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  Tate reached over tapping Lucas on the shin with his stick, “I know.”

  “Cool, now come on. I will score on you,” Lucas said before he skated over to his stick.

  “Bring it, Brooks,” Tate said dropping his helmet.

  Even though Lucas didn’t understand Tate’s reasoning for wanting to settle down, Tate still knew it was for the best and that Lucas supported him. He wanted that person: the person his father had in his mother. Tate wanted what Lucas had in Fallon minus the anger. He wanted a loving, willing woman who would love him for his dorky, gap tooth, wounded self. He wanted his forever kind of girl.

  And Tate had a feeling he had one within reach.

  ***

  Audrey was having a horrible morning.

  It was one of those mornings where she wished she could go back to bed and try again the next day. After spending all of Sunday in bed crying and receiving text messages from Levi, Audrey wasn’t sure why she even got out of bed the next morning. Saying goodbye to Aiden was harder than she thought it was going to be. She knew she could see him whenever she wanted, but it was nice having the little guy around. Her house was so big and lonely now. Missing Aiden while dealing with Levi was hard and took a toll on her heart. She should have just stayed in and hoped that all thoughts of Levi’s request would go away.

  It didn’t.

  All she could see was the number of texts that asked the same thing.

  Come see me.

  I promise, she doesn’t mean anything.

  I just want to see you, I want to explain.

  Stop being like this, we have fun don’t we?

  I need my Xbox back, come drop it off.

  With tears filling her eyes, Audrey sat in the parking lot of Luther Arena trying to figure out if she should go inside and see Fallon or go to work. Even though, she rather sell all her shoes then go to work, dealing with what Fallon was going to have to say was probably worse. With a frustrated yell, Audrey pushed the car door open and headed towards the large arena. Fallon was usually at the office but since she had been away from the cellar for so long, she was there to check on things.

  Entering the Luther Arena, Audrey found herself staring up at large posters of Shea Adler, Alex Welch, the Assassins’ leading forward, Lucas, and then Tate. The first smile in a 24 hour span tugged at Audrey lips as she found herself memorizing everything about Tate’s face. He looked so cute with his helmet resting on top of his head. His eyes glowing as his mouth curved in a devilish looking smile while still hiding her favorite part about his mouth from the world. Audrey felt special to know that she was always able to see Tate’s gap, since he was always grinning for her. Thinking of his wide smile made her smile but it vanished just as quick as it came.

  She liked him more than she should. Blah.

  Wanting to jump into the trashcan and live there for the rest of her life, she made her way to Fallon’s Cellar. Audrey wasn’t sure if it was she or Lucas who was more excited when Fallon told them the name of the cellar. Audrey was sure she was going to name it after the family’s business, Rocky Top Wines, but thank God, she didn’t. In just a few short months, Fallon had turned her cellar into something magnificent. People would line up to buy wine from her, and Audrey couldn’t have been more proud.

  Stepping inside the cellar, Audrey took in the beauty that her sister had created. Along the walls, in light color wood cabinets, was every single bottle of wine that Rocky Top made. Pictures of the Assassins’ players each holding his favorite bottle hung where the cabinets were not. In the middle of the cellar was an island with wine glasses, fresh grapes, crackers and cheese, along with the bottle-of-the-day. Audrey went around the island to the counter where Fallon stood. She was engrossed in paperwork, not paying attention that someone had just walked in.

  Audrey took in the beauty of the counter that was also done in a lightwood. The cool thing about the counter was that Fallon had used old hockey sticks as the top. The whole Assassins’ team had come in and signed each stick and it was really neat to look at while waiting to check out. Above the counter in big black script was ‘Fallon’s Cellar’ and then below it was a picture of Fallon, Lucas, and Aiden from their engagement shoot. It was beautiful.

  “Hey you,” Audrey said, throwing her purse on the counter.

  Fallon jumped a little in surprise before making eye contact with Audrey and smiling. “You scared the crap out of me!”

  “My bad, how’s everything going? Did your helper do her job?”

  Fallon nodded, looking back down at her paperwork, “Yup, things look great, I’m happy.”

  “Good, so I’m here like your text commanded.”

  Fallon laughed, laying her pen down before pinning Audrey with a look, “You know why I asked you here, so spill it, what happened while I was gone?”

  Audrey shrugged her shoulders, “Nothing.”

  “Nothing?”

  “Same ole, same ole.”

  “As in?”

  Audrey took in a deep frustrating breath. If she didn’t tell Fallon, she was going to bother her until she did, so Audrey said in a rush, “I slept with Levi again.”

  “Ugh! Why on earth would you do that?!”

  Audrey shrugged her shoulders again, looking down at the ground, “ ‘Cause I’m dumb?”

  “Ugh yeah. So what happened? Are y’all back together?”

  “We were never together to be back together, we were just fucking around, you know that.”

  Fallon shook her head, “No, I don’t know. I do know that he’s bad news,” Fallon expressed, “Look I’ll prove it to you.”

  “How?” Audrey laughed as Fallon moved to her dry easer board.

  “Easy. LEVI,” Fallon said as she wrote out his name, “is spelled like this, if you move the letters around,” she did so while talking, “It spells EVIL. He’s evil Audrey, stay away from him. He’ll suck your soul right on out of you.”

  “You’re crazy,” Audrey said with a shake of her head.

  “No I’m not. I’m serious.”

  “Well this has been a blast, but I gotta-”

  Fallon stopped Audrey by taking ahold of her purse, so that Audrey couldn’t move. “I just want you to be happy Audrey. I don’t like when you are sad and you know I hate when you cry. Damn it, I want you to be like me. I am blissfully happy except when I think of you being hurt by this dick. You deserve better, Audrey. Way better.”

  Audrey looked down at where Fallon’s hands laid upon hers, “I know.”

  “Then stay away from him. Why chase after someone who isn’t chasing you? He is just messing with your head. He doesn’t love you, and he doesn’t deserve to be loved by such an amazing woman. Stay away.”

  “I am.”

  “No you’re not, I can see it all over your face. You’re a glutton for punishment. You love his crap because you think it’s attention. It’s not the right attention, please, listen to me.”

  “I am.” Audrey stressed moving her bag from out of Fallon’s hand, “I love you.”

  Audrey was half out the door before she head Fallon say, “I love you too.”

  Fallon pissed Audrey off, and she knew she pissed Fallon off also, but they loved each other no matter what. Audrey also knew that Fallon was right. She always had known. But being a Parker came at a hefty expense. They were all extremely hard headed and thought they knew best. Audrey loved Levi, but she had to let him go. She would send him a check for his Xbox and she would never see him again. She had to, or she was never going to be happy. She was always going to hope for a relationship that would never work because he didn’t want her.

  Audrey reached for the door just as it opened and before she knew it, she was on the ground, her butt aching more than her heart. She looked up into the eyes of her gorgeous neighbor and was at a loss for words while worry crossed Tate’s face.

  “Audrey! Are you okay, I’m so sorry,” Tate said helping her up.

  “Ow, my butt,” she complained as she rubbed her butt softly.