Score Her Heart: A Marriage of Convenience Hockey Romance (Philadelphia Bulldogs Book 2) by Danica Flynn (free novels .TXT) 📕

he stick it out with me because he was loyal to a fault? He was my best and oldest friend, and I wanted him to be happy, even if that meant this marriage was a failure. I never wanted to be the cause of his unhappiness. I cared about him too much for that.

I carried my suitcase into the bedroom and opened it up. I dumped all my dirty clothes in the hamper in the closet. Except for the white wedding gown that was still in the garment bag. I smiled, thinking about how gentle Riley had been with it even though we had both been hammered out of our minds. He had taken the care to help me out of it and not damage it, even if he wanted to rip me out of it. I wondered if Eric would have done the same. I could kick myself for comparing the two men yet again.

I opened my closet and assessed what clothes I had hanging up there. I threw a couple dresses and blouses into my suitcase before packing up some of my casual jeans and t-shirts from the dresser across the room. I packed enough to have clothes at Riley’s place for a few weeks since I wasn’t sure what was going to happen.

I glanced around the room at the rumpled bedclothes on the bed. I vaguely remembered making the bed before we left for Vegas, which meant Eric was still sleeping here. I spied something black underneath the bed and got even more annoyed because he couldn’t bother to pick up his dirty clothes off the floor. I bent down and felt myself throw up in my mouth a little bit. It was a black lacy thong. I did not wear black lacy thongs, so it definitely was not mine.

Unbelievable.

We were broken up now, so I couldn’t be angry at him for sleeping with someone else, but to do it in my bed when I told him to get out of my apartment made my skin crawl.

I snapped a picture of it and sent it to Katie.

ME: OMG! These aren’t mine!

KATIE: Ewwwww!!! My eyes!

ME: KATIE!!! I don’t think your brother has any intention of letting me keep this apartment!

KATIE: Girl, get out and move in with your hot husband!

I sighed and glanced around the room; there were no boxes anywhere or even the appearance of Eric trying to move his stuff out. I sunk down to the floor because the bed now skeeved me out. I would never be able to sleep there again, knowing he had fucked some other woman in it. This was so totally fucked.

I felt my phone buzz again next to me on the carpet.

“Hey,” I said into the phone when I saw it was Riley.

“Sorry, I’m just getting back to my place now. One of my teammates drove me to practice, but I know you’re not far,” he apologized.

I honestly didn’t even notice he was late because I was still reeling from the fact that Eric had completely violated my personal space. I felt like he did it on purpose, and I wondered if those underwear were left there on purpose. A part of me also wondered how long they had been there. Was it just in the last couple days? Maybe Eric didn’t notice we hadn’t had sex in months because he was going to someone else for it. I felt sick to my stomach.

“Fi?” I heard Riley call, and he had definitely called my name more than once.

I shook my head. “Sorry, what?”

“Do you need some time?” he asked again.

“Uh huh,” I answered noncommittally.

“Are you okay?”

“Nope!” I admitted with a shaky laugh.

He cleared his throat on the other line. “Hey, what’s going on?”

“I don’t think I can keep my apartment,” I blurted.

“Oh…okay? Are you sure?” he asked.

Now I wasn’t so sure if this was a good idea, but I knew there was no way I could stay here and sleep in this bed if I knew what Eric had done in it. To be honest, I also wasn’t sure I could afford the rent on my author pay either. Riley didn’t sound relieved like I thought he would, though; he sounded uncertain. My heart tightened in my chest. Now I was even more unsure about what I was about to do. Did I just invite myself to move in with Riley when we were already uncertain if we were going to stay married or not? Fuck, I should have gone back to Katie’s. But Riley called my name again, and I blurted it all out.

“I think he fucked someone in my bed. After I told him to get out and he told me he would find a new place.”

I cringed at the string of curses that flew out of Riley’s mouth. I had to hold the phone away because of how loud he was yelling. “Okay, you have boxes?” he finally asked.

“Uh…” I looked around and then walked into the living room and searched the hall closet. “That’s a big nope.”

He sighed. “Okay, hang tight, I’ve got this. Get together what you can, and I’ll be there soon.”

The phone clicked, and I stared at my phone as the call log blinked. I then marched out of the apartment and down to the landlord’s apartment on the first floor. She was a nice old Asian lady, who loved me but straight up hated Eric, so this was going to be hard.

“Fiona!” Mrs. Lee greeted me, and then her face turned down into a frown. “I’ve heard. But good for you. I never liked that man.”

I sighed. “Okay, then you’re not going to like what I say next.”

“What is it?”

“I’m moving out, but Eric isn’t. I know everything is in my name, but can we sign new lease papers so I can sign it over to him?” I asked.

“For you, I do. Otherwise, I would say no,” she answered. Her black-brown eyes darted to my wedding ring. “You’re wearing a wedding ring