Shot at Love

by Melody Heck Gatto

“That’s awful nice of you, but no worries if you do.” He was wearing a t-shirt and jeans. His sweatshirt was in the car, but she didn’t have to know. Lifting his t-shirt up at the waist, exposing a peek of his six-pack, he winked. “I’m sure the ladies wouldn’t mind if I had to go shirtless until it dried.”

  “Oh my god.” Kassie rolled her eyes, unimpressed. She grabbed her two drinks and focused her attention on him with a bit of sass. “Keep your shirt on, hockey boy. This is a family establishment.” She turned with a whip of her head, causing her ponytail to swing back and forth as she walked back to the table.

  He couldn’t help the smirk that pulled at his mouth. And after getting the pitcher of pop, he followed her back to the table. They had a corner of the eating area rearranged with tables pushed together to accommodate everyone.

  Kris and Kat were already trying to get Ian seated and ready to eat. The little boy was fussing because he wanted to sit next to Willow.

  Luc nodded his chin towards Sam. “Hey Morris, sounds like young Ian here wants to sit beside his girlfriend.” He knew that would bother Sam, and the look on Sam’s face told him he was right.

  “Shut up with that talk! My sunshine is too young to be anyone’s girlfriend. I already told her, no dating until she’s forty!”

  “Dude, you have to relax,” Kris said with a chuckle. “They’re just kids. Be happy they like each other. It makes get-togethers much easier.”

  Sam grumbled something under his breath and hugged little Willow tight.

  Luc slapped Sam on the shoulder and shook his head. “Can’t wait to meet the lucky man that’ll marry your daughter and become your son-in-law.” His words dripped with sarcasm and torment. He may have been the only Renegades player allowed to pick on Sam about Willow and get away with it. Sure, Sam gave him hell about it, but it was all in jest.

  Sam’s eyes went wide, and Luc thought he might have a panic attack. “Can we please stop talking about this? She’s still a baby!”

  “Well, she’s not a baby…” Trina jumped in.

  “She’s still little,” Sam added sharply.

  Luc held in a laugh. “All right, I’ll stop messing with you. It’s just so fun!”

  In the meantime, little Willow climbed onto the seat next to Ian, making Sam cringe and everyone else say a collective, “Awww.”

  Kris pointed to the seat next to Willow. “Guess you’re sitting next to us, guys.”

  “We’ll take the seats next to the kids.” Kat sat down next to Ian and pointed for Kris to sit across from her. “You men sit on the other side of the table.”

  Sam and Kris took their seats. Kaden sat at the table next to them, and fit Kaleb’s carrier on the chair between him and Ali. Hailee and Dom took the tiny two-person table at the end. Which left the seats across from Kaden for Kassie and Luc.

  Luc didn’t waste any time setting the pitcher down and taking a seat. Kassie, on the other hand, looked between the seat and him several times, and it took Kaden nodding to the seat, before she finally sat down.

  When the pizza arrived, Kaden and Kassie both dove for the pie as though they hadn’t eaten in weeks.

  “O’Conners and their pizza.” Ali rolled her eyes.

  Luc’s eyes were glued to Kassie as she devoured her first few bites of pizza. Kaden was eating the same way, but she was just cuter to watch. Making a point to interrupt her mid bite, Luc said, “Kassie, could I bother you for the parmesan cheese, please?”

  Kassie looked up at him while wrestling with a string of cheese. Finally pulling it free of the pizza, she grabbed the glass container of cheese and less than sweetly slid it to him.

  “Thanks. You got a little sauce, over here.” Luc motioned to his upper lip.

  Kassie grabbed a napkin and wiped it off, before her tongue poked out and ran over her lips. He assumed she was checking for rogue sauce. There was none. But she did accomplish making his dick twitch.

  There was just something about this girl.

  His eyes were on her, and his stomach twisted as he watched her take another bite. Damn.

  “Hey, Rock-Star. What are you staring at my sister for?” Kaden bit out, in a less-than-calm tone.

  Quickly realizing his mistake, Luc shook his head and shoved almost half a slice of pizza into his mouth. Still shaking his head, and with his mouth full, he spoke, “Naw. I was trying to figure out what her little earrings were? Are they butterflies? Ants? Demons?”

  “Demons?” Kassie shook her head in confusion.

  Trying to cover his lie, he continued on. “Well, Halloween isn’t that far away. Maybe they’re demons for Halloween?” He shrugged and shoved the other half of the pizza slice into his mouth.

  He was glad he was able to direct all their attention to her earrings, and no one figured out that he’d been staring at Kassie. The last thing he needed was Kaden thinking he was trying to get with his little sister. And that’s how they were all supposed to think of Kassie, as Kaden’s little sister.

  And you didn’t mess with a teammate’s little sister. Everybody knew that. It was an unwritten rule.

  This was craziness. All he had to do was walk into a bar and snap his fingers and he’d have three girls on his arm. But the fact remained; he was sitting in the middle of an arcade, eating pizza with a bunch of happily married folks.

  And there he sat, getting a chubby for Kaden’s sister. I must have a death wish. Luc grabbed for the last slice of pizza at the same time as Kassie. Their hands collided awkwardly. He was probably the only one who noticed that her hand lingered for a half second before she pulled away.

  “Go ahead, Kassie. I know how serious you O’Conners are about your pizza. I’d never try to come between you and a slice of pepperoni.” Luc grinned. It was the gentlemanly thing to do. “After we’re done eating, who’s up for some more skee ball?”

  The only one to pay him any attention was Kassie. “I’ll play.”

  She looked shy and confident all at the same time, if that was even possible. Everyone else went on to other games, but Kassie stuck by Luc.

  She smirked. “I’m pretty good at skee ball, ya know.”

  Luc spoke close to her ear as they walked to the wall of skee ball machines. “Are you now? I guess we’ll find out.” Not worried about Kaden at the moment, Luc was close enough to Kassie to inhale her tasty scent. She smelled like apple, and it got a happy reaction from his dick.

  Kassie put in a token to play her own game of skee ball.

  Before long, they were halfway through their game, and Kassie had been mostly silent the whole time. Except for a few looks his way when she thought he wasn’t looking and when she got a ball in the one-hundred hole. She made a pretty big deal out of that and even included a little one-hundred dance. Damn, I could watch her do that all night.

  Kaden interrupted Kassie’s toss. “Kassie, I have to get Ali and Kaleb home.” Kaleb had been crying for the last ten minutes, nonstop. “It’s way past this little guy’s bedtime.”

  “Thanks for the night out, guys. We had a great time.” Ali smiled as she rocked baby Kaleb.

  “I can drive Kassie home when she’s ready. If she wants to stay, that is,” Luc spoke up. “We are in the middle of a skee ball match.”

  “Yeah, that’d be great. Thanks, man. Kass, you okay with that? Up to you, sis.” Kaden answered with a smile, looking at Kassie and nodding his head like it was a fantastic idea.

  Kassie looked between Kaden and Luc. Her nose was scrunched up as if she was trying to figure something out. “Sure, yeah. I guess that’d be fine. I still have three tosses left.”

  “Don’t worry, Kassie. I won’t bite,” Luc teased.

  “Just in case, you do have all your shots, right?” Dom asked with a wink. “Just messing with you, Rock-Star. Or am I?”

  “I know karate, so I think I’m good.” Kassie laughed and did a little move with her hands that was supposed to be karate but just ended up making his dick twitch, again.

  “All right, that’s settled,
I think.” Kaden flashed his sister a curious look. “We’ll catch you guys on the flip side. Don’t have too much wild and crazy family fun without us.”

  Dom did a chin nod towards the O’Conners. “Sure thing, K-man. How about next time we all meet up at Mario’s?” Mario’s was a local Pittsburgh bar.

  “You got it, Z!” Kaden smiled, and then he and Ali waved before making their exit. “See you guys later!”

  Luc tossed one of his last three balls and got the fifty hole. Shaking his head, he already knew how this was going to end. He had yet to get a one hundred, and Kassie had three. And she just threw another.

  “Here, Kass, take my remaining two turns. You’ve already got me beat.” Luc stood back, facing the skee ball lanes so his friends couldn’t see him watching Kassie throw her last few turns. He certainly liked the way her jeans fit.

  Even taking his last few turns, she still won. Kassie sheepishly smiled.

  “Go ahead, celebrate. You know you want to,” Luc said. “I never deny anyone a celly.”

  Kassie raised her fist in the air and pumped it up and down, hockey style. Maybe she was mocking them, but he didn’t care; he liked watching it all the same. He couldn’t take his eyes off of her, and without Kaden around, Luc wasn’t overly concerned how it looked.

  Sam’s voice interrupted Kassie’s celebration. “We’re heading to the go-carts. Anyone else want to join us?”

  “Luc? Kass? Dare to race us at go-carts? My little sunshine is a mean rally-car driver,” Sam joked.

  Luc nodded and shrugged his shoulders. “Sure.”

  “Um, yeah. Why not?” Kassie accepted.

  Leaving Hailee and Dom behind at the Dance Revolution machine, the rest of them made their way out to the go-cart course. It was outdoor, and Luc was wishing he had his sweatshirt right now. Fall was trying to set over Pittsburgh. The days were sunny and warm, but the nights were chilly.

  Willow ran to the entrance gate, while Trina chased after with her little jacket. “Honey, you need to wear this.”

  Luc stood behind Sam at the pay window.

  “She’s too small to ride alone,” the teenager taking the money said, in a monotone voice. “And is she pregnant? Yeah, if she is, she can’t ride. Sorry.”

  Sam looked over at his wife, and she waved him off. “It’s fine. I’ll take a video.”

  “Okay, and the little one is with me.”

  “Well, I’ll need you to sign this waiver then. Since she’s so young.”

  “There’s no crashing into one another like bumper cars, right?” Sam asked, putting on his concerned parent look.

  “No, sir.”

  “Okay, then I’m okay with her riding with me.” With that, Sam signed the waiver and paid. Taking Willow by the hand, they walked onto the track. “All right, sunshine! Let’s pick a car.”

  Luc was next in line, and Kassie was right behind him.

  The gate locked, and Luc raised an eyebrow at the teenager in the Fun for All vest.

  “Sorry, sir. This race is full. You two will be in the next one.”

  “But there are still four empty cars,” Kassie complained from behind him.

  “We group the riders by age. There’s the tiny girl out there, as well as a few other kiddos. This race will have a max speed set that the carts can go. You two will go the next race, no max speed,” the teen explained, uninterested in whether they agreed with the answer or not.

  Luc turned to say something to Kassie, not looking forward to making small talk while they waited for their turn. But to his surprise, Trina was standing there, already talking quietly with Kassie.

  “Excuse me?” Kassie called to the young worker. “Can I pay now and go stand at the gate with my friend?”

  The kid nodded. With a smile, Kassie gently nudged her way in front of him and paid before standing beside Trina to watch Sam and Willow race.

  The racing light on the track went from red to yellow to green, and the racers were off. Cars were filled with young kids and parents. Some started out slow and got the hang of it; others were stuck, apparently not knowing where the gas pedal was, and one was driving in a circle.

  Another young worker had to help the ones who were stuck until they were racing with the others.

  Trina took videos while waving at her daughter, as the two of them sped around the track. Willow giggled uncontrollably the whole time, loving the race. Sam was beaming with pride. He was all daddy mode when he was with his little girl. But to be fair, he was a great dad. Willow was his everything, next to Trina. And the baby they had on the way was another lucky kid.

  Luc watched them, mesmerized, until their eight-minute race was over. This was one reason he enjoyed doing the family nights with the guys. Mostly it was because Sam and Trina were like family to him. But he also enjoyed watching Sam go from hockey-bro mode to daddy mode. The smile that little girl put on his face was unlike anything Luc had ever seen. Well, maybe it came close to the smile that Trina put on Sam’s face.

  Those two had a love of a lifetime, and as cliché as it may be, it fit them. They were the couple that all other couples modeled themselves after or measured themselves against. They’d recently been through hell and come out stronger than ever, as well as expecting again. Luc was lucky to call them both his friends.

  The workers unloaded all of the cars while Luc and Kassie waited to get on.

  Willow ran all smiles to Trina and wrapped her arms around her mom’s legs. The little girl yawned a huge oversized yawn for a kid of her size.

  “Guys, this has been fun, but I think Willow has had her fill. Time for this little munchkin to get home and to bed,” Trina said, as she patted the little girl’s head.

  Sam picked her up, and Willow laid her head on his shoulder with a shy smile. “Sunshine, tell Uncle Luc goodbye, and we’ll see him soon.” Willow waved and reached to Luc for a hug.

  “See ya, kiddo.” He smiled as he hugged the little blonde cutie.

  “Hey, you two gonna ride?” The young worker called to Luc and Kassie.

  “On our way.” Luc held his index finger up at the guy. He quickly hugged Trina and fist bumped Sam. “See you guys later.”

  He was so preoccupied as he picked out a car to race, it didn’t dawn on him until Kassie and he were both in their cars, that they were the only two racing. The racing light turned from red to yellow to green, and the automated black-and-white-checkered flag waved on the screen high above the track.

  At first it seemed kind of silly that they were only racing each other, but as soon as Kassie flashed him a competitive grin and gunned her car to speed past him, he knew this race was on. Putting his pedal to the floor, he zoomed past her in an effort to prove his skill, or something like that.

  Her laugh came from behind him, and then her purple go-cart zoomed around him, cutting him off as she took the lead. Two laps later, Luc caught up to Kassie, but when he tried to pass her, she sped away. She was obviously enjoying this, but Luc was taking it as a knock to his manhood. No way was he letting a girl beat him. But every time he caught up to her, she continued to pass him, over and over.

  There was no easy way to flirt while driving these little cars, so he did the next best thing. He annoyed her. In the same way that little boys pull little girls’ pigtails in kindergarten, he drove up behind her and nudged her purple go-cart with his red one.

  “Hey!” She glanced back at him, eyes squinted, yet still laughing. She sped away.

  Catching up to her again, he nudged her car, jolting her a bit more this time.

  “You’re going down, Marcella!” Kassie growled.

  But as hard as she tried, she couldn’t manage to get her car behind his, and he hit into her again. This time he laughed deviously out loud.

  A voice came over the PA system. “You in the red car. No hitting into other cars.”

  “Ha-ha!” Kassie laughed at him and sped off around the track.

  Luc raced after her, finally taking her spot in the lead of the race. Ju
st as he was ready to respond with a “Woo-hoo!” Kassie bumped into the back of him. His hands weren’t tight to the steering wheel while he was showboating for the cute O’Conner, and his car swerved and bounced off the wall in the middle of the track. “Hey!’

  “Ha-ha!” Kassie called.

  “No crashing into other cars!” The loud voice bellowed over the speakers. “That’s it. You two are done. Get out.”

  The cars shut off in the middle of the race. Luc looked around and questioned, “What?”

  The young worker frowned. “You two can’t follow rules, so you’re done.”

  “Are we being kicked off?” Kassie asked.

  “Duh.” The young worker said, wide eyed and annoyed. He showed them the exit gate and moved his attention to the next in line. “New race. Let’s go, folks.”

  Luc bumped Kassie’s shoulder. “Smooth move, ex-lax. Got us kicked off the go-carts.”

  “You started it! I blame you.” Kassie put on a faux pout.

  “You two playing nice?” Dom’s voice came from behind them.

  “Trying,” Kassie answered.

  “Just wanted to let you know that Kat and Kris took off. It was past Ian’s bedtime. We’re heading out now. I think we’ve had enough PG-rated fun for one day.” Dom fist bumped Luc. “Peace out, bro. G’night, Kassie.”

  Luc stayed quiet, watching a new go-cart race.

  “So…” Kassie finally spoke up.

  “Yeah, so. I mean, do you want something else to eat, or to play some video games? We could try our hand at Dance Revolution?”

  “Um…” Kassie smiled as she looked over Luc, her eyes stopping on his knit toque. “No. I think I’m ready to head home. Maybe we can Dance Revolution some other time.”

  “Sure.” Luc put his arm out for her to take it. But she just looked at it. “No? Okay. Just trying to be a gentleman. My car is this way.” He put his hand out in front of him, encouraging her to go first. Because, he was still a gentleman.

  “Porsche, huh?” Kassie said, with an unimpressed look.

  “Did you expect anything less? It’s like a muscle car and a fancy sports car had an affair, and this was the offspring. Best of both worlds, and my baby.” He patted the steering wheel.