Worth the Fall (11 page)

He hissed through his teeth, wanting to throw her legs and body well away from him, and yet not wanting her gone from beneath him. He just needed to move his damn leg away….

But it was too late. She did some kind of gymnastic half-twist, half-roll away from him and she was off the bed on the other side. He pawed at the sheets, like he could pull her back to him, but she was shaking her head. She pulled down her sweater and stepped further away.

“
It doesn’t hurt. I mean, it did at first, but it’s fine now.” He held his hand out to her, still off balance from her sudden departure. “No damage done.”

Wrong thing to say. Her head was shaking and it sounded like a small snort of half disgust and half laughter escaped from her. Her hand flew to her mouth as if to take the strangled sound back. Her fingers moved over her lips, puffy from their rough kisses.

She walked quickly around the bed and to the door.

“
Al, wait,” he pleaded, but she was nearly out the door. But then she stopped. Thank God she stopped, though she kept her back to him. Her movements in front of her body indicated that she tucked her breasts back into her bra. What a waste.

She slowly shook her head.
“I’m so sorry, I never meant for that to happen.”

“
My knee’s fine. I don’t even feel it anymore,” he replied, though he knew that’s not what she’d meant.

“
That’s not what I meant and you know it,” said the frickin’ Mensa member.

“
Come back, Al,” he said quietly, but she was already shaking her head, still not even looking back at him. “Look at me, for Christ’s sake.”

She slowly turned around. Yep, her breasts were safely back in her bra cups. But it was the resolved look on her face that bothered him the most.

“I have no problem with you being here, Petey.” At his raised brow, she went on, “Really. Whatever else, you are my friend, and it really does seem to be the best solution. But—”

Did any good sentence ever start out with
“but”? He motioned for her to continue, wanting the set-down over with.

“
But what just happened cannot happen again.” Her voice grew firmer as she spoke, like she was gaining momentum. “I’m happy to have you stay here while you recover. But it’s obvious you can get your own food and get yourself in and out of bed by yourself.”

“
I never said I couldn’t. Nobody expected you to play nursemaid.”

“
Right. Exactly. And I’m gone so much of the time anyway, and you’ll need to be resting. Well, it shouldn’t be a problem.” She waved her hands between them. “This much proximity. But, Petey, seriously, it’s not going to happen again.” She gave him her schoolmarm look and left.

Eighteen years of trying—granted, not very hard and not very often, but still sometimes trying—to get close to her on more than a friendly level. Whenever he did, she
’d pull that look on him and walk away.

And he always let her, figuring after what had happened all those years ago that he didn
’t really have the right to ask for more.

But as she walked out that door, and as he sat with the rest of his life ahead of him, he knew that he wasn
’t going to let a pouty look stop him this time.

“
Walk away then, Alison,” he said loudly though he knew she’d hear him in the hallway of the small cottage. “I can’t chase you
now
.” He emphasized the last word and waited to hear her bedroom door shut—or more likely slam. When he heard nothing, he loudly added, “But my knee is going to heal. And you won’t be able to walk away then. And if you do…I can chase you.”

Now
he heard the door slam.

***

That…that…super-ego, super-sized neanderthal.

Alison took off her slacks and threw them in the general vicinity of the guest room hamper. Her fury grew as she pulled her sweater over her head and remembered the rough way Petey had shoved it out of his way. She cursed herself as she pulled her bra off and reached for her thermal top, wanting to cover up her aching breasts. Breasts
he
made ache.

How
dare
he insinuate he’d come after her, whether in the literal or metaphorical sense. Where was he all these years? Oh, sure, there were a couple of times each summer when he’d sniff around a little bit after a night of too much beer and friendliness. But only because he was bored out of season and probably horny without all the groupies around.

She
’d pretend not to notice, or quietly shut him down, not wanting to be just a warm body at the end of the evening.

She
’d been that once and look where it’d gotten her.

But he always went back to Detroit for training camp. And she wouldn
’t hear from him again except through Lizzie, Katie, or a group email to the whole gang.

She slid off her panties, trying not to notice her other achy parts. Peeled off her socks and pulled on her flannel pajama bottoms. She went to the drawer in the dresser where she
’d hurriedly thrown a bunch of things this morning. Damn. She’d forgotten to throw in a pair of her fuzzy sleeping socks.

No way in hell was she going back in there—she
’d just suffer through cold feet tonight.

Chase her
? Right. He’d never chased a woman in his life—had never needed to. He just sat back and waited as they flocked to him, his good looks and sports-star profession doing all the heavy lifting.

She pulled down the comforter and top sheet and slid into bed. She knew she
’d need to use the restroom and brush her teeth at the very least, but right now she didn’t want to go anywhere near the hallway bathroom. Not that she didn’t trust herself. No. There was no way in hell she’d make her way back to her room. Still, it might be best to wait for a while. Until she absolutely
had
to use the bathroom.

She rolled onto her side, trying to ignore her body
’s cravings. Trying not to think how close she’d been to…all of it. Holding on tight to this new side of him and doing exactly what he told her.

She couldn
’t even blame his aggressive behavior on pain meds. He’d never been like this with her before when he’d been home for a stay.

Oh, but wait. He wasn
’t going back to Detroit this time. This wasn’t a summer break, but the end of his life as he knew it.

Ah…seemed like some ego functioning at play. Because he
’s lost control of his life he needs to be in control elsewhere.

With perhaps a dollop of transference thrown in. He wouldn
’t be tussling with defensemen on the ice anymore, so why not….

And oh, the tussling had been very, very nice.

But tussling with Petey
had
been nice…both times. Or at least what she allowed herself to remember from the night of Katie’s wedding. The actual tussling wasn’t the problem.

But you couldn
’t spend your whole life…tussling.

If one does not understand a person, one tends to regard him as a fool.

~ Carl Gustav Jung

Eighteen Years Ago

Alison looked around at the stragglers still at the party. Lizzie had left hours ago, wanting to be with the boy she was currently dating. Some guy named Finn that Alison and Katie hadn
’t even bothered to meet. Didn’t seem worth it—he was older, from Houghton, and Lizzie would have some fun with him for a couple of months, tops, then they’d all head off to State.

Katie had left, too, with her boyfriend of the moment. Alison had ridden out to the Lily Pond with them for their graduation party but had assured them she
’d get a ride home with someone else when they’d wanted to leave a couple of hours ago.

Not having a boyfriend to go make out with, Alison wanted to spend the evening chatting with friends around the bonfire and having some laughs while remembering the past thirteen years.

The Lily Pond was a public-access area about ten miles out of Hancock off the road that ran alongside the Portage canal. By day, it was used for people to launch boats onto the canal, since it was only a mile or two downstream from the entry to Lake Superior. By night, it was where high school kids came to party. Not to make out, as it wasn’t private enough for that. It was really nothing more than a large circular parking lot, a long dock and boat launch and—and this was a godsend to said partiers—public johns.

They
’d all had their various graduation parties and open houses earlier in the day. Those were the events for relatives and your parents’ friends. Alison’s older sisters had come home for their baby sister’s big event. They were several years older than she was—she’d been a change of life surprise to her parents—and both had husbands and children. Her grandparents were long gone, with Alison’s parents being so much older than her classmates’. She hadn’t wanted an open house, had wanted the freedom to visit all of her friend’s events. After Alison returned from hitting those up, the Jukuri family had gone out to Gino’s for a celebratory dinner.

Which quickly turned into a lovefest for Sherry and Janis, who were very close but hadn
’t seen each other in a year. Alison loved her sisters, but she hadn’t known them very well, being only three when Sherry left for Central Michigan and five when Janis had gone off to Ferris State. Both had met their future husbands at school and had never returned to Hancock for anything longer than a week here and there in the summer. They came back a bit more frequently once they’d had children, so her parents would get to see their grandchildren. Alison’s oldest nephew was only seven years younger than she.

So, even though the family dinner was in her honor, she
’d felt like an invited guest to the Sherry/Janis reunion. Still, the ravioli was good, as always.

Once the mandatory events were over, the majority of the small class met out at the Lily Pond for their own party. Somebody
’s older brother had bought the keg, and Alison had nursed a red plastic cupful for most of the evening. She’d had a great time chatting up her longtime classmates, most of whom she’d known since kindergarten. Small town, small graduating classes, meant you grew very close. That’s why so many of them dated kids from different grades, or neighboring towns.

Which is what Lizzie had done last year with Petey Ryan. They
’d dated a few months, gone to the junior prom, and then at some point decided they’d be much better friends than lovers (not that they ever were actual
lovers
—that wasn’t in Lizzie’s “plan” until college). By that time, Petey had become tight with Lizzie’s twin Zeke, so he kind of became another brother to them all.

So when Petey loped up to her at the Lily Pond, announced he was leaving and asked if she wanted a ride, it was no big deal. He
’d driven them home from places lots of times. She couldn’t remember ever being alone with him, though.

Oh, who was she kidding? She
’d have definitely remembered some quality alone time with Petey Ryan in a truck. She’d developed a super-huge—and super-secret—crush on the hulking boy when Lizzie’d dated him. One she would have never acted on while her friend dated him, and one she didn’t know how to initiate once they’d become just friends.

Besides, boys like Pete Ryan didn
’t date brainiacs like Alison. They really didn’t even date nice, cute, but no-great-beauties like Lizzie. She had to admit, Petey’s stock soared in Alison’s estimation when he had dated Lizzie, she so seemingly not his type. Though now she suspected that Petey was originally drawn to Lizzie by her niceness. He didn’t know that a boy and girl could be only friends so tried to pursue her in a romantic sense before realizing he really just wanted the deep friendship that Lizzie offered just about everybody.

No, boys like Petey tended to date stunning girls like Katie, but to Alison
’s knowledge, Katie and Petey had never felt drawn to each other. Which raised his stock a little bit more in her eyes.

But if drop-dead gorgeous Katie wasn
’t who he wanted, and neither was everyone’s best friend Lizzie, there was no way in hell that smart—and smart-ass—Alison stood a chance.

“
Yeah, sure, a ride would be great, thanks,” she told him when he asked. She emptied her cup into the bushes then threw the cup in the garbage bin as she followed him across the lot and to his truck. She half expected to see the other Houghton boys who had good-naturedly crashed their party an hour or so ago follow along with them, but they stayed behind. Must have driven in separate cars.

Petey held the passenger-side door open for her. She
’d noticed that about him, that he had good manners. It was a big red Ford truck and usually when he gave them a ride home, Lizzie or Katie, or even Zeke, would give her a boost up. But they weren’t here and she hesitated for a moment and then felt his hands on her hips helping her up. As she moved into the seat, one of his hands slid from her hip to her ass, but that was surely only to help guide her. Wasn’t it? It really wasn’t different from when Lizzie would do it.