Rushing the Goal (Assassins #8)(114)

Lucy paused. “Why?”

“Lawyer says that Rick wants there to be a no-contact clause between the guy and Angie. That he is a pedophile. Since I know you haven’t brought anyone around Angie since you left Rick, I’m sure this guy is decent. So I told him again to take a flying leap. I wanted you to know that, though.”

Digging her nails into her palms, she shook her head. “He’s not a pedophile, and that won’t work, not only for me, but because Angie loves Benji.”

“I figured. Call me tomorrow after you speak with her. We’ll go from there.”

“Okay. Thanks, Dad.”

“Anytime,” he said and then she hung up, looking over at Benji.

“What did he say?” he asked, tucking his hands into his pockets.

As she explained what was said, what her dad wanted to do, Benji listened and nodded. Throwing her hands up, she shook her head. “This is a f*cking mess.”

He nodded, pulling her into his arms. “It is.”

“I don’t want to go into a custody battle, Benji. He says you’re a pedophile, and I swear he is doing this to hurt me. He knows I’m finally happy and that Angie is happy. It’s such bullshit.”

Looking up, she found anger in his eyes. “He can say what he wants, but we know the truth. Angie knows the truth.”

Nodding her head, she bit her lip as she gazed into his eyes. She couldn’t do this to him. It wasn’t fair. He was such a good guy. Any girl would be so lucky to have him, and here she was, with her nails in him while the clusterf*ck of her life unfolded. “This is your chance, Benji. Before it gets to be too much.”

His brows touched as his lips curled. “Wait, what? No,” he said, holding his hands up and glaring at her. “Don’t tell me you’re saying this is my chance to get out.” She just looked at him and he shook his head, framing her face before pressing his nose to hers. “We’ve got this, we.”

As she leaned into him, nuzzling into him, she was surprised.

Surprised—because she was starting to believe him.





“I want cake by the ocean.”

Glancing over at Lucy as he drove to Audrey Jane’s, he smiled as the popular song by DNCE played. Her fingers were laced with his, and while she was off in a distant world, Benji knew they were going to be okay. Nodding his head, he said, “Hey, we’ll be in Florida in January, right? We’ll have cake.”

She exhaled a long breath. “Something to look forward to.”

“Yeah, it will be great,” he said, squeezing her hand. “I get to see you in a bikini.”

She looked over at him and he waggled his brows. Thankfully, she smiled. “Will you wear a Speedo?”

He scoffed. “Dick’s too big for that.”

Snorting with laughter, she brought his hand between both of hers in her lap. “Of course, how silly of me.”

“That’s what I was thinking,” he said and she laughed louder, her whole face bright as she leaned back in the seat, looking over at him.

“You’re great.”

He nodded. “I know.”

But the tension of the situation with Angie still weighed heavily on both of them. He knew she wasn’t his kid—he got that loud and clear—but that didn’t stop him from loving her as much as he loved Lucy. He may have fallen for Lucy first, but Angie was right behind her. Since the beginning, though, he had cared about her. He understood her, enjoyed her silliness. He thought she was an awesome kid, and his stress, his ache in his heart, was more caused not because of how much he hated seeing Lucy so upset, but because he was afraid Angie was scared. He wondered if she knew she couldn’t call Lucy. That Rick was keeping them apart.

It freaked him the hell out.

But he was going to stay strong for Lucy.

He would be her rock.

Turning into Audrey Jane’s, Benji smiled up at the cute little posh bakery that Audrey Odder had built from scratch. Rumor had it that she used to make cupcakes just for her family and then for Tate. He pushed her to open her own place, and she was prospering. Making all the cakes for the stars and professional athletes. She made fabulous sweets, and Benji’s favorite were her lemon cakes Crokmou that were inspired by Game of Thrones.

“I love Audrey’s cakes. She’s made Angie’s birthday cake for the last four years,” Lucy said as they parked beside River’s truck.

“Yeah, I gained like ten pounds over break eating her lemon cakes.”

She looked over at him, eyeing him. “The Game of Thrones one?”

He about melted at the mere thought of them as he nodded. “Yes.”

“So good,” she said, shaking her head as she got out.

“Best ever,” he agreed, getting out and locking up. “I should see if she could make me a birthday cake out of them.”

Lucy grinned. “That’s a good idea. Or I can. When’s your birthday?”

“Christmas.”

“Really?” she gushed, leaning into him, and he nodded.

“Yeah, when I was a kid, my mom was awesome about making Christmas one thing and my birthday another. Now, I just buy myself whatever big thing I want and call it good,” he said, wrapping his arm around her shoulders as they headed toward the entrance. “Last year, since I turned thirty-two and I had no clue what I wanted, I took thirty-two disadvantaged kids from Erik Titov’s foundation shopping and bought them anything they wanted. It was really great.”