Shot at Love

by Melody Heck Gatto

  “Good game, O’Conner,” Luc said, as he changed out of his bowling shoes.

  A heavy sigh preceded her words. “Please don’t call me that. I know it’s a guy thing, but let’s not do that. Okay?”

  He knew it had nothing to do with it being a guy thing and had everything to do with him bringing up that she was an O’Conner. “All right, sweets. Join me for some pizza and beer?” He pointed to the bowling alley bar.

  She looked back and forth from him to the bar. “Um…”

  “Come on, what? Do you have something better than pizza and beer planned?”

  She flipped her hair off her shoulders with a bit of an attitude. “Well, I don’t drink beer.”

  “Pretty sure they have wine coolers. Or Jack and Coke. So, what do you say?” She was already thinking about it; he could see it in her eyes. He didn’t have to say another word to try to convince her; all he had to do was wait.

  “I… uh.” Kassie picked her sweater up and seemed to be debating whether to put it on. She looked at him, pausing while she bit at her bottom lip, then glanced at the scoreboard. A small grin spread across her lips. “Seeing how you won, I think it’d be okay if you bought me dinner.”

  Luc nodded, enjoying the humor of her words. She wanted to play. He could play. “Sure. Let me buy you dinner.” He put his hand out for her to take it.

  Kassie shook her head and held up her shoes. “I have to go turn in my shoes.”

  Luc decided not to argue, but grabbed his shoes and headed towards the shoe counter, not looking back. He knew she was right behind him. He handed over his rentals and tipped the kid behind the counter. Moving aside, he waited for Kassie. She returned her shoes and made a point not to look at him, even though he stood staring at her.

  When she turned away from the counter, he held his hand out to her again. “Shall we?”

  Kassie looked at his hand and back up at him. She didn’t say anything, but slid her sweater back over her head. She adjusted the sweater, tugging the hem around her waist. Then, with her scarf in one hand, she took his with the other.

  Luc worked hard not to flinch with surprise when she took his hand. He was shocked that she didn’t blow him off yet again. Without saying a word, he tried to stay in stride with her as they walked to the bar, her soft skin against his.

  “You like pepperoni on your pizza?”

  “Is there any other topping for a classic pizza?” Kassie answered. Her lips curled up into a smirk.

  “Mushroom?” He could play this game with her all night.

  “You know I am serious about my pizza, right? I don’t have time for ridiculous garnishes such as pineapple or bacon bits that masquerade as pizza toppers.”

  “Garnishes? I should’ve known you’d be serious about your pizza.” He regretted the words as soon as they came out of his mouth. Bringing up that she was an O’Conner had already proved to be a bad idea. “My dad is like that about his beer. He won’t touch an IPA with a ten-foot pole.”

  “There’s a table over there by the jukebox. Is that okay?” She pulled him towards the table.

  Jukebox, a girl after my own heart. “Works for me.” He nodded to the jukebox after pushing in her chair. “Mind if I play something?”

  Kassie shrugged and shook her head.

  He played the first rock ’n’ roll song he found. Returning to the table, he bobbed his head and played a little air guitar to the heavy beat. It got a smile out of her, and that was all he wanted.

  “I take my rock ’n’ roll quite seriously.” Luc flashed a smile in the hopes of lightening the mood after the pizza comment. They didn’t need to talk about her last name.

  “Pizza and rock ’n’ roll. That works,” Kassie said.

  “And beer. We need beer. Or not-beer for you.” Luc waved for the waitress. “We’d like a large pepperoni pizza, I’ll take whatever you have on tap, and do you have a hard cherry cola for the lady?”

  The waitress nodded and headed to the kitchen.

  “How’d you know I liked those?” She was surprised, and luckily not annoyed that he ordered for her.

  Luc shrugged, proud of himself. “I guessed. So, tell me about those people who eat pineapple on their pizza.” Luc egged her on, knowing as an O’Conner, she wouldn’t be able to resist.

  “Pineapple is not a pizza topping. It’s a side dish or a dessert, but not a topping for pizza.” She huffed with the innocence of an annoyed child, but she certainly was no child.

  “Okay, okay. I’ll take your word for it on the pineapple. But why hate on bacon bits? They seem like a fine pizza topping. No different than pepperoni, really.”

  She gasped. “Are you serious?” Then she let out a little laugh, as if she’d been masking it. “I’m really just kidding about the bacon bits. I don’t like them, so they never get near a pizza of mine. I like old-fashioned toppings: pepperoni, mushroom, and sausage.”

  “What about green peppers? They go great with pepperoni or sausage.” Luc couldn’t believe they were actually having a serious conversation about pizza toppings.

  She thought for a moment, tapping her finger against her lips. “Green peppers? Um, I prefer not. It’s a vegetable; it just has no place on a pizza. But if someone, say you for example, liked it and wanted it on a pizza with pepperoni or sausage, I’d eat it. And before you say anything, it’s nothing like mushrooms. Mushrooms are a traditional pizza topping, and are usually cooked. Green peppers are always so crunchy. But I could be flexible on the matter.”

  “Good to know.” And good to hear that she might be contemplating sitting down to pizza with him someday after tonight.

  “Here you go. Pepperoni pizza, one beer, and one hard cherry cola. Can I get you anything else?” the waitress asked, as she set down extra napkins and plates.

  Luc looked at Kassie. As soon as she shook her head, he answered. “No. I think we’re good.” It had been a nice afternoon so far. He felt like they were really getting along without any alcohol or loud music, just the two of them.

  “Mm-hmm,” Kassie said as she took a giant bite out of a slice of pizza.

  Strings of cheese pulled from the pizza to her mouth, and instantly he wished he was a piece of that cheese. She pulled the cheese from her lips with her fingers. Luc should’ve been disturbed that this sort of thing was turning him on, but he wasn’t.

  “Did you have fun bowling?” Luc asked, trying to keep the conversation moving.

  “I did. I don’t do that often, so it was nice. Thanks for inviting me.” She smiled and quickly looked down at her plate.

  “Yeah, I had a nice time, too. It was fun. Almost as fun as the other night at Mario’s.” He said it knowing full well it’d get a rise out of her, or maybe a cute, embarrassed laugh. Either way it was good.

  Kassie covered her face in embarrassment. “Oh, please don’t bring that up! I really should not do shots, like ever.”

  “Yeah.” He raised his eyebrows knowingly. “I know all about that.”

  She tilted her head and stared at him. “Oh, really? Do you have something embarrassing you’d like to share with me? I won’t tell. Because, you know, it’s just between friends?”

  He debated his words, but it didn’t stop them from exiting his mouth. “Yeah, recently I found myself in a situation. I had way too many shots and too much beer on top of it. I was in a rotten mood, and I thought the alcohol would make me feel better. Instead, it just made me confused. I ended up leaving with some bunny that I had no intention of leaving with. My decisions were so clouded, and my brain so hazy, that I didn’t know what I was even doing.”

  “So? What happened?” She smirked as if she knew the answer already.

  There was no way she’d be prepared for what he was going to say. But at least she didn’t seem offended by what he was saying.

  “Well, she was your typical bunny, doing things that bunnies do. I won’t go into details, because I’m a gentleman. Too much alcohol and a pissed-off mood led to very bad choices. A decision to ju
st blow off some steam backfired.”

  “Backfired? How?”

  “Well, she called me Lucky Macaroni. Lucky was bad enough, but Macaroni? What the hell? I sobered up really quick and realized the poor choice I had made.”

  Kassie stifled a laugh. “I’m guessing that airheads aren’t your type?”

  “Nope. I’m not even sure what my type is anymore.” But with every second he spent with her, it was becoming much clearer. “It was more about the company I was keeping. I think I’ve outgrown the bunny game.”

  “I remember the bunnies Kaden went through. I tried to look the other way, but with social media it proved difficult sometimes. But he grew up and out of that stage. When he met Ali, he just knew she was it for him.”

  “Yeah. I totally believe that’s how it works. One day you meet someone, and you just know. Everything changes.” He tried not to stare at her too long, but she didn’t seem to mind.

  She pushed some wild hairs behind her ear, but her eyes never left his.

  Yep, one day you meet someone and you just know. Everything changes. He wasn’t lying when he said he’d outgrown the bunnies. Kassie was the only girl he wanted now.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Kassie

  Kassie sat in her living room with Quinn, eating Italian subs and potato chips. The hometown team football game was on the television. Quinn was decked out in her favorite team’s colors, but Kassie was just going through the motions, never a big football fan.

  “You ever hear from your man-child friends from Mario’s again?” Kassie asked during a commercial break. She knew Quinn, and she was a love ’em and leave ’em kind of girl. More than likely those boys would never lay eyes on her again.

  “JJ and Travis? Sure.” Quinn stopped eating and looked at her with questioning eyes. Her head tilted to the side. “Why?”

  “Oh. No reason. Which one?” Kassie knew her friend, and she hadn’t expected her to hook up with either of them more than once, so the fact that she had seen one of them again was kind of surprising.

  Quinn started to eat again. She shrugged her shoulders. “What do you mean, which one? Both.”

  “Wait, what? You’re seeing both of them again?” Why did she even ask? This was Quinn, and this was not a wormhole she was interested in going down.

  “Well, yeah. I’ve actually seen them many times over the last week. They’re fun.”

  Kassie wasn’t sure asking any more questions was the right way to go. She might get more information than she bargained for. No, she would definitely get more than she bargained for.

  Quinn took a bite of her sandwich and folded her legs under her on the floor. She smirked. “You’re curious.”

  Kassie shook her head frantically. She sat down beside Quinn on the floor and directed her attention to the television. “Nope. Not one bit. So, who is this guy here, the quarterback?” She pointed at the football game.

  “You’re dying to know,” Quinn teased.

  “Is that the quarterback? Or the wide receiver?” Kassie ignored Quinn’s remarks.

  “Those boys are eager to please, that’s for damn sure. Yep, over and over.”

  Kassie groaned. “Way too much information.”

  “Oh please, you know you’re curious.”

  “Not even a little.” Well, maybe a little.

  Quinn took a big bite of her sandwich. A grin filled her face as she chewed. Once she was able to talk again, she giggled before speaking. “Kass, you know I like them young, and those two fit the bill. Holy crap, do they.”

  “Spare me the details, seriously. But, you’re seeing both of them?”

  “Oh, yes. A lot of both of them. You should really try it. Get your hunky man-friend and one of his buddies. I think you’d like it. I know I do. It keeps us young.”

  “Quinn, we are young.” Kassie jumped up from the floor to the couch. Her soul was rattled at Quinn’s words. “Look, I have a real problem I need to talk to you about. So, can we get this peep show rundown of you and the boys out of the way? Or maybe just drop it all together?”

  Quinn laughed. “Kass, those two. Yum. And they’re up here just waiting to be called to play with the big boys. It’s good to keep their cardio up. Among other things.”

  “Okay, that’s enough.” Kassie put her hand up in front of her. Quinn might like that kind of thing, but those were the playboys she had been avoiding all these years.

  “All right, I’ll stop. But if you want all the details, just ask. So, what’s going on with you and your hunky man friend?”

  “Ironically, that’s what I need to talk about.”

  Quinn made a catcall noise and gave a goofy grin before eating more hoagie. “You been seeing him without telling me? You go, girl!”

  “No! Well, sort of, but not like you and the wonder boys.” Kassie rolled her eyes. “I ran into him at my brother’s place after that night at Mario’s. It was weird. He kept cornering me—”

  “And you liked it.” Quinn smirked.

  “Shut up.” I did. She refused to admit that to anyone, even Quinn. The way he had cornered her, towering over her and looking at her with that full-of-himself, devilish smirk. It made her knees weak and her insides turn to jelly. “I had baby food in my hair and looked a mess. It was terrible. Kaden did catch him trying to flirt with me a few times and asked if Luc was bothering me. My brother didn’t like what he saw at all. And that’s exactly why I can’t start anything with Luc.”

  “But?”

  “Well… he texted me one night after their game in New York.”

  “Wait! You gave him your number?” Quinn’s mouth gaped open. “You didn’t tell me that.”

  “Yeah.” Kassie sighed. “I didn’t think much of it. I mean, he’s an athlete, and I don’t date athletes. So, what harm could it do?”

  “Alright girl, what in the world is your hang-up with athletes? I mean, hello, they are muscular, they have stamina, and did I mention the muscles?” Quinn drifted off into thought.

  “My brother always warned me that I wasn’t allowed to date any of his teammates, and when I was younger I had no desire to. They were stinky and gross, and just like all other boys that age, they were crude. As I got older, the attention they showed me was kind of nice. Kaden noticed and warned me again. He cited the ‘guy code’. That guys don’t mess with their friend’s sisters.”

  “Is that all? Just ’cause Kaden said you couldn’t, you didn’t?”

  “Hell no. You know me better than that. I don’t really like to be told what to do. Anyway, in high school, there was this lacrosse player. He wasn’t on Kaden’s hockey team, and he wasn’t one of Kaden’s friends. And I figured what Kaden didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him. The kid was a cutie. Blonde hair, blue eyes, kind of hot.” She stopped for a moment to remember her first real crush. Simon? No. Was it Sean? Seth? Stan?

  “I remember those kinds of boys. Pretty boys. Once you got them out of their khakis they were naughtier than pretty.” Quinn had a knack for turning any conversation into something dirty.

  Kassie sighed and shook her head before she continued. “Anyway, I’d go to his games, and cheer for him from the stands. Then we’d go out after. But it was always with his teammates, and all they did was talk about the game. Then on the rare occasion that we’d get some time alone, he’d have an earbud in his ear, following some lacrosse game. It wasn’t glamorous, and it wasn’t fun. He was a star in his own mind, and had plenty of girls waiting for him to leave me.”

  Kassie shook her head, remembering her breaking point. “I had enough the one day we were driving to school. My lipstick rolled under the front seat, and as I searched for it, I also pulled out a bra that wasn’t mine. Turns out his life revolved around not only lacrosse, like I thought. He also liked the groupies. He couldn’t even remember which girl that bra belonged to.”

  “Oh…Ouch.”

  “Yep. That’s what athletes do. It’s all about the game and the fangirls.”

  Quinn waved a potato chip
in the air, trying to accent the importance of what she was about to say. “But, what about people like your brother? He found his happily ever after.”

  Kassie had no answer. It was a good point. It wasn’t only her brother who was happily married to his soul mate. Dom had found his, and so many others on the Renegades had as well. Her insides twisted at the fact that Quinn had just pointed out the one loophole in her otherwise airtight reasoning.

  “But he texted you? Maybe he’s interested?”

  Kassie shook her head. “No.” Forgetting everything she’d just admitted to Quinn, she went back to her steadfast motto. She didn’t date athletes. “He just wanted to talk. Then he asked me to lunch. I have no idea why I agreed, but I did.”

  “And you’ve been holding out on me! I expected at least a phone call about any of this! A whole week went by, and you’re just telling me now? Jeez, I thought we were friends.” She gave Kassie a look.

  Whatever Quinn intended with that look, Kassie took it, because she could tell Quinn all day long that she didn’t date athletes, but she knew the truth was written all over her face. She liked Luc.

  “Oh please, Quinn. You were busy with the boys.”

  Quinn took a second to think about that, then nodded. “Oh yeah, I totally was. Okay. Go on.”

  “Against my better judgement, I went to lunch. Then we went bowling—”

  “Bowling? First, you’re spending a lot of time with an athlete, when you don’t do athletes, and second, who goes bowling anymore?”

  “Does that really matter? Quinn, I spent almost the whole day with him! And it was fun! And you’re focused on bowling?”

  “So? What? You like this guy.”

  “Yes.” As soon as she said the word, she wanted to take it back. She shook her head frantically. “No. Does it matter? I can’t like him. No. I told you that big bro was already getting protective when Luc was just flirting with me. If Kaden knew Luc was calling me and we were spending the day hanging out, he would lose his damn mind.”

  “Does he have to know?” Quinn asked calmly, as she finished her sandwich.

  “You mean, lie to Kaden?” It was not like that hadn’t crossed her mind, and when she’d dated that lacrosse player in high school, she kept it on the down low.