Trying to Score (Assassins) Read online

“Why do I feel like you’re thinking too hard?” Lucas looked over, seeing that Levi was staring at him, his Kindle in his lap.

  “Because I am,” Lucas chuckled as he looked out towards the front of the bus. All the guys sat with their laptops, eReaders, and books, while Lucas just sat there. Sometimes he brought his DS but it was hard to play a game when sometimes he had to read what he needed to do. Lucas hated asking Levi to read his games to him, so mostly Lucas just people watched and looked out the window or slept on bus rides.

  “Want to talk about it?”

  Lucas shrugged his shoulders. He knew Levi was sick of hearing about Fallon, but he was the only one he could talk about Fallon to. Lucas’ mom still missed Fallon — she had been convinced that Fallon was going to be her daughter one day — and having to tell his mom why Fallon left him was probably the second hardest thing he had to do.

  The first being the day he buried his dad.

  Lucas slowly shook his head. “I am so fucked up.”

  “Huh?” Levi asked looking over at him.

  “I was an alcoholic turned pill popper all because I couldn’t cope with losing my dad or my condition. I then decide that instead of fixing the problem when Fallon left me that I was going to do more, and I almost lost everything.”

  Levi nodded his head, shutting off his Kindle as he turned slightly to look at Lucas. “But look at you now, you’ve been sober for four years, you are in a good place in your life…”

  “I’m lonely.”

  “I’m here and your mom is, and you can have any female you want.”

  “I want her.”

  Nothing was said as the two men looked each other in the eyes. Levi looked away first, shaking his head and biting down on his lip as he looked everywhere but at Lucas. “Dude, I don’t see it happening. Let it go.”

  “I need her, she made me feel normal. I didn’t need the booze when I was with her.”

  “You don’t need it now,” Levi pointed out.

  “I don’t need it but I want it. With Fallon I didn’t need or want it. I was happy, she made me happy.”

  “You haven’t really tried since Fallon, Lucas. No one is ever good enough.”

  “Yeah, because when you have had perfection, how do you get past that?” Lucas asked with a grin.

  Levi rolled his eyes as he took a deep breath in. “You act like you guys were perfect. You guys weren’t.”

  “Who is? No matter what though, we loved each other.”

  “I know dude, but I just don’t understand why you’re so caught up on her still,” Levi emphasized. “It's been so long.”

  “Because I still love her,” Lucas said simply, like it was already known.

  “Oh come on!” Levi yelled, causing a lot of the guys to turn and looked at them. Lucas rolled his eyes before leaning his head back into the chair. “You cannot still love her! You haven’t even seen her.”

  “I do,” Lucas said. “Why don’t you want me with her?”

  “It isn’t that I don’t want you with her, I just think it’s unrealistic. You…you fucked up dude. I don’t think she is over that.”

  Lucas weighed his words for a minute before nodded his head. “She might not be, but I learned from my mistake and I would never do that again.”

  “I don’t know dude, I think you’re grasping at something that isn’t there.”

  Lucas nodded slowly. “We’ll see.”

  The party Fallon was throwing was in the couple of weeks, and Lucas already had a suit picked out. He would go, he would see her, and he would get her back. The statement from earlier when he called was just her not knowing how to handle talking to him again. When they saw each other in person, everything would be fine. It had been so long, she still couldn’t be that mad.

  Right?

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

  “Why did I let her talk me into this dress?”

  Fallon stood in front of her wall length mirror, looking over the short black mini dress Audrey had talked her into buying for the party that night. It was a strapless sweetheart mini dress with big white flowers with hand-beaded centers going down the side. The flowers were what sold Fallon on the dress, and she felt so confident when she paired them with her sparkling silver Badgley Mischka Humbie pumps, but now she stood in front of her mirror doubting herself. Even with her amazing hair and perfect makeup, she couldn’t help but feel like she was about to walk into the gas chamber.

  Fallon knew tonight was the night she would see Lucas.

  Her stomach clenched and she was convinced she was gonna puke. Audrey thought it was such a great idea to wear something hot to make him see what he lost, but all Fallon wanted to do was run into the closet and put something else on. She didn’t care if he thought she was hot….much.

  “Stop over-thinking the dress, its hot,” Audrey said from the doorway. Audrey wore an orange and pink sequined tutu cocktail dress with insanely high pink platform shoes. Her hair was done up in a cute little bun and Fallon was convinced that if her hair and makeup were a little more drastic, Audrey could be mistaken for Lady Gaga.

  “I don’t feel hot.”

  “You look it. Love the hair by the way.”

  Fallon smiled thanks as she looked herself over again. Her hair did look good, so did her legs, but that was because of the shoes. Oh God, she should just stay home. Fallon didn’t even know how she was gonna act around Lucas. What was she gonna say?

  “I don’t want to go,” she groaned as she sat at the end of the bed.

  “Oh hush,” Audrey said just as Aiden came flying into Fallon’s room. He let out a loud “Yeehaw” as he did flips and high kicks at the imaginary people he was beating up. All Audrey and Fallon could do was sit and watch him.

  What Fallon would do to be Aiden and not know that the shit was about to hit the fan.

  “I won, man I’m tired,” Aiden said breathlessly as Fallon smiled.

  “I bet buddy, it must be hard fighting…what exactly were you fighting?” Fallon asked. Aiden gave her a lopsided grin.

  “Four, six-headed hippogriffs. Nasty little things,” Aiden gushed, shaking his head.

  “Goodness me, four?! Jeez, so wonder you’re tired,” Fallon gushed, grinning ear to ear. Aiden’s imagination always made her smile.

  “Kid’s a beast, he gets it from his awesome AA,” Audrey gushed taking him into her arms.

  Or his dad, Fallon thought as she watched them hug each other tightly.

  “Isn’t Momma pretty, Aiden?” Audrey asked.

  Aiden nodded his little head quickly, “Yeah Momma, you’re really pretty. I like your flowers.”

  “Thanks baby, now I feel on top of the world,” Fallon boasted as she looked back in the mirror.

  “You look pretty too, AA,” Aiden said making Audrey blush.

  She leaned over, pinching his cheeks. “Thanks babe, come here and give me kisses.”

  As Audrey gave him numerous kisses, Fallon heard the doorbell ring, so she headed downstairs to answer it. Fallon had asked her mom to come watch Aiden since both she and Audrey were needed at the party. Her mom loved watching Aiden, and she jumped at the chance of spending the night with him. When Fallon opened the door, her parents, William and Nora stood on the other side.

  Nora, always pristine, had her dark brown hair down in curls. Her makeup was flawless as was her youthful face — thank you Dr. Swartz. Nora Parker would never admit to the plastic surgery to any of her friends, but Fallon and Audrey knew good and well that a lot of their mother’s face was fixed. Nora was wrapped up in a big puffy coat so Fallon couldn’t see what she was wearing, but she was sure it was a track suit.

  William stood tall in his dark jeans and big black coat. His dark brown hair was dusted with gray and so was his beard. Fallon always thought her father was a good-looking man, very young looking without the help of Dr. Swartz. William used to be Fallon’s favorite person, not so much anymore.

  “Hey Mom…and Dad,” Fallon said.