“What about Sam? He’s married to Tyler’s sister, isn’t he?”
Kaden shook his head and ignored her attempt to make sense. “We’re not talking about them. We’re talking about you.”
“You aren’t going to micromanage my life for me. I never let you do it before, and I’m certainly not letting you do it now.”
“Fine.” Kaden shuffled his feet and stared at the floor. Kassie knew better than to think anything was fine.
“You want a donut?” Luc asked again, not to break the tension, but solely to be an ass.
Kassie ignored Luc for the moment. He wasn’t making this any easier on himself, but at the same time, her brother needed to just chill. She walked up to her brother. Her voice was calm, and she made a point to no longer yell. Sometimes an angry whisper was scarier anyway. “You deal with your household, and I’ll deal with mine. No friendly brawls in practice, and no accidently injuring Luc to send a message.”
Kaden shook his head. “Sorry, Kass. On the ice, it’s just me and him.” Kaden gave Luc a look of death before he stormed out of her apartment, no goodbyes, just slamming the door behind him.
“Well, that was fun,” Luc said after Kaden was gone.
“I thought I told you to stay in the bedroom.”
“You did.” Luc wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to him. “But I couldn’t let him talk to you like that. It wasn’t fair.”
Kassie put her palms on Luc’s chest. “Luc, I know you mean well, but he’s my brother. I can handle myself. Plus, his bark is worse than his bite. He just needs to say his piece, even if it is annoying.”
“Oh, I have no doubt that you can handle yourself, sweets. I just didn’t like that you had to be the one getting yelled at. I’m part of this, too. He didn’t need to zero in on only you.”
Well, look at that, he really is my very own knight in shining armor. Life has an odd way of working out. I always swore I’d never get involved with an athlete, and then I went and fell for this hockey boy.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Luc
The buzz of Luc’s cell phone woke him up from his afternoon nap. Hoping it was Kassie, he didn’t mind the interruption. Things had been crazy, ending up in bed with her and then Kaden knocking down the door like the big bad wolf. Then there was more overdue bedroom fun for the rest of the afternoon and into the next day. It was an exhausting, yet satisfying, use of his days off. It took a moment before his eyes focused on the phone. But it wasn’t Kassie. It was an unfamiliar number. He was already awake, so he might as well answer it.
He tried to clear his rough voice as he grumbled into the phone. “Hello?”
The male voice at the other end was familiar. “Luc? It’s Drake.”
Drake was a guy Luc had met after spending way too many nights at the local casino. Luc had been young and new to the Renegades, didn’t know many people in the city, and in the beginning, money and fast women were a comforting replacement for friends.
Drake, an employee at the casino, had befriended him. Drake kept an eye on him and made sure he didn’t overdo it at the table games. Being young and stupid, a buddy like Drake was just what Luc had needed.
Maybe he was just still sleepy, but he was confused as to why Drake was calling him. Luc hadn’t been to the casino lately. He had Kassie and actual friends now; he didn’t need to gamble.
“Luc, I have your dad here.” Drake’s words rattled around Luc’s brain.
“My dad?” Luc pulled the phone away from his ear and double checked the date. The annual Dads’ Trip, when the players’ fathers got to spend a week of hockey life with their sons, was in a few days. It was important to the players, and it gave the dads a chance to see inside their sons’ world of hockey. They got to experience every step of the away trip, breakfast, the bus, meetings, practices, the plane, and games in the suite. Then back home for more. But Luc wasn’t expecting his dad for at least another day.
“Yeah. It wasn’t easy getting him to admit his identity. He’s not in any trouble, but I really think you should come get him before he is.”
Drake didn’t have to say much more. Luc knew the situation. He’d been through this a few times as a teen. He had lost his mom to illness when he was five, and his dad hadn’t handled it well. His father had worked a lot to provide for them, but after a full day of hockey, and once Luc was tucked away in bed, his dad would often turn to the bottle. After Luc moved away to play juniors, the drinking got worse. It was his dad’s selfish way of coping with being alone.
Young Luc would help out by making peanut butter sandwiches and mac ’n’ cheese for dinner and have it ready when his dad got home from work.
“You still there, Luc?”
Shaking the past away, like he had done so many times before, Luc snapped back to reality. “Yeah. I’m here. Can you hold him till I get there?”
“Absolutely, my friend. See you soon.”
Luc lay in his bed, staring at the cell phone. The call was now disconnected, but he couldn’t help questioning the conversation he just had. Over the last year, his dad had gotten better with the gambling, or so Luc had thought.
Tossing his cell phone to the comforter, Luc’s glance moved along his walls. He had framed his Renegades jersey and hung it up. He had a stick signed by all his Renegades teammates, as well as one from his minor team. There was other memorabilia in his closet; he just never got around to putting them up. They would be best displayed in a large house with a man cave. His bachelor pad was nice, but not worth all his memories. Plus, in earlier years, he would’ve had to worry about bunnies taking them while he was asleep.
His phone buzzed again. Slowly reaching for his phone, he assumed it was Drake telling him how difficult his dad was being. But it wasn’t. This time it was Kassie. Her timing couldn’t have been worse.
Kassie: Since there’s no game tonight, you wanna grab some lunch or early dinner?
If only he could do that, rather than deal with his dad, who was more than likely drunk. Drake didn’t say as much, but Luc knew how things went at the casino. He played and won, then kept playing, and when his winnings ran out, he kept playing and added alcohol. That’s what Luc had done his early days alone in a big city. The next day hangover was never fun, either. It didn’t take long for Luc to figure out that wasn’t who he wanted to be.