14. Leo
Leo
Iplace a dozen strips of bacon into a pan on the stove and check on the eggs I’m cooking.
I yawn and take a sip of coffee from my mug. It’s almost nine in the morning.
Usually, the morning after a game, if it’s a weekend like today, I let myself sleep in longer. My body is tired and could definitely use the extra rest.
But I got up early so I could make breakfast for Lucy. I didn’t want her to have to cook for herself. She probably stayed up doing laundry. I hope she got some decent sleep.
Twenty minutes later, I hear the soft shuffle of footsteps from the staircase.
I look up from my phone and see Lucy walk into the kitchen. Her long, red hair is messy as it falls over her shoulders, and her eyes are a little puffy from sleep.
Wow. She looks really fucking cute first thing in the morning.
She yawns and gives me a small wave. “Morning.”
“Morning.” I set my phone on the counter and grab the empty plate I set aside for her. “You hungry?”
She smiles as she looks at the pan of scrambled eggs. “Yeah. That looks yummy.”
I hand her the plate. “Help yourself. I made toast too. And bacon.”
She thanks me, then piles on a bunch of eggs, a few pieces of bread, and a couple of strips of bacon. She sits down at the counter to eat, but pauses when she looks at me.
“You’re not hungry?” she asks.
“I already ate. That’s all for you.”
Her cheeks turn a pretty shade of pink as she eats. I take the stool next to her and go back to scrolling on my phone.
“How’d you sleep?”
“Like a corpse,” she says around a mouthful of eggs and toast.
I burst out laughing and glance over to her. I like that she’s joking around again. I think it means that she’s feeling more comfortable.
I watch her eat for a second. It’s impressive how much food she can pack away. She’s tiny.
“Your bed is so comfortable,” she says.
“Good. It better be. That mattress cost almost two thousand dollars.”
She coughs, then wipes her mouth with a napkin. She sips orange juice from her glass. “You paid two thousand dollars for your bed?”
“Well, my dad did.” My shoulder muscles tense just thinking about it. “He constantly rides my ass about rest and recovery as an athlete. He always tells me that quality sleep is key to playing at the top of my game.”
“Oh. I guess that makes sense.” She clears her throat. “He sounds a little intense.”
“You have no idea,” I mutter.
She finishes her plate, then grabs seconds. I notice she’s only taken a bite of her bacon.
“You don’t have to eat the bacon if you don’t like it,” I say.
She looks down at her plate, then at me. “I don’t want to be rude.”
I just smile. “You’re not. It’s not a big deal. The guys will be happy to eat it when they come home later.”
She looks relieved. She finishes her plate, except for the bacon. “Can I save this?”
“Yeah, but it’s really okay if you don’t want it.”
“No, I…” She tugs on the sleeves of the gray hoodie she’s wearing. “I want to give it to Wally, if that’s okay with you. I was going to stop by the shelter to visit him today. He loves bacon.”
I take in the sadness flashing in her eyes. My chest aches. “Yeah, of course.”
I always wanted a dog, ever since I was little, but my dad never let me. He said anything that would take my focus away from hockey wasn’t allowed.
But if I had a dog and had to give him to a shelter, I’d be wrecked.
“How long until you can get him back?” I ask.
She shrugs. “Whenever I save enough money to get my own apartment. Hopefully soon.” She closes her eyes and sighs.
“What is it?” I ask.
“I have until the end of this month to get a place. If I can’t, the shelter will adopt him out to someone else.
They’ve sort of been doing me a favor, keeping him there the past few months, but they’re no-kill, so they’re running out of room.
” Her eyes go teary for a split second. She blinks quickly.
“I’d go get him right now if I could, but I got in trouble with the police for having a pet while living in my car, and I had to give him up or pay a massive fine. ”
This is insane. They should have helped her instead of fining her. How the hell does that solve the problem?
“Is there another shelter you could take him to until you get a place?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “I’ve looked. The one he’s at is one of the few no-kill shelters in the city. The rest will euthanize him if he’s not adopted in a month. I already almost lost him to one of those places…” She trails off as her voice starts to break.
“Fuck, Lucy. I’m sorry.”
She closes her eyes and shakes her head. “This whole thing…it’s because of my stepdad.”
“Wait, he tried to get your dog euthanized for no reason?”
She hugs her arms around herself. “Pretty much. When he kicked me out of the house, he dropped my dog off at some shady shelter. But thankfully, I found him and got him back. He lived in my car with me for a while, until I got in trouble and had to surrender him.”
She sniffles. I grab a napkin and hand it to her.
I’m fucking enraged. And confused. Why did her family allow her stepdad to do this to her?
“And this was okay with your mom?” I ask.
Lucy turns to look at me, her pretty face twisted in pain. “She’s dead. She died in a car accident two years ago. My stepdad was driving drunk and caused the wreck that killed her.”
It feels like I’ve been kicked in the gut. Holy shit. That’s horrible.
“Shit, I…I’m so sorry.” I feel like an asshole saying that. It doesn’t feel like enough.
“What about your dad?” I ask, even though I know I have no right to. It’s not my business. But I can’t help my curiosity. Does she have anyone in her life to help her?
She looks down at her lap, that pained look etched deeper into her face. “He died too,” she says softly. “From cancer when I was in high school.”
I sit there, staring at her, my mouth hanging open.
“My mom was devastated when she lost him. She couldn’t get out of bed for weeks. It took months for her to start to live like normal again. And then she met my stepdad. He was nice at first. But that was before she realized he had a drinking problem.”
Dread and anger crash through me.
“Did he put his hands on you and your mom?”
She shakes her head. “He would mostly just yell at us and threaten us.”
I grit my teeth. This guy sounds like a fucking psycho.
“She was getting ready to leave him, but then she died.” Lucy looks down at her empty plate.
“And because my stepdad was legally her spouse, he ended up with everything. Her house, her car, her belongings. All of my dad’s stuff too that we saved after he died.
” She swallows hard. “After she passed away, he got rid of Wally and kicked me out. I’ve been on my own ever since. ”
She pokes at the eggs on her plate with her fork. “I was able to couch surf with friends at first, but they all kind of moved on from me.”
That angry feeling burns hotter. “Some friends they are,” I mutter.
She shrugs. “I kind of get it. A lot of them went off to college or moved in with their boyfriends. They didn’t have space for me anymore, so I started living in my car.”
For a long moment, I can’t speak. I can’t believe what she’s been through—what she’s survived.
“Do you have siblings?”
She shakes her head, still looking down at her plate. Like she’s ashamed. She has no reason to be. None of this is her fault.
“I’m an only child. I don’t come from a very big family. My grandparents have passed away. I have some aunts and uncles and cousins, but they live out of the country, in Scotland and Canada.”
This is so fucked. This girl has no one in her corner.
“It’s just Wally and me now. He’s all I’ve got.”
A million emotions collide inside of me. Rage at her stepdad for being such a piece of shit. Sadness for the unimaginable loss she’s endured. Awe at how she’s survived.
I think about my own life—how easy I’d had it compared to her.
Yeah, my dad’s an asshole. He wasn’t loving or patient or kind, but he always provided for my sister and me.
So did my mom. They gave us everything we needed growing up.
More than what we needed. We’re not billionaires, but my dad was a professional hockey player for fifteen years.
He was a multi-millionaire, and we never, ever had to worry about money, not once.
My grandparents had money too. My grandpa ran a sporting goods business that supplied equipment to professional teams. He made tons of money.
I got a big inheritance from him and my grandma when they passed away.
I’ve never had to deal with financial instability, ever.
I’ve never had to worry about a fraction of the stuff Lucy has had to deal with.
And even though my dad sucks, I have the best mom I could ask for. She’s supportive and loving. My sister Zoey is awesome too. Yeah, we fight sometimes, but that’s normal for siblings. We have each other’s backs, no matter what. And I have my teammates, who feel more like brothers to me.
If I somehow lost everything tomorrow, I’d at least have my sister and my mom. I’d have Nick, Travis, and Blake. They’d never ditch me. I know they’d support me forever, no matter what. And I’d do the same for them, without question.
But Lucy doesn’t have any of that. She lost her support system. She lost the people she loves most in the world.
An ache tears through my chest. She shouldn’t have to do all this alone. I’m not going to let her.
I stand up. “Get dressed.”
“Why?”
“So we can get your dog back.”