by Toni Aleo
Shea nodded. “I forgot, I’m sorry. How about over some pop?”
Lucas shook his head. “I’m fine.”
“Well as your captain, you have to give me a good reason for why you’ve tried to kill almost every Sharks player tonight. Is it your hatred for the team you left, or is it Fallon? Or maybe Aiden, are they okay?”
Lucas shook his head again. “I don’t hate the Sharks, and Aiden is fine. Fallon on the other hand, is a big pain in my ass.”
Shea laughed. “Most women are. Mine especially.”
Lucas scoffed. “We both know you don’t mean that.”
“I do and I’ll tell you why on the ride home tonight. Sit next to me,” Shea said.
Lucas nodded. “Sure.”
“Haksson is doing well,” Shea noted and Lucas couldn’t agree more. Thankfully the goalie had become comfortable and was actually doing quite well.
“Let’s hope he stays that way,” Lucas said, and Shea nodded. “The new kid scares me.”
Lucas and Shea both looked back at where the new backup goalie sat. His name was Odder or Offer, or something, hell Lucas wasn’t listening. He just knew that the kid was a baby from the Rays and he looked scared as hell.
“I know, he looks scared to death,” Shea said before looking out at the ice.
“He does, poor kid,” Lucas muttered just as Coach Bacter called their line out.
“Don’t get put in that box anymore, Brooks,” Bacter yelled as Lucas jumped over the board and skated to his position. Lucas nodded and thought that maybe he would try not to get put in the box.
He wouldn’t promise it, though.
What a game. What a horrible freaking game.
The Assassins won, but it was close. Haksson went to block a shot and went down after getting it. Everyone was concerned but Haksson said he was fine, so they proceeded to play. Haksson let in four goals after that, giving the Sharks a one point lead before he admitted that he was in extreme pain. Lucas stood by the goal watching as they helped Haksson off the ice, and the new kid skated on. Lucas shook his head at the kid and knew they were going to lose.
But they didn’t.
The kid blocked every shot and with two goals from Phillip Anderson, the Assassins won. The new kid was to thank, too. The shots on goal were hard shots, and they should have gone in, but the kid was pulling ninja moves, catching the puck in ways that even Jordan Ryan couldn’t have done. Maybe Lucas didn’t have anything to worry about.
The kid was basically a ninja goalie.
Lucas sat beside him with Shea on the other side of him. The kid was grinning like he had just slept with Heidi Klum as Lucas threw his sweat-filled shirt off before looking over at him.
“So what’s your name?” Lucas asked.
The kid looked over and smiled. He made Lucas feel like a dinosaur with his bright blue eyes and bleach blonde hair. He had such a young face and a little gap in his teeth. He was a good-looking kid, but he made Lucas feel really old.
“Tate Odder.”
And he had an accent. A thick one.
“Can you speak English?’
Tate shook his head, “Not well. I learning.”
Oh God.
“Well good job tonight,” Lucas said, smacking him on his shoulder. Lucas didn’t think he hit him that hard, but Tate jerked forward some before looking back at Lucas with a nervous smile.
“Thank you,” he said enunciating each word.
Lucas shook his head before meeting Shea’s gaze. “Leave him alone.”
“Where’s he from?”
“Sweden. He is a good guy.”
“He’s a baby, and he can’t speak a lick of English,” Lucas whispered.
Shea shook his head. “He’s fine and he’s learning, plus he just saved our asses, so be nice.”
“Whatever.”
Shea laughed as he stood up undressing. Lucas stood up too, pulling off his shorts just as Shea poked him in the shoulder. Lucas cringed in pain before he looked over at the little heel mark that Fallon had left on him.
“What the hell is that? Oh, there’s two,” Shea said seeing the other side.
“Yeah, it’s nothing,” Lucas said, sitting down. He didn’t want to think about them. They hadn’t hurt when he was pounding into Fallon, but they stung now.
Just like his heart.
“I know what they are. Those are high heel marks,” Phillip said from across the locker room. “Brooks got lucky last night.”
The team all laughed, razzing him and making catcalls as Lucas just rolled his eyes. Before he could say anything, Shea beat him to it, glaring over at Phillip.
“Yeah, something that never happens for you, huh, Anderson?” Shea shot him a dirty look before saying, “Shut the hell up.” He then wrapped a towel around his waist and went to the shower as they locker room went eerily quiet. Lucas scoffed as he looked over at Phillip. He was glaring at Shea’s back and Lucas knew he wouldn’t say anything. Not to big Captain Adler. No one did, well except Lucas. He wasn’t scared one bit of Shea but then again, he wasn’t an ass to Lucas the way he was to Anderson. Lucas shook his head as he chuckled.
Shea really hated that guy.
“So why is your beautiful wife driving you crazy?” Lucas said as he dropped down in the seat beside Shea. Shea shut his laptop as he chuckled.
“She is pregnant.”
Lucas smiled. “Can’t be that bad. Elli is a sweetheart.”
“She can be, and she can be crazy. Ever since we found out the baby was a girl, she’s been driving me insane with all things girl. How hard could another girl be? We already have one!”
“Another girl? That’s awesome Shea. What are you guys going to name her, Sheanana?” Lucas laughed.
Lucas thought he was hilarious but Shea didn’t think so as Lucas continued to let out a gut-busting laugh. When he finally calmed down, he cleared his throat. “Bad joke, sorry.”
“Really bad joke,” Shea said with a shake of his head. “Why is it when I am really starting to like you, you piss me off?”
Lucas shrugged his shoulders. “It’s my charm.”
“Charm my ass.” Lucas laughed and Shea’s face broke into a grin. Shea stretched his arms out in front of him before saying, “So what has Fallon done?”
Lucas grin fell and he took in a sharp breath. “I really don’t want to talk about it.”
“Okay, is it fixable?”
“Yeah, when she gets her head out of her ass and sees that she can trust me and that I won’t hurt her again.”
Shea nodded. “I don’t know if she’s anything like Elli was, but I had to basically scream I loved her in her face, from the rooftop, and from the middle of the arena for that girl to believe me. Women are nuts,” he said with a shrug of his shoulders. “Fallon is a good woman, and a damn good mom.”
“I know, and I want her so badly, I could scream. I want my family together. I want to make more little babies. I want to be happy, with her and Aiden.”
Shea shrugged his shoulders before saying, “Then get it.”
“I wish it was that easy.”
“Just don’t give up,” Shea said sincerely. “You guys look good together.”
Lucas smiled as he nodded. “We are good together, when Fallon’s head isn’t up her fine ass.”
The next morning, after a long sleepless night, Lucas dialed Audrey’s number since he knew Fallon wouldn’t answer.
“Hello, Lucas dear,” Audrey gushed.
“Hey, how are you?”
“You know, livin’. How about you?”
Lucas shrugged even though she couldn’t see him. “Shitty. Your sister is driving me insane.”
“I know, she does it to us all. I haven’t heard the latest saga of Lucas and Fallon but I’m pretty sure she’ll tell me soon. She’s pretty much locked herself up in the room.”
“Yeah that’s what Aiden said. She won’t answer my calls either.”
“She’s special, but we both know that,” she joked. “So, what’s up?�
� she asked brightly. Lucas smiled despite himself; Audrey was so bright and bubbly. It was hard not to smile when you talked to her.
“Can I meet up with you and get Aiden? I wanted to take him to school,” Lucas asked.
“He’s out today, some teacher in-service crap.”
“Wow.”
Thanks for letting me know Fallon, he thought.
“Awesome, can I come get him?” he asked, his temper slowly growing.
That woman drove him crazy!
“Sure! I’ll run it by Fallon to make sure but she’ll be at work all day, I doubt she’ll care. When do you want to come get him?”
Lucas thought for a moment. “Now?”
He missed Aiden a lot and couldn’t wait to see him, so why waste any time when Aiden was available now?
Audrey laughed before saying, “Okay dokey, I’ll get him ready. He’ll be excited.”
“Awesome, I’ll be in the driveway in about 20 minutes.”
Audrey laughed again. “Really?”
“I’m mad at her,” Lucas pouted.
“Y’all are hopeless. Okay, see you in a few.”
Lucas hung up the phone and couldn’t get dressed fast enough. He was beyond excited for he was going to go pick up his favorite little guy.
After a tear-filled greeting, Aiden sat in the backseat talking so fast that it was giving Lucas a headache, or maybe it was the fact that Lucas hadn’t slept the night before. Either way, his head was pounding. Aiden was excited to tell Lucas about everything that had been going on at school and how he had been practicing every day and couldn’t wait to show Lucas his moves. Lucas’ heart swelled at the mention of him showing Lucas his moves. It was something he used to tell his dad all the time, and hearing Aiden say it made him reminisce about those times with his dad.
It was a great feeling.
“So I saw the game when you kept fighting everyone. Mommy called you a nincompoop.”
Lucas scoffed. “Did she now?”
“Yup, she also called you childish today. What does that mean?”
Lucas rolled his eyes, he wasn’t childish. “How did she say it?”
“Um, she said that you were childish for not coming inside.”
“Who knows,” Lucas said with a laugh, hoping to take Aiden’s mind off it. He couldn’t believe that Fallon would say that. It wasn’t as if she was walking Aiden to the car, Audrey did! If anyone was childish, it was her!
Damn fool woman.
Lucas went through the McDonald’s drive thru, getting both him and Aiden some food before heading back to the house. After eating their breakfast and watching cartoons, the two went downstairs to play some hockey. Aiden couldn’t contain his excitement as Lucas drove the Zamboni around the rink with Aiden in his lap. He let out loud screams at each turn and talked endlessly about how awesome it was to ride the Zamboni. Lucas was glad to make him so happy and after parking the vehicle, the two got ready to take the ice. Lucas helped Aiden put his skates on and tape up his socks, but that was about it. Aiden was catching on to what equipment went where and Lucas couldn’t have been more proud.
His boy was meant to play hockey. Just like him.
They took the ice, warming up a little before they started taking shots on goal. As Lucas watched Aiden, he saw that Aiden had been practicing and pride filled him from the inside out. Aiden was perfect.
“Wow bud, that’s awesome!”
“Isn’t it!? I watched you do it on YouTube,” Aiden gushed as he skated around a little faster than he had the last time they were out.
“I can tell, you are doing amazing bud, I’m really proud of you.”
Aiden smiled widely up at Lucas before taking another shot on goal and it went in. He threw his arms above his head and let out a loud “Yee Haw” before he started for the goal to get the puck. As Lucas watched him gather all the pucks and pass them out to Lucas, he couldn’t stop himself from thinking about Fallon.
If she would stop being so hardheaded, she could be sitting on the bench, watching them play and cheering them on. She was the most amazing hockey girlfriend and he knew for a fact that she was going to be the best hockey mom ever. He just wished that they could do it as a family and not separately. He missed her so much and wished that she was upstairs right at that moment, making something good for him and Aiden to eat when they got done.
Shea’s words played over in Lucas’ head as he skated in circles around the pucks:
Just don’t give up.
And Lucas knew he couldn’t. He knew in his heart that Fallon was the woman for him, and damn it, he knew she knew that he was the man for her. Lucas was tired of it. He was going to march right up to her and demand a second chance! She owed it to both of them. They deserved each other.
He loved her!
Lucas spun quick, snapping his stick back and letting go, hitting the puck as hard as he could. Lucas looked up to watch the puck hit the back of the net, but it didn’t.
It hit Aiden.
**********************************
Fallon was miserable.
She sat with her face down on her desk, taking in deep breaths as her phone continually rang, and rang, and rang. Where was Rob? She had no clue, but she didn’t care. She just wanted to lay there. Fallon was convinced that she was the stupidest person ever. How could she walk away? How could she hurt Lucas like that? She never regretted anything.
But she regretted this.
Leaving Lucas for the second time would forever be her biggest failure. She knew that Lucas’ pride would be in full swing now and he would never put himself out there like that again. She basically used him like he said. What did she think was going to happen after continually sleeping with him for a whole weekend? Did she think they would be able to part ways and not be affected?
Stupid, Fallon, stupid!
Fallon was heartbroken. She missed him something fierce, and she just wanted him back. She had this ache in her chest, one that felt like it was taking over her whole body. She felt empty. When she was with Lucas she had never felt so amazing, but now she felt nothing. Just emptiness. The whole weekend, Lucas kept her laughing, smiling, and Lord, he kept her screaming. It was perfect and she needed him back.
She couldn’t believe that she had been such a selfish bitch. Lucas didn’t deserve that, not after everything he shared with her. Fallon didn’t fully trust him yet, but she was willing to try. Yeah, they had a past, but it wasn’t all bad. There were moments that still to this day she held very near and dear to her heart. There wasn’t a moment when she didn’t feel loved. Even when he was gone, he would constantly call just to say he loved her. The bad parts of their relationship she didn’t even think of anymore, well except for the night she found him with Allison. Thinking about those meaningless fights now, she decided that they weren’t that bad. They seemed bad at the time, but it was because she hated having him mad at her.
Since coming into Aiden’s life, Lucas had been there. He had been loving, funny, and honestly the best dad ever. He was everything Aiden had wanted in a father. That was why it was so easy for Aiden to fall in love with Lucas. Lucas was lovable. He was cocky as all hell, but lovable and Fallon loved him.
With all her heart.
Fallon was done with the bitterness, the anger, everything. She was ready to forgive him for all that happened. She understood that he never actually cheated on her, but he still wanted to. Regardless though, she was ready to let that go. She was ready to give him his chance. She couldn’t let their past dictate their future. Lucas was here, he was healthy, and he hopefully still wanted her.
She was ready to jump into the unknown with him, she was ready to take that chance — she had to. She missed him so much. She missed his cocky little grins, his playful love taps, his touches, and his laugh, his everything. She wanted their weekend back. Fallon wanted to go back to when she was getting out of Lucas’ bed to pack, to instead cuddle close to his gorgeous rock hard body and just love him.
Tears r
ushed to Fallon eyes and ran down her nose onto the desk as she took in small unsteady breaths of air. How could she be so stupid? How was she going to tell Lucas that she had been stupid? He probably wouldn’t even talk to her again. He had called but it had only been to talk to Aiden. Not that she answered the phone to find that out, but she was pretty darn sure that was why. He wouldn’t even come to the door to get Aiden that morning, which had to tell her something. He was mad, and he had every right to be.
Fallon sat up, moving her hand along her cheeks as she used her other hand to reach for a tissue. As she blew her nose, the door opened and Rob came in. He had on a bright pink shirt that said “Real men wear pink sometimes. Gay men wear it all the time” with a pair of sparkly blue jeans. He paired it with a cute black blazer and his hair was bone straight.
He looked positively adorable, except for the nervous look on his face.
“Don’t know how to answer your own phone?” he asked.
Fallon shrugged her shoulder, clearing her throat before saying, “I’m busy.”
“Busy doing what?”
Fallon look up, expelling a long breath. “What do you need, Rob?”
“Your dad was the one that was calling 900 times. He was wondering if everything is set for this weekend for the campaign.”
“Of course it is. Why wouldn’t it be?” Fallon asked. Did she miss something? She hadn’t worked the last couple days, but surely she hadn’t missed something important.
“I don’t know, he was questioning me and I said as far as I knew, everything was good.”
“It is as far as I know, but I’ll look over everything again.”
“Okay then. Everything is okay, right?”
Fallon glanced up at him, putting on one of her fake smiles. “Everything is fine.”
“Okay, well I’m not on lunch anymore, don’t worry about your phone,” Rob said with a smile as he went towards the door.
Fallon giggled as she nodded. “Thanks a bunch, Rob.”
He gave her one last smile and shut the door behind him. Fallon took in another deep breath before opening the drawer on her desk. She pulled out the little handwritten notes from Lucas and read each one. Tears filled her eyes with every word she read. What if he didn’t feel this way anymore? What if she broke him when she left for the second time?