by Cathryn Fox
I stiffen. Okay, clearly it’s not something she wants to talk about. I steal a fast glance at Alek, and his brow is tight, like he’s tormented by something as he shifts his focus back to the grill and Quinn leans into me all conspiratorial like, making me feel like I belong here with them all.
“So you and Alek, huh?”
“We’re friends.”
“Friends with benefits,” she states and grins. “It’s okay. I’m not judging. I think it’s great.”
“You do?”
“Sure.” She runs her fingers over the stem of her glass and says, “But I have to tell you something. I’ve never seen him look at a woman the way he looks at you.”
“You’ve seen him with many women?” I ask, and hate the wave of jealousy gripping my gut.
She shrugs. “Yeah, but he’s never been serious.” She taps her chin. “He’s never introduced us to anyone before, and having someone live with him.” She shakes her head, her blue eyes wide. “Unheard of.” She leans back in her chair. “But I can definitely see what he likes in you.”
I coil a strand of hair around my finger. “Thanks.”
“You like him too, right?”
I angle my head, take in the amazing man standing in front of the grill. My heart wobbles, and even if I was an Oscar-winning actress, I’m not sure I could hide my feelings from Quinn. “Yeah, I like him,” I say. “He’s a really nice guy.”
“His heart is in a good place, but sometimes he doesn’t always make the best decisions. I want you to remember that,” she says her face deadly serious.
“Ah, okay,” I say, even though I have no idea what she’s talking about.
“How do you like your steak, Quinn?” Alek asks, like he’s trying to break up our conversation, which is strange. Doesn’t he want us to bond? Or maybe he’s worried she’s going to spill all his secrets.
“You know how I like my steak, Alek,” she says and snarls at him again. Jeez, does she even like him?
“Alyssa, would you mind grabbing the salads from the fridge?” Alek asks.
I stand. “Sure.”
“I’ll help,” Quinn says, and gives Alek a bump as she walks past. I can’t help but think she’s pissed off at him for something, but I don’t ask because it’s none of my business.
“Alek mentioned you have a grandmother here in town,” Quinn says as I pull open the fridge.
“I do.” I gesture to the utensil drawer. “Would you mind grabbing knives and forks?”
She pulls open the drawer. “It’s nice that you visit her every night.”
“She means a lot to me.”
She puts her hand on my arm. “I’m sorry you have to sell her house.”
I shake my head, surprised. “How much did Alek tell you?”
“Oh, he told me a lot,” she says, like she’s pissed again.
We head back outside and set the table. I put the salads in the middle. The doorbell rings.
“Who could that be?” I ask, and step inside to answer. I make my way to the door, and open it.
“About time—” the guy stops talking, his head jerking back as his gaze slides over me. “Oh, hey, sorry. I figured Alek would be answering.”
“You’re a friend of Alek’s?” I ask as I take in his longish dark hair, and his nice blue eyes. My God, Alek has some seriously good looking friends, but to me, no one could ever compare to him.
“Yeah, I was visiting a buddy in Boston, and heard Jonah and Quinn were here. Thought I’d surprise them all.”
“Come in.”
“Ah, am I interrupting something?”
“Nope, everyone is out back. Let’s go surprise them.”
He follows me down the hall. “I’m Alyssa, by the way.”
“Cason,” he says. “Cason Callaghan.”
“How do you know these guys?” I ask and glance at him over my shoulder.
He gives me a strange look, and scratches his face. “Hockey,” he says, and Alek and Jonah smile in surprise when we step outside.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Alek asks, and pulls him in for a hug.
“Can’t be a party without me,” Cason says and holds his hands out. I smile at him. He’s super cute, big and athletic like Alek and Jonah.
He gives Jonah and hug, and I catch the worry in Alek’s eyes as they flash to me. “I see you met Alyssa,” Alek says.
“Sort of.”
Alek cracks a beer and hands it to Cason. “She’s a landscape artist, doing the lawn for Tyler.”
“Oh yeah,” Cason says as he smiles at me. “You’re not one of Tyler’s sisters?”
“No, I’m a local,” I say.
“A landscaping artist, huh? That’s a cool job,” he says. “I’d love to hear more about it.”
Cason pulls a chair out beside me and plunks down into it, and his warm scent of soap and fabric softener reach my nose. “Ever get out to Seattle? I could always use a great landscape artist. Just bought a place.”
“You live in Seattle?” He nods, and I can’t help but think he’s far from home. “I always wanted to visit.”
“Sure, and now that I have a new place, you’ve got yourself a place to stay.”
“Back off, Cason,” Quinn says, and rolls her eyes.
“What?” he says with a laugh.
“You’re such a troublemaker.”
“That’s why they call me the troublemaker,” he says, and my gaze goes back and forth between the two. Clearly, I’m missing an inside joke here.
Alek hands the tongs to Jonah, and a look I don’t understand passes between them before Alek turns his attention to Cason.
“Cason, can I see you inside,” Alek says.
Cason pushes from the chair, and the two step inside. “What’s that all about?” I ask Quinn, who is glaring at Alek’s back.
“I don’t think Alek likes Cason hitting on his girl,” she says.
His girl.
Damn I like the sound of that.
She puts her hand on mine and gives it a squeeze. Big blue eyes search my face in an almost comforting way. “I also think you two need to talk, Alyssa.”
I look into her blue eyes, and my heart jumps into my throat as dread takes hold. I swallow uneasily and inch back in my seat, the feeling that something very bad is about to happen rushing through my blood like a runaway freight train ready to go off the track.
17
Alek
I take my last bite of steak, and somehow manage to get it past the lump in my throat. Even though every part of my being is fucking terrified that I’ve messed this up with Alyssa, we need to talk sooner rather than later. I hated asking my friends to keep my secret—Quinn looks like she’s ready to neuter me—but she needs to hear it from me, and I have to figure out how to tell her without her hating me.
From across the table, Scotty is telling some story about Daisy, Zander’s daughter, and everyone laughs at his antics. Alyssa seems quite taken with the boy in much the same way my buddy Cason was taken with her. Fuck, I had to shut that shit down, fast. Cason is a great guy, one of the greatest I know, but he had to know Alyssa was off limits.
Is she though?
When it comes right down to it, I have no claim on her. We agreed to a summer fling, nothing more and by rights if she wants to go out with Cason she can. It will just have to be over my dead body.
“Who wants to hit up the pub?” Cason asks. “Shoot a couple games of pool?”
Jonah looks at Quinn and she waves her hand. “Go, Scotty and I are going to go for a swim and then I’ll get him settled in for the night. Maybe we can all play cards or a board game when you get back. Alyssa, do you like cards?”
Alyssa smiles, like she’s so happy to be included. My heart hurts for the beautiful woman, inside and out, who’s never really been a part of a family, and damned if I don’t want to offer mine up to her. She needs this, deserves this, and there is nothing I want more for her.
Jonah leans over and gives her a kiss. “Sounds li
ke a plan.”
Alyssa sets her napkin down. “I have to go visit my grandmother, but I’d love to play some games when I get back.”
“I’ll go with you,” I say. “Maybe we’ll have time to talk alone on the drive.”
“Nope,” she says quickly. “You go shoot pool with your friends.”
I don’t look at Quinn. I can feel her gaze drilling into me. “Are you sure?”
“Of course. I’ll tell Grandma you said hello.”
She picks up her plate and reaches for the others. “Leave them,” Quinn says. “I can take care of these.”
Alyssa gives her a grateful smile, and she disappears inside. All eyes turn to me, and I pinch the bridge of my nose.
“Yeah, I know,” I say and jump up. I head inside, and Alyssa is grabbing her purse.
“Hey,” I say and wrap my arms around her, pulling her back to my chest.
She rests her head against my chest, and I drop a kiss onto her head. I breathe in her warm scent and my heart pounds against my chest.
“We won’t be long,” I say to her, and she turns in my arms.
“I won’t be either.” She goes up on her toes and presses her lips to mine. “See you soon,” she says, but then her head angles toward me. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m good,” I say, and rake my hand through my hair. With my friends outside, and her on the way to see her grandmother, now is not the time to tell her who I really am. “We’ll talk later, okay?”
“Yeah, okay,” she says, and I give her another kiss before she heads out the door. I head back to the kitchen and find Quinn leaning against the counter, her arms folded.
“I know,” I say to her.
“I like her, Alek.”
“I like her too.”
“Yeah, so you need to talk to her,” she says.
“She’s going to hate me. Jesus, Quinn, if she does a search on me, she’s probably not going to like what she sees.”
Quinn’s face softens and she pushes off the counter. She places her hands on my shoulders. “You’re a good guy, Alek, and what you did in your past is your past.” Her gaze moves over my face. “Why did you keep it from her?”
“I liked the way she was around me.”
She nods. “I get it. I really do. So, what are you going to do now? What do you want out of all this?”
“I never thought I’d fall for her,” I say, and she smiles. “I thought we’d just have some fun, and go our separate ways, but I…I fell in love with her, Quinn.”
She goes up on her toes, throws her arms around me and gives me a big hug. “Then that’s what you need to tell her.”
“You’re right.”
She goes back on her feet when the guys all come in. Jonah looks at me, his face contorted like he knew Quinn was going to tear me a new one.
“We can clean this up when we get back,” I say to Quinn as Scotty tugs at her shirt, asking to go for a swim.
“You guys go, have fun.”
We head out, climb into Cason’s vehicle and head to town. The guys chat, but I’m too lost in my thoughts to add to the conversations. Fifteen minutes later, we’re all sipping on beer, and shooting pool, all anonymity gone now that the three of us are together.
A couple of women come over and begin to flirt with us. Any other time, I would have been all over that, much like Cason is right now, but I’ve lost all appeal for one-night stands. There is only one girl I want to go to bed with at night, and more importantly wake up to the next morning.
Jonah holds his hand up to showcase his wedding ring when one of the girls sidles up to him. He shoots me a grin. “My buddy Alek is a free man,” he says, fucking me over and I produce my middle finger. He laughs and takes a shot. Soon more people crowd around us and before we know it, we’re giving autographs.
I finish signing, and getting my picture taken, when a guy I recognize from Greenleaf, I think his name was Eli, comes up to me. “You know I thought that was you when I saw you with Alyssa.” He puts his hand on my back and laughs. “She never let the secret out,” he adds, and worry worms its way through my veins. I talk to him for a few more minutes and step up to the guys.
“I have to go,” I say. “I’m going to walk over to the nursing home.”
Jonah pats me on the back. “Good luck, buddy.”
I step out into the night, and take a fueling breath. No way can I let her leave the nursing home and risk her running into someone from the pub. She needs to hear it from me. I hurry my steps and breathe a sigh of relief when I spot her truck still in the parking lot. Inside, I sign in and make my way to her grandmother’s room. I hear three voices and poke my head in to find Alyssa, Rose and Rose’s friend, Vivian.
A smile lights up Alyssa’s face when she sees me. “Alek, what are you doing here?”
“Oh, it’s the charmer,” Vivian says grinning. “Come on in. Don’t just stand there.”
“The charmer,” Rose says, her eyes falling over me as I cross the room. I swallow uneasily as she narrows her eyes and scrutinizes me. “The charmer,” she says again, and her mouth drops open. “The puck charmer,” she says again, and my heart falls into my stomach.
“Oh my,” Vivian says, and gives Alyssa a little whack. “Why didn’t you tell us who he was.”
Alyssa shakes her head. “I did tell you. It’s Alek.”
“That’s not what I mean,” Vivian says. “You didn’t tell us he was the puck charmer. Always wearing that ball cap to hide his face.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“He’s the goalie for the Seattle Shooters,” Rose says.
“But of course, you already knew that,” Vivian says with a laugh. “Now I’m going to need your autograph.”
Alyssa’s gaze slides to mine, and her eyes are confused. “What’s going on?”
“Alyssa,” I say softly. “Can we talk.”
“Alek?” she says. “Are you a professional hockey player?”
“Alyssa, can we go out into the hall?”
She pulls her phone from her purse and her eyes grow wide as she runs her fingers over the screen. “You’re Alek Matthews, goalie for the Seattle Shooters. I can’t believe this.”
“You didn’t know?” Vivian asks.
Her face pales as her eyes dart to Rose and Vivian, who are watching the worst day of my life unfold.
“No,” she says, her voice a bit shaky.
Vivian turns on me. “Why wouldn’t you tell her?”
“If I could just talk to Alyssa alone for a minute.”
“What does puck charmer mean? Why do they call you that?” Alyssa asks.
“You know what they call the girls who hang out with hockey players?” Vivian asks.
“Puck bunnies…” Her eyes cast down for a brief second. “You’re the puck bunny charmer.”
“It’s just a name, Alyssa. Cason actually gave it to me.”
“Cason, another player for the shooters and Jonah…Quinn said he was in between jobs.” She jumps up and covers her face. “Oh my God, everyone knew but me. You had your friends lying,” she says her voice bordering on hysteria. “Oh my God, I’m a joke.”
I take a step toward her, but she holds her hands up to stop me. “Don’t.”
“She meant he was in between seasons.”
“That’s not what any of you meant. You were lying to me, and they all backed you up.” A sound crawls out of her throat, a half laugh, a half groan. “I must be the laughingstock. I can’t believe this. Why would you do this?”
“I liked you, Alyssa,” I say.
She gives a humorless laugh. “You sure have a funny way of showing it.” She looks around. “What was this, Alek? Slumming for the summer, hanging out with a local for a good time?”
“It’s not like that, Alyssa. I didn’t know I was going to fall for you.”
“Fall for me. You fell for me. How can I believe anything that comes out of your mouth? Wait, so you’re telling me that you never would hav
e told me? That you would have just left here, leaving me none the wiser of who you really were?”
“I…well…” Jesus, how the fuck do I answer that, because early on, that really was my intention. I am such a fuck-up.
Guilt twists inside me as she stands there, staring at me, paralyzed by the truth.
My stomach plummets
“I messed up, Alyssa.”
“Is this what you wanted to talk to me about? Tell me you were pretending to be someone else, and that you had a career to get back to when you were done slumming.”
“I was never slumming. It wasn’t like that.”
“Oh, it was like that. Otherwise you would have been honest with me, Alek. You know honesty is important to me.” She points to the door. “Leave. I never want to see you again.”
“Can we talk? Let me explain this right, so you can understand.”
“I understand perfectly and don’t want to hear anything you have to say, now or ever. Go, go back to Seattle or wherever the hell it is you live, and tell Tyler he’s going to need to hire someone else.”
“But…the job, the money. You need—”
“Oh my God, am I some charity case to you? Is this some sort of payment for services rendered, Alek?”
“It’s not like that at all.” He clenched down on his jaw with an audible click. “If you’ll give me a minute.”
“I’ve wasted enough minutes with you,” she says. “Leave.” She shakes her head and adds, “You think I’d be used to people leaving, but I guess it never gets easier.”
“I don’t want to go.”
“Come on, Alek,” she shoots back. “You never had any intentions of staying, and I never should have thought you might.”
“You wanted me to stay, then? There was a time you wanted me to stay?” he asks a measure of hope filling his eyes.
“Wanted, as in past tense.”
I glance at Rose and Vivian, who are staring at me, their lips a thin line of white, their hands clasped together tightly.
I open my mouth, but Rose glares at me. “Leave,” she says. “You’re not welcome here.”