“I don’t know Lucas’ number, but I’m pretty sure he’ll call me.”

“And you’ll invite him over for dinner?”

Fallon bit her lip, she didn’t want to promise something that she didn’t know could be true. So she smiled, snuggling close to her favorite guy before saying, “We’ll see.”

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

Lucas was basically playing the worst game of his life two days later.

“22! Get your shit together or get off the f**king ice!” Adler screamed from the defensive zone.

Lucas shot him a look before getting ready for the face off. He wasn’t going anywhere, he started this game, and he was going to f**king finish it. Lucas won the faceoff, skating forward as Adler passed him the puck. Lucas skated hard, keeping the puck from his opponent before sending it across ice to Welch. He skated towards the goal just as Welch passed it back to him for him to shoot. He pulled back for the shot and when he released, he totally missed the puck, causing one of the Rangers to steal it before heading down ice towards their goal.

Lucas never missed a shot.

God, he was f**ked in the head.

When he heard the buzz off, his head fell. Not only was he sucking, but their defense was off too. Jakob and Shea weren’t doing what they usually did, they were lagging. And because of it all, the Assassins lost their third game in a row. Lucas followed his teammates into the locker room. Once inside, he walked straight to his bench, falling onto it as he leaned his head down, taking in deep breaths.

Man, he hated losing.

When he heard the door slam, he looked up to see Adler with his face red with anger.

“That game was bullshit! What the hell guys? We are better than this!” he yelled as he threw his helmet and gloves into his locker area. “Brooks, what the f**k? You missed all your shots tonight. Nothing went in and you had open shots!”

Lucas looked up at Adler before standing slowly just as Mrs. Adler walked in with the coaches. “I know you are not talking to me about my game? They got past you and scored three f**king times.”

“That might be the case, but I played my ass off, what the hell did you do? You looked like a f**king zombie out there!” Adler yelled taking a step towards him.

“I played my ass off, too!” Lucas yelled right back, taking a step towards him. Jakob came over, standing beside the guys. Probably in case someone did something they shouldn’t.

“You did not! What the hell was going on!?”

“Nothing, some people have off nights! You should know all about that, you sucked tonight!”

“I just had a baby; I’m adjusting!”

Lucas faced turned red with anger and he got right into Shea’s face. “And I just found out I have a f**king kid, so back the f**k up.”

The locker room went quiet except for the intake of breath that Mrs. Adler took in. Lucas glanced over at her and finally knew what his boss knew that he didn’t. Shea took a step back, and Lucas did the same before going to his locker to take a seat. Everyone was staring at him as he took deep breaths in and out.

It had been two days since he found out about Aiden and he was a mess. He hadn’t called Fallon or even gone to see her because he was having such a hard time dealing with it all. Aiden had been on his mind from sun up to sun down, and he was driving himself crazy with questions about the little guy. He was so scared that Aiden wasn’t going to like him. He didn’t know how to be a dad and it scared him to think of all the things he could f**k up. He worried about what Fallon was going to say to him when he asked for the paternity test, but most of all he was scared she was going to keep Aiden from him.

Lucas hadn’t moved from the locker room. He sat with a towel on his head, listening to everyone leave. No one had said anything to him, they just walked by. Some of his teammates placed their hands on his shoulder or they tapped his head, but no one said anything. Lucas was glad they didn’t too, because he didn’t know what to say back. He hated when he let his anger get the best of him and he spoke before thinking, because now the whole team knew that he had a kid. A kid that he never knew about or taken care of.

What a man he was.

When Lucas heard the click of a pair of heels, he tore the towel off his head and looked up to see Mrs. Adler coming towards him, with Shea behind her. She had a small, sad smile on her face as she came over and sat beside him on the bench. Shea leaned against the locker, not looking Lucas in the eyes. Lucas focused on the holes in the foam floor as Mrs. Adler placed her hand on his back.

“How you holding up, Lucas?” she asked in a low voice. Lucas shook his head. He had no one to talk too. Levi didn’t understand, all he cared about was the legal stuff and Lucas couldn’t even think of telling his mom yet. She would flip out and would be on the first plane to Nashville, ready to take over. He didn’t need that right now.

“I’ve been better,” Lucas answered.

“When did she tell you?”

Lucas still didn’t look at his boss as he shook his head. “She didn’t. I went to her house and Aiden came out on the porch. She never told me anything.”

Out the corner of his eye, he saw Elli shake her head. “Damn fool woman,” she whispered before moving her hand up and down his back. “What did Fallon say?”

“That she was sorry.”

“At least she did that. What did Aiden say?”

“He wanted to know who I was, and she just said I was someone she knew.”