Ruthless Rookie | NEW Series, NEW FREE Chapter | Syracuse Centurions Hockey Romance Series Book #1
Thank you for clicking on this link to read my NEW SERIES ANNOUNCEMENT! I am so excited to sit here and write you a big personal update along with the first chapter of Ruthless Rookie 100% FREE.
My next series releases in August, just in time for NHL hockey pre-season and in time for us to have all the books releasing alongside the 2026-2027 hockey season. I have long been a fan of hockey romance books, even before Heated Rivalry blew up (although much respect). I wrote two college hockey romance series, the Laguna Grove Vipers Hockey Romance Series and the McGraw College Hockey Romance Series but this series will feature older characters playing minor league hockey in the northeastern part of the United States.
So… are you ready to learn more about the next series? If you are a Patreon subscriber, you will have early access to the password allowing you to unlock more series information. Click here for the locked series page. Click here to subscribe and access the password.
Don’t worry, there will be plenty for you to read here if you stick with me on this page. Book #1 in my next series is called Ruthless Rookie and starts off with a wild premise: The Syracuse Centurions hockey team has a new rookie from Serbia named Marco. One problem. The United States government has created visa hurdles that mean Marco has to get married or lose his hockey career. With help from his cousin in the legal field, he signs a contract blind and ends up married to a Black woman he meets for the first time on his wedding day — Regina Rose.
Regina has serious financial problems when her good friend from college gives her a second chance at life. All she has to do is marry her friend’s Serbian cousin — a younger man and a professional athlete. Regina knows the reputation athletes have and although married to Marco she refuses to become another notch in a player’s belt. Marco has other ideas and worse than that, other suitors willing to stop at nothing to become a “wife and girlfriend” to a rich athlete.
Are you ready for the FIRST chapter of this story? I will absolutely NEED you to be patient with me here and if you are so inclined, order a signed copy of the book directly from my shop to directly support my work before release day. Click here for the signed book.
*I left out the prologue so there would be a little something to look forward to when you open the book for the first time… and trust me you will not want to miss it. Enjoy the first chapter.
Ruthless Rookie | Chapter #1
Marco
I finish my first professional American hockey practice as a married man without ever having met my wife. After a summer of training with these guys, I have a better command of English than when I first got here, but I still feel self-conscious about my accent, and I felt even more self-conscious about the fact that I might not be able to play this year without an immigration visa.
My lawyer, Kelly, sorted it out for me. She’s my second cousin on my mother’s side – the distant Jewish cousins who had to flee Europe during the war.
While I’m starting a new life in this country on my own while pursuing my dream, I at least have somebody who understands the complexities of… America. I almost had to give up on everything, but Kelly solved my problem. She found a wife for me at the last minute, and one that I think will be quite pleasing to me by Kelly’s descriptions of her. She’s educated, drop-dead gorgeous, and she offered to sign on to our terms with basically no questions asked. All the others had questions.
After this practice, I’ll meet her. I skate to the edge of the ice, the scent of sweat and ammonia burning my nostrils as I tap my stick against the wall and pat the back of the guy in front of me. We move better the longer we practice together. I’m still the new guy who people don’t quite feel comfortable with, but I can feel myself gaining their respect the more I try to work my way in.
“Good practice, rookie,” Jardine says – he’s the team captain, a proud Quebecois from Montreal. I grunt in response. They stopped making fun of my accent finally, but if I don’t need to speak, I don’t. The hazing doesn’t bother me as a concept, but I was never much of a talker.
“Don’t gas him up, bruh,” Jelani Powell interjects. He’s Canadian – although he is dark-skinned with Jamaican ancestry – and a tough guy to get along with. “See how he does in our first game.”
The first game determines how I fit in on this team not just to the public but with the men who will be something more than coworkers for as long as I play on this team. I’ve played with guys I get along with and guys that I hate. It’s always easier to play with guys I like.
Jardine sort of stands up for me. “Shut the fuck up, man.”
“What? You trying to smash or something?” Jelani teases him. I would rather not have a heated rivalry with any of these guys. But I keep my head down and take the jokes. All part of being the team rookie and how they test you as a player – what will make you tick. It’s important we all know each other inside and out. Although not as intimately as Jelani suggests.
Peter Sidney interjects this time, “Man, shut the fuck up.”
Americans love telling each other to shut the fuck up. It’s rude, but I like it. Maybe I’ll get along with my teammates in the long run. If I play well. If I prove that I deserve my spot.
We are two weeks away from our first game – part of why I needed my paperwork sorted quickly.
During our off-season, we train at a secret rink in a small town called Cazenovia, New York. It’s a cute place, but my Maserati stands out here and when I leave practice with my hockey bag to my parking spot, there are three teenagers making TikTok videos on the hood.
I clear my throat and they scatter. They stare a little, but they seem to barely know who I am. They might wonder what the hell I do to drive a Maserati at this age, but they haven’t pieced together that I play for the national league. That’ll change.
That’s why I’m here – to become a star. Before I turned eighteen, I played professional hockey in Serbia, Poland, and a little bit in Macedonia. The second I turned eighteen, I worked my ass off to get drafted. I was lucky to get signed by Sibley Talent Agency, but when the guy who signed me died of a sudden heart attack, I wasn’t sure my dreams would pan out.
But I’m here. Sitting in the driver's seat of my brand new leased forest green Maserati, living the American dream. I check my phone once I start running the air conditioner and see a message from the head of my housekeeping staff. He’s sort of a butler, but I don’t like the word.
Regina arrived an hour ago.
Your wife is waiting for you in your bedroom’s reading suite.
Congratulations.
I feel nervous. There’s another text, this one from my agent, Lucy. I ignore it. I appreciate the hard work that she does for me, but the way she stares at me with expectant blue eyes unnerves me. I don’t know what she expects. I toss my phone onto the passenger seat and stop thinking. Life is a lot like a hockey game. Everything goes a lot better when you stop thinking and give in to the natural, intuitive flow of things. Just get married, worry about it later.
Now, I have to meet this wife – and with two weeks before my first game, I can’t bother getting to know her and risk any distractions. This all matters way too much. There’s too much money on the line.
I never thought that I would settle down. I spent too much of my life playing hockey to ever consider a life beyond hockey. There wasn’t much of a problem for me staying away from women. Many of them are happy to jump into bed with me, and I enjoy that, but when it comes to a deeper romance… it’s just not possible for me.
I love hockey too much to ever love a woman. That’s why I don’t mind this arranged marriage – I never planned on any other kind, so I might as well do this for my career. For my future.
Please leave a comment if you are intrigued by this chapter.
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