Trying to Score (27 page)

“Awww, baby Shelli!” Fallon gushed as she stood up, going around the desk so she could get Shelli. Elli smiled as she handed the sweet baby over to Fallon. Shelli’s wide blue eyes looked everywhere but at Fallon as she held her close in her arms. “What brings you by?”

Elli smiled as she put a file on Fallon’s desk. “Had to drop off some paperwork and since I had Shelli today, I decided to come by and visit instead of having Janet do it.”

“I’m glad you did,” she said and she meant it. She loved seeing baby Shelli. She was probably the prettiest baby ever. Bright blue eyes, cherub cheeks, dark brown curls, and the sweetest little nose. She was perfect. “Well aren’t you the prettiest baby girl ever? I think so, don’t you?” Fallon cooed to the baby. She was rewarded with a bright smile from Shelli and it warmed Fallon’s heart. Fallon smiled down at Shelli as she said, “I swear Elli, she looks more and more like Shea every time I see her.”

Elli smiled as she sat down in one of the chairs in front of Fallon’s desk. “I know. Shea is hoping this one comes out looking like me, which I doubt it will. Shea has very strong features.”

“Oh hush, so you do. Shelli has some of you, just more of Shea. It’s like Aiden, spittin’ image of Lucas, but he has parts of me,” Fallon said with a grin on her face as she kissed Shelli’s cheeks.

“Since you brought up Lucas,” Elli started, causing Fallon to laugh since it was like the first time they ever talked about Lucas. “How’s he doing? I haven’t seen him.”

Fallon shrugged her shoulder. “Okay I guess. Aside from the fact that he is driving me crazy, him and Aiden are doing good from what I see, at least.”

Fallon laughed. “Nowhere near that. It’s crazy Elli, really it is. One minute we are arguing the next he is kissing me. He says the most crude remarks and he drives me insane! He’s a pig, I tell you.”

“He kissed
me
,” Fallon emphasized.

“Did you smack him?”

Fallon bit her lip as she looked back down at the cute little curls on Shelli’s head again. “No,” she whispered and Elli made a loud shriek. “Elli, I’m horny and the man drives me crazy!”

“You are crazy, and confused.”

“I know it’s crazy Elli! A part of me wants him while the other part knows he is the biggest mistake ever. But seeing him with Aiden makes my heart melt. He gets so happy when Aiden is around and Aiden lights up. It’s like he knows or something. I don’t know. All I do know is that I am scared shitless he will hurt me and that’s what has kept me from not falling for his advances.”

Elli shook her head. “How are you going to deal with the campaign Fallon? Y’all will be working side and side.”

Fallon rolled her eyes. “How am I going to deal with the rest of my life? I’m pretty damn sure if I don’t get laid soon, I’m gonna hump his face!”

Elli let out a gust-busting laugh and Fallon joined in as Shelli just looked around the room. “And the sad thing is, he would probably let me!”

That had the two women laughing so hard that Fallon had tears in her eyes. It felt good to have tears in her eyes that weren’t sad. She had been so torn up over the whole Lucas thing that laughing about him was a great change.

“No, I have a date. Listen can I call Lucas and asked him?” she asked. Fallon could tell she was desperate because Audrey would never pick a date over Aiden.

Lucas smiled as he looked in the rearview mirror at Aiden. Aiden wore Lucas’ number 22 jersey, in an extra small, that they had picked out in the pro shop. His face was covered with cotton candy residue, and his grin told Lucas that his statement was probably true because it was a pretty great day.

They spent the day at the arena where Lucas showed Aiden everything — the locker rooms, the ice, the penalty box, and the player’s bench. Aiden was in heaven as he walked around with the biggest grin on his face and asked question after question. Lucas loved hockey, but spending the day talking about hockey with his favorite little guy had him on cloud nine. The only thing that sucked was that it was time for Aiden to go home.

They rode along listening to a new CD Aiden had brought. It was some pop queen and at least she could sing, but it was still torture. Even with the bad music, nothing could bring down Lucas’ mood. He had enjoyed a great day with his son and after getting the chance to hold Fallon in his arms — even if it did end badly — he had had sweet dreams the night before. Lucas was slowly but surely breaking her walls down. She wanted him, he could tell, now all he had to do was get her to trust him.

“Sure, bud,” he said once he found his voice, “I think the people that are fixing my house will be done Friday. We’ll spend the day at my house, and I’ll teach you.”

Lucas was having hardwood floors put into the house since he hated the carpet. Since his house was so freaking big, it was taking a long time to get everything done. With nails, boards, and crap lying around, he knew that the house wasn’t a place for a six year old. Lucas was also having Aiden’s room redone so that it was bigger. He figured that Aiden would want to come and stay the night with him once he knew about him, so he wanted Aiden to have the best room ever.

The thought of telling Aiden made Lucas’ heart race, but Lucas felt that they were bonding and that they were already connected. He loved Aiden, and couldn’t wait for Aiden to call him dad.

Lucas laughed as he pulled into Fallon’s driveway. “That’s because you haven’t been with me. You’ll have fun. I promise. We’ll get Levi to go, too.”

“Cool!” Aiden exclaimed as Lucas parked the truck.

Aiden liked Levi but Levi hated kids, and he also didn’t believe Aiden was his son. He thought Fallon was lying. Lucas got so mad that Levi thought that, and for the first time, he threatened his best friend. Aiden was his son, he would never think differently. Lucas might not know how to fix things between him and Fallon but he knew that Aiden was his. Nothing was gonna change his mind.

When Lucas opened the door and got out, he noticed that Audrey was standing beside her car with Aiden’s baseball stuff in hand. He shut the door and smiled over at her.

“Hey, we aren’t late are we?” he asked as he opened the door, letting Aiden out. Aiden ran over to Audrey, hugging her tightly.

“Hey, honey,” she said before kissing Aiden’s forehead and looking back up at Lucas. “No, but can you take Aiden to practice? I got something to do.”

“Oh, sure,” Lucas said, thinking that he had nothing to do and since Aiden was spending the day with Audrey tomorrow, he was sort of glad to have more time with him.

“Thanks, is that okay Aiden?” Audrey asked looking down at Aiden.

Aiden nodded as he took his stuff. “Yup, I gotta tell you about my day though.”

Audrey smiled as she moved a piece of hair out of Aiden’s eyes. Lucas really needed to talk to Fallon about getting the kid a haircut, his hair was always in his eyes. “Tomorrow okay? Go spend time with Lucas. Mommy will be here when you get back.”

“Okay, love you,” Aiden said as he hugged her tightly again. She hugged him back before he broke away from her and ran back into the truck.

“I love you more, honey, have fun. Hit the ball for me!” Audrey said as she waved. Lucas took his bag from her, and threw it in the back. Lucas shut the trunk before making sure Aiden was buckled in. He then said bye to Audrey and got into the truck.

As Lucas pulled out the drive, he swore he saw a tear roll down Audrey’s face. He almost pulled back in but she got into her car and started it up. Lucas thought she was acting weird but he didn’t think she was upset and that worried him. It surprised him how much he cared and how he wanted to pull back in and make sure she was okay. In the process of getting to know Aiden, he was getting to know Audrey too. He was starting to consider her the sister he never had. She was a good girl, and she was loyal, plus she supported his advances on Fallon. That alone made him love her. He decided that he would check on her tomorrow and drove off towards the baseball field to take his boy to practice.

And to see Coach Dweeb.

**********************************

Not only did Lucas not like Aiden’s coach because he was trying to get with Fallon, but he found that he was starting to really dislike the guy because he couldn’t coach worth shit. Lucas understood making the sport fun for kids because it needed to be, but there needed to be structure too! There needed to be authority, and this guy had none. Kids ran all over the field while he asked for them to pay attention.

Asked!

Only two kids, Aiden included, actually stood listening and Lucas’ temper was climbing with every passing second. Lucas wanted to scream at the kids to listen. He wanted to go out there and show them how to play even if he wasn’t that good himself. At least he knew he was better than this idiot!

Aiden glanced over at Lucas, who was leaning against his truck, and shrugged his shoulders as he rolled his eyes. It tore Lucas apart to sit there and watch his kid do something he obviously didn’t like. He wanted go out there and steal his kid away, take him to get ice cream just so he knew that Aiden was happy but there was one thing, well person, standing in his way of doing that.

Fallon.

Lucas weighed his options. Try to make Fallon happy, or make Aiden happy? Fallon didn’t like quitters — neither did Lucas — but if Aiden honestly did not like baseball, why make him finish it? If she was worried about him playing a sport, Lucas had that covered. They were gonna start up hockey. Everything would be fine, but Lucas knew him pulling Aiden would piss her off. Any chance of him getting her to trust him would go out the window. Fallon requested Aiden play until the end of the season, and Lucas could respect that.

No, he couldn’t.

When Coach Dweeb threw Aiden back in right field and Lucas saw Aiden’s shoulders fall as he made his way out to right field, Lucas came off that truck like a bat out of hell. Lucas temper was at its breaking point and he just prayed that he didn’t hit this guy. He felt eyes on him as he marched himself up to the idiot coach and hated the fact that he had an audience. Aiden hadn’t walked far when Lucas said, “AJ, truck, now.”

Aiden looked back at him and without question ran to the truck. Lucas felt bad for about two seconds for scaring Aiden but then Coach Dweeb turned around with a dirty ass look on his face.

“What are you doing?”

“Okay, listen here asshole, Aiden doesn’t belong in right field and since you have your head so far up his mother’s ass to see that, I’ll point it out for you. He is the only one beside that kid over there that pays attention. He’s attentive and the best damn kid out here, but since you can’t see that, I’m pulling him,” Lucas said through his teeth, since he knew he had an audience. He had forgotten his hat in the car, and hoped that no hockey fans were in the stands.

“For one, jackass,” Coach said, taking a step towards Lucas.

Aw shit, Coach Dumbass had balls. He must not be a hockey fan because hockey fans knew of Lucas’ temper. They knew the look he got when his victim was cruising for a bruising.

And Lucas knew he had the look right then.

“For one, the reason why Aiden is in right field is because he can’t catch a ball for shit and for two, my head is not up some bitch’s ass, and for three, you can’t do that since you are nothing to him.”

Oh, fuck.

Lucas took a deep breath, counting to 10 as he took a step forward.

“Let me tell you something, you skinny little fucker. If I ever hear you say my kid can’t do something, I’m pretty sure I will hit you so hard it will knock that ugly ass fro off your head,” Lucas sneered as the fuck face’s eyes went wide. “If you ever call my child’s mother a bitch again, it’s simple, you will die. And lastly, I am something because if you haven’t heard, that is my kid, and I’m kind of protective over what’s mine. Stay away from Fallon and Aiden, or I will fuck you up.”

Lucas waited for the guy to say something. When he didn’t, Lucas’ eyes never left his as he slowly backed away. When he turned, he saw some of the mom’s saying something, but he didn’t care. There were only two moms he was worried about, and that was his own and Fallon.