Chapter 73
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The house felt wrong without her in it.
Two days, and I had started noticing absences I had no right to miss.
The kitchen stayed too clean. The upstairs hallway no longer had the faint trail of her perfume.
There was no mug left in the sink, no custom jersey thrown over a chair to bother me, no pointed little comments from the doorway to get under my skin.
The mansion had always been large. Without Blair, it was just empty.
I stood in the living room with the same folder still on the coffee table, the same ring I had picked up off the rug after she threw it at me sitting on top of the papers like a dare I had not answered.
She had signed so fast. Not once questioning my actions.
That was the part I could not stop thinking about. I had expected a fight. Questions. Instead she had folded her arms, taken the hit, signed her name, and walked out without a bag.
No bargaining. No demand that I explain the morning at Lily’s. Just a ring thrown at me and the door shutting hard enough to leave an echo.
I had lied to her.
I had looked my wife in the eye and told her I loved Lily and needed the papers so I could be with who I truly wanted. When the truth was. . .I wanted her. Blair.
It had come out so easily even though I had to force it out of me.
Seeing her with Chase had fucking destroyed me.
The photo Lily shoved in my face had not been a simple headline. It had been Blair’s mouth on the man who had betrayed her, the same man who had leaned in at a faceoff and told me he had her first. And fucking lied about it. She was a virgin. Until me.
I had left her asleep in our bed and driven to Lily’s house to do the supposedly honest thing. But after seeing her with Chase, I realized that this marriage couldn’t work.
I’d never felt this kind of pain before and I never wanted to feel that again.
So I pushed her away for good.
If she wanted Chase, and he clearly wanted her back, the divorce was her opening.
Free her. End it. Those were my thoughts the entire time. Stop standing in the middle of a marriage that had started as a debt and turned into the most dangerous thing in my life.
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14:48 Thu, Sep 17
The Hockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife
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Better a clean cut than the slow humiliation of watching her choose him while I kept pretending I could control what I felt.
I sat down on the edge of the sofa and opened the folder.
Her signature was already there. Mine was the blank line underneath, waiting.
I picked up the pen.
Set it down.
Picked it up again.
The paper stared back at me, daring me to sign.
I knew the second I did, it would all be over.
All it required was my name. But for some reason, I could not find the strength to do it.
Every time the pen hovered, the house filled with the wrong memories. Blair in the kitchen, in the pool, on our bed. I had memories of her everywhere.
Blair in the stands screaming my name. Blair with her face against my chest because thunder scared her. Blair under me, her screams of pleasure.
I had chosen the exit that protected me from wanting a woman who could wreck me.
I was a coward. Instead of fighting for her, instead of making sure Chase got out of the picture for good, I’d chosen the easy way out. Scared of getting my heart hurt.
The unsigned papers stayed on the table when I stood.
I left them there on purpose. If I put them in a drawer I might convince myself to forget about them and never return to it.
Out in the open they were staring me in the face, waiting for me to finish what I had started.
I walked through the house like I might find her in the next room anyway-guest room, pool deck, the master bedroom.
Nothing. Just space and the quiet proof that she had taken me at my word and gone.
My phone stayed face down.
Lily had called. More than once. I had not answered. She wasn’t the only one trying to contact me. I was ignoring every single call and I was sure I would have a few visitors soon because of it.
Chase was probably already celebrating that he’d gotten her. The thought made my hands curl, then I forced them open again. I had given him the opening. I did not get to be shocked if he walked through it.
This was my fault. Leaving room for him to enter her life again.
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14:48 Thu, Sep 17
The Hockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife
Two whole days without Blair.
It felt longer.
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I ended up back in front of the folder an hour later. The pen was still there. The ring was still there. Her name was still there, and mine was not.
I pressed both palms against the desk and dropped my head.
I had told her I was freeing her.
I had not freed myself from anything.
The papers stayed unsigned through the evening. I did nothing at all. I slept in the chair instead of the new bed, because the bed still smelled of her.
Even when I closed my eyes, she was all I could see. I’d even skipped practice. I didn’t want to see anyone while I dealt with this kind of pain.
The folder remained on the coffee table when I finally turned off the lights.
Another day had passed and I still could not sign it.
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14:48 Thu, Sep 17
The Hockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife
Dex Morgan
Dex works to elevate each story with clean writing, emotional balance, and thoughtful flow for readers.