by Ali Parker
“It’s just weed, right?” I walked back to the fridge, knowing that he was following my every move. Where McCraven and my mother were concerned with my weight, I’d heard Lucas loud and clear a few days before. He liked how I looked, and even if I was a little on the heavy side for a dancer, I wasn’t getting bogged down in the self-hate shit again. My mother kept me drinking that Kool-Aid far too long as a young girl trying to please the one person she looked up to—her.
Lucas caught me off-guard by moving in behind me. I turned and he was right there, looking down at me with a hint of lust in his gaze.
“You didn’t do this,” he motioned up and down my body, “to tease me this morning, right?”
“Why would I do that? I mean, you didn’t tease me last night and then leave me needy and aching all night long. You didn’t kiss me like you wanted something far more from me than a friendship and then run off and force me to take care of myself.” I tilted my head to the side as his smile stretched up his impossibly handsome face. “No, I didn’t do this on purpose.”
“You little tease.” He laughed and reached for me as my father rounded the corner.
“Aubrey?” His voice was filled with concern.
Lucas stepped in front of me as I stiffened. “Mr. Moore. Nice to meet you, sir. I’m Lucas White. I’m training Jayce to take my place as—”
“Captain of the Friars. Holy shit. Honey, come in here. It’s Lucas White.” My dad’s attention turned as Lucas walked around to the other side of the kitchen and diverted him for me.
I raced up the stairs and changed into a pair of jeans and a sweater as warmth burned my chest. I needed to tell him that I was in love with him. He obviously had feelings for me. We could figure things out together as we took things slow. I was good with him going off to the pros and me catching up later.
“Slow your roll,” I mumbled and pulled on a pair of socks and tennis shoes. I groaned at the ache in the bottom of my feet as I stood up and tried to get used to wearing anything on my feet without bandages. I’d been living in socks and sandals, which was a fashion nightmare that Layla wasn’t soon to let me live down.
I walked back downstairs to my parents and Lucas talking by the back door. Jayce had officially disappeared to his room, no doubt.
“There you are.” Lucas glanced over at me and smiled. “So can I get those small jars you said you might have, Mrs. Moore? We’re going bug collecting today.”
“You’re going bug collecting. I’m just going to stand off to the side and cheer you on.” I picked up a coat near the back door and pulled it over my shoulders as my mom’s eyebrow lifted sharply. She mouthed that Lucas was cute, and I nodded. Another great point to dating him would be to get my mom off my back. With a guy as hot as Lucas White on my arm, she wouldn’t have anything negative to say to me—or not much. She was still my mom. She’d find something.
We walked down the stairs off the back porch my dad and Jayce spent the summer before building and waited for my dad to bring over some jars.
“You kids need anything else?” He pulled me into a side hug as he glanced down at me.
“Nope. We’re good, Dad.”
“You staying for dinner, Lucas?” My dad sounded hopeful.
“Um, yeah. Sure. I could use a good meal that doesn’t consist of peanut butter and jelly.” He smirked and glanced over at me.
“All right. Enough talk. We’re killing daylight here.” I grabbed the net from beside the house and walked out into the overgrown field with Lucas beside me.
“Your parents seem great.” He glanced back toward the house.
“My dad’s great. My mom’s a soul-sucking vampire that looks like a pretty housewife to unsuspecting victims.” I laughed and pointed toward a cluster of trees. “Let’s go over there. I’m sure we can find quite a few of these nasty things.”
“My dad’s a total asshole, and my mom cries all the time.” He shrugged. “I’m thinking you got the better end of the deal. At least you have one parent you can rely on.”
“That does suck.” I knelt by the large tree in front of us and turned to face him. “How is Will really?”
“I don’t know, Aubrey. He needs someone to take care of him for sure, but that’s just not me. I’m leaving here in three months, and I’m not looking back.”
I stiffened at his words. Was he trying to get across some hidden message to me that he wasn’t looking back for anyone, including me? Because I had at least another year at Pro-U, if not more.
“Right. I get that.” I brushed my hand over the ground, and a few bugs flew into the air. I screamed and fell on my butt. He laughed and moved in, hopping around as he caught a few of them. I pressed my elbows to the cold ground below me and watched him until he turned and glanced down at me.
“Did I really leave you hot and bothered last night? I thought maybe I was the only one that suffered.” He offered me his hand and smiled. “Tell me it isn’t true.”
Chapter 18
Lucas
“It isn’t true.” She gave me a playful grin and let me pull her off the ground. The image of her half-dressed in her momma’s kitchen raced through me. Her sleepwear consisted of a tight tank top that showed the full outline of her breasts and a tight pair of shorts that hugged her hips and then let the bottom curve of her ass dip out the bottom of them. I was sick with the need to throw her over my shoulder and drag her away like a fucking caveman.
This is why the other guys use the Ice Queens to their full advantage.
“Liar.” I winked at her and handed her the first jar of flies. “Let’s look for a bee or maybe a butterfly.”
“You find the bee. I don’t want to get stung.” She shrugged and walked past me, looking too cute to mess with. The girl was going to be the death of me, and where indecision raged inside of me on talking to her about anything long-term, the short-term was definitely going to be up for discussion later that day.
My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I pulled it out to find my father calling.
“Speak of the devil. It’s my dad. I need to take this.” I handed her the jar in my hand and turned, ignoring the concern on her pretty face. “Yeah. What’s up?”
“Lucas, it’s Dad. I was thinking last night that I’d really like for you to consider not playing in the homecoming scrimmage this weekend. I know you guys like to use that as a fun way to get ready for the Frozen Four, but son, the pro scouts are going to be watching you like a hawk. I could see you struggling in this last game.”
I let out a sharp sigh and shook my head. “I wasn’t struggling at all. I’m good to play in the scrimmage, Dad. Besides, what would the guys think if their team captain didn’t play in the homecoming game? Come on. We have this fight every year.”
“Yes, and every year, you ignore my request. Your brother never played in this silly game because he knew what was at stake.”
“Yeah, and he let a woman break his heart and drag him to the center of hell,” I barked into the phone. Why I had to go from calm to completely fucked up in a matter of minutes with my dad was beyond me. He was the only one in my life that could destroy my mood without lifting a finger to do it.
“Nice. Thank you for reminding me of the worst day of my life. Here I am, trying to help you, and of course, your only response is to throw a dagger at me. Perfect.”
I growled and glanced over my shoulder to find Aubrey looking toward the other side of the field. “I’m sorry, all right. I’ll… I’ll at least consider sitting out, though I’m not promising anything. These guys won’t understand what I’m doing.”
“Then explain it. Maybe showing them that hockey isn’t just a sport, but a true career path, is something that will benefit them. You’re their leader, Lucas. They look up to you. You don’t have to attend every party or sleep with every girl.”
“I don’t do any of those things. You know that.” I locked my teeth together and closed my eyes. When would our relationship get to the point where choosing to pick up his call wa
sn’t the hardest part of any given day?
“All right. Your mother says hi and that she wants you to come out to the house for dinner sometime. We don’t live that far from the campus, and she can’t remember the last time you actually sat down for a meal with us.”
“Christmas. Two years ago.” I turned to face Aubrey and let my eyes run along the back of her legs and over her shapely butt. The pretty girl deserved someone so much better than me. I had nothing to offer but brokenness. Sex I could do, but commitment? No way. I’d already told her far more than I wanted to about Bret. I’d be crying in her arms over the shit soon if I wasn’t careful.
“Right. So let’s set something up.” It wasn’t a request but a command. My father didn’t make requests.
“I’ll call you when I get back to the house. I’m working on a biology project with my partner right now. That all right?” I started to walk back toward Aubrey as my dad mumbled “yes” and we dropped the call.
She glanced my way and held up a jar with a small purple butterfly in it. “Look what I found.”
“Oh, wow.” I took it from her and lifted it in the air. “Almost a shame to have to kill this little guy.”
“Hey. You okay?” Her expression softened me, pulling me back from the angst that my family always seemed to cause.
“Yeah, I will be.” I set the jar down and picked up an empty one. “I need to get to the gym in a little while, so I might skip out on dinner tonight. My dad leaves me itching to beat someone’s ass. The punching bags in the weight room have more indents from my fists than I care to disclose.”
She smiled and nodded. “No problem. I appreciate you coming out here to do this for the afternoon. Let’s get a few more and then I’ll get Jayce to take you back to campus.”
I reached out and brushed the back of my fingers down her arm. “Let’s talk about us for a few minutes before we get back to this.”
“All right.” Her tone changed as if she could sense that I was going to pull back. I hated myself for even thinking about it, but the woman in front of me was better than a few lusty nights.
“You know I’m headed to Washington most likely after this season.”
“To the Caps? I didn’t know that.” A smile tugged at the side of her perfect mouth. “Did you already get the call? That’s exciting!”
The authenticity in her expression melted me, and I brushed my fingers over her shoulder again as my chest ached.
“It is, but nothing is set in stone just yet. They called Coach, but you know that old geezer can’t keep shit to himself.” I chuckled and took a step back as Jayce called to us from the house.
“You guys need something to drink?” He dropped his hands from his face and lifted them in a questioning stance.
“No thanks,” I yelled back before looking at Aubrey. “I’m not willing to start something with you that I can’t finish. I want to, but I can’t be that kind of guy with you. You know what I mean?”
She knelt by the jars and looked up at me with need in her expression. “And why do you assume I’m asking for something long-term? Maybe I just want to mount the captain of the team and tell the world about how good he is in the sack.”
I laughed and shook my head. “You don’t mean that.”
“Yeah, you’re right.” She stood up and slid her hands into her back pockets. “I don’t know what I mean, to be honest. I’m attracted to you, and if you had another year here, I would push until you relented to me, but maybe that’s a mistake.”
“It wouldn’t take much.” I turned and slid my fingers along the side of her face. “I just can’t invest in something that isn’t going to last. You have another year here. You know?”
She pressed her hand to mine and turned, kissing my palm several times as my body woke up and screamed for me to move in and stop dicking around. So what if I had to leave in a few months? That was still a few months for us to work up to something incredible.
“I don’t want to have this conversation.” She smiled as tears filled her pretty brown eyes. “I was wrong thinking that I did. It’s more fun to just be friends and let something happen between us if it does.”
“Do you want it to?” I moved in as Jayce cleared his throat and moved up beside us.
“Am I interrupting something?” He lifted an eyebrow and glanced between the two of us.
“Aren’t you always?” Aubrey moved back and wiped at her eyes as Jayce turned toward me and narrowed his eyes.
“What’s going on?”
Shit.
“I’m just tired, Jayce.” Aubrey tugged at his T-shirt. “Go grab us a glass of lemonade and we’ll finish this up. It’s nothing that Lucas did.”
He continued to stare at me, and I wasn’t willing to lie, but in all honesty, I wasn’t sure why she was crying. I hadn’t crushed anything we’d worked up to, nor had I really denied her. I’d only been honest with my concerns about where things seemed to be heading, which felt like a legitimate conversation.
“You sure?” Jayce turned back to her and stood there for a few more seconds as she reassured him.
I picked up another jar and moved over to a patch of small purple flowers that just seemed to poke up out of the ground. A bee buzzed around me, and I jerked the jar toward it, capturing it as it stung my fingers. “Fuck.”
“You all right?” Aubrey moved over and glanced down at me.
I turned to see Jayce walking back to the house, his posture showing his anger.
“I’m good. I hate to see your brother pissed at me, but I guess I had it coming.” I stood up and handed her the jar before working to get the stinger out of my hand. “I’m not saying that I’m not incredibly attracted to you or that I don’t want to spend the next three months getting to know you, Aubrey. I’m just trying to be careful here.”
“I understand, but I’m a big girl. I don’t need your protection.”
“What do you need then?” I couldn’t help but ask.
She pulled a piece of paper out of her back pocket and glanced down. “One black beetle and a flea or tick.”
I laughed and shook my head at her. She always seemed to have an out in difficult conversations. Maybe I should take a note from her book, or spiral as it were.
Chapter 19
Lucas
I thought maybe taking a day off from being around her would be good for me, but it only seemed to leave me agitated and ready to buckle. I’d been fighting my whole life to be someone that Bret would be proud of, and here I was, ready to drop my pretenses and let a woman—no, a girl—into my heart. She’d destroy me, just like Lisa destroyed my brother. We might look indestructible, but there was a tombstone at the grave just outside my dad’s church that spoke otherwise.
I ran my fingers through my hair and walked into a meeting with my senior advisor and Coach Billows. It’d been scheduled for quite some time, but it seemed to have snuck up on me. Just like everything else was doing lately.
“There’s the man of the hour.” Dr. Dement stood up and extended his hand to me. “Come on in, Lucas. Have a seat, son.”
“Dr. Dement.” I nodded at the portly older man and turned my attention to my mentor. “Coach.”
“Hey, buddy. Have a seat. You want something to drink?” His eyes were filled with an odd pride he always seemed to feel around his players. It was one of the many reasons we played so hard for him.
“You got vodka?” I laughed and they joined me.
“No, but we should definitely think about making that a staple in some of these meetings. I think yours is going to be my favorite this year, though.” Dr. Dement squeezed my shoulder and smiled. “Your grades are looking great for your business degree and you played like the champ you are all season long. I wish we could clone you and just fill the campus with Jerry White’s boys.”
“Don’t tell my dad that. He’s already got ego issues.” I smirked, feeling rather uncomfortable. I was good with hearing that I was on the right path, but being doted on felt odd after hav
ing my dad browbeat me every chance he got.
“So the good news is that you’re gonna graduate near the top of your class, and that puts you in the bottom category for the cum laude designation. Good job, from an academic standpoint, Lucas.” He squeezed my shoulder again and glanced over at Coach as his smile reached his eyes. “Tell him the good part.”
“I told him some of it.” Coach leaned back in his chair, and his eyes got misty. “You know I’m proud of you, right? That in all my years of coaching, you’re the closest thing I have to a favorite player?”
“Are you hitting on me?” I smiled and tried to calm the torrent of emotions that raced through me. I’d forgotten that graduating and getting on with life meant no more Coach Billows lifting me up and breaking me down, making me stronger and better and faster. It was a part of my college life that was going to be sorely missed.
“No, we’ll leave that to all the ladies out there.” Dr. Dement laughed loudly. “One of the cheerleaders for the football team mentioned that we should get shirts made up with your face on them so we can sell more merchandise at all the games.”
I rolled my eyes and turned back to Coach. “Spill the news. What’s up?”
“You already know the pros are sending their scouts to the Frozen Four. They do that every year.”
“Yep.” I nodded and clasped my hands over my stomach.
“The Washington Caps have you listed as the number one draft pick for the nation, so it’s going to be fierce competition during this tournament to make you look like you’re not worthy of that title. They’ve not announced that yet, but you and I both know that every coach in the tournament lineup is having this same conversation with their star player.”
“But they’re advising their boy to take our boy out. Right?” Dr. Dement leaned forward and pressed his thick arms to his thighs.