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  Trade Off

  Book Two in the Nashville Nights Next Generation Series

  Cheryl Douglas

  Copyright © by Cheryl Douglas

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, including photocopying, graphic, electronic, mechanical, taping, recording, sharing, or by any information retrieval system without the express written permission of the author and / or publisher. Exceptions include brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  Persons, places and other entities represented in this book are deemed to be fictitious. They are not intended to represent actual places or entities currently or previously in existence or any person living or dead. This work is the product of the author’s imagination.

  Any and all inquiries to the author of this book should be directed to [email protected]

  Trade Off © 2012 Cheryl Douglas

  Nashville Nights Family Tree

  The Turners

  Trey and Sierra Turner - Nashville Nights, Book One, Shameless

  Jared and Elaine Turner - Trey’s parents

  Alisa Turner - Next Generation, Book One, High Stakes

  The Coopers

  Josh and Lexi Cooper - Nashville Nights, Book Two, Fearless

  Jay and Victoria - Josh and Ashley’s son and daughter-in-law / Nashville Nights, Book Seven, Hopeless

  Mike and Tori Cooper - Josh and Ashley’s son and daughter-in-law / Nashville Nights, Book Eight, Careless

  Aiden Cooper – Josh and Lexi’s son / Next Generation, Book Two, Trade Off

  Brianna Cooper – Josh and Lexi’s daughter / Next Generation, Book Three, Game On

  Eva Cooper – Mike and Tori’s daughter / Next Generation, Book Eight, Blown Away

  The Spencers

  Luc and Marisa Spencer – Nashville Nights, Book Three, Ruthless

  Nikki Spencer – Luc’s daughter / Nashville Nights, Book Five, Relentless

  Ryan Spencer – Luc and Marisa’s son / Next Generation, Book Three, Game On

  Evan Spencer – Lun and Marisa’s son / Next Generation, Book Four, Burn Out

  The McCalls

  Ty and Avery McCall – Nashville Nights, Book Four, Reckless

  Anna McCall – Ty and Avery’s daughter / Next Generation, Book Five, Fast Track

  Nick McCall – Ty and Avery’s son / Next Generation, Book Six, Time Out

  J.T. McCall – J.T. and Derek’s brother / Nashville Nights, Book Five, Relentless

  Nikki Spencer – McCall – J.T.’s wife / Nashville Nights, Book Five, Relentless

  Lauren McCall - J.T. and Nikki’s daughter / Next Generation, Book Seven, Face Value

  Derek McCall – J.T. and Derek’s brother / Nashville Nights, Book Six, Heartless

  Ashley McCall – Derek’s wife, Jay and Mike Cooper’s mother / Nashville Nights, Book Six, Heartless

  Book Two – Trade Off

  Professional hockey player, Aiden Cooper, should be happy. He’s been traded to Nashville. But going home also means he has to face the truth. The love of his life is married to his former best friend and new teammate, and there’s not a damn thing he can do about it.

  When Sela Clarke finds out her former boyfriend, Aiden Cooper, is finally coming home, she panics. How can she pretend she’s still in love with her husband when the only man she’s ever loved is bound to uncover the lie that tore them apart?

  Chapter One

  Aiden Cooper dialed Josh’s number and listened to the sound of multiple rings pulsating in his ear, the adrenaline coursing through his body making them sound and feel louder. This was one call he hoped he’d never have to make. “Hey, Dad.”

  “Aiden, hey, good to hear from ya, buddy. What’s new?”

  “I, uh, just got traded.” Vancouver had been Aiden’s home since he started playing professional hockey eight years ago. Some may call him a coward for rarely going home to visit during the off-season, but the decision to stay away from the town he grew up in was a matter of survival for him. “To Nashville.”

  “Oh my God.” Josh laughed. “Seriously?”

  Leaving his family and friends had been difficult, but Aiden knew coming back would re-open wounds that had never fully healed. He told his agent that Nashville was the one city he didn’t want to consider, but apparently his opinion didn’t matter when millions of dollars and a team’s bid for the coveted Cup were at stake.

  “This has been in the works for a bit, but I didn’t want to say anything until it was a done deal.” He kept hoping he would be able to get out of it somehow, but as one of the league’s top goal scorers, he knew they viewed him as a commodity, not a man with an opinion. “Trainin’ camp is startin’ soon, so I’m just tyin’ up some loose ends here. I need to get out there and find a house.”

  “You want your mama to check out the market, see what she can find?”

  His mother, Lexi, purchased commercial investment properties, but she’d recently joined the ranks of the semi-retired so she and her husband could spend more time traveling.

  “Uh no, that’s okay, I’ll take care of it. I know she’s busy plannin’ for that cruise you’re takin’ her on for your anniversary next month.” He knew of one real estate agent who could help him find his dream home: his ex-girlfriend, Sela. But she was the biggest reason he didn’t want to move back to Nashville. “I just wanted to let you guys know what the deal was before you heard it on the news.”

  “You don’t sound too happy about this, kid. What’s goin’ on?”

  “You know I love you guys, and in a lot of ways I’m lookin’ forward to comin’ home, but…”

  “But you’re not lookin’ forward to playin’ on the same team with Michaels again, huh?”

  Neil Michaels had been his best friend throughout high school. They played on the same hockey teams as kids and shared the dream of playing in the big leagues someday. But Neil stole Aiden’s biggest dream when he married Sela two weeks after his best friend signed a deal to spend the next four years in Vancouver.

  “I don’t know how the hell I’m gonna do it, but that’s what bein’ a professional’s all about, right? You gotta play the hand you’re dealt.” The day Sela called him in tears because she’d married someone else came flooding back.

  “You know you’re welcome to stay here until you find a place.”

  “Thanks, I just might take you up on that.”

  “You know when you’ll be here?”

  “Just gotta arrange the packers, movers, and put the place on the market.”

  Aiden looked around the five-million-dollar house that had never felt like home. He looked forward to leaving some things behind, like his relationship with Monica. After a year together, she was encouraging him to let go of his past so they could build a future together, but every time his team returned to Nashville and he had to face off against the man who stole his first love, he realized he may never get over losing Sela. No matter how much her betrayal hurt him, he feared she may always have his heart.

  “All right, well if you need anything, you just let us know, okay?”

  “Will do.”

  “And, Aiden?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I’m happier than hell that you’re comin’ home, son.”

  Aiden smiled in spite of his foul mood. “Thanks, Dad. I’m lookin’ forward to catchin’ up with everybody.” Maybe not everybody, but he’d already put off the inevitable eight years too long.

  Sela cringed when her husband slammed the front door. His bad moods were becoming more frequent.

  “Have you heard the big news?” he shouted, passing her in the family room on his way to the kitchen. He pulled the fridge open and reached for a beer.

  Sela set aside the offer she was reading so she could give her husband he
r full attention.

  He took a long pull of the beer as he leaned over the granite counter in the kitchen and glared at her, sitting on the couch. “Your boyfriend’s comin’ home to stay.”

  “What are you talking about? You know I don’t have—”

  “Aiden’s just been traded. He’s comin’ home.”

  Forcing air into her lungs suddenly became a monumental task, as she tried to pretend her husband’s words hadn’t cracked the foundation of her world. “When did you hear that?”

  “Management just called a meeting to let us all know. They’re callin’ him our best shot at a Cup. Thirty mil over five years. Can you believe that?”

  Sela clasped her hands to hide the subtle tremble. Knowing Aiden lived thousands of miles away was the only thing that had prevented her from reaching out to him over the years. Now that they would live in the same city, how would she have the willpower to resist the urge to see him, to explain the decision she made eight years ago?

  “Aren’t ya gonna say anything?” Neil asked, staring at her intently, as though he was trying to read her reaction by imagining the words she was not willing to say.

  She cleared her throat. “I don’t know what you want to hear.”

  He narrowed his eyes. “You happy about this, or what?”

  She felt a myriad of emotions: elation, fear, dread… hope. “Why would you ask me that? You know I haven’t seen or spoken to Aiden since…” The last conversation, when she’d broken his heart.

  “Have you ever been tempted to call him? The truth. I won’t get mad.”

  They agreed a long time ago not to discuss Aiden or the reasons they decided to marry. It was too painful to remember and too hard to forget. “Have I ever wished I could make him understand what happened?” She shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe. Don’t we all wish for a do-over now and again?”

  “I thought you didn’t want him to know. That was your secret to keep, and I’ve respected your wishes.” He looked at her and she could see fear in his dark eyes. While their marriage was far from perfect, she knew her presence was a lifeline for him. “You know he’d hate you if he found out the truth.”

  That was the bitter reality. If Aiden ever found out what prompted her to marry Neil, there was no way he could see past the truth to the pain and fear that had incited her actions. “I know that. I have no intention of telling him. Do you?”

  “Hell no!” He set the beer aside and walked into the family room to join her. He sat down on the large upholstered ottoman at her feet and leaned forward to take her hands. “Look, I know I haven’t always been the best husband, and lately things have been…” He drew a deep breath. “Tense between us. But I love you, baby. Don’t ever doubt that.”

  Growing up with a troubled mother and no father meant Neil had not known the first thing about building a healthy relationship. In spite of the wasted hours in a therapist’s office, little changed between them. She stayed married to him because the prospect of being alone was daunting, and at the end of the day, she still considered him a friend.

  “Just because Aiden’s coming home, that doesn’t change anything between us.”

  He framed her face with his hands and leaned in to kiss her. “Promise me you won’t ever leave me. Promise me. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

  He’d probably do the same things he did now: get drunk with his buddies, cavort with his puck bunnies, and work out at the gym. If Sela was in love with him, she may have cared that he didn’t spend more time at home, but the quiet time alone allowed her to work and reflect. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  A life with Aiden became out of the question when she made the decision to marry Neil, and the prospect of finding real love again seemed too overwhelming to consider. So she focused on her work, friends, family, and a rare night out with her husband. Her mother told her she was too young to settle, but she knew life could be a lot worse, so she tried to be grateful for the things she did have: a beautiful home, business, a nice lifestyle. She just had to forget about the one thing that would complete her life: sharing it with the man she loved.

  “I won’t let you,” he said, sliding his hands into her hair. “You know I won’t let you leave me.”

  Sela tried to ignore the shiver that worked its way up her spine at his ominous words. Even during therapy, they’d never discussed divorce. Not because they were so blissfully happy, but because they were both satisfied with the status quo.

  “Stop it,” she said, bracing her hands on his shoulders. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”

  “Let me take you out to dinner tonight, then we can come home and…” He brushed his lips across hers. “It’s been a long time, too long, since we’ve made love.”

  “It’s not the right time, sorry.” Another little white lie she hoped would buy her one more reprieve. Headaches, stomach cramps, multimillion-dollar offers that couldn’t wait… her excuses to avoid intimacy seemed to run the gamut lately.

  She knew her husband satisfied his needs while he was on the road, but she couldn’t muster the will to care. Sex between them had always been about the physical release; they’d never connected on an emotional level, and she knew they never would. She preferred a battery operated plaything she could use at will to a flesh and blood male who always wanted more than she could give.

  “I hope you’re not too disappointed?”

  He rolled his eyes. “I’m gonna hit the shower.”

  Aiden wasn’t looking forward to telling Monica about his trade, but the team would go public with the news soon and she deserved to hear it from him first. He pulled the door to her flower shop open and the fragrance of lilies assailed him. He always associated that fragrance with funerals, despite the fact Monica claimed it was one of her best-selling blooms.

  “Hey, handsome. You here to take me out for a romantic dinner?” She smiled at his surprised expression. “A girl can dream, can’t she?”

  He glanced at his watch and realized she would be closing soon. Prolonging the inevitable seemed cruel, so he said, “Why don’t you lock up? I need to talk to you about something.”

  She frowned. “Uh oh, I don’t think I like the sound of that. What’s up?”

  Monica was a nice girl, and he’d made an effort to build a relationship with her, but no matter how hard he tried to pretend… she just wasn’t Sela. “Something happened today, and I just wanted to fill you in.”

  “Give me a minute.” She crossed the tile floor, her ballerina flats soundlessly marking her footsteps. She flipped the sign in the window from open to closed and turned the lock before facing him again.

  “Okay, you’ve got my attention. What’s going on?” She folded her arms over her body and stood staring at him, like she was waiting for him to deliver the final blow. It was no secret to either of them that their relationship had been deteriorating for months, but neither had the courage to put the other out of their misery.

  “I got traded today.”

  She sucked in a breath. “Oh, I see. Wow, I didn’t see that coming.”

  “It wasn’t a complete surprise to me. I knew it was a possibility,” he admitted. He hadn’t told her because they would have been forced into having a conversation about their relationship that he wasn’t ready to have. He hated dating, and sometimes being in a comfortable relationship, even if it wasn’t going anywhere, seemed like a better alternative.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I guess I was just waitin’ to see how it all played out.”

  “Where are you going?”

  “Back home to Nashville. They signed me for five years. If all goes well, I’ll probably finish out my career there.” Or until he went crazy watching his first love play dutiful wife to the man he used to consider his other brother.

  “Nashville, huh?” She rubbed her hands over the silk covering her arms, as though she was trying to ward off a sudden chill. “Your family must be happy about that.”

  Aiden had ne
ver introduced Monica to his family. It seemed pointless. He knew she would only serve as a bridge on the path to the next unfulfilling relationship. He was too young to be so cynical, but if the past eight years taught him anything, it was that a love like the one he shared with Sela only came around once in a lifetime.

  “Yeah, I talked to my old man earlier. He was pretty stoked about it.”

  “So, where does that leave us?”

  He wasn’t expecting that question. A long distance relationship hadn’t even entered his mind. “Um, I think it’s time we…” He shrugged. He was terrible at breaking up with women; he preferred to let his relationships die of natural causes. “You know, went our separate ways. I’d still like to be friends—”

  “Seriously?” She walked around him as she returned to her post behind the counter. “That’s the best you can do, huh?”

  He reached for her hand, but she pulled back, just out of his reach, and began to tidy the counter. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

  “I convinced myself that you’d get over her eventually, but that’s never gonna happen, is it?” She jammed a pair of scissors into their frame as a tear slid down her cheek. “You’re never gonna give anyone else a chance because you’re so sure Saint Sela is the only woman in the world who can make you happy.” Her big brown eyes shone with tears when she looked up at him. “I could’ve made you happy, if you’d given me the chance.”

  Aiden wished he could say Monica was the first woman who claimed he was stuck in a relationship that had been over for years, but it was par for the course. Sela was always the third person in his relationships. She was the person between him and his lover when they went to bed at night, the scent lingering on his sheets when he woke up in the morning, the number he hoped to see on his call display every time the phone rang. She was… the missing piece in the puzzle of his life.