Chapter 5
Chapter Five
Fifth encounter
“Why are you wearing a tie?”
He shook his head and looked at her. Every time he got together with her, she had some kind of question. How are you? How was your game? Have you eaten yet?
“Oh, right. You always wear suits on the plane. Are you coming straight from the airport?”
Lucas took off his tie, followed by his shirt, and threw both on the floor.
Anna bit her lip as her gaze hungrily slid over his bare chest…and he hardened. This woman’s gaze was dangerous. “Okay. No talking. Got it.” She grinned. “So do more useful things with your mouth. Or are you weak at everything that has to do with your lips?”
We have nothing in common.
Anna pushed open the door to the Ice Lounge with her fist and gritted her teeth.
We have nothing in common.
The words had been on her mind for days — and damn, they were annoying her!
She hadn’t been in love with Lucas. She hadn’t wanted anything from him except his body. But giving each other so much time and passion wasn’t nothing!
They hadn’t shared food, feelings, or free time, but they had shown each other respect and closeness, closeness that they both needed. He needed it as much as she did. At least that was what she had believed.
She wrapped her arms more tightly around her body and stood on her tiptoes to see over the heads of the bar patrons. Where was the Hawks’ table?
She understood that Lucas was angry with her, especially now that she knew what he had a child to protect. However, that didn’t give him the right to make her feel like she’d been of no value in his life because…he had been of great value to her.
Her phone vibrated, so she briefly gave up searching for the hockey players and glanced at the screen. She had a new email in her inbox. When she read the sender, her stomach knotted up.
It’s okay if you don’t want to reply. I expected that. But could you at least tell me if you received my last message?
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her life was supposed to be more relaxing, after she’d gotten through all that studying, but in the last week, everything seemed to have only gotten more complicated. She wasn’t ready to reply to the email, not even with: I received it.
“There you are!” a voice rang out and an arm wrapped around her shoulders. “You’re just in time. The first Cup of Shame hasn’t been awarded yet.”
She quickly put the phone back in her pocket before turning to Lucy with a smile. “The first what?”
“The first Cup of Shame! Dax didn’t tell you about it? I started a tradition last year to kick off the playoffs — to honor the biggest idiots of the season.”
Oh, her brothers would definitely be nominated in several categories. Anna grinned widely and allowed Lucy to pull her through the bar to the VIP area of the Ice Lounge.
“Sounds fun!”
“It is! Leon won five out of ten awards last year, and we’re all excited to see if he can outdo himself.”
Anna laughed, some of her tension falling away.
She wasn’t necessarily here because she wanted to be.
Her first week at work had been exhausting, and she’d had to stitch up a cut on Charkov’s chin and tend to Leon’s injured shoulder after today’s game.
Hockey players weren’t like other patients.
Usually, people wanted to be treated by her.
Charkov and Leon, however, had spent half an hour reassuring her that they were fine — one of the idiots made the work unnecessarily bloody and the other flinched every time she moved, as if Anna were handling daggers, not ice packs.
She was tired and longed for her bed and her best friends, Ben and Jerry.
But, Dax and Jack had said they would be happy to see her there for the last relaxing evening before the playoffs…
and she didn’t want Lucas to get the impression she was avoiding him.
Because she wasn’t! It was purely coincidence that they had only seen each other from a distance since their argument in front of his house.
Besides, she should probably start getting used to going out a bit more. She felt like she had put her social life on hold for almost two years, and now she was going to change that.
“Boys, our new star doctor is here!” Lucy announced as she stopped in front of a huge seating area.
A dozen giants and two women were already sitting there.
The women were Penny and Maddie, Matt Payne’s fiancée and Lucy’s sister.
Altogether, there was a good-sized crowd.
That was good because then she wouldn’t have to have contact with Lucas…
“Here, we saved you a seat,” Dax said and pulled her onto the bench next to him…directly opposite Lucas Moreau.
Oh, great.
Anna automatically pulled her legs in as she sat because the bastard had rather long ones, and she wouldn’t want him to think that she was deliberately playing footsie.
“It’s good that you’re here!” Penny called out, giving her the distraction she needed. She had no desire to greet or even look at the person across from her, even though she could feel his gaze on her. “We need a little more estrogen here.”
“No, what we need is a no women allowed sign,” Leon mumbled unhappily. Penny rolled her eyes and said something to him in Spanish, whereupon he promptly turned as red as the strawberry daiquiri that Lucy was setting in front of Anna.
“So, Penny will definitely get the Leon-tamer trophy,” Matt said, shaking his head.
“Unfortunately, there isn’t one,” Maddie said contritely, and the next moment, pulled a bulging jute bag out from under the table. She tipped it over and about twenty small plastic Oscar figures rolled out, each with a different inscription on the base.
“Why are there so many, Maddie?” Lucy asked, perplexed.
Her sister shrugged and turned pink. “Well, I made a few more participation trophies. I didn’t want anyone to be sad if they didn’t win.”
Matt chuckled softly and kissed her temple. “I’m sure we’ll all be okay if we don’t win the award for…” He pulled two of the Oscars toward him. “…Biggest Whipping Boy or Most Pathetic Funnyman.”
“Speak for yourself,” Leon shouted. “Biggest Whipping Boy is mine!”
“I don’t know,” Anna said doubtfully. “I’ve been studying a lot of medical records over the last week and Charkov leaves the ice with the most black eyes.”
“Which means he can win the trophy for Biggest Wimp,” Leon replied incredulously. “I’m just better at ducking than he is!”
“I no understand. I like ducks. Smart animals,” Charkov said, frowning.
That made everyone laugh and Lucy grabbed the first Oscar from the table with a grin. “Sorry, Leon. Anna is right, Charkov wins round one!”
The Russian smiled smugly and thanked her.
“Charkov,” Fox muttered warningly, “that’s not a good thing! It’s a hint that you should fight less so that you don’t cost us quite as many penalty minutes!”
“Yeah, yeah. Only hit when nobody looking,” the defender replied and waved it off.
Fox groaned and Lucy snorted. Maddie grinned and pulled out the Biggest Clown on Ice trophy, which went unanimously to Leon, who had even outshone the mascot with some of his performances.
The player seemed to be somewhat appeased by it…
and Anna noticed herself relaxing. In fact, she was laughing more than she had in a long time.
And she felt like she belonged. She had missed that, being out with friends and not stressed in the slightest.
The only tiring thing was ignoring Lucas.
Whenever she saw him raise his beer to his lips, even out of the corner of her eye, her gaze was drawn to him.
You’d think it would be easy to ignore the eternally silent guy, but the longer he remained silent, the more often Anna wanted to look at him.
She was tempted to study his reactions. His posture, his face – all of that revealed so much more about the man than his words.
It didn’t help that she kept imagining his gaze on her.
Every time she turned, though, he was talking quietly with Fox or staring at the glass he was turning in his hands.
A small black stone landed in her stomach. Shit, he really and truly didn’t care about her, did he? To him, it was as if nothing had ever happened between them.
“Okay, ladies and gentlemen,” Lucy announced loudly, banging her fingers on the table in a drum roll. “The last two categories for the Cups of Shame are coming up. The moment we’ve all been waiting for! Who gets the Scandal Cup and who gets the Innocent Lamb?”
A dignified cheer and applause went around the table while Maddie asked with a frown: “Why exactly is it a shame to be innocent? I mean, I’m an innocent lamb too.”
“Oh, really?” her sister commented with interest. “I saw three pairs of handcuffs next to your bed, which suggests otherwise.”
Maddie’s eyes widened in shock. “Lucy!”
“Yeah, seriously,” Matt replied angrily. “There are four now and…ouch, Maddie!” He rubbed his arm dramatically where his fiancée had hit him. “You insist on always being honest with friends!”
“Oh God.” She threw her head back with a groan.
“The point is,” Fox came to her rescue, “the person who receives the Innocent Cup probably paid the fewest fines last year and can therefore buy us all drinks tonight, Maddie. That’s why nobody wants to win it…”
“So we’ll start with the Scandal Cup,” Lucy added, wiggling her eyebrows. “I think this year it’s quite obvious! The undisputed winner is…Penelope Clark!”
“What?” The owner of the Hawks gasped in outrage. “I thought those weird trophies only went to the players.”
“No, equal rights for all.” Lucy shrugged, pulling the second-to-last trophy from the table, and handing it out to her.
“No, no!” Penny said stonily, shaking her head. “I’m not accepting this award! It’s not fair! My name is not Saint, and I have not slept with my boss or hidden my brother and sister.”
“Uhhh…” Leon grinned while Jack stared at his girlfriend in disbelief.
“You are that boss!”
“So what?” She waved her hand dismissively. “I did not take an oath not to have sex during the season.”
Jack snorted. “It was not an oath! Are you seriously trying to pass the award to me?”
“Well, I’m just saying!” She looked up at him with big, innocent eyes. “I slaughtered a rooster on stage years ago. People expect me to do something crazy, not you. Which only makes your behavior worse.”
“I think Penny is right,” Anna jumped in with a grin, because if there was one thing Jack loved, it was winning. He should be happy about the nomination! “First, you mislead people with your nickname and then you ambush them from behind with one scandal after another.”
“Oh, a valid point.” Dax nodded seriously. “Lucy, Jack deserves the award.”
“Nonsense,” he replied angrily. “If our silly nicknames mean anything, Moreau would have killed at least three people by now!”
Anna turned to the goalie with interest because she just couldn’t pass up the excuse to look at him. “Of course, there’s some truth in that. And, Killer? How many people have you killed?”
“God,” Leon muttered, shrugging. “Hasn’t anyone told Anna that you shouldn’t joke with Moreau?”
Oh, please. He wasn’t that scary. Yes, he was six-foot-five and consisted of two hundred forty pounds of muscle, but he had never scared her. He was…gentle when he wanted to be. So Anna rigorously ignored Leon — just like Moreau.
For a few endless seconds, he just stared at her impassively, tilting his head almost imperceptibly.
He wore a light blue shirt that was so tight around his shoulders that Anna could see the muscles tensing underneath.
His posture told her that he knew what she was doing and that she should stop.
But she decided to ignore his body language because she wanted to hear words from him.
“So?” she repeated challengingly while a strange silence spread around them. “How many?”
He slowly leaned back in his chair and murmured, “None yet, but maybe I’ll start today.”
The corners of her mouth twitched. It sounded like a threat, but she was fairly certain he was joking.
“You know you can’t really kill with looks, right?” she said, amused, leaning forward. “And seeing you this way, I’d think you’re auditioning for a role as a brooding, glittery vampire.”
Fox laughed loudly and slapped Moreau on the shoulder. “Oh man, she’s right!”
The goalie frowned. “And here’s victim number two.”
“Please don’t,” Lucy protested. "We couldn’t recover from the PR nightmare. So, yes, the Scandal Cup goes to Jack West! Congratulations.”
The team’s applause was exaggerated, and Jack accepted his fake Oscar with a sigh — while Lucas continued looking at her.
He shook his head. It was a barely noticeable movement…
but she knew what he wanted. She should stop provoking him.
Well, that, unfortunately, clashed with her plans for that night! Too bad.
She smiled broadly and took a sip of her second daiquiri while Lucy announced that they could now choose their most innocent lamb.
“It’s pretty clear!” Matt shouted. “Fox deserves the title. Maddie says he’s the only one she’d like to take on at her dating agency because she could realistically sell him as a marriageable man.”
Fox smiled broadly. “Thanks, Maddie. You’re right. I’m the most sensible of all of us.”
“As well as divorced from a horrible woman who drags your name through the mud every few months and sics the press on you!” Lucy reminded him, shaking her head.
Fox toasted her. “Which is why I’m never getting married again, so unfortunately, I won’t sign up with you, Maddie.”
“Oh,” Matt said. “Well, if Fox is out… Shit, am I the innocent lamb then?”
“Mr. Four-Handcuffs?” Lucy flipped him the bird. “God, if anyone heard this tonight… No, no. You were in the press too because of the whole thing with Maddie.”
“So, who’s left?” Leon asked, irritated.
Lucy grinned. “Well, Moreau! He just admitted that he hasn’t killed anyone yet. He’s never made the headlines in his life — I should know! It’s just easy to forget him because he has such a…um…” She glanced quickly in his direction before whispering loudly, “…evil aura. But he’s our innocent lamb.”
Anna choked on her drink and coughed into her hand before she started laughing. She couldn’t help it. Lucas, the winner of the Innocent Cup…that was like Harry Styles winning a trophy for worst singing. Or a jackhammer winning the medal for the quietest work!
“What’s so funny?” Lucy asked, irritated and uncomfortable. Anna noticed that everyone, without exception, was staring at her.
“Oh, sorry, nothing,” she replied hastily, wiping her hands on her napkin while avoiding Lucas’ gaze. She felt him like warm fingers around her face, and she didn’t like that. “I just saw Leon’s expression.”
Thank God no one doubted that Leon Alvarez could look stupid…