Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 100661 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 503(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100661 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 503(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
“Yeah, but after I’m gone, I don’t want my headstone to say ‘Here lies Luc Tessier, Stanley Cup champion.’”
“What do you want it to say?” I asked incredulously, since that’s exactly how I wanted mine to read.
“‘Here lies Luc Tessier, family man.’”
“That’s it? Family man?” It was unfathomable to me. Anybody could be a family man. A Stanley Cup champion was rare. Special. Elite.
He chuckled, shaking his head. “You don’t get it now. But you will. At least, I hope you will. The lucky ones do.”
“Lupo! Tessier! You’re up!” someone shouted.
I glanced over at the couch to make sure Mabel was still doing okay and saw that she wasn’t there. Figuring she’d gone to the bathroom, I joined the guys at the pool table for another game.
But when she still wasn’t back after ten minutes, I asked someone to shoot for me and went over to the couch. “Hey,” I said, touching Anna on the shoulder. “Is Mabel okay?”
“Yes,” Anna said with a smile. “She went to the bathroom and then she was going to grab something to drink. Service back here is slow tonight.”
Frowning, I looked at the big wooden door.
“Want me to go check on her or something?” Anna asked.
“No, no. That’s okay. I could use another beer anyway, so I’ll head out to the bar.”
I walked out of the back room and headed through the pub’s main section, which had grown even more crowded. My eyes scanned the bar looking for the number 19 jersey, and when I spotted her at the far end, the first thing I felt was relief.
The next, blind fury.
Some guy next to her had put a hand on her lower back, which she swatted away. She also said something to him, but I was too far away to hear it. I doubled my stride, moving faster. When he moved his hand right back to where it had been, she pushed it away a second time. Now I was close enough to hear her say sharply, “I said no!”
Rage surged through me like TNT, a red haze hovering in my peripheral vision. Reaching them, I wrapped my fist around the guy’s forearm and wrenched him away from her.
“What the fuck?” he demanded.
I had at least four inches on him, and I got right in his face with a menacing stare. “You best keep your hands off the mother of my son.”
“Or what?” The stocky frat boy jerked his chin at me.
“Or they’ll be sweeping up your teeth from the floor when this bar closes tonight.”
He yanked his arm from my grasp, and I let it go without blinking. After a roll of his shoulders, he stepped back. “I was just trying to buy her a drink, dude. Relax.”
“Relax?” I moved for him again, but Mabel grabbed my arm.
“Joe, it’s okay. Don’t.”
I gave him one last narrowing of my eyes and a crack of my knuckles before turning toward her. “You okay?”
“I’m totally fine.” But she was white as a ghost. “I was just trying to get some water.”
“I’ll get it for you.” I didn’t often use my celebrity status to cut the line, but when the bartender saw me standing there, she came right over and asked what she could do for me. Less than a minute later, I handed Mabel a glass of water.
“Thanks,” she said, taking a small sip. Her eyes still had that deer-in-the-headlights stupor.
“You sure you’re all right?”
“I’m fine, I just . . .” She glanced right and left, then spoke low. “You said out loud that I was the mother of your son.”
“Yeah, I guess I did.”
“It might get out. A lot of people heard it, and some of them know who you are.” She glanced down. “I mean, I’m wearing your name.”
I realized something. “I don’t care who heard it.”
“You don’t?”
“No.”
Her lips tipped up, color returning to her cheeks. “Okay.”
“I want everyone to know if they don’t treat you with respect, they will fucking answer to me.”
“Thanks,” she said shyly.
“I told Tessier earlier tonight anyway. I’ll tell the rest of the guys tomorrow.”
“Okay.” There was no denying she looked happy about it.
“You ready to get out of here?”
She nodded.
“Me too. Let’s go.” Placing my hand on the small of her back, I guided her toward the back room so I could settle my tab, get our coats, and say goodbye to the guys.
That’s right, asshole, I thought as we passed the jerk-off who hit on her. The only person allowed to touch her this way is me.
But of course, that wasn’t true.
Someone could come along at any time and touch her any way she invited him to. In fact, I was the one she didn’t want touching her.
I was broody and silent in the car on the drive home, and Mabel was preoccupied trying to get rid of her hiccups. When we got inside my apartment, I hung up our coats in the hall closet and turned to find her standing there, looking nervous.