SHANE, page 1
part #1 of Valencia Ice Mafia Series
SHANE
A hockey romance
Valencia Ice Mafia
Lisa Lang Blakeney
Writergirl Press
LISA LANG BLAKENEY
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Copyright © 2024 Lisa Lang Blakeney.
All rights reserved.
Published by: Writergirl Press
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License Note
This book is a work of fiction. Any similarity to real events, people, or places is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced or distributed in any format without the permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations used for review.
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The author acknowledges the trademarked status of products referred to in this book and acknowledges that trademarks have been used without permission.
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This book contains mature content, including graphic sex. Please do not continue reading if you are under the age of 18 or if this type of content is disturbing to you.
To My Writing Girl Crew Who Encouraged Me To Write This Novel
Contents
Books By Lisa
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Introduction
1. Kennedy
2. Kennedy
3. Kennedy
4. Kennedy
5. Shane
6. Kennedy
7. Kennedy
8. Kennedy
9. Shane
10. Shane
11. Shane
12. Kennedy
13. Kennedy
14. Kennedy
15. Kennedy
16. Kennedy
17. Kennedy
18. Kennedy
19. Shane
20. Kennedy
21. Kennedy
22. Kennedy
23. Shane
24. Kennedy
25. Kennedy
26. Kennedy
27. Kennedy
28. Kennedy
29. Shane
30. Kennedy
BONUS EPILOGUE
NEO SNEAK PEEK
Acknowledgments
Also From Lisa Lang Blakeney
Where You Can Find Me
About the Author
Books By Lisa
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Valencia Ice Mafia Series
Hot hockey romances set on the college campus of Valencia City University.
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Introduction
SHANE is the calculating hockey prince patiently waiting for his chance to land the girl of his dreams. Problem is? She’s his stepsister.
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Kennedy's life is turned upside down when she arrives at Valencia City University, ready to leave her past behind and start fresh. But her plans are shattered when she meets Shane, the star hockey player with a relentless charm and a knack for getting under her skin. Their chemistry is undeniable, but so is their animosity, especially when Kennedy learns that their parents are dating.
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Shane, determined to win Kennedy's heart, plays a dangerous game of push and pull, bringing out the worst and the best in her. Their fiery encounters on and off the ice create a whirlwind of emotions that neither can ignore. As they navigate their first year of college, their rivalry intensifies, fueled by family drama and personal betrayals.
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When their parents' relationship takes a serious turn, Kennedy and Shane are forced to confront their feelings and the undeniable connection between them. But just as they begin to lower their defenses, a betrayal threatens to tear them apart, pushing their relationship to the brink.
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In this steamy, angsty sports romance, Kennedy and Shane must decide if their love is worth fighting for or if the obstacles in their path are too great to overcome.
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Perfect for fans of enemies-to-lovers and step-sibling romance, this novel will keep you hooked until the very last page.
Kennedy
I trudge into the warm, festive living room, the smell of pine and cinnamon greeting me, almost like nothing’s changed. I grew up in a house where my parents took the holidays very seriously, wanting to make it magical for me, their golden child. My parents were always the older couple at back-to-school nights, a result of my mother having three miscarriages and a battle with infertility before giving birth to me.
It hadn’t even been six weeks after high school graduation when they both sat me down to a dinner of my mom’s homemade soup dumplings to have a “talk”. I immediately started crying, believing they were about to tell me that one of them had cancer. Their mortality had always been a worry of mine since I was a little girl.
It wasn’t cancer.
It was worse.
It was divorce.
After that, everything happened so quickly. My dad bought out my mom for her half of the house, and she moved to a condo forty minutes away. It happened right before my freshman year of college, but even now, it’s still weird coming home. Nothing is the way it was. Nothing makes sense. Especially when I walk inside and see a stranger taking up space where my mother used to stand.
“There’s my baby girl,” my father spreads his arms, waiting for me to run into his embrace like I did when I was a little girl. But I won’t, because standing next to him is Shane’s mother, her bony hand entwined with his. She’s always holding onto him like she’s afraid he’ll blow away.
“Hi, Kennedy, it’s great to see you,” she says in an annoying, wispy voice that is the complete opposite of my mother’s strong one.
In fact, Shane’s mom is the complete opposite of mine in every way, and I wonder what the hell my father sees in her. My mother has a slight figure, creamy tan complexion, and beautiful onyx-colored hair compliments of her Japanese heritage. She is gorgeous, and I count myself blessed that I share half of her genetic code.
Shane’s mother is just okay looking. She’s a pear-shaped, pale redhead (although I’m not sure it’s natural) and the same height as my father at five foot nine. She’s young, polite, soft-spoken and gets on every last one of my nerves simply because she exists.
But here’s the kicker…
The two of them met at Final Decision Day at my university and simply because of our ill-fated connection, I haven’t been able to shake her cocky son Shane ever since.
“Hi,” is my simple return greeting.
My dad beams at me, unaware of the storm brewing inside my chest since Shane already gave me an idea of what I’m walking into.
“Are you hungry, Kee-Kee?” he asks, using my childhood nickname that Shane has now weaponized against me.
“I ate on the plane,” I tell him.
“You want to go put your bags upstairs, then come back down?”
“Down for what?”
His expression flattens. “To spend some time with me. I haven’t seen you in months.”
“Uh, sure.”
“Shane is coming by too,” Shane’s mother says, as if I don’t already know that. “He just wanted to drop his things at our house first.”
“We were on the same flight,” I deadpan. “I know.”
“Right, of course.” Her cheeks redden.
When Shane told me at the kickback that our parents were planning to celebrate Christmas together at my house, I knew that things had moved to the next step. I’ve been able to cool down the heat on their relationship for nearly two years now, but when a couple decides to spend a family holiday together, that is pretty significant. Honestly, it was just a matter of time.
I’m not exactly sure how much time flies by as I sit in my room staring at a pair of old, white ice skates that hang on a hat rack stand in the corner of my room. I loved ice skating as a kid and would skate regularly at my neighborhood rink until the city shut it down due to budget cuts. I fantasized about being the first biracial girl to skate professionally in the US and in the Olympics for Japan, but of course, that was just a pipe dream. For one, I’m not a dual citizen of both countries, and second, truth be told, I was never that great of a skater.
“Hey.”
I didn’t even hear Shane come into the house, much less upstairs, but he’s standing in my doorway looking like he actually feels sorry for me.
“Don’t give me that pity stare.”
“One thing I’d never feel is pity for you,” he replies, and the cool gaze in his eyes confirms that. Okay, he’s still the same ass I’ve grown to detest.
“Good, then why are you standing in my doorway?”
“I’m here to escort you downstairs. Dinner’s ready.”
“I already told them I wasn’t hungry. I ate on the plane, and now that I think about it, so did you.”
“I’m a growing boy. I need more than one meal, and you could stand to eat something else, too.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I cock my head to the side. “Are you calling me skinny?”
In a world full of Instagram bodies with tiny waists and huge asses, my slender, teacup-boobed body doesn’t fit in with today’s standards of “hot”. It used to bother me a lot when I was starting high school, but with maturity, I learned to accept the fact that no matter what I eat, I’m just not going to gain as much weight as another person who eats the same thing and that’s okay. I’m beautiful, just as I am. But something about Shane’s comment, or maybe the fact that he’s the one saying it, irks me tremendously. He knows it’s a sore spot.
“I’m just saying that the snack on the plane they served was only about three hundred calories. What else have you eaten today?”
“What are you, my personal trainer?”
“Just come,” he commands, finally annoyed with my resistance.
Shane is typically an easy-going, even-tempered guy, but I love it when I can get under his skin. His nice guy routine doesn’t fool me. It never did. I know him in a way others don’t. Behind the wholesome guy next door act is a cocky, arrogant jerk who takes great delight in pissing me off. What the hell is nice about that?
“Why should I?”
“Just because you want to continue living in some immature delusion that your parents are going to get back together doesn’t mean I’m going to allow you to disrespect my mother. She cooked a meal for us, and you’ll eat it.”
I stand and get right up in his face.
Who the hell does he think he’s talking to?
This is my house!
“And who’s going to make me?”
He steps even closer, his large body almost engulfing my small one. He smells like a mixture of spring fresh body wash and mint, and I wonder if he found the time to shower when he dropped his bags off at his house.
I still smell like the airport.
“Kee-Kee, I will take every single green bean that my mom prepared with her sweet bare hands and shove them down your fucking throat one by one if I have to, but you will eat.”
“Is that a threat?”
“I don’t threaten women.”
“It sounded like a threat.”
“It’s simply a promise you know I’ll make good on.”
Our sudden stare-off is silent and feels deadly.
Like, I could literally kill this kid.
He’s always gotten some sick enjoyment out of this whole cluster fuck between our parents over the years, and it baffles me why. He still doesn’t even know my father, just like I don’t know his mother, so why would he blindly trust that my dad will be a good partner to his mother? Hell, he basically blindsided my own mother with their divorce. Doesn’t he get that the same thing will happen to his mom? That she’ll get hurt?
“I so wish your teammates could see this side of you,” I practically hiss. “Do they even know how cruel you are behind closed doors?”
“Oh, they know, Kee-Kee,” he responds, while a wicked grin spreads across his face.
“Whatever,” I mutter, forcibly pushing him out of my way and heading to whatever fresh hell I’m in store for downstairs.
Kennedy
Shane’s mom cooks us a very basic meal of roast beef, green beans, and roasted potatoes. It’s pretty standard American fare and in no way competes with my mom’s cooking skills. Another big difference between them both.
The food doesn’t sit well in my stomach, mainly because Shane seems to scrutinize every bite I take. His eyes narrow at one point during the meal, when it’s obvious he wants me to pretend that it’s the most delicious food I’ve ever eaten.
“Do you like the roast beef, hun’?” His mother asks my father. I can’t believe she’s using terms of endearment for him in front of me.
Ick.
“It’s delicious, Kate. Reminds me of my grandmother’s, and that’s a serious compliment.”
“Was she a good cook?”
“The best.”
Oh, good Lord, Daddy. Don’t bring Great-Grandma into this. She didn’t even cook roast beef.
“Yeah, Ma, it’s really good,” Shane adds, looking at me with a side-eye.
“Uh, I don’t usually eat beef,” I say, and Shane kicks me softly under the table. “But it’s tasty.”
A few more minutes of mindless pleasantries continue over the dinner table. Shane drones on about hockey, like how well the team’s doing this year, his latest NIL deal, blah, blah, blah. My father asks me about business school and if I’m ready to take over his pizzeria empire.
And then the bomb drops.
“Baby girl, I have some great news,” my father says, dropping his fork down with a clank.
“What is it?”
“I’m not going to beat around the bush. I’m sure you both know it’s been coming. I’ve asked Kate to marry me, and she said yes!”
Kate stands out of her seat and offers me a smile of self-restraint, her engagement ring sparkling under the white lights of the chandelier as she extends it forward. I didn’t notice it earlier because I don’t make it a habit of inspecting what Kate is wearing, but now it shines in my eyes like a beacon of futile hope.
