by Toni Aleo
My mouth goes dry, and I don’t know what to say.
“I won’t be in town. I have games, so I can’t drive you guys. But I got you both tickets for this thing, a hotel, and a car to take you since it’s a forty-minute drive and I don’t want you to put the miles on your new car. I know you have to work, but her talk is Sunday, which works out perfectly. You guys leave Saturday night and come home Sunday night.”
Tears rush down my face as I close my eyes. “Nico.”
“Shit. You’re mad?”
“Not at all,” I say as I inhale shakily. “I can’t believe you did this.”
“I think you need this. I go to conferences and therapy, and it helps me. I want to help you,” he says simply. “And I think you and Callie need it.”
I can’t agree because I’m holding in a sob. “Okay.”
“So, you’ll go?”
“Yes, I’ll go.”
“Awesome. You’re going to love Lacey King. Check out her site. I’ll send you the link.”
“Okay,” I say, wiping my face. “I’m going to suck you raw when you get home.”
He pauses for a moment and then starts laughing uncontrollably. I can’t help it; I’m laughing just as hard. He makes me extremely happy. “I’ll take you up on that for sure.”
We continue to laugh as the door flies open, and Callie comes running toward me. “Aviva!”
I stand up, alarmed. “What?”
“You’re never gonna guess it, but someone called the gym and paid off my bills. Like, for the next two years. We owe nothing! Can you believe it?”
I blink. “What?”
“Yeah! Look!” She hands me a paper that says we’re paid in full, and then it shows a credit for what I assume covers for the next two years of her career at the gym. “Amelia was stunned. They didn’t even know the person. They just called and paid it!”
My heart is pounding in my chest as I read the paper over and over again.
“What’s going on?” Nico asks, and I clear my throat free of emotion.
“Someone called and paid Callie’s gymnastics bill.”
“Oh, that’s cool.”
“I don’t know who would do that,” I say, staring at the paper. “Was it you?”
“Nope,” he says matter-of-factly. “I’m not stupid.”
I want to laugh, but I’m stunned. It couldn’t have been Jaylin; she knows better. But then, who? Who would do this for us? “Do you think it was Dad?”
Callie shakes her head. “No, he wouldn’t spend the money he stole from us on me.”
She isn’t wrong. But who?
And there’s that shoe. I think it’s about to fall.
On my face.
Chapter Twenty-One
Aviva
“I don’t know why you’re making such a huge deal of this.”
I flash Callie a dark look as we cross the parking lot. “I don’t know why you’re not. Two years of tuition and back pay? That’s a down payment on a Lexus. That’s insane. I need to know.”
“Why? So you can yell at them?”
Yes. “No. So I can tell them to take their damn money back!”
“Ugh! This is great for us, Vee. Let it be!” Callie yells at me, trying to keep up. She’s a shorter gymnast, so it’s hard for her to match my steps. “Why can’t you just accept this?”
I reach for the door handle of GymMasters. “Because good things don’t happen for me.”
Callie slams her palm into the door to stop me. She holds up her other hand and, counting off on her fingers, says, “Not getting cancer. Me. Jaylin. And Nico. All good things that have happened to you.”
Why is she such a pain in my ass? “Other than that,” I say, pulling hard on the door and going inside. The place is packed with their rec classes, so I pass people and move around them to get to the offices. I can see Dominica is in her office, and I go straight for her. I knock, and she looks up.
“Oh hey, Aviva.” She looks worried but not surprised. She probably knew I’d come in. I was going to come last night, but by the time I had closed, the team coaches were gone.
“Hey, Dominica. Listen, I need to know who paid off Callie’s account.”
She shrugs. Fucking shrugs. “I don’t know. They called, I ran the card, and they hung up. They didn’t give me a name.”
“You didn’t need it to run the card?”
She shook her head. “No. I just needed the numbers.”
I make a face. “So, you just take random money from strangers over the phone?”
She smiles. “If it results in me getting paid, yes.”
I can’t blame her there. “Will you please send it back? Refund it?”
“You want me to refund that amount of money so you can maybe pay it?”
I press my lips together. When she puts it that way, I feel this conversation won’t end the way I want. “Yes.”
“No,” she says simply. “I asked three times if they were sure, and they were demanding to pay this money.”
“I don’t want it. I can pay her bills.”
“Aviva, I know. But this is wonderful for Callie. No stress on you, and she can train. There will still be a balance toward the end of her career with us, but right now, you guys are solid.”
Oh, my blood is boiling. “Male or female?”
“Huh?”
“On the phone. Was it a male or a female?”
She doesn’t want to answer me. She hesitates but says, “A female.”
I bite my lip, confused. I don’t know any other females who would do this except Jaylin. “Okay, thank you.”
I turn on my heel and head out.
Callie is waiting by the beam. “Did she send it back?”
“She wouldn’t.”
“Good. Bye.”
“Bye,” I throw back at her as I head out of the gym.
I slam the door for good measure as I pull my phone out of my back pocket. I dial Jaylin’s office number, and she answers right away. “Hey you.”
“Hey. Did you pay Callie’s gym bill?”
“No way. Do I look dumb?”
I groan loudly. “Someone paid her tuition for the next two years, and I want to know who.”
“Was it Nico?”
“He said no.”
“Could he be lying?”
“I don’t think he is capable of lying, for one. And for two, Dominica said it was a woman who called in.”
“Huh,” she says. “I mean, who cares? This is a blessing.”
“That I’m sure will come at a cost.”
She makes a sound of frustration. “Why do you do that? Just be happy.”
“I can’t. I know how this will go. Everything is going so well. I’m happy, I’m having orgasms, and I’m getting somewhat ahead. Which means, bam! Something will go wrong.”
Jaylin sighs, annoyed. “Okay, whatever. I wish you wouldn’t do that to yourself. Just be happy.”
“I don’t want anyone paying my bills.”
“I get that. But sometimes it’s nice to know someone cared enough to do it and move on.”
I pause mid-step. “Who the hell cares about me? There is you, Callie, and Nico. That’s it.”
“Aw, Nico made the list.”
I roll my eyes. “You annoy me.”
She snickers. “Kirby told me last night that Nico is always talking about you. I thought it was cute.”
“Man, you’re still talking to him? It’s been over a week. I’d thought you’d move on by now.”
She sighs. “Well, we aren’t talking, talking.”
I pause. “Huh?”
“Well, funny story that I guess I’ve forgotten to tell you,” she says, but by the tone of her voice, I don’t think it’s going to be very funny. “I was wondering why we hadn’t hooked up yet. Like, that night, we made out, but then I was trying to play hard to get, so I didn’t go home with him—”
“You? Hard to get?”
“Hey, he’s super sexy with the mouth of a god. I
wanted the first time to be savage, so I only gave him my number. He said he’d call me and he did, but we just talked, no plans for a date. He’s been doing this dance with me for about two weeks now. So last night, I told him I wanted to get together when he got back in town. I mean, I’ve been getting off to pictures of this guy. He’s gorgeous. But he then informed me that he’s in an on-again, off-again relationship, and they just got back on, which was why he was calling. To tell me he can no longer see me because things just got complicated.”
I blink. “Complicated?”
“He wouldn’t go into detail, but she’s back in his life.”
“What a douche.”
“Eh, in his defense, they were off when we made out. And then they started talking again, and he wasn’t sure what was going to happen. He says he does like me, a lot, but things are a bit messy with the other girl, so he needs to see what happens.”
“Did you tell him thanks but no thanks? Fuck off?”
“No, I politely said, ‘Have a nice life,’ and hung up.”
“Oh, you took the high road.”
“I did,” she says softly. “It was so hard.”
“I bet,” I say, a grin pulling at my lips. I’m almost to the shop when the brown delivery truck pulls up.
“But before all that, he went on and on about how Nico is all caught up on my best friend, who is gorgeous and smart.”
I giggle. “He said that?”
“Yes, and I thought it was sweet. Meanwhile, the guy I thought could have been the one…well…isn’t. So, there is that.”
That makes me gloomy. “Oh, you liked him, liked him?”
“Yup, and he was a sexy white man who would off piss my mom. It was going to be glorious.”
I chuckle at her as the deliveryman walks up to me. “Ms. Pearce, here you go.”
He hands me a signing thingy, and I sign it as I say, “Hey, my box of stuff Nico ordered me just came in. Can I call you later?”
“Oh! The Lacey’s Lace stuff? If you don’t like something, can I have it?”
I roll my eyes as the man places the huge box at my feet. “He ordered it for my size chest, not your Pamela Anderson, Baywatch-size tits.”
She scoffs. “Girl, I’m going for Queen Latifah. Get it right.”
I laugh as I hang up. I tuck my phone into my back pocket as I look down at the gold and black box. I’m beyond excited to open this. I pick it up and head into the shop. I closed a bit early so I could go figure things out over at the gym since we were super busy all day. I can usually gauge my dinner customers from my lunch rush. If we’re popping for the day, then the night is usually very slow. I don’t know why, but I’m right because no one was waiting around outside. When I get into my bedroom, I set the box down and then open it. I pause for a second and check my watch. Did Nico have a game tonight? Shit, I should know this. After a quick Google search of the IceCats schedule, I see he doesn’t. Great. I hit his contact for FaceTime and set my phone up on my dresser. When his beautiful face comes on the phone, I grin.
“Hey there, gorgeous.”
My heart flutters in my chest. We have spent almost every night on the phone. It’s weird, but in this short time, I feel closer to Nico than I ever did to Mike. I grew up with Mike, like next-door kind of thing, but we never talked. It was all physical, all the time. But with Nico being gone, all we have is talk. To say I enjoy it is an understatement. I love it. But man, I want him home.
“Hey, whatcha doing?”
“Lying in bed. I had therapy and then tapes, and then we had to get settled into the new hotel. I am ready to be home. I miss my bed.”
I make a face. “I bet. I’d hate to travel like that. The bed bug thing would freak me out.”
His face turns serious. “Aviva, I shit you not. I make them come up, spray my bed, and change the sheets in front of me.”
I grin. Of course he does. “Hey, I can’t hate, but since I’m just a mere sub maker and nothing like a hockey god, they won’t do that for me.”
He gives me a look. “I bet they will when you go to Baybridge.”
Oh, he knows what to say to chip at my walls. “You’d make them do that for me?”
“Yup. Consider it done.”
“Aw, you’ve made my shitty day twice.”
A perplexed look covers his gorgeous features. “Why is it shitty?”
“Dominica won’t tell me who the hell paid Callie’s gym bill.”
He gives me a dry look. “Who the hell cares? Let it be. This is a good thing. You can focus on getting a loan for the shop, or even getting ahead on your mom’s medical bills.”
I shrug. “That’s what Jaylin said.”
“Have you talked to her about the loan? Is she still willing to do it?”
I shake my head. “I don’t know. We didn’t talk about it today. Apparently Kirby kind of called it off with her.” He makes a face, and I raise my eyebrow. “So, you know?”
He brings his shoulders up and then his palms in a very I-don’t-know way, but guilt is all over his face. “Yeah. It’s messy.”
“Is it?”
“Yeah, the girl he was in a long-term relationship with came up pregnant. She’s saying he either stays with her or she’s giving up the baby. Kirby comes from a really bad family, kind of like our fucked-up dads, but his was both parents. So he wants to try for the baby’s sake. So it can have two parents. And if that doesn’t work, then I don’t know. His girl, she’s a fucking shitshow of a disaster.” He scoffs. “If you think your life is a mess, hers is worse. And she causes it.”
I scrunch up my face in horror. “Good Lord.”
“Yeah, but he’s bummed. He liked Jaylin a lot.”
“That’s what she said, and she liked him.”
“Sucks, but life.”
“Exactly, which is why I think this thing with Callie’s gym is not good.”
He perks a brow. “Huh?”
“Life hates me.”
“Then love life more,” he says simply, and that gives me pause. “Just go with the flow.”
“The flow gives me anxiety.”
He chuckles. “Embrace the flow.”
I roll my eyes, but he’s right. Jaylin’s right. Hell, even Callie is right. This is good. This can help a lot, and I really needed that load taken off me. There is just this nagging feeling in my soul that way too much good is going on. I’m actually happy. To be honest, I’m waiting for Nico to take off and/or my dad to walk in with papers suing me for custody of Callie. Or maybe I went through the bad to get to the good.
Who I am kidding? Good doesn’t come easily for me.
I should take what I can get.
“Fine. I’m embracing.”
“Attagirl.”
I grin. “So…are you alone?”
He laughs lightly, his face breaking into a wide grin. “I am, actually. Why? Did you get my package?”
“Not the one I really want, but a really nice black and gold one,” I say, moving out of the way so he can see the box. “I thought maybe I could do a little show for you? Let you see them in action.”
He groans. “But I can’t touch you.”
“I know.” I smirk. “Get you all hot and bothered so when you get home, you’ll come straight for me.”
He’s breathless. “Aviva, I was already coming for you. You’re my first stop.”
“Aw. I feel special.”
“You are,” he says. “I can’t wait. I’m gonna hold you so close when I get there.”
“Yeah?”
“Yup, and I’m pretty sure I won’t let go for sixteen minutes.”
“Sixteen? That’s odd.”
“It’s how many days I’ve been gone, and it’s not nearly enough. But sixteen hours…we’ll start getting sticky and shit. You know how I am.”
I hold in my laughter. “I do, and I can’t wait.”
“Me either. Now put something on.”
I flash him a sexy look as I open the box and start removing the pieces
of beautiful lace. Lacey’s Lace has high-quality pieces, and they’re stunning. She has won so many awards for her designs and also for all the work she’s done for survivors. I don’t think I’ve ever paid this kind of money for something that will cover my ass. “Oh, Nico, it’s all so gorgeous.”
“I’m glad you love it.”
When I pick out a strappy black number that feels like butter and looks like a million bucks, I hold it up. “I’m so putting this one on first.”
“Aviva, shut up. That’s my favorite one.” I giggle as I start to take off my clothes. “Aw shit, I get to see you undress. Hell yeah, let me see that sweet ass.”
I laugh as I turn around so all he sees is my ass. “Maybe I’d eat that ass like a damn yogurt cup.”
I look over my shoulder at him, my eyes wide, and all he is doing is grinning like a cock in a henhouse. I have never heard someone say that in my life, but the image of it has me falling onto the bed, laughing.
I have never felt so damn good in my life.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Nico
I’m not a fan of the Shark Tank.
It’s loud. Super loud.
Usually I can handle the crowds, but these fans are something on a Saturday night when their team had a good run last year. They’re ready for the Cup, so they need the points, and it’s my job to crush those dreams. My team just has to score and take the crowd out of it. I will keep the pucks out of the net and completely ruin everyone’s night except ours. I swallow hard, zoning in on my boys as they skate around while the Sharks’ starting line is announced. I outline their numbers with my eyes. Memorizing who’s on the ice and what their plays look like. I look up at the clock, and I wait till there are only .49 seconds until the game starts. When the number shows, I smack my stick twice on the left post, and then three times on the right. I inhale deeply, then exhale through my nose. I do this four times. I move my thumb in my glove, squeezing the stick before tapping my leg as the time expires and the puck is dropped.
Game on.
I’m ready.