Trying to Score (51 page)

Fallon took in deep breaths as tears poured down her cheeks. Aiden did not just say he hated her. He couldn’t have. She must have heard him wrong.

“He loves you, Fallon. He’s just upset, he didn’t mean it, I swear,” Audrey reassured her but Fallon wasn’t listening. She was replaying the look Aiden gave her, the angry words that left his sweet mouth, and even the look Lucas gave her as he pulled out of her driveway. In a matter of minutes she had hurt two people she loved more than anything.

Yeah, she was a winner.

Fallon broke apart from Audrey and went into the kitchen, grabbing a bottle of Big Rock Syrah wine on her way. She popped the top and poured a hefty glass before bringing it to her lips, drinking quickly. The hearty, spicy red wine burned down the back of her throat and she welcomed the pain. She deserved it. The wild black fruit and pepper danced along her tongue as tears gushed down her cheeks and she pulled in a lungful of air. She felt like she was going to pass out but it didn’t stop her from finishing the glass and reaching for the bottle to pour another. Audrey took the bottle from her before she could do so.

“Stop, stop right now.”

Fallon glanced over at her before crumbling against the counter. She let out a cry before letting her face fall into her hands, where hot tears coursed down her cheeks onto them. Fallon was hurting so bad that she swore she felt like she was bleeding from a gaping wound on her chest. She hated what she done and she hated that she had hurt two people who could honestly be the most important people to her ever.

“Fallon, you can fix this with Lucas. Aiden is just mad, he’ll be fine once he talks to Lucas and you know he didn’t mean that. You have to know that,” Audrey soothed as she sat beside Fallon, wrapping an arm around her.

“No, he has every right to hate me. I keep keeping his father away from him. He isn’t stupid, he knows that I am a bitter hateful bitch, and I don’t deserve him or Lucas,” Fallon cried.

Fallon couldn’t believe that Audrey was teasing her, this was serious! Fallon was convinced her heart was breaking. “You told mom you hated her when we were five years old! I remember that like it was yesterday. Did you mean it? No! You were just mad that she took your dolls away. We say things when we’re mad, it’s a Parker thing. As long as you say you’re sorry and you mean it, then everything will work out.”

“We both did, but it doesn’t matter. If you can apologize to Lucas, it will show Aiden that he should apologize to you. Be the bigger person, swallow your pride. Be the strong woman I love and know.”

Fallon laid her head against her knees, sniffling loudly before shrugging her shoulders. “I don’t know if I can.”

“You can. You can do anything. You are the strongest person ever Fallon. I wish I could be half of what you are.”

“You are way stronger than I am Audrey,” Fallon said, because it was true. Fallon wouldn’t be where she was without Audrey. Audrey was her back bone.

“No I’m not. You stand up for yourself, I don’t, but this isn’t about me. It’s about you, and I know you can do this. I know you don’t want what you said to Lucas to be the last thing you say to him, and I know that you don’t want Aiden to think he doesn’t have to apologize when he says hurtful things. Set an example Fallon, be the person I know and love. Don’t be scared.”

A stray tear went down Fallon’s cheek as she looked over at Audrey. How did she get so lucky to have such an amazing sister? She was completely right, Fallon needed to stand up and be the person that she wanted her son to be. Even though her heart felt like it was cracking in two, she knew that Aiden didn’t mean it. She also knew that she could fix things with Lucas — she had to, no matter how scared she was of his rejection. It would work out, she hoped.

“I love you, Audrey.”

Audrey smiled before reaching over and wiping Fallon’s tears away. “And I love you. Now get up, and go clean up. Go beg for forgiveness,” she said with a grin as she stood up, helping Fallon up.

Fallon stood for a moment as Audrey moved around the kitchen, cleaning up the bottle of wine and wine glass Fallon had brought out. “Not yet.”

Audrey turned looking at her, “Why?”

A slow hopeful smile came across Fallon’s lips, “I’m gonna make him dinner first.”

Lucas sat at the island in his kitchen, staring down at the sandwich and pop that sat beside his plate.

Because you’re stupid! Who thinks it’s okay to break bones?!

Lucas closed his eyes, digging his fingers into his eye sockets as he let out a long breath. He was hurting. Badly. Not only did what Fallon say cut him like a knife, but the whole afternoon at the hospital had taken a toll on him. Watching his little guy cringe in pain and try not to cry was so hard that Lucas thought he was going to break down. Aiden had stayed so strong. He never even cried. He screamed when the puck first hit him but there were no tears. He just kept saying, ‘I’m so sorry, Daddy’ and Lucas still wasn’t sure if Aiden understood that it wasn’t his fault. He is a kid, Lucas should have been more careful. Should have watched where he was shooting instead of doing it blindly.

Fallon was right, he was careless and stupid. How could he hurt his little guy? His one and only. He had been downstairs shooting pucks mindlessly since he moved into the house, but with Aiden down there with him, he should have known better. He should have been a better father. A good dad wouldn’t have hurt his kid. Lucas’ dad never hit him with the puck, even when Lucas would guard the net. James’ precision was on point. The puck never came anywhere near him. Lucas used to do the same thing with Fallon, he would hit everywhere but her. What was wrong with him? Was Fallon clouding his brain that much? Lucas shook his head as he picked the bread off the top of his sandwich.

Fallon’s words were like knives every time he thought about them. He couldn’t believe that nasty word came out of such a beautiful, special mouth. Even when Fallon was screaming at him about everything under the sun, he never cared. He knew that she would get over it and they would be making up sooner rather than later. But not this time, this time his heart felt like it was dead in his chest. The person that he would give anything to, the person that he trusted with his life and more had called him something that could really cut him in half. He wasn’t mad at her, he was hurt. In a way that was worse. It was easy to get over angry, but being hurt to the soul could take a long time to get over. Lucas loved Fallon more than anything and that probably was why he was hurting so bad. If she thought he was stupid, no telling what else she thought.

Lucas hated the word. It was so easy to say, but it could honestly cut someone in half if they thought for a second that they were. Lucas was a confident man, but with his dyslexia, he never felt like he was smart. Fallon had never made him feel like he was less of a man; she always treated him like he was the smartest man in the room, until now. Now she had called him
it
.

Lucas was first called it in third grade when he couldn’t read what was on the chalkboard. Everyone laughed and called him stupid. It was one of the worst days of his childhood. Lucas remembered coming home and crying to Molly, but he wouldn’t tell her why his classmates had called him that. He only said they did. It went on all through middle school, and didn’t stop until he threw Jerome Ferrell into a locker. He threatened to kill the guy if he ever said it again, and no one ever did after that. That was when Lucas started walking around as if he was the biggest bad ass on campus, and in a way he was.

That was how he used to feel. Now he just felt empty and he couldn’t stand feeling that way. He wanted to go upstairs, sleep the night away, and forget about all the problems in his life, but Levi had females upstairs — and they were loud ones. That was the only thing he didn’t like about living with Levi, the dude was constantly sleeping with someone. Lately, he had been having a girl that was a screamer, and Lucas really thought one night that Levi was killing the girl; she was letting out blood-curdling screams. A shiver went down Lucas’ body at the thought. He liked when Fallon was loud, but not as loud as Levi’s chick had been. That was scary.

Lucas picked at his sandwich some more before standing up and throwing it in the sink. He wasn’t hungry and his stomach was turning, so eating was the last thing on his mind. He went back to the bar and sat down grabbing his iPad. He needed to see if Aiden was on, but Levi usually did that for him and since he was busy at the moment, Lucas decided he would play a game. Aiden was probably still laid up on the couch while Fallon and Audrey spoiled him.

Lucky kid.

He turned on the iPad and went to play a game just as the doorbell rang. Lucas glanced up towards the door and saw the silhouette of someone. He got up and padded to the door in his bare feet. He didn’t know who would be there and hoped it wasn’t someone that was going to care that he was only wearing a pair of pajama pants. He reached for the door and pulled it open to the last person he thought he would ever see after the afternoon he just had.

Fallon stood with a nervous smile on her face, a picnic basket in her hand and a bottle in the other. Lucas brought his eyebrows together as he looked down at her wondering what the hell she was doing there. She was wearing a pair of bright pink sweat pants and an extremely large black shirt that hung off her shoulder with a tie at the side, making it tight around her middle and loose around the top. He met her eyes again as he crossed his arms across his chest, giving her the same look he gave his opponents on the ice.

Fallon shuffled nervously before shrugging her shoulders. “I made you dinner. Can I come in?”

Lucas didn’t know what she was up to, but he loved her food. He also wanted to know what she wanted, so he moved out of the way and she passed by him, her scent leaving a trail behind her. He always loved the flowery smell of her but that wasn’t the only thing he smelled. It must have been the food. She stopped in the foyer as Lucas shut the door and started for the kitchen. Neither one of them said anything as they made the short trip to the kitchen. Lucas went to the bar and closed his iPad up in its case as Fallon laid her basket on the kitchen table. He turned to watch as she started to unload the basket. She took out a light blue tablecloth, laying it on the table and making sure there weren’t any wrinkles before placing two candlesticks and two wine glasses down beside two pearly white plates. Fallon turned back to the basket, taking out container after container of food. Once she was done, she ran her hands down her thighs before turning to look at him.

A grin tugged at Lucas’ mouth as he looked over at her. “It’s your favorite. My apple-bacon pork chops with stuffin’, greens, and my sweet cornbread.”

She had him at apple-bacon pork chops.

Lucas started towards her and a smile came over her face as she realized that he was going to eat. Even if he was wanting to kill her, all she had to do was pull out those pork chops and he would eat before killing her — not that he would ever want to kill her though.

Hopefully.

She turned quickly to take off the tops of all the containers before she served them both. The air became thick with the smell of brown sugar and apples causing Lucas’ mouth to water. She reached for the bottle of what looked like wine and Lucas shook his head.

“I don’t drink, Fallon.”

“I know, it’s a bottle of our company’s cider. It’s really good, and I thought it would go great with the chops,” she said before pouring them both a glass. Lucas looked up at her, watching her profile. He could tell she really had put thought into what she had put together for them. It was sort of cute and romantic what she was doing.

She was trying.

Lucas also noticed that she had washed her face, all her makeup from earlier was gone. Her hair was in a messy bun and as his eyes raked her body, he couldn’t help but look at her ass. It was such a fine ass. She glanced over at him, a small sweet smile on her face before she sat down and picked up her fork.

“Sorry your dinner date isn’t all glossed up. I changed to cook dinner and then I didn’t want it to get cold, so I just ran out the house,” she rambled.

When she looked over at him, he said, “You look gorgeous, Fal.”

And he meant it. No matter what she wore, or didn’t for that matter, he thought she was the most beautiful girl in the world. It killed him how she could go from a power suit to sweats to a mini dress and each outfit could have his mouth watering. She was simply breathtaking.

Fallon’s cheeks warmed as she looked down at her food. Lucas picked up his fork and dug into the food. It was spectacular. Lucas let out an appreciative moan before he started to eat fast. “You don’t have to scarf it down Lucas, there is a lot left.”