Van2: A Pittsburgh Titans Novel

Sawyer Bennett

Nov 2023 · Pittsburgh Titans Book 10 · Big Dog Books, LLC

About this ebook

Van Turner found fame as part of the Carolina Cold Fury, helping the team bring home a championship. He also found love and married his teammate’s little sister, eventually retiring from the game to enjoy a quiet life in the verdant hills of Vermont. Now, Van’s dark past threatens to unravel his future.

 

I never once regretted my decision to walk away from hockey. I attained what so few in the league are able and retired at the top of my game. Besides, I had the ultimate prize by my side—my gorgeous wife, Simone. We settled into married life in Vermont and were ready to expand our family when I was blindsided by my sociopath of a parent, this time from the grave. Before dying from cancer while in prison, my serial killer father left his private diaries to a journalist. From that one bequest came a tell-all biography detailing his deranged crimes along with a litany of lies meant to ruin my life.

Knowing first-hand the horrors of growing up the product of a monster, I know there is no way I can bring a child into this drama. I refuse to allow my kid to suffer the taunting and harassment I did, so I do the only thing I can think of—I walk away from Simone and our beautiful life together. With the knowledge that she will be safe from the publicity of my shameful past and able to find a love she deserves, I return to hockey, joining the Pittsburgh Titans. The long hours on the ice are the only thing that will even remotely keep my mind off everything I’ve left behind and I know that I’ve given Simone her best chance at happiness.

But I’m clearly a man who doesn’t learn from the past and I should have known better than to underestimate my wife. The woman doesn’t know how to take “no” for an answer. She’s as persistent as I am stubborn and it’s a battle of wills as she uses all her powers of persuasion to save our marriage. Simone wore me down once, but she won’t do it again. I’m keeping my wits about me and my pants on, no matter how much she tempts me with her sexy ways. But those, my friends, are what they often call ‘famous last words’.

Ratings and reviews

I really enjoyed this second chance at love story. Van was dealing with some pretty big ghosts from his past but the love of Simone and his fellow teammates helped him work through it. Overall this was a fun novella with some of the favorite Pittsburgh Titans teammates!

Van Turner has struggled all his life with the repercussions from his serial killer father. Now he has lost the ray of light that was his life thanks to the actions of his father. He has always loved playing hockey but his love for Simone was greater and he walked away. Knowing he cannot put his wife through more he leaves Simone and returns to hockey as the latest member of the Pittsburgh Titans.