Rushing the Goal (Assassins #8)(9)

Pulling her phone out, she turned her phone on to see it wasn’t Jayden who had texted her, as she had hoped. It was Rick.

Fuck.

Ignoring the text since she was already on edge, she sent Jayden a quick message asking where he was. When she looked up, hoping to see him, she didn’t. Instead, a very big and well-known man was coming toward her with a grin on his face. To say Shea Adler was a looker was an understatement. If he weren’t a devoted husband and an amazing father, Lucy would climb that man like a tree and attach herself to him with no plans of letting go. Even with the years starting to be visible on his face, Shea was gorgeous. A fine wine that man was, and wine always made Lucy want to take off her clothes. God, she was going to hell. But Jesus, he had thick, dark hair, blue eyes that looked into your soul, and a smile that could stop a room.

Man, that Elli Adler was one blessed lady.

Lucky bitch.

“Hey, Lucy,” he said, his Boston accent still very much present even after living in Tennessee for so long.

“Hey, Shea,” she said with a dreamy smile.

Why couldn’t she meet a Shea Adler type who would look into her eyes and make her feel like Ed Sheeran was singing in the background?

All she ever got was Rick the Dick.

Horror music played when he was around.

Directing his attention to Angie, his smile grew. “Angie! Girl, you ready? Posey and Shelli have been asking all day if you were coming.”

Angie beamed. She loved the Adlers. Everyone loved the Adlers. They were just great people. “Yup, Coach Adler. I can’t wait. I’m so excited! My uncle should be here to help me get ready.” She was so excited, but Lucy didn’t miss the same little fairy-tale look in her eyes that probably mirrored hers.

Shea was dreamy.

But when his face displayed confusion, the dreaminess Lucy felt disappeared and her eyes narrowed, the uneasiness back in full force.

Fucking Jayden.

“I thought he wasn’t coming.” He looked back and forth between Angie and Lucy as the annoyance started to bubble inside her chest.

Damn it.

“What?” Lucy breathed. “He told me he was meeting me.” Pulling out her phone, she dialed his number, but it went straight to voice mail.

“Momma, I thought Jayden would be here.”

“Hold on, baby,” she said, a little panicky as she redialed his number.

Again, voice mail.

Instead of hanging up, though, she waited until the beep and muttered very quietly so Angie wouldn’t hear her, “You shall die, Jayden Mitchell Sinclair. I don’t know where you are. I don’t care where you are. But when I find you, I will kill you.”

Shea heard her though and smiled nervously at her. Kind of funny since he wasn’t supposed to be scared of anything. “From what Elli said, something happened with Moore’s doctor, so they are seeing a different one. But no worries, we’ve got Angie. A lot of guys came to help me today, so don’t stress. It’s cool.”

“So Jayden isn’t coming?” Angie asked, her eyes wide, which felt like daggers in Lucy’s heart. Looking back at Shea, probably so she wouldn’t scream, Lucy could see he was only trying to help. She got that, but of course, she stressed. Angie had enough disappointment in her life from her f*cked-up dad; she didn’t need this from her family. Lucy also didn’t like asking for help from people who weren’t her family. Shea had a team full of girls to worry about, Angie wasn’t his…unfortunately—she was only half kidding—and it was her responsibility to get her daughter ready.

Damn it.

Jayden was going to die.

“No, I’m good. I’ve got her. You’ve got a whole team. I got this,” she said, flashing an overly fake grin. She was sure he didn’t believe her by the way he eyed her, but thankfully, he smiled and nodded.

“Okay, if you need anything, let me know. Make sure you’re on the ice by five, Angie.”

She was nervous, Lucy could tell, but she smiled brightly as she looked up at him. “Yes, sir!” Angie said with a salute to him as she bounced on her heels. When he turned away, her grin was gone, and worry was back in her eyes. “Uncle Jayden really isn’t coming?”

Typing very violently on her phone to Jayden that he was an * and that she hoped Baylor was okay because she was going to have to learn to live without her husband, she hit send and then tried to smile at Angie. “We got this.”

“Mom! You do not.”

“I do! I used to get your uncles ready for games.”

She eyed her. “You did not.”

“Okay, I didn’t, but how hard can it be?” Lucy said with a shrug and Angie glared.

“Momma…” she whined and Lucy was going to kill Jayden. Or at least, make it to where he couldn’t have kids. Opening the browser on her phone, she typed: how do you put gear on a seven-year-old for a hockey game?

Before the results could generate, damn faulty Internet in the rink, obviously, someone said, “Um, excuse me?”

She ignored it at first because who the hell would be talking to her as she waited for her phone to spit out the answer.

“Come on, Google. Don’t fail me now,” she muttered as she tapped her phone, Angie looking up at her, all kinds of nervous. Damn it, Jayden.

“Excuse me? Miss?”