Authors: Toni Aleo
“I need to run by the Z Gallery and get some things, then we can go wherever you like,” Lucas said, directing her towards the amazing home accents store. Fallon pouted the whole way there, and when she entered, she wanted to leave immediately because she saw the bedding she had to have. If she wasn’t so in love with the things she had bought from Louis Vuitton, she would have run back and returned it all, but she was. So the beautiful bright pink and black paisley bedding wouldn’t be gracing Fallon’s bed until she got her bonus and that wasn’t for another month or so.
Such a depressing thought.
Fallon stood in front of the bed, admiring the bedding she would never have as Lucas walked around her, looking at different odds and ends. When she ran her finger down the fluffy, soft bedding in complete longing, Lucas laughed.
Fallon laughed. “Well, I paid Audrey’s condo off, and then I put two million of it away for Aiden’s college and the rest is going to something else.”
Fallon’s heart kicked up in speed as she gazed into Lucas’ eyes. She was scared to tell Lucas about the cellar. What if he thought it was silly and laughed at her? It would break her heart since it was her dream. She stood by her dream to sophisticate the sport of hockey. She didn’t care how many bottles of wine she had to stuff down people’s throat, or if she had to talk until she was blue in the face about how amazing wine was, she was going to have her cellar and it was going to be a success. But that didn’t keep Fallon from still being nervous about what Lucas would think. It made her heart hurt at the thought of him not supporting her. Fallon smiled nervously and sat down on the edge of the bed, loving the feel of the blanket against the back of her legs.
“What?” he asked, like she knew he would.
Fallon shrugged her shoulders. “It’s nothing,” she said with a flutter of her hand.
“Obviously it is, and we are trying this communication thing remember? So you kind of have to tell me,” Lucas said with a grin as he sat beside her.
Fallon bit her lip as she played with the bottom of her gray skirt. She looked up at him and smiled. “I wanna sophisticate hockey by opening a wine cellar for all the fans to buy wine for the after-party at their houses.”
Lucas’ eyebrows drew together as he looked down at her. “Sophisticate hockey?”
Fallon nodded since she knew he wouldn’t understand. No one did, but that didn’t keep her from trying to explain herself. “Yes,” she said turning to look at him. “I want people to go home and relax with a nice bottle of our Big Country or our Big Rock Syrah. I want them to discuss the awesomeness of the game with our wine in their glass. Hockey is so intense and people drink beer with it ‘cause that’s what you do, but what if I can change the norm and start a wine-drinking movement. I know I’ll never take the place of beer during the game, but if I can replace the after game drink with wine, I have succeeded, and that’s where my cellar comes in at.”
Fallon’s cheeks warmed as she looked away. She couldn’t believe how passionate she could get sometimes, but it only happened when she loved something so much. She looked over at Lucas and smiled at his grin. “Whatever, you think I’m silly.”
“Never. I think you are breathtaking and if this is what you want baby, you let me know what I can do to help. If I have to make everyone on the team drink wine so that our fans do, then you better believe I will.”
A lump formed in Fallon’s throat as she gazed into Lucas’ eyes. “You’d do that?” she choked out.
He scoffed. “Baby, I would do just about anything for you. I think Adler already drinks wine, and Jakob too, so I only have about 30 more guys to get to. The new kid is impressionable so I’m pretty sure I can get him to, oh no wait, he’s not old enough yet, but once he is, I will buy him a case of Rocky Top Wine and make him drink it all.”
Fallon was speechless as she looked deep into Lucas’ bright eyes. She swallowed loudly before wrapping her arms around Lucas’ neck and kissing him loudly on the lips. The words were on the tip of her tongue but she wasn’t ready to tell him that she loved him just yet. If she got onto him about moving so fast, how could she blurt out she loved him more than anything and not be a hypocrite? They needed to take things slow, but for the love of God, how could she when he was probably the sweetest man imaginable.
“Oh, yes you will,” Lucas said with a naughty grin on his face, their serious moment gone. “And hopefully, you will let me break it in.”
Heat filled Fallon as Lucas walked away, chuckling that low sexy chuckle of his. Fallon stood up and shook her head. She knew there was no way of talking him out of buying the bedding or anything else for that matter, so she decided that she wouldn’t long for anything else while they were at the mall.
Yeah.
Fallon’s longing for nothing else while they were in Green Hills lasted until they came up to Kate Spade’s beautiful store. Fallon was in so much awe of the beauty in the window that Lucas laughed and dragged her inside.
They left with 19 bags.
“Lucas this is crazy! Please take it all back! I feel horrible.”
Lucas laughed, shuffling the bags he had in his hand. “I would think by now you would know that I love spending money on people I love. So get used to it cupcake, and come on. I wanted to go to that store Audrey liked. I need you to pick her out something she would love so that I can coax her into telling me about the dude I am going to kill.”
Love filled Fallon from the top of her head to the tip of her toes as she watched Lucas’ profile as they walked. “And you say I’m amazing.”
“I do, and I know I am. So basically, we are pretty much two amazing people, with an amazing kid.”
Fallon couldn’t agree more.
Lucas felt completely optimistic as he drove from Fallon’s work to Aiden’s school. Being able to spend the afternoon with Fallon was perfect, but getting an invite to dinner made his day. He couldn’t get enough of his two favorite people and he knew that the night ahead was going to be the start of many amazing nights. Things were looking as if they were going to go the way he wanted them to, which was straight to the altar and Fallon having another baby.
“So I think you need to be cautious of the money you are spending Luc. You have to pay your baby momma a good chunk of change every month, and you can’t be blowing money the way you used to.”
Lucas rolled his eyes. “For one, Fallon is her name. For two, I make over seven million a year just from the Assassins, and then I have endorsement deals with Nike and Jockey. Why in the world do I need to watch my spending when I take my girlfriend to the mall?”
“So you were shopping for Fallon? Why waste that kind of money on her when she has recently received a huge check from you and is also getting a monthly payday?”
Lucas let out a frustrated breath. “I am going to pretend that you did not say that, and I am also calling Jessie tomorrow and asking her what my funds are looking like.”
Lucas hung up the phone and threw it on the seat. Levi frustrated him to the core and he wasn’t going to be told who and what he could spend his money on. He had saved a lot when he was in rehab and if he wanted to spend it on Fallon, Audrey and Aiden, he fucking would! No one was going to tell him different!
Lucas pulled in behind a Mercedes and let out another frustrated breath. This was what he worked for; he skated hard and worked hard at what he did to provide for the people that meant the world to him. How dare Levi try to tell him what he could and couldn’t spend his money on?
Fuck him.
Lucas was fuming, but when his eyes fell on Aiden’s bright happy face running towards his truck, all thoughts of Levi and money were gone and the happiness of seeing his son replaced them all. Lucas opened the door and met Aiden half way, hugging him tightly.
“Hey buddy,” he said as Aiden grinned up at him.
“Hey Dad! Ms. Lemar needs to talk to you,” Aiden said as a cute little blonde came towards them. She was young and the first thing Lucas thought was that she would be perfect for the new kid, Tate, on the team. Lucas was starting to like the kid a lot and figured that he might bring him with him to pick Aiden up one day.
“Hi, Melanie Lemar, Aiden’s teacher. It’s wonderful to finally meet you. Aiden talks about you all the time,” she said and Lucas smiled down at Aiden.
“Nice to meet you, too.”
“The reason why I needed to see you was that I need a signature on this form for Aiden. I think Ms. Parker forgot to send it back in,” Ms. Lemar said, handing him a bright green sheet. Lucas’ stomach sank as he tried to focus on the words. Not only was the color messing with his eyes, the words were freaking tiny! He glanced up at Ms. Lemar with a charming smile.
“I’m sorry, I forgot my glasses. What is this?”
“Oh! I’m sorry! It’s for our field trip next week to the Adventure Science Center! If you would like to volunteer you can sign here,” she said, showing him. Lucas smiled widely at her and signed his name, quickly also marking the spot for volunteering. It sounded like a great idea; he would even get Fallon to come, or maybe Audrey.
“Thanks so much, Mr. Brooks. Again, it was nice to meet you!”
“You too, Ms. Lemar, I’ll see you next week. Come on bud,” Lucas said with a wave. Aiden walked ahead of Lucas, jumping into the backseat before Lucas shut the door. Lucas got into the driver side and drove off towards Fallon’s house. Usually Aiden was talking nonstop but he wasn’t today so Lucas looked up in the mirror at Aiden and asked, “Hey, you okay?”
Aiden looked up at him, his eyebrows drawn in together. “Dad, you don’t wear glasses.”
Lucas cleared his throat nervously. “Um, well.”
“You told Ms. Lemar you do, and I have never seen you with them. I even checked your bathroom for contacts, you don’t have those either.”
Lucas nodded, his stomach turning as Aiden continued, “You never read to me, and you always ask me to read stuff.”
Lucas was looking out the windshield as his heart jackhammered against his chest at the thought of telling Aiden about his dyslexia. Would he laugh at him? Would he think he was stupid? Aiden was smarter than any regular kid and very perceptive. Lucas should have known that it wouldn’t take long for Aiden to catch on to Lucas’ disorder. Lucas was scared and like he knew Aiden would, Aiden asked, “Dad, can you read?”
Lucas cleared his throat again because his mouth was extremely dry all of a sudden. He slowly shook his head, swallowing loudly before saying, “Nope bud, I can’t.”
Aiden looked worry when Lucas glanced back at him. “Why not? Did Grandma not teach you?”
Lucas licked his dry lips. “She tried, but I have a disorder called dyslexia. It takes me a minute to read things because all the words jumble up and switch around.”
Aiden was quiet for a moment before asking, “Can I help you? Or can Mommy?! She taught me to read, she is the best.”
Lucas smiled as he nodded. “She is, but it’s hard, and I have to work really hard to learn.”
Aiden blinked twice before looking down at his cast. Lucas didn’t know what to say, so nothing else was said during the ride to Fallon’s house and that surprised him. He expected a lot of questions from Aiden and for him not to ask, he wondered if he was scared or something. When they arrived, Lucas parked the truck beside Audrey’s car and got out, opening the door for Aiden, but he didn’t move. Aiden looked over at Lucas with a look of worry before saying, “You shouldn’t give up Dad. Even if it’s hard, you can do it. You can do anything — that’s what you always say to me.”
Lucas got choked up looking into his son’s eyes as he repeated the words that his father used to say to him and now he said to his son. Aiden was completely right and Lucas really needed to listen to his father’s advice.
Lucas unbuckled Aiden’s seat belt and took him in his arms, hugging him tightly.
“I love you, Aiden.”
“I love you too, Dad,” Aiden muffled since Lucas was holding him so tight. Lucas laughed as he put Aiden down, patting him on the head before shutting the door. “So you’ll try?”