by Ali Parker
Lucas tugged on his shorts and pulled his shirt over his head before getting on his bike. “You wanna grab something to eat, or are you okay with a sandwich back at my place?”
“I’m good with anything you have.” I put on my helmet and got on the back of the bike, grateful for a reason to snuggle up to the back of him. An evening alone with him sounded like bliss, and yet a torrent of emotions bubbled up inside of me, forcing me to consider if I was making the best decision for both of us. He had a lot of hang-ups over women, obviously due to his brother’s situation.
I never did get to ask if Bret’s death was an accidental overdose or if there was more to it. Something told me that I would find out soon enough.
“I know it’s not much, but I can’t cook to save my life.” He handed me a plate with a homemade sandwich in the center of it and Cheetos surrounding it.
“It looks delicious.” I picked it up and walked through his small apartment to the back door, which sat open. The patio was decked out with lights and had a two-person table and chairs in the center of it.
I sat down and took a few big bites of my sandwich as he walked out, balancing his and two beers.
“Take one of these for me.” He extended his hand, and I took one of the beers and popped the top. I drank half of it before I came up for air.
“I didn’t realize how thirsty I was.” I took another swig and set the beer down as he moved up beside me.
“You did a great job today. Any clue on how much money you brought in?” He folded his sandwich in half and took it out in three big bites. Just watching him eat was a turn on for some reason. He was that kind of guy that didn’t play around with anything, his food included.
“Probably two thousand dollars. That was the last figure I heard.” I leaned back and nibbled at my dinner. “You getting half naked was the highlight of the event.”
“You might be a little biased, no?” He winked at me, and I couldn’t help but laugh. “What?”
“You. That’s what.” I let out a soft sigh. “I shouldn’t be here. You know I’ve been hardcore crushing on you for three years.”
“No, you haven’t.” He reached over and brushed his fingers over the top of my hand. “You’re just being sweet since I opened up a little to you earlier.”
“Think what you want, big boy.” I got up to grab us some napkins but never made it to the door.
Lucas gripped my wrist and tugged me back, causing me to drop into his lap.
“I like to think that you were crushing on me. Makes me feel better about thinking inappropriate thoughts about you in your dance thingy for the last three years.”
“It’s a leo—”
He pulled me down and pressed his lips to mine as his fingers worked into the back of my hair and gripped tightly. The sensation of being trapped in front of him caused my nipples to bud tightly and a groan to leave me.
His kiss was hungry, demanding. I pressed my tongue deep into his mouth and coaxed his tongue back with me. He groaned and slid his free hand up my legs before squeezing the top of my thigh and stopping.
He broke the kiss and pressed his forehead to mine as we both tried to catch our breath. He kissed me again roughly, taking everything I offered and demanding more of me. “I—”
The buzzing of his phone caught us both off guard, and I stood up and moved back a little, trying to figure out what he was going to say. I what?
“This better be good,” he barked into the phone before pushing back his chair and shooting to his feet. “Fuck. All right. We’ll be right there.”
“What’s going on?” Fear drove through me at the thought of something being wrong with my brother.
“It’s William. He’s toked out of his mind. I swear that fucker is going to be the death of me.” He walked toward the house, not giving me a second look. “Let’s go.”
Chapter 16
Lucas
Jayce met us at the door the night before and took Aubrey and Layla home immediately. It was a good thing too because seeing William lost to his drug-induced madness would have been too much for the pretty girl.
As much as I wanted to throw his ass all over the yard, I figured I would wait until the next morning to enact my punishment. After we finally got his ass to calm down, we put him in an empty bed, and I took on the duty of sitting next to him all night to make sure if he did have a bad reaction to what we all assumed was marijuana, then I could help make quick decisions.
I checked the clock for the last time around seven that morning and found the bastard still sleeping. After pulling myself up from the floor, I walked down the hall and made my way to the kitchen. A group of players and some of the Ice Queens were all snuggled together, most of them butt naked on the floor in the living room.
I rolled my eyes in disgust and walked into the kitchen to find Jayce pacing the floor.
“Hey. There you are. Shit.” He turned and brushed his hand down his face.
“What? Is something wrong with the girls?” My heart almost stopped in my chest. In all the years of training Jayce as my second in command, I’d never seen him look so damn upset.
“No. They’re fine. Actually, Aubrey said for you to call her. Something about working on a biology project later today.” He sighed and leaned back against the closest countertop. “Dude. That wasn’t weed last night. We need to do something about William. Now.”
“All right. Let’s wake up the rest of our leadership group and make some hard decisions.” I moved toward the coffee pot. “Parks and Jessie are in the middle of that orgy, but Geoff is probably in his room. I’ll grab him and you grab the others. Let’s go out back beneath the big oak tree.” I turned to work on getting a cup of liquid caffeine. I was getting too damn old to be up babysitting some idiot freshman all night. William was on his last straw with me. I’d have to see how the other guys felt, but I was pretty sure either way, the kid had one foot out the door.
“Why drugs?” I mumbled to myself and filled up a mug with coffee before jogging back upstairs and knocking on Geoff’s door. “Get up, fucker. Leadership meeting.”
He groaned from behind the door and said something, but I’d already turned and headed back toward the kitchen by that time. He would come or we would make the decision without him.
“Did you stay here all night?” Parks turned and blinked a few times in an exaggerated manner as if I were a part of a dream he couldn’t shake.
“Yes, fucker. I did.” I stopped behind them and turned my attention to Jayce. “You rule this one. It’s going to be all yours in a few months.”
“Or so we think.” He rolled his eyes and nodded toward the house as the door slammed behind me. “You managed to get the old man up? You get extra points.”
Geoff wasn’t a day older than Jayce, but the poor guy was balding and had as many gray hairs as my sixty-year-old father. He blamed it on bad genetics. Said his father slept with a gypsy and he was the one wearing the curse for his old man’s indiscretion. It was bullshit but made for a fun Friday night story.
“All right. Here’s the rub. William Tanner is a freshman in our camp, and he’s been warned twice now about his drug problem. We need to make some decisions after the situation last night.” Jayce was far more upset than he should have been over William once again getting ahold of a shitty strain of marijuana.
“And why don’t you explain exactly what happened last night, just so the rest of these monkeys are clear what went down? Half of them were drunk off their asses by the time I got here.” I brushed my fingers across my lips and moved over as Geoff shuffled up beside me.
“I was balls deep in Lizzy. Man, I love that girl. I’m gonna—”
“Ask her to marry you,” we all repeated in a sing-song voice. Geoff was forever in love with Lizzy, and yet, other than the occasional pity fuck, she’d have nothing to do with him.
“Will sat out of the game yesterday because he was vomiting up his guts in the bathroom due to overdoing it the morning before.” Jayce gl
anced over at me and let out a long sigh. “I know you think it was weed. I think the idiot took a hit of meth.”
“Meth?” My eyes widened. “Why do you think that?”
Weed was one thing, but if the kid was getting into hardcore drugs, then we had a serious situation on our hands. There was no way in hell I was getting popped for drugs on the team premises and having all of us going down, but on a more personal level, I wasn’t holding another guy while he died in my arms. My brother was the one and only.
“I just do, Lucas. I think he took another hit after the game.”
“After I roughed him up?” I could feel the vein in the side of my head start to pound. Not only had the little shit given up a great opportunity to play against the best team in the country the day before, but God only knew what would have happened that night with me and Aubrey. I was ready to take her to my bed, and she sure as fuck seemed willing. Not that I could blabber that truth in front of her brother. He was going to kill me for sure.
“You didn’t rough him up, but I think that should be our course of action.” Jayce looked around the circle. “It’s our call as to whether we turn him into Coach Billows. We can take care of this ourselves, or we can let Coach deal with it, but you know they’ll have a full investigation to cover their asses, and what else are they going to find?”
“I would hope nothing.” I balked. “Are you thinking someone else in the house is toking up too?”
“Not that, but I’m pretty sure Noah slept with a girl and knocked her up. He’s not willing to take ownership of the situation until the girl gets a test and all that shit, but we got skeletons. You know this shit. Just because you don’t live here—”
I held up my hand. Jayce was starting to unravel, and I could see why. I’d grown so cold toward the need for compassion toward the guys that I was pulling back. I didn’t know all their shit, but maybe I needed to. Each one of them had a chance to fuck up the fact that we were going to the Frozen Four, and that was a big damn deal. I was looking for pro scouts to be there, not just for me, but for all of us graduating seniors.
“I’ll deal with William, but this is under the notion that you guys want him to have another chance. Am I understanding that right?” I lifted my eyebrows and moved around the group, assessing the looks on each of my guys’ faces.
“Yes. I think he should have another chance.” Jessie nodded. “He’s under a shitload of pressure from his old man, just like you are, Lucas.”
“And what about his drug problem?” Parks butted in as his voice rose. “I don’t want to be here when he overdoses and dies on the floor in the fucking kitchen.”
“That’s the question, guys.” I glanced around the circle. “Are the Friars going to take responsibility for cleaning this asshole up, or are we going to turn him over to Coach and get him some help?”
“Let’s try to help him ourselves. We turn him over, and we’re ruining his chances of ever playing hockey here or anywhere really. I don’t want that burden.” Jayce stepped in closer to the circle.
“Right, so all in favor of helping him and not telling Coach.” I raised my hand, though some part of me wanted to throw the kid out on his ass and rid myself of dealing with him.
“All those against it?”
Parks raised his hand and shook his head. “This is going to come back to bite us in the ass. It always does.”
“All right. I’ll rough his ass up. Help me keep an eye on him from here on out.” I turned and called back to Jayce. “Let’s go, buddy. Time to learn how to ruin a man’s dreams.”
Jayce jogged up beside me. “I’m headed to my mom’s after this. I guess my sister is hoping you’ll come too. We have a big-ass field behind the house where I caught all my bugs, though it’s still cold out right now.”
“I’ll ride out there with you if you’ll take me home later.” I glanced over at him, trying hard not to smile at the thought of seeing Aubrey.
He reached the door before me and glanced back. “What’s going on with you and Aubrey?”
“Nothing yet.” I popped him in the chest. “When I have a definitive answer to that, I’ll let you know, all right?”
“You better, bitch.” He paused by the kitchen. “We using ice or cold water to wake Will up?”
“Why not both?” I smiled and turned to jog up the stairs. “Get a bucket for us.”
“It would be my pleasure,” he called after me as I walked down to Will’s room and opened the door. I had all the blinds pulled up and Metallica blaring on the radio by the time Jayce walked in, sloshing ice water all over the place.
I picked up a pillow and smacked Will over the head with it. “Time to get up, Princess. We’re running drills this morning. Or you are.”
“Fuck you,” he mumbled and turned over.
I laughed and glanced up at Jayce. “Hey, show Will here why this is called the Ice House.”
“Cause it’s fucking chilly in the morning and icy in the night.” Jayce laughed as he dumped the cold water on Will. The poor kid came up out of the bed like his ass was on fire, and boy was he mad. Fighting mad.
Good. I gave him a beating to remember the event by. I would never forget the one time I got mine. I still had trouble sleeping soundly.
Chapter 17
Aubrey
The night before had been a total bust, and yet it was probably for the best. Me sleeping with Lucas before moving toward a committed relationship was a horrible idea.
I pressed the phone to my ear as I laid in my white, fluffy bed at my parents’ house. We were spending Sunday there, namely because I knew that Jayce had been successful in getting all the bugs for his Biology Two project the year before out in the backyard. I prayed like hell that he could drag Lucas with him when he came out, but if not, it was time to be a good brother and help his older sister.
“You still there?” Layla sounded still half asleep.
“Yeah, I’m here. I’m sorry I didn’t wake you up this morning. I should have brought you out here with me to suffer for the day.” I yawned and rolled over to watch the window on the side of my bedroom. I could see the driveway from that vantage point and would know when Jayce was coming.
“I’m glad you didn’t. Your mom isn’t my favorite person in the whole world.” She snickered.
“My mom’s no one’s favorite person.” I rolled onto my back and smiled as my eyes moved over the various posters of movie stars and half-naked athletes. She hated my decorating style, but she’d given up on all of it after my father berated her for being a bitch for the zillionth time when I was a teenage girl. Why he stayed with her was a complete mystery.
“So what happened with Lucas last night? Anything before Will’s dumb ass ruined it?”
“We just kissed, but I’m pretty sure things were about to start happening.” I yawned and snuggled down deeper into my covers. “He’s so damn beautiful, Layla. He’s got layers to him that I didn’t think a man could have.”
“Like clothing layers?” She snorted again.
“Why are you being so sassy? Did you get some last night? Did the bro finally let you be his hoe?” My turn to snicker.
“Fuck you, Aubrey. You know I’m not trying to see bro’s D.”
“Oh, Lord. Forget I said anything. I can’t talk about Jayce’s stuff like that. He’s my brother. I feel like I might barf actually.”
“You started it. Keep on with the Lucas stuff. Tell me about his layers.”
“No. It’s private, but yesterday was really eye opening.” I sat up as a flash of color moved in my vision. Jayce’s black mustang flew down the driveway toward the house. “Shit. I gotta go. They’re here.”
“They?”
“Yes. I’ll call you later, and find another friend to talk about my brother with. I can’t do it.” I hung up and smiled at the look I knew was on her pretty face. I was her only friend, and she returned the favor. We’d be talking about my brother sooner or later, much like we’d be talking in detail about my first time
with Lucas.
“There will be a first time. There has to be.” I got up and brushed my hair before checking my teeth and walking downstairs in my pajamas. My tank top and matching boy shorts were tight, and even though it would gross my brother out, letting Lucas get a good view of me half-dressed was all I was about for the next few minutes.
I walked into the kitchen and reached for the fridge, but didn’t open it until I heard the back door open. I got the milk out and walked toward the cabinet as I heard Jayce’s voice.
“I think it was a good call. I don’t—”
I turned as he and Lucas walked into the kitchen and let out a perfect yelp, pulling the milk in front of my breasts and forcing my eyes to widen.
“Hey, Aubrey.” Lucas smiled as his eyes moved down the front of me. “Don’t you look cute?”
“Hey, man. Shit.” Jayce popped him in the chest and turned to walk toward the living room. “I’m going to pretend I didn’t see any of this.”
I laughed and moved to the counter to pour myself a glass of milk, acting like I was completely innocent but willing to own it.
“Me? Cute?” I glanced over my shoulder and gave Lucas a grin before I yelled after my brother, “A call would have been nice.”
“I’m glad he didn’t call.” Lucas moved up beside me and pressed his fists to the countertop. “You sleep in this cute little thing?”
He leaned over and sucked his bottom lip into his mouth.
“No, I sleep nude.” I rolled my eyes and took a long drink of milk before giving him a grin. “I sleep in this. Did everything go okay last night?”
“Yeah.” His expression hardened a little. “Fucking Will. We’re going to try and take care of things ourselves, but I don’t know. Drugs are a hard thing to fight against, especially when the idiot doesn’t think he needs help.”