Chapter 1 Chapter One: Millie

“We have an issue.”

I lowered my phone as I heard my ex-boyfriend’s voice. I looked up and saw him approaching me with one of the assistants.

“There had been a mistake. The assistant who handled the booking didn’t know we broke up, and they put us in the same room together,” he delivered the news so casually.

There was no way I would room with him. Not after everything he had done.

The way my life had turned upside down in the blink of an eye gave me one hell of a whiplash.

Just ten days ago, I caught Conrad, my boyfriend of four years, cheating on me with the daughter of the hockey team owner we both worked for.

“You’re no longer the one for me,” he had coldly told me in front of the girl he had cheated on me with.

I had caught them in what once used to be our bedroom having sex.

“I no longer need someone like you, Millie. You’ll never help me grow.”

His words cut deep because I had sacrificed so much for him.

I had spent four years believing I was building a life with this man.

Four years of putting him first. Four years of standing beside him while he chased his dreams.

“I can’t stay with you!” I exclaimed, jumping to my feet.

“Neither can I,” he said with a chuckle.

“Put me in another room,” I said to Remy, the assistant who handled the booking.

“The hotel is fully booked, Millie.” He sighed.

I groaned and ran a hand over her face.

“I think you should find yourself another hotel,” Conrad said casually.

My blood started to boil. Was he out of his mind?

“This is the team’s responsibility, not mine!” I snapped, crossing my arms over my chest.

“Issues happen. You don’t need to be difficult.”

Difficult? He dared to call me difficult after he had fucked with my entire life.

His audacity was certainly unmatched.

“Why do I need to solve a problem that I didn’t cause in the first place?” I threw my hands in the air.

“Millie, you need to be a team player.” He rolled his eyes. “You don’t want people to know that you cause trouble, do you?”

My jaw clenched at his threatening tone. I knew exactly what he meant.

Alice, the girl he had cheated on me with, threatened to get me fired if I told everyone that I had caught Conrad cheating on me with her. Since her daddy was the owner, I knew she was capable of doing so.

I opened my mouth, not sure what I was going to say to an asshole like him, but the voice that came from behind rendered me speechless.

“If you want,” I heard Jude’s voice, “you can stay with me.”

Jude’s return to my life was another thing I didn’t expect.

I never thought I’d see him again. Not after all these years.

The last time I saw him, I was a senior in high school.

He had been the guy every girl had a crush on. Every guy wanted to be his best friend. He was the star of our high school, the kind of person everyone knew even if they had never spoken to him.

And I had been one of the many girls who walked past him unnoticed.

I stared at Jude, trying to process what he had just said.

“Jude, surely you wouldn’t want her to inconvenience you,” Conrad chuckled, placing a hand on Jude’s shoulder. “Millie can find herself a hotel.”

One glance from Jude was enough to make Conrad clear his throat and step away.

“What would inconvenience me is having her look for a hotel room when this isn’t her fault,” Jude snapped, making both men look away.

“But I was given strict instructions to make sure you get your own room because you don’t like sharing,” Remy, the assistant, reminded Jude.

“And I believe I get to decide if I want to bend the rules for someone.”

His cold tone sent a shiver down my spine.

He made it sound so simple. Like the rules everyone else had to follow didn’t apply to him.

Jude had become one of the most famous hockey players in the country, and he had recently joined the Eagles, the team I worked as a content creator for.

“Is staying with me okay with you, Millie?” Jude turned his eyes toward me.

My heart hammered against my chest as I imagined the situation.

Staying in the same room with Jude for two nights? How was that supposed to work? We had barely been around each other since he joined the Eagles, and now I was about to share a hotel room with him.

Before I could answer, Conrad spoke.

“She won’t be staying with you.”

I turned toward him, raising my eyebrows.

“And who are you to decide that?” Jude asked.

Something about his tone made Conrad’s confidence disappear. Although they were both hockey players, Jude was built differently.

He was taller, broader, and carried himself with the kind of presence that made people think twice before challenging him. Conrad didn’t even come close.

“Actually, it’s okay with me, Jude.” I smiled at him. “Thank you so much.”

Conrad and Remy looked at each other as though they couldn’t believe what I had just said.

Honestly, I couldn’t believe it either. But when Conrad thought, even for a second, that he still had a say in my life, I wanted to remind him that he didn’t.

Not anymore.

I wasn’t going to let him make decisions for me just because he had once been a part of my life.

“Great.” Jude nodded.

He turned toward Remy. “Do you have the key card to my room?”

“Yes.”

Remy nodded before fumbling through the stack of cards in his hands. A few seconds later, he pulled one out and handed it to Jude.

Jude took it, then his eyes returned to me.

“Ready?”

Something about the way he looked at me made it difficult to speak, so I simply nodded.

There was a huge chance I was making a reckless decision, but at this point, I didn’t give a damn.

Where had logic ever gotten me anyway?