Breakaway (Pro-U #1) (10 page)

Lucas

"It isn't true." She gave me a cheeky 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 wasn'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 deserves 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 glass 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 down 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 in 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 tic."

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.

Two Days Later

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 having 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 as 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 line up 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.

"That's right." Coach lifted his eyebrows a little. "You’re going to go places that most people could never even dream of going. Just get in the gym and on the track and get your body ready for what's coming. It's going to be ugly."

"I get it." I wanted to feel excited about being the best, but I had more of a sense of relief. My father would be incredibly pleased and it would get him off my back for a little while, if nothing else. "I'll start working harder. We have Spring Break coming up and I'm not going anywhere. I'll just use that time to get stronger."

"Good idea." Coach smiled. "Do you have any questions or concerns for us? Anything you need to know about graduation?"

"Nope. I'm ready to move forward. I've been training Jayce Moore and trying hard to get William Tanner to behave. The kid's got a lot of talent, he's just a lot like my brother was. Wild as hell." I brushed my hands over the front of my shirt, hoping that coach would get my hidden message about the drug issue without me having to say too much.

"All right. Let me know what I can do to help. You guys take far too much on yourselves with these rookies." Coach popped the desk. "Let's go over your grades and then you can get out of here."

*

I walked out of the meeting and headed straight to the gym to work myself into a sweaty mess. The news from coach and Dr. Dement was all good, which I somewhat expected, but it felt like another step toward leaving Providence, which left me torn up inside. I couldn't stop thinking about Aubrey and how letting her any closer was a huge mistake that would bite both of us in the ass if we weren’t careful. Anger drove through the center of my stomach as indecision pulled me from one extreme to the other.

I needed to leave her be and let her find someone that would get to enjoy her senior year with her, which wasn't me. I would be all over the fucking country and my focus would be on my new team and trying to prove myself once again to a whole new group of coaches.

My phone buzzed and I picked it up to see Jayce calling.

"’Sup man?" I bent down and grabbed my towel from the floor to mop up my forehead while I had the chance.

"Dude, get over here when you can. We're at Mersky’s having a beer, and fucking Will is toked again. I swear, man. I can't deal with this shit anymore. I signed up to play hockey and lead these unruly fuckers on the ice, not in life. I'm not a father figure like you are and this bitch won't listen to me. He's put his hands on my sister more than once in the last two hours, and I'm about to break the front door with his face."

"On Aubrey?" Every muscle in my body went ridged.

"Yes. I only have one sister, you meathead. Get over here and help me. Everyone’s drunk as shit." He let out a long sigh, and I felt for the guy, but he had some growing up to do too. A team wasn't just a team on the ice. It was a brotherhood, and that meant busting balls when necessary and having conversations that were hard and sucked like hell. It was all part of the deal.

"I'm headed that way. Get him in a corner and have Lizzy or one of the other Ice Queens sit on his lap to keep him still." I growled at the thought of him touching my girl. "It might be best if you guys take him home. I'm likely to kill him if he's upset your sister."

"I get that. It's the reason I called, though I'm likely to kill you if you don't stop playing around and tell me what the fuck is up. You're like a brother to me, and someone better come clean soon," he barked in the phone at me.

"All right. I'll be there soon and we'll talk." I dropped the call and jogged toward the showers, washing up quickly and getting over to the bar.

I walked in to the sound of cheers and laughter. The place was packed from the front to the back with students enjoying the half-price Wednesday drafts and replays of our season on the ten T.V.s in the place.

"Hey. Where is he?" I stopped by Jayce and scanned the room for Aubrey, not finding her.

"Fuck." Jayce glanced around. "He was just here. He was sitting with Lizzy."

I moved through the crowd and found Lizzy laughing with some other girls. I touched her elbow and smiled down at her as she turned and let out a soft holler.

"There you are! The Captain of the Friars, ladies and gents!" she announced and slid her arms up my chest. "We've been waiting on you. It's not a party without our leader."

I wrapped my hands around her wrists and pulled her arms off me carefully. "Where is Will? I need to see him."

"He's out back, smoking I think." She reached for me again. "Come back to the Ice House with me. I miss you."

"Not right now." I moved through the crowd, still looking for Aubrey as I moved through the long corridor to the back exit. I hit the door hard and glanced to my left in time to see Aubrey slap William hard.

"I said no, asshole." She turned and walked toward me, her face a mask of indifference, but I could see hurt in her eyes.

"Hey. What the fuck is going on?" I grabbed her arm and pulled her back to me.

"Nothing. He's stoned and I was trying to help before Jayce tore his head off, but he's an asshole." She jerked her hand from me. "I'm going home."

"You're waiting on me." I pulled her closer and gripped her chin softly, forcing her to look up at me. "Understand? I don't want you alone."

"Fine. Whatever." She turned and walked toward the door and I moved toward William. The kid was bent over, laughing his ass off as if he'd just heard the funniest joke in the world.

I gripped him by the neck and jerked him up, lifting him off his feet as I pressed him to the wall behind him. "Tell me one good reason why I shouldn’t have you thrown off this team? I've warned you too many times. You're a fucking idiot to waste your talent."

"You don't know shit, golden boy," he choked out and kicked at me.

I reached up and sucker punched him twice in the face as he cried out and dropped to the ground.

"Yep. I don't, but I know this. You're not a Friar anymore, Will. Good luck explaining your shit to Coach tomorrow." I turned and walked back to the pub, devastated that he was giving up. Where I enjoyed hockey and would take the lifestyle that came with it, Will coveted it. He loved it and had been busting his ass his whole life for a chance like I was getting with Washington. Now he was throwing it away - just like my brother did.

"Wait. Please. Please, Lucas. I'm sorry man. Really. Please." He rolled over and started to laugh uncontrollably again.

"Fuck you, dude." I walked back into the pub and found Jayce. "He's out back. Leave his ass there. I'll talk to Coach tomorrow about everything. I'm done."

"You sure? That would be it for him, Lucas."

"What else can we do? You couldn't even handle him yourself today." I glanced around again. "Where is Aubrey?"

"Walking home. She's pissed." He tapped my chest. "Watch yourself around my sister."

"Not now, Jayce." I pulled my keys from my pocket and looked around. "You good dealing with these other guys? I'm going to make sure your sister is all right."

"All right, but I'm telling you... she's in a mood. Better to just leave her alone."

"I can't." I nodded to him and turned, moving through the crowd as quickly as I could. I would catch up to her on my bike and take her for a ride. As long as we didn't end up at anyone's house, we'd be good.