I relaxed.

And deep in my head, I warned the tiny stranger who wasn’t even here yet:

Be good to her. Don’t make her sick.

Otherwise I’ll have to figure out how men can carry babies instead.

THE END