Empty Net (13 page)

“I know she’s your twin,” Audrey said with a smile just as Aiden came barreling down the stairs.

“A.A.! Tate is outside!”

“Who?” Piper asked.

From where she sat, Audrey looked out the window and didn’t see anything, but it wasn’t like she could with Aiden’s head blocking most of it.

“He’s making a fire! We should go out there!”

“Who’s Tate?” Piper asked again as Audrey got up and went to the window.

“See, A.A.!” Aiden yelled.

“Yup, I see,” she said as she watched Tate throw a log on a small fire.

What was he doing?

“Can we go out there?” Aiden asked as Piper came up beside her.

“I don’t know,” Audrey said.

“Oh, hot hockey-goalie-lay!”

“Piper!” Audrey shrieked, smacking her on the arm. “Little ears!”

Piper giggled while Aiden paid them no mind. He was too busy slamming his fist against the window.

Aiden shot her a toothless grin before running to the door and throwing it open. “Hey, Tate!”

“Why is hot hockey-goalie-lay making a fire outside your condo?” Piper asked.

Audrey shrugged her shoulders as she made her way to the door. “I have no clue.”

She threw a coat on as she walked outside, with Piper on her heels. Tate had made his fire in the same place she had made hers. He sat in a chair, with Aiden in his lap now, putting a marshmallow on the end of a metal stick.

“A.A., we’re making s’mores!”

“Oooh! S’mores!” Piper gushed as she ran past Audrey to get a stick. Before grabbing it, she held her hand out to Tate. “Hi, I’m Piper, Audrey’s best friend.”

Audrey had to smile at Piper’s proclamation. They had gotten close over the last couple of months, and she did love Piper with all her heart, so the best friend status fit. She saw Tate flash Piper a full-on grin.

“It’s nice to meet you. Tate Odder.”

“I’ve heard
a lot
about you,” Piper said, and giggled, before dropping down in an empty
chair.

Tate looked confused, but when he looked up and his eyes met Audrey’s, they both froze. She really needed to stop looking him right in the eyes, she told herself. It was like he was a basilisk, freezing her in place. She felt like she couldn’t move or think then, was lost in the sea of his eyes. A slow, sexy grin brought her attention from his eyes to his full lips. When he pressed his tongue against his teeth, she swore she came.

Seriously!

“Hey, Audrey.”

The slow way he said her name sent tingles down her spine. She swallowed loudly, bringing her gaze from his lips to the ground. She waved awkwardly and then looked away. “Hey.”

“Want a s’more?”

She was never one to turn down sweets, and it wasn’t like he was asking her to sleep with him. So she nodded eagerly, went over, and sat down in the chair beside Piper’s. Tate handed her a stick with a marshmallow already stuck on the end.

“Thank you,” she said, stretching her stick over the fire.

“Any time,” he said in a low voice.

Audrey refused to look at him; instead she cuddled into her jacket, holding tight onto her stick. The temperature had dropped again and everything was dying quickly. It was probably the worst thing about winter. She hated when everything went from orange to dead. Tennessee was much prettier with color on its rolling hills. The only thing good about winter was the Christmas decorations, which she just loved.

“So, Tate,” Piper said in a cute little voice. Audrey knew the voice well. It was Piper’s
“pick them up” voice.

Who the hell was she trying to pick up?

Audrey glanced over to see Piper giving Tate a wide smile as she bent toward the fire, showing off her skinny figure.

What the hell was she doing?

“What made you want to make a fire in the middle of your yard?”

Tate chuckled as Audrey stewed with anger. She didn’t understand Piper’s game, but Piper needed to cut it out.

Holy crap, am I jealous?

“I was in the mood for s’mores.”

Piper giggled. “You can’t just go making fires on your front lawn! What if the cops come by?”

“Apparently, as long as it’s not higher than five feet and you are only burning wood, you are okay. But when you burn say, furniture, or an Xbox, there is a hefty fine.”

Laughter escaped Audrey’s lips, causing everyone to glance over at her. She swallowed her laughter, shrugging her shoulders while Tate gave her a knowing grin. “What?”

Piper glanced from Tate to Audrey and then shrugged too. “Nothing.”

“My mom and dad are coming home in two days, Tate! Isn’t that awesome?” Aiden exclaimed with a big grin.

“Sure is. I bet you are excited to see them,” Tate said. He took Aiden’s burnt marshmallow and squished it between the two graham crackers and chocolate before handing it back to him. It was weird seeing someone else who was so great with Aiden.

“I am! I’m gonna miss my A.A., though, and Will.”

Audrey looked up. “You can take Will with you.”

Aiden shook his head quickly. “He says he wants to stay here and protect you.”

Audrey smiled. “Baby, I don’t need protecting, I promise. Take your friend with you, please.”

“I’m so confused right now,” Piper chimed in beside her.

Audrey shook her head as Tate said, “Yeah, me too.”

“Who is Will?” Piper asked.

“Will is my friend,” Aiden said. “He’s sitting right there.”

Tate, Piper, and even Audrey all looked over at the empty chair, before looking at Aiden.

“Oh,” Piper said, as Tate said, “Cool.”

“Yeah,” Audrey responded. Will freaked her out, and Aiden really needed to take him to Fallon’s.

“You know, Aiden,” Tate said, “I could watch over Audrey for you and Will. I’m really good at protecting things.”

Audrey looked up to see Tate grinning at her. Aiden said, “You can protect a goal, but I don’t know about my A.A.”

Audrey rolled her eyes. “I’m a big girl, Aiden, I can protect myself.”

“I promise I’ll keep an eye on her.”

Tate was the last person Audrey needed keeping an eye on her. That spelled disaster.

D.I.S.A.S.T.E.R.

His aunt’s sanity not a consideration, Aiden nodded his head slowly. “We hope you keep your promise,” he said. He turned to the empty chair. “At least you get to come home with me instead of staying here, and watching A.A. divide her shoes by color!”

Tate chuckled before glancing over at Audrey. “You divide your shoes by color?”

Audrey shrugged. “Yeah, so?”

“What, do you have a lot of them or something?” he asked, his eyes not leaving hers. She took a deep breath. She was nervous, and that made no damn sense! Why did she care if this guy thought she was even more crazy?

“Um, yeah. She has a whole room,” Aiden scoffed. “It’s crazy.”

“It is not!” Audrey countered, while Piper giggled.

“Yes, it is. And the shoes are all high ones, not flat ones like I wear. Ones with high sticks and glitter and stuff.”

Audrey glared at Aiden. “Wow, anything else you want to say, bud?”

He gave her a wide grin. “No, ma’am.”

Audrey shook her head while stealing a glance at Tate. He was still watching her, a smile tugging at his lips. But then Piper started to talk, taking his attention.

“It’s really intense, Tate,” Piper said. She took a huge bite of her s’more, making everyone wait while she chewed and swallowed. “She has this massive closet and I swear there is no room for anything in there but her heels. I bet she only has two pairs of sneakers.”

Was it pick-on-Audrey night or something?

Still staring down at her s’more, Audrey said, “It’s really not
that
bad.”

Piper giggled. “Sure it isn’t.”

“Isn’t Lucas working on your closet?”

Audrey looked up from her s’more. Tate was making another s’more for Aiden but still had his eyes on her. She nodded and said, “Yeah.”

“Yeah, he asked me to help him. I guess you really do have a lot of shoes.”

Audrey shrugged her shoulders, embarrassed. “I guess.”

“So, Tate, are you dating anyone?”

Both Tate and Audrey whipped their heads around to stare at Piper in response to her question. She, of course, was grinning her cute little gappy smile.

“Hey, you have a gap too,” Tate said.

Audrey whipped her head back to Tate to see that he was grinning as wide as Piper, and that they were giving each other googly eyes!

What the hell!

“I do and I love it. We gap folks need to stick together,” Piper flirted.

Tate smiled, and by the grace of God, before he could say anything, Aiden asked, “Hey, Tate, wanna help me and Will get a soda?”

“Aiden, I can get you a
water
,” Audrey said.

“I want Tate to,” Aiden said.

Before she could get up, Tate was already standing with a laughing Aiden over his shoulders.

“Is it okay?” he asked.

Audrey nodded. “Sure, but a water, please.”

“Will do.”

Audrey and Piper watched as Tate carried Aiden into the house. Once they were out of earshot, Audrey reached over, smacking Piper on the arm.

“Ow!”

“What the hell! I slept with him!” Audrey stressed.

“So? He’s hot, and you said you didn’t want him. I’m not on a Guy Break, but I would
love to go on a break with Tate. He has a gap, Audrey. I love gaps.”

“You don’t love gaps! I love gaps! Back off!”

Piper’s face twisted in a grin. She reminded Audrey of a cat that just ate the canary. She actually scared Audrey a bit. “Why would I back off, Audrey?”

When she didn’t answer, Piper’s grin grew. “The only reason I could think of would be if my BFF was trying to holler at the gorgeous Tate? Are you?”

Thankfully, Tate and Aiden chose that moment to come back outside. Audrey looked down at her sticky fingers and couldn’t help but wonder why she was telling Piper to back off. She didn’t want to date Tate, so why did it matter if Piper did?

She looked up then and caught Tate staring at her. Her eyes drifted shut a little as his mouth curved in a naughty little grin. When his tongue pressed the back of his gap, she knew the reason why she couldn’t let Piper and Tate hook up.

She wanted him.

Well, fuck.

At the end of the night, Audrey turned her attention to Piper as she got up to leave.

“ ’Bye, Tate, thanks for the tasty treats,” Piper said, and winked as she strode into Audrey’s condo.

“You’re welcome, see you around.”

“Is Aiden okay with you for a minute?” Audrey asked him. “I need to help Piper get her things.”

Tate nodded. “Yeah, no problem.” Aiden had crawled into his arms earlier that evening
and nodded off.

“Okay, I’ll be right back to get him and put him to bed.”

“No hurry,” Tate said. Audrey smiled sweetly down at the two of them before turning back to her friend and helping Piper to the house.

As Tate sat alone with Aiden sleeping in his arms, he couldn’t help but think of Matilda again. She was only fourteen when the wreck happened and her life was cut so short. But that wasn’t the moment he was thinking about. He could picture her when she was nine, with all her top front teeth gone and two on the bottom also missing, grinning up at him after his hockey game. Her eyes were always so bright and full of life. Those were some of his favorite times. Matilda was loving and always cared about everything he did. Tate grinned, and swore he could still hear her screaming for him when he was in goal. She was his second biggest fan, his first being his parents.

Just as his chest started to ache and his eyes pooled with tears, a cab pulled into the driveway. It didn’t take long before Audrey and Piper were making their way down the steps and toward it. Piper had told him that she was not big on drinking and driving, which was a good thing since he saw she couldn’t hold her liquor at all. The couple of beers they’d had with s’mores earlier went straight to her head. Taking in a long steady breath, Tate forced the thoughts of Matilda away. He watched as Audrey put Piper in the cab, reassuring her that she would bring her back to get her car tomorrow after the party. Tate remembered then that he had Shelli Adler’s first birthday party tomorrow. He couldn’t wait.

Not.

Audrey made her way toward him, the cab pulling off as she reached him. She clapped her hands together and looked down at Aiden, a loving smile on her face.

“Well, this has been fantastic, and it looks like it wore my little punkin’ out. Can you hand him to me, please?” she asked, her hands stretched out.

Tate shook his head, standing up quickly and efficiently, as if he wasn’t holding a sixty-pound child. “I’ll carry him in for you.”

Audrey paused for a moment, then nodded, leading the way into her house. Tate followed, his eyes drifting to the sway of her spectacular backside. He loved her curves, they drove him mad, but what he really liked was the curve of her ass. It was easy to say that those jeans were probably the luckiest things on earth. He would do anything to get the chance to hold on to Audrey’s ass again.

Anything.

Upstairs, he followed her into a room to the left of the stairs. When Audrey opened the door, she glanced back at him.