False Start

Falling for my brother's best friend and teammate was never supposed to happen ..... But with one look, one touch, I had no choice but to chase my heart even knowing that it wasn't meant to last.

My life has never been the picture of perfection. But when I was wrapped up in his arms, it almost felt like it could be. Jake Spencer is everything I dreamed of - smart, funny, handsome, kind, and of course a 6'2" hockey player. 

How a guy like him could love someone like me, I'm not sure. I've been ridiculed, beaten down and bullied my entire life for being the "fat" girl. With a larger stomach, hips that are curvier than most girls and thighs so thick they practically touch, I'm the farthest thing from anyone's type... or at least that's what I've been told. So when one too many people got in my head about how incompatible we truly were, and one misheard comment left me spiraling, I ran from the only safe space I truly felt like I had.

Now, almost ten years later, I'm back in Winter Hills, working as an athletic trainer for the Winter Hills Blaze. And guess who happens to be on the team? None other than my ex-boyfriend who hasn't escaped my thoughts and still owns my heart. And to make matters even more complicated, both of my brothers also play for the same team.

I left him hanging in the dark, letting my insecurities drown me until I was a shell of myself. Coming back home, seeing him after all of this time, I'll do anything it takes to make it right.

But what if everything I thought I knew was just a lie? 

Will he still hate me for leaving once he finds out the truth, or does our false start deserve a second chance at finding our happily ever after?