Hooking

by Allen, Kristine

  The knocking on the door started as rapid, but quickly escalated to a frantic pounding. Dumbly, I stared at the door through the haze of my stupid tears.

  “Sydney!” I heard through the wood, but I couldn’t answer. The pounding stopped for a moment. Then the door opened, and I stared through my tears at my brother.

  “Jake?”

  He pulled me in his arms and held me. “Sorry, I couldn’t find the key you gave me. Then I remembered I put it in my center console.”

  “What are you doing here? What’s wrong?” I cried, unable to stop the tears. Sniffles, hiccups, and shudders shook me.

  “Uncle Simon called me. Told me I needed to find you. I took a chance you were here when you didn’t answer your phone. Good thing I hadn’t gone far, huh? Who do I need to beat the shit out of?” He smoothed my hair and held me until the sobs finally died down.

  “I’m sorry.” I sucked in a shaky breath as I sniffled. “I don’t know why I’m being so emotional and ridiculous.”

  “Shh, It’s all right. Don’t sweat the small stuff. We shared a womb, remember? That’s what I’m here for—to share in the big stuff too.” I snuffled as I laughed, and it came out a lot like a snort.

  “God, I’m so stupid,” I said.

  “You’re not stupid. You graduated with honors, Syd,” he said, trying to make me feel better. It really wasn’t working, because we were talking apples and oranges.

  “Not that. I love him, and I didn’t even know him,” I said with a sniffle.

  “Shit,” he muttered and held me tighter. I rubbed my nose on his shirt.

  “Did you just wipe your snot on me?” he asked in horror. But in his defense, he didn’t push me away. Giggling a little, I nodded.

  “You’re so gross, and so lucky I love your snotty ass. Ugh,” he said, and I looked up in time to see his lip curl and nose wrinkle.

  Humor bubbled up inside and burst out. “Oh my God,” I said through tears mixed with laughter. “I’m an emotional catastrophe.”

  Thanks to my earlier sobbing, I was still taking shuddering breaths. Suddenly, all the emotion and crying that shook me had my stomach revolting, and I scrambled to my feet.

  Unfortunately, I didn’t make it to the bathroom before I hurled all over the floor.

  “Oh, no.” Jake started to gag. He’d never been able to handle vomit. Before I knew it, he was shoving past me, slipping in my puke, and diving for the toilet. He might’ve made it, but he tracked it to the bathroom.

  Feeling better after emptying the contents of my sick stomach, I grabbed a roll of paper towels, some all-purpose cleaner, and some grocery bags.

  Nose wrinkled in distaste, I clean up my mess and the mess Jake had tracked into the bathroom. He was leaning over the toilet when I got to him. “Did you get it cleaned up?” he groaned.

  “Yes, you big baby,” I said as I sniffled, then giggled. “You really suck at comforting someone who’s sick.”

  “Ugh, fuck off. I didn’t come here thinking you were going to,” he gagged, “puke.”

  “Well, I didn’t know I’d get my stomach so shook up that it would happen,” I argued in my defense.

  He raised his dark head. Baleful blue eyes met mine. “Did you eat?”

  “How can you ask me about food while you still have your head hanging over the toilet?”

  He shrugged unapologetically. “I’m hungry. Especially now that I just finished purging my stomach of any and all contents it held. I’d stopped at that burger place up the road and had barely finished the last bite of the best greasy burger when Uncle Simon called me.”

  “Yeah, why would he call you?” I asked with my arms crossed.

  “Really? Hello. Twins,” he said, as if it was all the explanation anyone would need. In a way, he was right.

  “Well, I’m not cooking,” I said with a disgusted face. The thought of cooking was making my stomach roil again.

  “We’ll order a pizza. Pepperoni and mushrooms.” He named my favorite pizza. Well, it used to be. Except when I visualized it, my stomach heaved again, and I shoved him to the side so I could retch into the toilet.

  My actions spawned his again, and he leaned over the tub. “Nooooo!” I tried to get out. Thankfully, nothing came out for him, and he only dry heaved.

  “You’re lucky you didn’t just puke in my tub, or you’d have been cleaning it,” I growled.

  “Oh please, stop! Don’t talk about it!” He held his stomach as he whined like a bitch.

  “No food,” I gasped.

  “Agreed,” he repeated.

  We both brushed our teeth.

  He ended up staying with me until I fell asleep on my couch. I had the best brother ever.

  “Buried Alive”—Avenged Sevenfold

  Simon had held me back when I tried to go after her. I was pissed and fighting him until he looked at me and barked, “Alex! Stop! Or I’ll do whatever’s necessary to have you thrown off the team.”

  His words got through to me, and I dropped my shoulders. He gave me a shove as he let me go, causing me to stumble back and to the ground.

  “What?” I asked in disbelief, sitting on my ass in the yard.

  He leaned toward me as he gritted his teeth. “I don’t know what the fuck my niece was doing getting dragged into your shit show, but it’s obvious there’s more than her stopping by to go over foundation stuff with you. Whatever it was, is over. Done. Do you hear me? You stay the hell away from her.”

  His niece? What the fuck? Putting that aside to analyze at a later time, I clenched my jaw. I heard him loud and clear, but in my head I was plotting how to explain what the fuck had happened and trying to figure out a way to get her to forgive me. For once in my life, I’d found something that was more important to me than hockey, and I’d managed to fuck it up.

  I hadn’t been lying to her.

  “I’m going to try to get this mess figured out. We’ve demanded a rush on the paternity test due to the current circumstances. Keep your nose clean and your business private. That means leave Sydney out of this. I was dead serious.” Simon certainly didn’t have the same friendly countenance he’d had the morning before.

  My brother walked out the front door. “What the hell is going on?”

  I looked over my shoulder to where he stood on the front porch. With his eyes narrowed, he looked from me to Simon, who threw his hands up to pull on his hair.

  “I’m trying so hard to stay professional with you right now,” he gritted out.

  “Well, can we bring this inside before we make more of a spectacle out here? There has already been one person driving by to gawk.” My brother crossed his arms and glared at me and Simon.

  Without argument, we all moved inside. I slammed the door, and the baby started crying again. “Shit!” I groaned as we stopped into the kitchen.

  Mattie came walking out holding the baby, who was snuffling. She really grown since the last time I saw her, when my brother first got patched and I flew down for his patch party.

  “What the heck are y’all doing here? I just got him settled down and someone slams the door.” She looked ready to choke one of us.

  Sheepishly, I raised my hand. “Sorry, kid,” I said.

  “I’m not a kid anymore, Alex. I’m almost eighteen,” she drawled with an unamused expression. Shit, I’d never peg her for that young. Smoke was so screwed with her.

  “Don’t remind me,” Cooper groaned. Mattie rolled her eyes. “And that’s Uncle Alex to you,” he grumbled. As if the kid had any interest in me. She had never acted in the least inappropriate, nor like she looked at me as anything other than a cool hockey player she knew.

  “Mattie, thanks for coming over to help. You have no idea how much this means.” My palms pressed to my eyes, I sighed, then dropped my hands.

  “It’s no problem at all. He’s really pretty sweet. He was just hungry and wet. But I have school, so I won’t be able to watch him tomorrow.” She appeared apologetic, and I started to panic. We didn’t h
ave a game on Wednesday, but by Thursday, I needed someone to watch him.

  “It’s okay. We’ll figure something out. I’ll see if we can vet a nanny. There must be a reputable agency that can help us on short notice,” Simon said as he clutched the back of his neck, kneading the tense muscles. He’d lost the suit jacket, and it hung from one of the breakfast bar stools.

  “I put a call in to Gunny’s ol’ lady. She works with CPS, but she will keep everything under the radar. I can stay for tonight to help and we’ll tag-team. I’ve had experience with all the kids that keep popping out left and right with the brothers’ ol’ ladies. Who would’ve thought I’d be teaching you how to change diapers,” Coop offered with a snicker. I glared at him.

  “Thank God,” Simon muttered. “Okay, there’s not much else I can do. I only stopped by on my way home to make sure everything was okay with you. Now I kind of wish I’d stayed away. I’ll call you as soon as I hear anything about an agency and the paternity test. Alex, you’re a good kid, but you need to clean up your act. You know you’re not supposed to fraternize with franchise employees. Syd likes her job, and she shouldn’t lose it because of you.”

  “I agree. But as our team attorney, I’d have thought you’d know there’s no hard and fast rule that says that. Sydney isn’t an ice girl. Those are the only ones that are absolutely forbidden. It’s not my fault the franchise didn’t get specific with the other employees.” My argument was valid, but I knew I was poking the bear.

  When his nostrils flared, I knew I was right, yet still couldn’t find it in me to be remorseful. He pointed a finger toward me. “Don’t play fuck-fuck with me, Kosinski. I promise you, I know the game better than you do.”

  He left, and there was a momentary silence as Mattie, Coop, and I stood there.

  “Syd is really his niece?” Cooper finally asked.

  “I guess. I don’t know why it never occurred to me. They have the same last name, but I usually just thought of him as Simon.” I sighed heavily.

  “Mattie? Can you give us a minute?” Cooper asked, and she nodded, then took the baby to the other room. Growling in frustration, I yanked on my hair.

  “Hell, I don’t even know the kid’s name. What the fuck?” I muttered.

  “Did you look to see if she gave you any paperwork, or did she just dump him?”

  “I tore through the bag she left. It had about five changes of clothes, enough of that formula crap to make one bottle—that as you know didn’t last long—some diapers, and random toys. There was the car seat she left on the front porch, and that’s it.” About dead on my feet, I dropped into a barstool.

  Cooper, never one to believe things without seeing for himself, emptied the contents of the bag I’d already searched. He checked every pocket, same as I had. Then he shook the cart seat upside down.

  Nothing.

  Except, he wasn’t one to stop there. He took the padded lining of the car seat apart too.

  Still nothing.

  “Told you,” I grumbled.

  Then he went back to the bag. “Dude, we both already checked that.”

  “I know, but surely she couldn’t have dropped him off with you with nothing. What if he had to go to the doctor?”

  “I don’t think she really gave two shits,” I muttered. “For fuck sake, she dropped her own kid off with a perfect stranger and left for goddamn Mexico with some rich fucker.”

  “True,” he agreed as he looked over the bag with a fine-tooth comb. As he rolled the empty bag around in his hands, we both heard a crinkling sound. Our eyes met. He went back to the bag.

  That’s when he saw a zipper that was almost hidden with the padding that ran along the seam. We’d likely missed hearing the sound of the papers due to Junior Jones crying so much when we both checked the bag before.

  After unzipping it, he pulled out what appeared to be a birth certificate and a couple of envelopes. One held a social security card. The baby’s name was Hank Isaac Moore.

  “Who the fuck names a cute little baby Hank, for fuck sake?” I asked. “And his initials spell H-I-M. Is she on crack?”

  “Jesus. I didn’t even know you could list a father as ‘unknown’ on a birth certificate,” Cooper said as he looked over the papers and handed them on to me.

  “What else are you supposed to put? You can’t just shove a name in there,” I said, then snorted.

  “Well, you could. Honestly, I’m surprised she didn’t.”

  “She was probably trying to figure out who had the biggest paycheck and didn’t want to limit her options,” I said with a sigh. “Christ how did this happen?”

  He stopped and blinked at me. “Uh, do you really need me to tell you?”

  “I’m not talking about that, you dumbass,” I said as I gave him a look that told him to eat shit.

  “I was gonna say.” He chuckled, then got serious. “Regardless of how it happened, you need to get your shit together. I don’t care what the suit said, you need to contact Sydney and tell her what the fuck is going on. Unless she doesn’t mean anything to you and you’re okay with her walking away.”

  He knew damn well that wasn’t the case. I closed my eyes and tipped my head back.

  “Yeah, that’s what I thought. While Mattie and I are here, why don’t you call her?”

  Maybe because I was afraid she’d hang up on me?

  I sighed and brought my head forward as I opened my eyes to look at my brother. “What if she tells me to fuck off?”

  “Then you either grab yourself by the fucking balls and fight for her, or you walk away. Your choice,” he said as he crossed his arms. My fingers clutched my hair. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror by my dining room table. I looked like absolute crap on a stick.

  Taking a sniff at my shirt, I wrinkled my nose and pulled it over my head. “I stink,” I said with a grimace.

  “Yeah, dude, you really do, but I wasn’t trying to make your day worse.”

  “Gee, thanks,” I said with a mirthless laugh as I pulled my phone out of my back pocket. For a few seconds I stared at it like it was an alien object. Then I paced.

  I looked at my phone again.

  “It’s not going to call her for you,” Coop said before he walked off down the hall.

  He was right. I pressed her contact information and it started to ring. She didn’t answer, so I left a message. Then I decided that was the coward’s way out. So I called again.

  When she didn’t answer the second time, I called again.

  On that last call, she finally picked up. Except it wasn’t her.

  “What the fuck do you want?” a man’s voice asked.

  “Barely Breathing”—Duncan Sheik

  When my phone rang for the third time, my brother gave me a pointed look. “Are you going to answer that or am I? He’s not going to stop. I’ll give him an A for persistence.”

  “I’ll give him an A for asshole. You can answer it, for all I care,” I mumbled into my pillow. Jake was lying next to me. He hadn’t left me since I cleaned up the mess of puke. Thankfully, he took his shoes off before he settled in next to me to keep me company. He was really trying for best brother award.

  Maybe I didn’t think he’d actually do it, but he sure as hell did. “What the fuck do you want?” He growled into the phone.

  My head popped up in surprise.

  There was silence. Then I could hear Alex ask, “Who the fuck is this?”

  “Not the guy who made her cry. Now I’ll ask you again, what the fuck do you want?”

  “Ask her to call Alex,” he said tightly.

  “I’ll think about it.” My brother was intentionally being a dick. I rose up to my elbow.

  “Give me the phone,” I whispered. Jake raised a dark brow and gave me a look that said he wasn’t done playing. I held out my hand. Though I may have been upset, I couldn’t deny the part of me that still craved to hear what Alex had to say. I deserved answers.

  Finally, he rolled his eyes and handed me the phone. �
��You’re no fun at all. I could’ve easily strung that out for another several minutes.” He went back to his phone, but I knew he was listening.

  “What do you want, Alex?” I asked, proud of how I was able to keep my voice from wavering.

  “We need to talk. This wasn’t what you thought. Today, I mean. When you came over.” He was stuttering, and he stopped to suck in a deep breath and exhaled roughly. “I need to talk to you.”

  “So talk.”

  “Can you come over? Please?”

  “Uh, I don’t think so,” I huffed in disbelief that he’d want me there with his baby and baby mama. That was likely the last thing on my list of to-do’s.

  “I probably don’t have the right to ask, but who answered the phone?” His voice was definitely firmer than it was before, yet I caught a waver of uncertainty. In fact, there might have been a hint of jealousy—which served him right.

  “You’re right. You don’t.” My brother snorted next to me, and I swatted him.

  “Please. I—Hold on.” The phone muffled and I could hear him talking. The reply sounded like a man’s voice. That had me wondering if my uncle was still there. It also had me wondering what he’d been doing there to begin with.

  He came back on the line. “If it’s okay with you, I can come over. Please, Syd. It’s important.”

  I sighed heavily. “Alex, I don’t know.” That was the God’s honest truth, because I could already feel the tears building. Thankfully, I was able to blink them away, but they hovered in the background, waiting for the littlest provocation to fall.

  “Fifteen minutes. That’s all I need, and I’ll leave.”

  My brother gave me a side eye.

  Ignoring him, I closed my eyes, pressed my lips in a flat line, and tried to gather my control. Then I caved like I always did when it came to Alex, but this time on my terms. “Okay. But I won’t be alone.”

  A tired sigh carried over the line. “I understand. I’m on my way. Thanks, Syd, I’ll see you soon.”