Team Lucas (The Saints Team #1) (12 page)

“I usually walk home from here as a wind down,” I told him. “It’s nice along the hill looking out at the beach, but you keep running if you like.”

“Nah, it’s all good,” he said, lifting his shirt and wiping his face on it. I caught a glimpse of his muscle-defined torso. That took my remaining breath away. Thanks Lucas.

“I ran before I caught you, so I’ve done my time,” he told me.

Then something happened to put me back in my place again and make me realize why I could never be with a man like Lucas Ainswright—because I would lose all my confidence and sense of self. Two really attractive women, taller than me and wearing fitted Lycra, recognized him and came over and said hello. One of them literally stood in front of me. Lucas didn’t even notice. They praised his game performance yesterday, twirled their hair and were putting in some major flirting. Meanwhile, I’m standing behind them like a chaperone on a date.

Whatever,
I should be used to this by now with the continuous stream of girls coming and going next door. I turned and had another sip at the water fountain. Looking around, I saw nothing had changed—the wall of girls still blocked me and Lucas stood, arms folded across his perfectly built chest and rocking back on his heels, smiling and talking with them. He was all charm.

I wandered off. Of course Lucas didn’t notice until I was a fair distance and suddenly he called out for me to wait up. I turned and scowled at him in my best long-distance scowl, hoping he could see it. For fuck’s safe, finish talking to your fans and just catch me at home later, I know the way, I implied.

Seconds later he appeared.

“Why didn’t you wait?” He looked at me, surprised.

I raised my hands, palms up. “For what? For how long? You didn’t even notice I had left.”

“That’s ridiculous, we were just chatting.” He rolled his eyes.

“So go chat,” I said, seeing them continuing their walk in the opposite direction. “I’m not stopping you. I came on this run alone, so you’re not holding me up.”

“Whatever,” he mumbled, and continued to walk beside me looking super-hot in his jogging gear with his long legs and built arms. He pulled his baseball cap off, ran his shirt over his face again and returned the cap to his head. He caught me looking.

“Nice pack,” I said referring to his chest.

“Ah, you’re just like all the others,” he teased.

Lucas Ainswright teasing! I grinned and looked away.

We moved aside to allow two women with a pram to pass us. They weren’t the Lycra set, just normal women in their twenties or thirties, one pushing the pram. I heard one say: “How did she get him?” and the other replied “Might be his sister,” and they laughed.

I felt my face redden and Lucas whipped around. He called out to them. “Hey!”

Both women turned.

“Did you really say that?” He frowned.

They both looked mortified, turned and hurried away.

“Don’t worry about it.” I pulled him around to keep walking with me.

“That’s fucking awful,” he said. He looked back over his shoulder and yelled at them: “You two are fucking awful.”

I grabbed his arm, faced him forward again and dragged him along.

“Forget it, but thanks.” I smiled at him.

“Jesus, Mia.” He shook his head. “That’s so unfair. Look at you—you’re cute, fit, sassy... you could work on your attitude, but you could get anyone you want.”

I slapped my hand against my heart and breathed in sharply.

“Stop it Lucas, the shock, it’s killing me. You’ve defended me and said something nice, she can’t take it, Captain.” I did my best Scotty in
Star Trek
impression.

His lips twitched in a reluctant smile, he rolled his eyes and looked down at me.

“You’ll keep,” he said.

We walked on in silence for a short while.

“Spill it,” Lucas said.

“What?” I asked.

“I can hear your brain ticking. What are you thinking?” he said.

I shrugged. He was right though, I was trying to connect the dots between the Lucases I had seen to date and the Lucas that sometimes showed he was a good person.

“Thanks for defending me.”

“It was nothing,” he said.

“It was. You have great friends, but I know you don’t think of me as one, so thanks.”

Lucas looked at me and looked away. “Yeah, I’m lucky to have kept those friendships,” he admitted. “I really blew it with them big time, but I guess they told you a bit about that when Jase thought he’d step up and play good cop the other night.” He was still angry at being locked up.

“You resent that?” I asked.

“He was over the top.”

I made a slight scoffing sound. “You weren’t on the receiving end of it. I was kind of touched he was a gentleman and looked out for me.”

Lucas’s jaw locked and he said nothing for a few moments.

“I just hate that you are working for my father and it’s hard to think of you as a friend...” he tried to justify his actions. He stopped at a water fountain and had a drink, wiping his hand across his mouth.

“What did you do to Jase and Cam?” I asked as we continued our walk and cool down.

He exhaled and looked out up the length of the beach.

“I did a shit load of bad stuff. Stressed them out, took them away from their lives, took them on, and caused problems with their relationships because I was off the rails.”

“But they’ve forgiven you.”

“It’s taken a while and if you saw how I acted, you’d wonder why they talk to me at all or why their partners would tolerate me.”

“So,” I cut to the chase, “what was the breaking point?” I’ve learned from my swabbing work that there’s usually a point of no return for families and friends.

Lucas swallowed. “I went at them. It was the off-season and I got in with a party-too-hard group. Nearly wrecked my friendships and my career.”

I watched him. It fascinated me when Lucas shared himself; his walls came temporarily down and he was like a different person.

“What did you do... to Jase and Cam I mean?”

“I took them both on... fought them, after all they’d done trying to clean me up. I went them—knocked Cam out cold...”

I gasped, shocked, and Lucas looked upset.

“Not before I broke his nose and two ribs.”

“Jesus, Lucas.”

We walked along and he didn’t make eye contact with me.

“What happened then?”

“Jase is a big guy. I did some damage on him but you don’t want to get a sleeping giant angry. He pummeled me basically. When Cam came around, they bundled me into Jase’s car, restrained me and took me to Jase’s house. They locked me down to withdraw, cold turkey.”

“What was that like?” I asked.

Lucas picked up a stone and tossed it from hand to hand before spinning it off.

“I thought I’d die. Cam’s a doctor, he knew what he was doing, but I am never going to go through that again and I couldn’t do it to them again either.”

“But what is it?” I asked. “Do you throw up or is it like smoking where you have small amounts until you’re weaned?”

Lucas made a guttural sound in his throat. “It was three days of hell. I was freezing cold and burning hot at the same time, I vomited constantly... the pain was indescribable. I screamed for drugs to stop the pain, I begged them to kill me, I abused Cam and Jase when they didn’t give me drugs, I couldn’t sleep, and every bone in my body ached. I was locked in this room in Jase’s place and I paced around it non-stop like a caged fucking animal.” He wiped his hand across his mouth. “Then when I got through the withdrawals, I spent a few days in bed being looked after by Sarah and Jessica. I was the lowest of the low to all of them and I was disgusting to be around.” Lucas crossed his arms across his chest and then unfolded them. “I don’t want to talk about it anymore. Let’s run to the lighthouse and back.”

He took off without waiting for agreement and I caught him up. It was so glorious on the beach and the sky so blue that I was glad Lucas beat it and could be here now and experience this.

“You wouldn’t miss this for the world would you?” I breathed in deeply and looked to the waves.

“You said it,” he agreed.

We turned around at the lighthouse and fell into step, enjoying our run back. A beautiful golden Labrador ran past us the opposite way, tongue lolling, with his owner in tow.

“We should get a dog. I’d like a dog,” Lucas said. “It would be good security for you too to have a dog running partner.”

“I might need a greyhound to keep up with me,” I teased.

“Yeah, you’re like the wind,” Lucas agreed and we laughed.

Home was in sight now and I felt Lucas bristle beside me. A car that I didn’t recognize was in the driveway.

“What the fuck is he doing here?” he snarled.

“Who is it?” I asked.

“My father.”

Chapter 18

Lucas increased his stride. “Leave this to me, Mia. Go inside and don’t come out no matter what. Understood?” he said without looking at me.

“Understood,” I agreed. Lucas was a six-foot-three powerhouse of anger and I feared for his father. I went to my wing of the house and saw him go up to his father’s prestige car and tap on the window. His father opened the car door, and Lucas stepped back, allowing his father to step out.

I entered the house and watched them subtly through the blinds. Lucas stood with his arms folded across his chest. He was at least a head taller than his dad and didn’t ask him into the house. Mr. Ainswright senior was a handsome man, very handsome—you could see the strong resemblance. His father looked over towards my window in my wing of the house and nodded towards it. Lucas shook his head. Then his father walked towards my door and Lucas blocked him. I moved away, I couldn’t watch anymore; it was painful. I couldn’t imagine turning my own father away like that. I yearned to see him.

I went up to the bathroom and ran a bath in the luxurious tub, tipping in some blue bubble bath. I had cooled down pretty quickly and the house was chilly. The plan: get a Diet Coke and soak in the tub for a while. If I heard shouting or screeching of brakes, I’d interfere, otherwise it might be safer to give them both some space. I padded downstairs again, grabbed a magazine to read and my Diet Coke from the fridge and returned upstairs, I perched them on the wide bathroom ledge—yep, this bathroom knew I was coming; it was designed for my needs. I turned the bath water off and listened again—not a sound. I then heard a car start.

Sneaking to the window, I looked through the bathroom blinds, Lucas’s dad was gone and I still needed to test Lucas. Now was as good a time as any, besides it had been close to forty-eight hours and he was due. I looked at my kit; I’d need to do the urine sample today since I had done oral samples the last few times. I grabbed the screwed secured jar and a paper bag from under my bathroom sink where I kept them and went downstairs to our adjoining door. Lucas had to be at the club soon to fly out for an away game and we’d have a couple of days away from each other. I was sure the absence would make him fonder of me—hmm.

I slid open the adjoining door and called his name.

“In the kitchen,” he called back.

I took my specimen jar and headed upstairs. He was drinking a bottle of water.

“Everything okay?” I asked with a quick look around.

“He’s gone,” Lucas said flatly. “Good fucking riddance.”

I nodded. I didn’t want to let on I knew something of their troubled past.

“What does he want from you?” I asked leaning against the kitchen bench.

“He wants to play father and son,” Lucas shot back. He leaned back against the counter and looked out to the ocean.

“And you don’t?”

“Fuck yeah. I wanted to for years. I begged him to come and take me home from boarding school or to come to the games like other fathers did or even collect me at holiday time. Every year, all through high school; not once, not ever.” He wiped his arm across his face.

It was seriously revelation day—the most emotion Lucas had displayed besides out and out anger. I was too far in to get out of this discussion, so I plodded on.

“So why does he want to pick up now?” I frowned.

“Because I’m someone he can be proud of.” Lucas said it like I was a complete idiot. “His son is a sports star... his son! Who would have thought? Not fucking him, that’s for sure... not that he ever cared.” He looked at me with his eyes ablaze. He stood up straight and brushed past me, striding into the living room. “Now he wants to know me because he can parade me around and I’ll be good for his business networks.” Lucas’s fists were clenched and his shoulders taut. He looked down below where his father was parked earlier. “Well fuck him,” he hissed, “that ship has sailed.”

“But if he’s hired me to be a minder, after what you told me earlier, he clearly cares enough to make sure you stay healthy,” I suggested.

“For investment purposes only,” Lucas said. His phone rang and he returned to the counter and grabbed it. He looked at the caller and went white with anger.

He answered it. “What?”

I looked around, not sure whether to stay or go, but I still wanted the specimen. He wandered back and forward in the lounge room, listening. His hand flexed in a fist and then released, a fist and released again. Then he said in a very low and controlled voice: “Understand this—I want nothing to do with my father and if you persist in pushing his case, I’ll find a new manager.” He hung up, turned and flung his water bottle into the kitchen.

I screamed, stepping back as it hit the counter, and took two glasses off the sink, shattering them and spraying water everywhere.

“My manager can get fucked too,” he yelled.

I looked to the stairs, thinking it might be best just to make a fast retreat. Now he was glaring at me.

“Um, I’ll leave you to... I’m downstairs if I can do anything.” I backed towards the stairs. He saw the specimen jar.

“That’s what you’re up here for?” he snarled. “Give the fucking thing to me.”

“It can wait,” I decided.

“Give it to me.” He strode over and snatched it from my hand. Lucas raged down the hall to the bathroom and slammed the door. The entire upper floor vibrated with the tremor.