Total pages in book: 169
Estimated words: 162138 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 811(@200wpm)___ 649(@250wpm)___ 540(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 162138 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 811(@200wpm)___ 649(@250wpm)___ 540(@300wpm)
CHAPTER 6
LACHLAN
“I don’t think you’ve ever talked about a girl like this,” my mom said as she set the garlic bread in the oven. “Do you like her? What am I saying? Of course, you like her.” She closed the oven and set the timer. “You wouldn’t bring her up if you didn’t.”
“Yeah.” The wooden dining chair creaked as I shifted to stretch my legs.
“Does she like hockey?”
“I’m not sure.” I frowned.
“You don’t know?” This shocked my mother. “So, this isn’t one of your puck bunnies?”
“No.” I laughed. “She didn’t even know who I was when we met.”
Her brows rose. “Truly?”
“Yep.” I stood up and started setting the table.
“That’s interesting.” Mom smiled. “What’s her name?”
“Lyla James.”
“Lyla James.” Her smile grew. “I love that. Does she know you share a middle name?”
“No.” I pressed my lips together to keep from smiling.
“Does she like you?” she asked, then laughed with an eye roll. “Of course, she likes you. Every girl in the universe falls at your feet without you saying a word.”
Every girl except Lyla James. I didn’t want to get into that with my mother. How was I supposed to explain that I didn’t think she liked anything or anyone without making her sound like a bitch? The only indication I had that she liked me was what happened at her father’s house. I hadn’t been able to stop replaying that scene or thinking about how she let her guard down in front of me. Was it a right place, right time situation? Would she have let Banks see her in that state if he’d been the one to check on her? Would she have let him hold her the way she let me? Fuck.
Whenever I thought about her, I felt like a fish out of water. Most guys my age knew how to navigate this since they’d had girlfriends in the past. The only official girlfriend I’d had was freshman year of high school, and the only reason we were an item was that she was hot, a dancer, and insisted that we’d be good together. It lasted six months before she broke up with me because I “didn’t show enough interest in her.” I walked her to class, fucked her every day, and took her to parties. What more could she have possibly wanted from me? I never got the answer because I didn’t care enough to ask. In hindsight, I should have. It might’ve helped me a little in this situation.
“Lach?” my mom said. I set down the last knife and turned to look at her. “Does Lyla know what an athlete’s life consists of? Practices, away games, merch deals? And soon, you’ll be going pro, so it’ll be multiplied by a hundred.”
I pulled a face. “I’m not gonna marry the girl, Ma.”
“You might.” She shrugged.
“This is why I wasn’t going to bring her up,” I said, taking a seat again. “I knew you’d start planning a wedding right away.”
“I am not planning a wedding.” She laughed, shaking her head.
I shot her a look. “You do it to Liam all the time.”
“Liam was with Robin for two and a half years! They lived together.”
“And look at how that turned out.” I shifted the chair across from me and rested my feet on it.
“I’m just asking if she knows about the life of an athlete,” she said, turning around to chop tomatoes. “Sue me for being interested in the only girl my son has ever mentioned by name.”
“She played soccer,” I said. “She got a fancy national award and everything.”
“That’s nice. Does that mean she’s going pro?”
“She quit.”
Mom set the knife down and turned quickly, crossing her arms as she leaned against the counter. “Why did she quit?”
“No idea.”
“You didn’t ask?” She frowned. “Lach, if you genuinely like this girl, you can’t treat her the way you treat the others.”
“I haven’t had a chance to ask her yet.” I shot her a look. “And I treat ‘the others’ just fine.”
“Sure.” She shook her head, pushing off the counter and opening the fridge.
“They’re puck bunnies. Technically, they’re the ones mistreating me,” I argued. “If they wanted a relationship, they’d go after Lee.”
“Don’t bring your brother into this.” Mom shot me a warning look. “Do you want a relationship with this girl?”
“I don’t know,” I said honestly, surprising myself.
“You don’t know?” She shut the fridge and turned around quickly, giving me her full attention.
My knee started bouncing nervously. The thought of being stuck in a relationship made me sweat, even if the relationship was with Lyla. Especially if the relationship was with Lyla. It would be a distraction and pressure me not to mess things up with her. I couldn’t commit to that right now. I knew this, yet this need to possess her made me want to try. It was fucked up and selfish, but I couldn’t help it. When I was with her, I felt the same anticipation as when I tried to score a point. The feeling of striking the puck on just the right trajectory and watching it sail through the air with the potential for anything to happen. It happened in less than a second, but it always felt like time slowed as I held my breath and waited for the outcome. That was how she made me feel. Like I was holding my breath in anticipation. One thing was feeling like that on the ice for a few minutes, but to feel that way every time someone walked into the room? It had to be bad for the heart.