Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
Seventh encounter
“Oh my God, that’s my brother!” she hissed, panicking as the front door slammed shut.
“What?!”
“He has a key, Lucas. He brings me groceries once a week! Shit, hide.”
“What?!”
“In the closet. Just get in the closet!”
By Monday afternoon, he still hadn’t thought of anything else — just as he hadn’t forgotten Anna’s disparaging look.
He’d like to claim that the anxiety both these things caused wasn’t affecting his training…except his teammates looks and Fox’s screams of “Moreau, where the hell is your head? Tell me so I can punch it and focus it again!” spoke volumes.
Shit. There were only two places where he was completely focused and calm: at dinner with Melody when she told him, her face lighting up, which letters she knew.
Then, and between his goalposts. No matter how much drama had existed in his previous life with his family, on the ice, every thought was wiped from his mind.
His outward calm reflected a deep inner calm, and all he could see was the puck.
Now, however, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Anna arguing with Dax at the edge of the ice, her eyebrows furrowed, her hands gesticulating wildly…while the puck sailed past his left ear and into the net.
Fuck.
“Moreau!” Coach Gray snapped, skating toward him, shaking his head. “The first playoff game is tomorrow and you’re making more mistakes than Leon does in an entire weekend! Do I have to put Ford in for you, or what?”
Lucas glared at him.
“Well, prove it to me,” Gray said, annoyed. “And Temple! What the hell could be so important that you’re not in your damn position?”
Dax skated over to them, disgruntled. “Who uses Tinder these days? Can someone please tell me?”
Gray stared at him in disbelief. “What the hell does that have to do with hockey?”
“Well, Tinder is also about sinking the puck,” Alvarez said with a grin, skating circles around the goal. “So, who’s on Tinder? Anna? Fuck, I should sign up too.”
“I’m going to punch you in the face, Leon,” Dax said, his tone deliberately friendly.
“Hey!” the coach yelled. “Get a grip. I don’t want to hear any of this crap.
And nobody’s getting into a fight before we get the damn Stanley Cup — got it?
” He glanced angrily between Alvarez and Temple.
“Good God. I’ll give you five minutes to sort out your personal shit, and Fox!
” he barked at the captain. “Get your team’s shit together!
” He skated to the exit, leaving Fox sighing audibly.
“Okay. Leon, you’re coming with me,” Fox announced. “I’ll explain the rules of the silent game again, which you really should practice more often. Dax, stay here and find out why Moreau is playing so badly.”
Dax snorted and flipped Fox’s receding back the middle finger.
“Ditto, Dax!” the captain shouted. “I’d rather you could communicate your emotions with words than rude gestures.”
Dax grimaced and scratched the back of his neck. “God, how does he do it? Eyes in the back of his head. Now I feel guilty for giving him the damn bird.”
Yep. Fox had a shitty grandfatherly way about him that made you want to not to disappoint him. It was awful.
“So, Moreau, just to do my duty and stop pissing off our esteemed captain any further: Why are you so unfocused?
Lucas snorted, picked up his water bottle, and squirted some into his mouth through the grill of his helmet.
Your sister drives me crazy, and I get hard simply hearing her laughing, was probably not a good answer.
“Cool,” Dax said curtly. “I thought so. Then we’ll talk about my problem: You’re single, aren’t you?”
Man, he’d rather they didn’t talk about any problem at all.
“Do you use Tinder?”
“Nope.”
“Why not?”
“Not interested.”
“Tinder? Not interested in the women on Tinder? Or a relationship?”
“Yes.”
Dax laughed. “That’s a sensible attitude, because everyone on Tinder is a bunch of creeps who only want one thing! Especially the men. So what the hell is Anna thinking, randomly messaging guys? And then attacking me for reading over her shoulder?”
Ah, that was what their discussion had been about.
Moreau squirted more water into his mouth, which had suddenly become strangely dry.
What you gave me, any other man can give me. So maybe it’s time to find one.
“Maybe Anna only wants one thing,” he murmured. During their time together, he never got the feeling she was interested in anything more. Which made their arrangement so perfect. And it was good that she had found someone else because then, she wouldn’t bother him anymore and…
Moreau rolled his neck.
Yeah, this was good. Let her fuck as many Tinder guys as she wanted. He didn’t care.
Dax obviously did though. “Shit, I think you’re right,” he said, pained.
“That’s the fucking problem! She’s been doing this for years.
I like to pretend I don’t notice because, God, the mere thought…
” He grimaced. “But I swear, when I was at her place a few months ago, she had a fucking man hiding in her closet.”
Lucas glanced away as his face reddened.
Dax narrowed his eyes and rubbed his chin.
“She jumps into bed with jerks who are completely wrong for her just so there’s not even a hint of a chance of anything serious.
Shit, she wouldn’t even have time for that anyway because she works herself to death just to prove how independent she is, and that she doesn’t need anyone’s help. ”
“You did the same thing, Dax,” Lucas reminded him harshly. He didn’t like the double standards Dax was laying down when it came to Anna.
“I know! And by God, I don’t judge her for not believing in happy endings when it comes to relationships and wanting to…
live it up or whatever. But she had this stupid rule that she wouldn’t really start living until she graduated at the top of her high school class.
And then she would really start living after she was done taking care of Mom.
Then she wanted to really start living after she finished med school and was a real doctor.
And now she has all that — and she’s carrying on as before.
And it doesn’t make her happy. And…shit.
” He ran his hand over his face. “If there’s even one person in the world who deserves to be happy, it’s Anna!
But I can’t protect her from every little thing. I can’t force her happiness.”
Lucas lowered his gaze. He’d had a sister too. He knew what Dax meant. He hadn’t been able to protect Laney — she’d been more interested in excitement than happiness, too.
“Say, could you say something about Tinder to her, that it’s a shitty idea?”
Lucas whipped his head up. “What?”
“Well, I can’t do it and neither can Jack. Lucy and Penny flipped us the bird, and Fox had a fit of laughter. You’re the only one who’s never hit on her, and knows what it’s like to have a sister.”
Fuck.
Well, at least now he knew that he and Anna had been discreet. If Dax suspected anything, he never would have suggested this.
“No,” Lucas said anyway, because he was absolutely the wrong candidate for the job.
“Come on. Please? Anna is so damn stubborn. She’d jump into bed with some complete idiot just to piss Jack and me off.”
Lucas’ face remained expressionless — inside, though, he was starting to get angry. Dax was taking himself too seriously, damn it. “Dax, your sister is an adult with a mind of her own. Let her do what she wants.”
But shit, what the hell was she doing on Tinder?
Anyway, he had bigger problems. He needed to find a damn babysitter!
“No, Luc, that’s not possible. You didn’t want to give us custody, so now you have to deal with having a child.”
“Laney specifically named me as guardian in her will, Mom,” he replied calmly. And he was okay with it. It was just…fucking hard. God, he loved Melody to death, but it was fucking hard.
“Yes, and now you see what happens because your sister placed more trust in you than us. Although she wasn’t known for making good decisions. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have jumped into bed with that vagabond and accidentally conceived Melody.”
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Mom, I have an appointment all afternoon and evening that I can’t cancel.”
“Me too. I have my yoga group and your dad doesn’t want to miss that big football game…”
“It’s not just any football game.” His father’s angry booming voice came through from the background. “For God’s sake, Bridget, don’t make it seem like I’m putting football above my granddaughter.”
“Well, that’s exactly what you’re doing, Fred!” his mother retorted caustically.
“I invited everyone, Bridget! Six guys are coming over. Should I send them all away?”
“Yes! That would be helpful.”
“Oh, Jesus, as if your yoga nonsense is more important, I…”
“Okay. See you later, Mom,” Lucas said curtly and hung up. He couldn’t listen to his parents’ drama anymore. He’d spent his entire childhood doing that. Maybe it was better that they didn’t have time. He still had hope that Hazel…
His phone vibrated, and he stared at the screen.
I can’t, Moreau, sorry! I have to catch a flight to Phoenix, so I am leaving at three.
He glanced at his watch. It was just after two. “Fuck.”
“ ‘Hello’ would be more traditional, but okay. A good ‘fuck’ to you too.”
His head shot up. Of course, Anna was standing in front of him, her arms crossed in front of her with stray rays of sunlight catching her mop of dark curls.
“They’re all waiting for you in the conference room. I was told to tell you to get your ass inside if I saw you on the way to the parking lot.”
He nodded and rubbed his forehead with his fist. She looked angry. At him. But he didn’t even have the nerve to care.
“Fuck,” he repeated softly and closed his eyes. He loved his job, but right now, he also hated it a little.
“Lucas? Is…everything okay?” Anna asked hesitantly.
Her voice was suddenly gentle, no longer annoyed. It was as if someone had poured a bucket of fabric softener on her.