by Ali Parker
“Here’s your receipt, Lucas.” The guy smiled as he gave me the receipt and my change.
“Thanks, man.” I dropped all of it in his tip jar and turned to join Aubrey. I didn’t know anyone in the small coffee shop, but they all seemed to know me. It wasn’t anything new, and yet I hated it all the same.
She lifted her chin a little and gave me a tight smile as I sat down across from her. I wanted to know with a passion why she was crying earlier, but I wasn’t asking. If she wanted to tell me, then she would. Plain and simple.
“All right. So we have the supplies for the car wash, and I’ll be working with some of the Ice Queens to make signs next week. I figure having everyone half naked will help.” She leaned over and pulled the papers from her bag that I’d given her at the dance studio. “We should have music too. I can make a playlist.”
“You need to learn to delegate.” I didn’t mean for my words to sound like a command, but by the way her expression hardened, obviously, they did.
“It’s easier said than done. The other girls are far more concerned with getting their next high in whatever form it comes in.” She lowered her eyes to study the paper below her. A long strand of dark hair slipped from the messy bun she had her hair in, and I didn’t hesitate.
“And how do you get your highs?” I pinched the hair softly and tucked it behind her ear as she looked back up at me. The need in her eyes was enough to force me to let my guard down.
Three more months. Three more months of school and I was off to the pros. Tread lightly.
“I dance.” She sat up as her shoulders stiffened. “It’s enough of a release.”
“I get that. That’s hockey to me, I guess, though it’s not my sport of choice.” Was I really going to open this can of worms?
“No? I’m surprised to hear that.” She picked up a pen from the table and lifted the list in front of her face. “So the hotel has the rooms booked, and you guys are good with staying six to a room?”
Back to business. It seemed to be a safe place for her. The need to destroy her calm raced through me like a wildfire. It had been a few years since I’d wanted to do anything more than mutter a response or just get through another day.
“I’m not staying with anyone. Put us in a room together.” I turned and took the food from the server as he walked up. I could feel her eyes on me, but it was all part of the game. The question was whether I was going to allow myself to play it.
My brother’s voice brushed across my thoughts. “Avoid them at all costs. Bitches are manipulative as hell. You think you know someone, but you don’t.”
The sad part was that he was right. I’d yet to meet a girl that wanted what was best for me or honestly gave a rat’s ass what that might even be. Maybe it was because all I’d dated was girls. Looking for an older woman seemed the key. Or not having one at all. Funnily enough, the only woman I could see myself with was younger.
“Can I get you guys anything else?” The server smiled and shifted his gaze to Aubrey.
“No, we’re good.” She smiled back and turned to face me. “We’re not sharing a room. I’m pretty sure I snore.”
“And? I snore too.” I picked up my sandwich and took a deep bite of it as I watched her.
“Yeah, well, I’m not like Lizzy. I’m not sleeping with you because you need a release.” She gave me a stern look and picked up her sandwich. The girl was blistering hot and had balls as big as mine where confidence was concerned.
I laughed and licked at my lips to get the mustard off them. “Is that what you think? That I want to share a room with you so you’ll spread your legs for me?”
The long column of her neck turned a muted pink, and the color rose up to paint her cheeks. I wanted to lean across the table and kiss her hard, letting her know quickly that if I wanted her beneath me, she would be. However, she wouldn’t appreciate the forwardness simply because she was fighting a battle in her head. Something had happened earlier that day. I wanted to know what, more than I should have.
“I don’t know. Let’s change the subject.” She brushed her napkin over her mouth and glanced back down to the list. “Do you guys have enough—”
“Aubrey, I don’t want to talk about the team or the trip. I want to have lunch with you. We can be friends, right?” I tugged the paper away and dropped it on the floor beside me.
“Yeah. I mean, sure. We already are friends.” She was flustered. Excellent. Time to dig a little.
“Well, as your friend, I’m telling you that I don’t much like your comment earlier.” I shoved half the sandwich in my mouth as she watched me closely.
“And what comment was that?” Her eyebrow rose sharply.
“The one about you needing to lose weight. You don’t.” I let my eyes move down to her chest and back up. “You’re beautiful. The perfect size for a woman. I’m not sure who’s telling you that shit, but don’t hear it. And if it’s you, then stop.”
She sat back and pursed her lips. She was pissed for sure.
I ignored her glare and continued to eat until my sandwich was gone. I didn’t mind her taking out her anger on me. Someone needed to push through the Ice Queen’s tough disposition, and though I’d stood aside over the years, it felt like now was my time. My turn to open her up.
A groan rose in me as the image of her arching the long line of her back tainted my thoughts. Only this time, she was naked, bare to me. I wanted so fucking badly to run my hand down the long line of her chest, over her stomach, and bury my fingers in the soft wetness of her body.
“I’m not talking to you about this,” she finally whispered.
“We don’t need to talk about it.” I picked up my bag of chips and nodded toward her lunch. “Eat. I know you’re not used to anyone telling you anything, but you needed to hear that. Now, eat.”
“You don’t know what it’s like in the dance company, Lucas. On the ice, you get to be who you want to be and that includes physically looking like a monster or being beanpole thin.” She picked up her sandwich, and some part of me got off on the fact that she was willing to heed my words and do as I said. She was the perfect combination of strength and submission.
Walking out of the restaurant with a boner was going to prove to be fun.
“So, tell me then. I wanna know.” I lifted the chip back up and tilted my head back. The door opened to my left and a group of girls called my name. I turned and nodded before putting my attention back on Aubrey. “And tell me whose ass I’m kicking for making you cry earlier.”
She snorted and shook her head. “No one’s ass.”
A smile lifted my lips. “You’re just like Jayce. Difficult as hell to crack open.”
“Are you trying to crack me open?” Her voice lowered a little as she gave me a look I’d pay money to see in the bedroom. Every part of me woke up from the slumber I’d been in. I was in deep shit where this girl was concerned, but she wouldn’t understand me, wouldn’t accept that I’d settled into my brother’s shoes to please my parents. She expected me to be something great just like the rest of the world did, and I hated the thought of disappointing her because I would.
After the shine of the pros wore off, I’d get tired of pretending to love hockey. Hell, I was almost there now. And then what?
“Maybe.” I winked at her as she slid the other half of her sandwich across the table.
“Eat that.” She licked at her fingers, and my eyes followed her pretty pink tongue closely. How badly I wanted to feel it racing along my skin as she enjoyed herself with all I had to offer.
“You getting full?” I pulled it toward me and smirked. “Half a sandwich isn’t nearly enough for a hard-working girl like you.”
“I’m full.” She reached down and picked up the papers from the ground. “Aren’t you in my Biology Two class?”
“Yeah. I think so.” I worked on her sandwich and tried to think through how I was going to get us in the same room together for the trip.
Now, who was being manipu
lative?
“Have you started on the insect project we have coming up?” She brushed her fingers along the table as her expression softened.
“No. You want to partner up for it?” I grabbed my drink and emptied the cup without taking my eyes off of her.
“If you’re up for it.” She picked up her coffee and turned as another group of girls called out my name. “You’re so damn popular. Do you get tired of it?”
“Every minute of every day.” I wiped my mouth on the napkin from my lap and shrugged. “People want to know you until they see what lies beneath. Then, not so much, hm?”
She turned and tilted her head a little, stealing my heart in a way that fucked me up. “What lies beneath, Lucas?”
I let the question lay between us without answering it. Honestly, because I wasn’t sure how to.
Chapter 9
Aubrey
“So did he say he wanted to pair up with you?” Jayce held the door open to the science building for us. The smell of musty old animals and embalming fluid filled my nose, and I breathed in deeply. If dance didn’t work out, I was so going to be a biologist. The study of life was something that left my heart racing. It had to be because my father was a professor of pre-med and included us in a lot of his field trips and experiments when we were younger.
“He said he would. I’m not sure about him wanting to. You never can tell with Lucas.” I glanced over at my brother before walking down the busy hall toward class.
“He’s a good guy. He’s just got a lot of demons in his past.” Jayce stopped beside the door to my classroom and tugged at my shoulder. “I’d really rather you not work with him, but it’s your call, of course.”
“What? Why?” I crossed my arms over my chest as the need to defend Lucas rose up inside of me.
“Because. It’s obvious that you have feelings for him, but he’s not the kind of guy I want my sister with.” I started to blast into him, but he lifted his hands and continued. “I would never tell you what to do or who to date—”
“Because it’s none of your damned business,” I barked out.
“Exactly, but Lucas is… I don’t know. Damaged? Broken?” He let out a soft sigh and gripped my shoulders. “He’s got some good in him, but with all the shit with his brother and stuff, he just isn’t the guy for you.”
“What about his brother? So he was a great hockey player who won a bunch of championships. So what?” I pulled from Jayce’s hold and moved toward the door. “I’m a big girl. I can figure this stuff out on my own.”
My brother rolled his eyes and turned to walk down the hall. What was the big deal with Lucas’s older brother being great? Everyone had to live up to someone’s expectations. Hell, my mother rode me like a champion steed about making a large dance company. I would be perfectly fine just opening a small studio and loving on a bunch of six-year-olds in pink tutus, but my mother expected greatness. Whose parents didn’t?
I scanned the auditorium to try and find Lucas and finally spotted him. A group of girls were gathered around him. Surprise. Surprise. Funnily enough, I couldn’t remember seeing him with a single girl on his arm since I’d met him.
The crowd was thick as I made my way to the top of the auditorium and abandoned my seat near the front. It would give us time to talk about the project before class, or so I told myself that was the reason for wanting to be closer to him.
“Hey.” I sat down in the seat next to him as the gaggle of women started to disperse.
“You couldn’t have come three minutes earlier?” He gave me a cheeky grin that melted my insides.
“You tired of the groupies?” I smirked and reached up to let my hair down from the clip I’d haphazardly thrown it into earlier.
“I hate groupies. If you know me at all, you know that.” His eyes moved over my face like he was looking for the answer to a question.
“So you’re down with being my partner for this project? I love biology, but I’m not touching a damn bug.” I shivered without effort.
He laughed. “Only if you’ll book a room just for the two of us for the trip. I know we’re tight on funds, but I’m not staying in a room with the guys. They’ll be up all fucking night drinking and laughing, which is great, but the Frozen Four isn’t a joke. It’s the championship, and this is my senior year.”
“How about I put you in a room with Jayce? We can swing that.” I pulled out my notebook as my stomach did cartwheels. Why in the world would Lucas White want to stay in a room with me? It was either extremely flattering or the very opposite of that. Maybe he knew without a doubt that he wouldn’t be inclined to seduce a girl like me, and therefore we would be more than safe in a room together.
“No. Jayce needs to bond with the team. Next year is his year.” He turned back to the front. “Put us in a room together, or find another partner for the insect project. And might I mention that mine is half done.”
I let out a short sigh and turned to the front as indecision raged deep inside of me. Staying in a room together might not affect him, but it was going to kill me. I couldn’t even begin to imagine seeing him walk out of the shower with nothing but a towel on. Water running down the deep grooves of his muscular chest and abs. Fuck. Just seeing him at the car wash that upcoming weekend was going to make me weak in the knees.
Professor Timms walked to the front and clapped his hands. “Who can tell me how many appendages an arachnid has and what makes them different from the insect?”
Hands shot up all over the place, since points were awarded for participation.
“They have ten,” Lucas mumbled as he slumped down in his chair and watched the front of the room.
“I think it’s eight,” I whispered back.
“Yes, Mr. Maybeen. Tell us what wisdom you have in your wild mangy head of hair today.” The professor smiled as the class chuckled.
“They have six legs.” He stood and turned, bowing as the class clapped and laughed further.
“All right. Sit down, please. He’ll be here all week, ladies and gentlemen, but he’s wrong. Anyone else?” The professor glanced down at my chair and back up to scan the room. “Aubrey. Did you decide that the view was better from way up there?”
Being the teacher’s pet made it sure that I got called out, but I was willing to pay with humility, seeing that my mother expected a 4.0 without fail.
The class turned as heat seared my chest and neck. “I’m trying to talk Lucas into partnering with me for the insect assignment so I can find the bugs and he can touch them.”
Everyone laughed as Professor Timms’s smile widened. “Seems like a noteworthy endeavor. Can you or Mr. White answer the question? I’ll give you two points on your project to start out if you get it right.”
Eight had to be right, but Lucas said ten. I glanced over at him as a smirk lifted his lips.
“I can almost see your mind spinning with the possibility of two extra points.”
“Can we confer?” I glanced back down at the prof.
“Of course. Ten seconds. Let’s count for them, class.” He laughed and the class started the countdown as I turned to face him, brushing my knee past his thigh.
“It’s eight,” I whispered as I tried to think through the chapter I’d read a few days back. “They have eight legs.”
“Right, but he didn’t ask how many legs they had. He asked how many appendages. It’s ten. The answer to what makes them different from insects is that they have eight legs and insects have six, but he’s trying to trick you, or all of us really.”
“I don’t know.” I glanced back down as time ran out. I wanted to trust Lucas, but he wasn’t known for being the smartest guy on the block. He was a jock and sports were his thing. Right?
“All right, Miss Moore. Let’s have it.” Professor Timms crossed his arms over his chest and gave me a smile.
I spent one more second trying to decide if two points were worth missing out on to show Lucas that I supported his answer. Fuck it.
“W
e say ten. Arachnids have ten appendages and the thing that differentiates them from insects is that they have eight legs and insects have six.” I let out a soft huff of air as I sank back in my seat. I was waiting for the ridicule that was sure to come, though Professor Timms was always humorous about it.
“And who agrees with her and Mr. White?”
There wasn’t a hand in the room that lifted. My stomach tightened and I glanced over at Lucas as he sat calm and unaffected. He didn’t seem to have a care in the world. It was a silly question, but two points on a major project was a big damn deal.
“Then you would all be wrong.” The professor smiled at us. “You and Mr. White have two points for your project. Excellent care to detail.”
“It was all Lucas.” I let out the breath I didn’t know I was holding.
“I’m not surprised a bit.” The older man turned and walked up on the stage. “All right class. Pull out your notes from Monday and let’s go through this one more time, seeing that Mr. White is the only one that would have gotten that one right on the upcoming exam.”
I turned to look at Lucas and found him grinning at me. So cocky. So hot.
“You bastard,” I whispered and let out a soft laugh. “You’re going to win this battle, aren’t you?”
“Which would that be?”
“The one where I need you to help me with this project, and you need me to shield you from attention and lust at the tournament.” I turned back to the front a little breathless from the need to know the handsome guy beside me more intimately.
He leaned over and turned his face to the back of the room before whispering against the side of my hair. “I win every battle, but it’s so much more fun to watch you submit than break you down. Let me stay in your room in New York.”