Falling for the Backup (Novella): The Assassins Series (5 page)

“I should probably buy you another dress.” So I could then take it off.

She waved him off, “It’s okay, you bought me coffee.”

He nodded, biting down on his lip as she looked at him. He loved the way she did that, held him hostage with her green eyes.
 

“This is true,” he agreed as she giggled.
 

He felt like a teenager, fumbling for things to say.
 

“Did your aunt send your stuff back?”

She sat up suddenly, and smacked the table.
 

“Let me tell you what that old biddie did! She said she didn’t take my things! That it was all hers! Can you believe that!”
 

Jordan shook his head as she went on, “My mom is going to go get my stuff back from her but for goodness sakes, what is my aunt thinking!”

Jordan couldn’t stop laughing. She was so animated, so pretty as her arms went flying through the air as she spoke.
 

“My favorite gym shorts are in that suitcase and I haven’t been able to run the same since I got home without them. She’s impossible,” she said with a shake of her head.
 

“You run?”

He was glad she didn’t seem offended by his statement. It was just that her body seemed to lush and feminine to be that of a runner.

“Yup, I have a love affair going on with food, and if I want to keep eating like I do I have to keep running.
 

His mouth pulled into a grin as he nodded.
 

“Same thing with me, I run too, mostly to keep my knee in shape though.”

“Your knee?” she asked looking up at him, “shouldn’t you be worried about both knees?”

He chuckled.
 

“Yeah but I tore the meniscus in my left knee about two years ago, I’m recovering from it.”

She nodded as she said, “Ouch.”

“Yes, it sucked but I’m doing much better.”

“That’s good,” Aynslee said before leaning towards him, “Since you are an only child does that mean your mom was going crazy taking care of you?”

 
“Yeah, she came over from South Carolina and didn’t leave for three months. It was horrible, but I was thankful since I really couldn’t walk.”

“I bet, with me being from a large family you’d think my mom wouldn’t have time to baby me, but when I broke my ankle, she came and stayed with me in my little bitty dorm for two weeks. She carried my books to class and everything. My mom is the best.”

“Wow, she sounds great.”

“Yeah, I love my mom and my dad, they are nuts and my family is huge and loud and over the top but they are mine, you know?”

Jordan couldn’t agree more.

“Yeah, my mom and dad are a handful but I wouldn’t change them for the world.”

Taking a drink of his coffee, Jordan recognized the song that was playing,
Hunter Haynes’ Somebody’s Heartbreak
. It was one of his favorite country songs right now, and as he looked across the table at Aynslee, he couldn’t help but want her to be his heartbreak. He just didn’t want to be hers, and that’s why nothing could ever come out of this. It didn’t matter if he was insanely attracted to her, or that they both had the same values when it came to family, or the fact that she made him laugh more in the last twenty minutes than he had in the last two years. None of that mattered, because he couldn’t hurt her.

“So I have to tell you something,” she said softly
 

Jordan looked up at her beautiful face. He wished he could reach over, take her hand with his, and kiss her knuckles before smothering her mouth with his. She had the most kissable lips he had ever seen. He could tell by the way she looked at him that she wanted it too, but he knew he couldn’t chance it. Because if their lips met, he wasn’t going to be able to stop.
 

“Okay?”

“So I Googled you.”

He raised an eyebrow as he asked, “You Googled me?”

“Yup, and before you think I’m a complete stalker, I’m not…yet.”

“Yet?” he said with a chuckle.

“If I didn’t see you today I was going to show up at your practice next week.”

He smiled.
 

“You stalker, you,” he teased with a grin.

She laughed as he watched her face turn red. He loved when she blushed. She was so beautiful. It made him feel good that she wanted to see him again, because he wanted the same thing, but again that was bad, very bad. He needed to walk away, tell her that nothing could ever come out of this, but she would smile, and for some reason, he would start to forget the reasons why he couldn’t ask her out. Good God, it’s not like they were going to get married, what was wrong with him? They could date, have fun, and when he knew what his future was, he’d leave. It could just be for fun.
 

But when she met his gaze, he knew it wouldn’t be that easy.
 

“Anyways,” she said hiding behind her coffee cup, “You’re a hockey player, huh?”

He paused. She gave him a nervous smile and he nodded his head.

“Yup.”

“That’s cool, I went to my first game last night.”

His grin fell as he looked down at his cup. If she went, he knew that she saw him on the bench.
 

How embarrassing.
 

“It was fun, confusing, but fun. I saw you, I even waved but I’m pretty sure you didn’t see me.”

He shook his head. He had even looked for her and still missed her. That sucked -
 
but not as much as it sucked that she saw him warming the bench.
   

“Sorry, I didn’t,” he said looking away as he began to pick at the paper sleeve around his cup. “I don’t play much.”

When he looked up at her, she nodded, “Your knee, right?”

“Yeah,” he said quietly.
 

Jordan felt like a loser. Suddenly the great time they were having was dimmed by his bitter mood. He hated feeling like a loser. He wanted to be a man that was worthy of her, but he wasn’t. He was a washed up goalie that was begging teams to take a chance on him. Aynslee deserved someone better.
 

“I’m not what I used to be.”

She eyed him, holding his gaze as she ran her hand up and down her cup. She looked like she was looking for words, but there was nothing to say. He nervously looked around the room, feeling completely stupid. Why did he even talk to her? He should have just let her walk away when she ordered her coffee. Of course, she looked him up online; she probably read that he was worthless now, that his own team wouldn’t play him unless they were desperate. That some twenty two year old had taken his spot.
 

None of that mattered though, because he was leaving and it was for the best. Like he had been telling himself from the beginning, he couldn’t start anything with her. He just couldn’t. Standing up, he looked down at her welcoming, sweet face.
 

“I have to go.”

“What?” she asked as she stood up too, confused. “Why?”

“Cause I do, I gotta catch a flight and stuff, so yeah, bye.”
 

Jordan turned then, rushed out of Starbucks, not stopping even when he thought he heard her call his name. Once in his truck, he started it and drove out of the parking lot. Even though his heart was pounding telling him he was a complete idiot, he knew it was for the best. Reaching the exit before he headed out onto the road he glanced in his rearview mirror and saw her standing outside, with her hands on her hips. He wanted to roll down the window, apologize, anything, because he didn’t want to leave, but he knew that he had to.
 

He promised himself he would never see her again.

Chapter 4

“How’s the knee Jordan?”

Jordan looked across the table at the IceCats GM, Sean Rogers. Jordan’s heart was pounding in his chest while sweat dripped down the middle of his back. It was cold in the room, but Jordan’s nerves were out of control. He hadn’t realized how much he wanted to be on the IceCats until he stepped foot into their arena. Walking past all the posters and photos of the team winning the cup and at charity events reminded Jordan a lot of the Assassins. But the IceCats needed a goalie, while the Assassins only needed a backup.
 

Forcing a smile, he looked straight into Sean’s eyes and said, “It’s good, I’m ready to play.”

Sean nodded ,
 

“You
were
a force to be reckoned with before the injury.”

Jordan heard the
were
loud and clear. That needed to change.
 

“I still could be if I was given the chance. When I played 11 games straight for Tate Odder while he was out I only let in seven of two hundred and fifty shots on goal. I am ready to play full time, I am tired of warming the bench.”

Sean looked up from Jordan’s file and smiled. Now.

“I agree, but has Baxter given you a reason why you are warming and not playing? You and Odder are very similar players.”

 
“I don’t know, all I know is that I want to play and I’m not getting the time I need on the ice playing for the Assassins.”

Sean paused for a moment, looking back down at the table.
 

“You have been with that team since you started in the NHL, are you sure you want to leave?”

Was he sure?
 
It would hurt to leave the Assassins, he loved the team, but he loved playing more and just as he was about to say that, he thought of Aynslee.
 
Disturbing.. Was it his subconscious letting him know that not only was he walking away from the team but her too?
 

Shaking his head, he said, “As much as I’ll miss them, I have to go to a team that is going to play me and I think that team is the IceCats. I have dreamt of playing for this team my entire life and I am ready to show you that I can be the star goalie you need to bring the cup home, once again.”

As much as he believed he would kick ass he was worried that he wouldn’t be happy when he left Tennessee. It was an insane thoughtbecause his family was here and being a part of the IceCats was his lifelong dream, but he would be leaving his team, his friends, and Aynslee.
 
Aynslee.
 
As much as he tried he could not get her out of his mind.

“Sounds good, Jordan. I feel good about this. I’ll talk to your dad, talk to Mrs. Adler, and we should know something in the next couple of months. I think you are going to look great in our IceCats jersey.”

Sean stood then, holding out his hand. Jordan took it as he stood, shaking it earnestly while in his mind a certain redhead smiled back at him. Things were moving for him and that was great, so why wasn’t he as happy as he thought he would be?
 

“Sean said he thought I was going to look great in an IceCats jersey, I’m pretty sure that means something,” Jordan said as he passed the green beans to his dad the next evening at dinner. “Hopefully something good,” Bill said with a nod.

“I’d love to have you home, honey, it would be wonderful,” Jackie, his mom, said before reaching over and squeezing his hand.
 

“As much as I love being home mom, I gotta go where they are going to play me.” Sometimes his mom didn’t realize that his job was to play hockey. She still saw the little boy, all dressed up in his goalie gear loving the game more than anything.
 

“I know, I just hope it works out,” Jackie gushed as she smiled over at Jordan’s father, “Make it happen, Bill.”

Everyone laughed at her comment as they finished dinner, chatting about their favorite topic, hockey. Jordan learned from his father, also his agent, that Buffalo was keeping their options open and would be in contact before the end of the season. Jordan knew what that meant. They didn’t want him. He tried not to let it bother him and focused on what his mother was telling him about her quilting. It was hard, though, to listen when he saw his career going down the drain. If the IceCats didn’t want him, he was fucked. He would end up going somewhere he didn’t want to go or worse, he’d have to continue playing as someone’s backup. When Jackie looked up at him expectantly, Jordan smiled and said, “That’s great mom, I’m proud of you.”

Jackie beamed as she stabbed a shrimp and placed it in her mouth.
 

“Been telling her for years to enter her quilts, she is just so hardheaded,” Bill teased.
 

Jackie snarled as she shook her head.
 

“I am not hardheaded; I just thought you were being biased!”

Bill laughed before reaching across the table for his wife’s hand.

“Maybe I was, but I have good reason to be.”

Jackie shot him a smile as his dad kissed the back of her hand. Jordan smiled as he looked down at his food. His parents were still crazy in love after 35 years. It was something he wanted to have. When Aynslee came to mind again for the umpteenth time that day, he let out a sigh.
 

“So Jordan,” Jackie said switching topics, “Have you heard from Leanna lately?”

 
“Mom, we have been apart for almost two years, and no, I haven’t heard from her because we are not together.” Would she ever drop this subject?
 
He loved his mom, but it was getting old.

Jackie tsked at him as she rolled her eyes.
 

“I only ask because I spoke with Carol last week.”

Carol was Leanna’s mother, and Jackie’s good friend. Jordan Disliked her almost as much as he did Leanna.

“That’s nice,” he muttered as he continued to eat.

“Did you know that Leanna is pregnant,” Jackie asked causing Jordan to choke on the shrimp he was trying to eat.
 

“Excuse me?” he croaked.
 

“Yes, with a business man. Carol said they are getting married this month. Isn’t that nice?”

Jordan couldn’t believe it. Leanna never wanted kids when they were together. It must have been a surprise pregnancy. Or maybe, she just didn’t want to have kids with him.
 
Either way he really didn’t care.

“It’s something, that’s for sure,” he managed to reply.