Chapter 72
-BLAIR-
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I was still in the same clothes I had worn to the park. The same bitter taste of Chase’s mouth on mine. Under all of it sat the heavier thing I had been carrying since Olivia sent the articles: Grayson, this morning, with Lily in his arms like last night had been a temporary blackout he could walk away from and forget.
I had spent the entire drive home trying to decide what I would say first. That I had seen the photos. That I could not believe he had gone straight to her after being inside me. That I needed him to look me in the eye and explain how a man could leave marks on my skin and then hold another woman before noon.
I never got the chance.
He was already in the living room when I entered.
Grayson stood near the coffee table with a folder in his hand, still in the clothes he had worn to her house.
He looked cold and distant. I couldn’t remember ever seeing him like this.
The sight of him knocked the air out my chest. For one stupid second I thought he had come home to apologize for the articles, to explain it wasn’t what I thought it was.
Then he spoke before I could open my mouth.
“I want a divorce.”
The words did not sound real at first.
For a few seconds, I just stared at him, lips parted, wondering if this was truly happening.
A divorce?
I gasped. My arms folded tight across my chest, more to hold myself together than to look upset.
“Why?”
He lifted the paper slightly, like the answer was already printed there. “Because you’re still in love with Chase. I saw the picture of you kissing him. Same clothes that you’re still wearing right now. You left here and went straight to him.” His jaw clenched. “I’m freeing you from the marriage.”
A laugh almost left me. It came out broken instead.
“You aren’t exactly innocent.” My voice shook despite every effort to stay calm. “You were inside me all night. All night, Grayson. And the next morning you were already at Lily’s house. I saw those pictures too.”
He sighed, a rough, exhausted sound that somehow hurt more than shouting would have.
“Yes. Lily is my childhood sweetheart.” His eyes met mine and did not soften. “I don’t plan on letting her go. I love her. Today is just proof that we both are in love with other people. I need you to sign the papers so I can
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The Hockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife
finally be with the person I truly want.”
There it was.
Not an explanation. Not a fight. Just the truth of what he truly wanted.
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My heart broke. It shattered. And it was freaking hard trying to hold it together in front of him and pretend I was okay.
After last night, after all of the kisses and touches, none of it had been enough to keep him. He had gone to her in the morning, seen a photograph of a kiss I had not wanted, and chosen to use that to break off our marriage.
No questions asked. He didn’t even question if that kiss was something I wanted. He just accepted it.
Those articles made it easier for him to leave. He’d gotten a way out.
My heart felt like it had been dropped on the floor and left there.
I walked to the table on legs that did not feel fully mine and held out my hand. He passed me the papers
without comment.
My vision blurred once. I blinked it back and signed where the tabs marked my name.
Blair Monroe Shaw.
I did not take anything. Not a bag. Not the clothes I had bought after he threw the first ones in the pool.
Not the ridiculous custom jersey with his name on the back. None of it had ever really been mine.
The performance was over.
The ring came off last.
I pulled it from my finger and threw it at him. It hit his chest and dropped to the rug.
“Congratulations,” I said. “You got what you wanted.”
Then I turned and walked out.
He did not stop me.
I made it to the car before the first tear slipped free, then another, then the kind of crying that had no dignity left in it.
He loved Lily. He made it clear to me that she was the one he planned on being with.
Not me.
How could I have let this happen to me twice? First Chase. Now Grayson.
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The Hockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife
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I had given him my body, my first time, a night I had been stupid enough to treat like a new beginning for us. He had given me divorce papers and the confirmation that I had been exactly what Lily said I was.
Temporary.
I started the car with shaking hands and pulled away from the house without looking back at the windows.
If he was watching, I did not want to know. If he was already calling her, I did not want to know that either.
By the time I reached the main road, I was screaming and crying, close to throwing up. This heartbreak felt even worse than the one from Chase.
I drove to my parents’ house. I had to see my sister. But everyone else would be there. My father. My mother should be back from that modeling trip. They would all ask questions I simply wasn’t ready to answer.
I would have to tell them something. Not everything. But they must have all seen the articles already. The ones with Grayson hugging Lily and then the ones with Chase kissing me.
It was disgusting that they released the images of us kissing but not of me slapping him in return.
I pulled into my family’s driveway and sat there with the engine off, forehead against the steering wheel, breathing through the pain.
He wanted a divorce.
I had signed it.
Now I wondered if I should have fought more for us.
But would that have changed anything?
No.
He wanted someone else. I heard it from his own mouth.
Despite his cruel words, I had still, humiliatingly, wanted him to stop me. But he hadn’t.
The tears continued to fall.
I couldn’t believe this was actually happening. I did not want to lose him. But it was too late, wasn’t it? 1 couldn’t force him to be with me. He’d already made his decision. And it wasn’t me.
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The Hockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife
Dex Morgan
Dex works to elevate each story with clean writing, emotional balance, and thoughtful flow for readers.