Cross-Checking My Heart

Chapter 1

"Jackie don't throw your grapes on the floor," Sarah scolded for the tenth time since we had left Columbus. I rolled my eyes in annoyance. Although I loved my neice, she could really get on my nerves.

As we were pulling into our cobblestone, circular driveway at our new house, I spotted some teens staring at our cars and moving trucks. This would defiantly be an interesting change in scenery.

It was a beautiful house, but way too big. It had three levels. On the first two levels it had five bedrooms, two on the main level and three upstairs, six bathrooms, three upatairs and three downstairs, a ginormous chef's kitchen, a formal dinning room, a breakfast nook, a family room, two offices, a library, and a laundry room.

Oh and I can't forget the basement. My parents had asked me what I wanted to be down there so I told them exactly what I wanted; my bedroom, a bathroom, a game room, a home theater, a small kitchen slash snack bar, extra living space, and a gym.

I still couldn't believe that Jack had bought this house for us and even paid for all of the renovations in advance.

As Sarah took the kids inside, yes you heard me right, kids plural, Sarah had given birth to twin girls, I watched as the moving trucks pulled into the driveway. I couldn't help but feel as though something was missing, because honestly it was. Jack should have been here for this.

My goal for today was to unpack the few necessities I needed to live for the next week or so as we unpacked the rest of the house, meaning my blankets and some clothes that I had put into a duffle bag before we left.

There were about fifteen guys here to help unload the trucks, but when the truck with my stuff and some of Jack's old things was opened, I requested that they allow me to unload it on my own and I assured them that if I needed help I would ask one of them.

As I searched for a box that I knew was in here, I heard footsteps behind me to find Sarah staring at a picture of Jack and I from the day he was drafted to the NHL team in North Carolina. We looked so happy in that picture and it had always been one of my favorites.

"You know that he had this picture in six rooms at our house after we moved here," Sarah asked.

In all honesty I didn't know. I had only been to their house twice before that horrible day so many months ago. And since then, I refused to go back, not that it was an option anymore. Sarah, Jackie, and Jordan had all moved in with us so Sarah had built in babysitting from mom and I.

I forget that she misses him too. I wasn't used to him being in love with someone but when he met Sarah it was, as corny as it sounds, love at first sight. I would tease him because before her, his girlfriends never lasted longer than a month. Although they were only together for a short year, they had grown really close.

I turned around to appolagize to Sarah but when I did it wasn't her face that I saw.

He was six foot three with broad shoulders and dirty blond hair that looked like it belonged to a surfer, not a hockey player. But it wasn't his physic that caught my eye, it was his eyes. They were the color of the Caribbean ocean and always had a hint of a smile to them.

His name was Aaron Jennings.

He was a hockey player whose talent rivaled that of Jack's, probably because Jack had taken it upon himself to help him improve. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that Sarah's dad was the high school's head hockey coach, I don't really know though.

Jack coached him every day for two hours after his practice. Aaron had natural talent, anyone with eyes could see that. He would even videotape the practices so that he could show Aaron what he was doing wrong and Aaron could see it for himself. Jack would have made a great player and possibly one day a great coach.

"Hey, I'm Aaron, you must be Haley, Jack's sister."

"Umm, yea, I'm Haley. How did you know who I was," I asked dumb-founded.

"Oh well Jack talked about you all the time, plus he told me about you when he explained why he recorded our practice sessions."

In all honesty I thought that Jack had kept that secret between us but I guess I was wrong. Not that I really cared that Aaron knew I played hockey. I was proud that I could hold my own on the ice against a bunch of huge guys.

"Oh I didn't know that he talked about me. And since you know that I watched your guys practices, I guess I should let you know that you are really good. And I'm not saying that to try and suck up." I don't know why I was rambling, normally I was completely cool around guys. I mean hell, I had been playing hockey with them since I was six.

"Oh thanks," he said sheepishly. Most guys would boast at that compliment.

I was about to tell him that I should go unpack my stuff when two girls walked over, arguing with each other.

"Aaron will you please tell your tramp-of-a-girlfriend the basics about watching a sporting event in our house," The short brunette said.

The tall blonde was about to respond when she seemed to notice me.

"Who are you," she asked accusingly.

If I hadn't been so tired I probably would have snapped at her, but the other girl beat me to it.

"Ashley, why in the hell are you being so rude? She's here for five minutes and you already think she's trying to sleep with my brother. Damn, you have some serious jealousy problems."

The first girl, Ashley, looked momentarily stunned, but before she could answer the second girl turned to me and said, "Hi, nice to meet you, I'm Kara."

Before I could answer Ashley started in on Kara. I stood there unsure of what to do or say when Aaron jumped in. He put a hand over Kara mouth and wipers something in her ear that made her turn to me and offer to help carry my things in the house. I accepted her offer and we took some boxes labeled clothes and books inside.

When we got back outside, Ashley had left and Aaron was helping my dad lift our couch out of the truck.

"I'm sorry about Ashley's behavior earlier. We don't really get along so when Aaron left me with her, it was his own damn fault that she did what she did."

"It's okay, I understand, if I was his girlfriend I would be cautious about someone sleeping with my extremely good looking boyfriend also."

"You think I'm extremely good looking," he said sarcastically as I turned around.

When I didn't reply he turned around smiling and continued to help unload our things.

"Don't worry he's just messing with you. Let's finish unpacking your stuff and set up your room," Kara said.

And with that we all went back to working.
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Author's Note:

I want to say thank you to everyone who is reading or has read the beginning of my book! I am working really hard to make this book good. If you find a grammatical error, please comment and let me know. Sorry if my updates are kind of sparatic, I don't really have a set schedule for updating. And a special thanks to my friend Stephanie for helping me through the process of writing and convincing me to write my book!

Thanks,

FarrisWheelBethany ❤