Part Ninety-Two

“Did you know?” Castiel rounded on Endri.

“Of course not! Don’t you think I would’ve told Kage if I knew?” Endri glared at Castiel.

“She didn’t tell anyone, only her family knew,” I said.

“I really can’t believe this, Madison always seemed so …” Luke said as his voice trailed off.

“Trust me, I know,” I said.

“Can you handle full custody?” Miles asked.

“I’ve already contacted an agency for a live-in nanny,” I said.

“Shit.”

“I’m not leaving my daughter in her hands,” I said.

“I get it bro, I can’t believe she’d do this to you, especially knowing your history,” Castiel said.

“Hal will call her in a few days, make her position clear to her, we won’t pursue criminal charges if she signs all the documents,” I said.

“What criminal charges?” Luke asked with wide eyes.

“What she did was illegal, she needed my permission to put him up for adoption in the first place, I was eighteen, an adult and she lied about it,” I said.

“You’d really send her to prison?” Miles asked.

“It doesn’t matter, the point is she could’ve gone to Alexander, he would’ve helped her. She knew exactly where I was, she had no reason to keep this from me,” I said.

“That’s true, we all would’ve helped her. Hell, you would’ve married her right there and then for that baby,” Castiel said.

“True.”

Alexander wasn’t mad when I told him everything, he was beyond furious. He wanted me to ruin Madison, make her life hell but I was less inclined to do so, she was already losing Kalen. Hal had offered her a nice settlement plus the apartment I had gotten her. She got to keep her car and a monthly allowance for the first year.

She had looked at me from across the table in the conference room and cried as she signed the documents. She had no visitation, no rights to Kalen and I felt a little guilty for doing this to her but the need to protect Kalen was far greater than any guilt I felt.

“Kage,” Madison said as I waited for the elevator after finalizing our divorce.

“I’ve got nothing to say to you,” I said.

“I understand that you’re mad at me, but she’s my daughter too,” she said.

“She is but I don’t trust you, Madison. I don’t even like you right now. I gave you everything you ever asked for,” I said to her.

“I will always love you, Kage, and her,” she said as the doors opened.

“I don’t want you to love me,” I said as I stepped inside and the doors closed as she stared at me.

Kalen and I fell into a nice routine. In the mornings Luke would drop by and watch her while I trained on my own in the building’s gym. We’d go do our weekly shopping and Luke would accompany me when we bought her clothes, which seemed to be every month.

I was running out of time with a nanny because I had already rejected five. This woman would essentially be raising Kalen with me, for however long she worked here. She’d have access to our lives, live in my condo, cook for us, so I wanted the perfect person.

Kalen was almost three months old now and I had a week before I had to rejoin the team. It was also her first night sleeping over at Endri and Luke’s place. It was Justin’s birthday and we were all going to his parents’ country estate and he had already warned us that none of us were leaving until the next morning.

My divorce and our settlement agreement and details about the custody had been sealed and my standard answer was, irreconcilable differences. I parked my car amongst the other cars that seemed to take up the entire driveway and walked into the house.

Everybody was at the back where a bonfire roared and I had to smile at the kegs everywhere. It looked more like a frat party and I heard Nicholas’s voice first as Mason was kept upside down over one keg as he drank.

“I’m not going to introduce you, people already know who you are,” Justin said as he pushed a drink into my hand and disappeared into the crowd again.

The moment I broke the surface of the water the surprise hit me. The water was cold but nice and as I took my first gulp of air Alexei’s laugh turned into a gasp as I pulled him under the water and swam towards the steps.

“You looked hot!” Alexei yelled as I pulled my t-shirt off and wiped the water from my face.

“A warning would’ve been nice,” I said as he climbed out of the pool dripping water as far as he went.

“Come on, I’m just doing the party population a favor,” he said as he pulled his shirt off too.

“Herpes, Alexei, herpes,” I said and walked away laughing at the look on his face.

“Nice, didn’t know the circus was in town,” Alexei yelled after me.

A towel was shoved in my direction the moment I stepped inside the house and I looked at the woman as she arched her brow still holding the towel.

“Unless you prefer being wet,” she said and I smiled.

“Thanks.”

“Try not to slip again,” she said and disappeared from the kitchen.

I was sitting by the bonfire with some of the guys waiting for my jeans to dry as we laughed, talked hockey and drank. I was on a nice buzz but nowhere near wasted. I had one night of freedom before serious training started and for this one night I could let loose.

I saw her again an hour later and it was her laugh that had made me look up and she caught me staring. The bottle of scotch was nearly empty and I stood up to go get another one at the bar when Mason gave me this knowing look and I just shook my head at him.

She was everywhere I looked and my state of mind wasn’t helping. She basically ignored me every time I tried to talk to her and Alexei had long since disappeared with a woman. Cooper was in the hot tub with two women and Mason was puking his guts out somewhere. Justin and Nicholas were deep into a hockey discussion by the bonfire.