Page 29

Seventeen

Darkness settled over the carpool lane where Alek waited for Finn that evening.

He watched as one of the teachers—not Marissa, thank goodness—escorted Finn from the building.

Despite what he had told Sheridan, he wasn’t ready for face time with Finn’s teacher yet.

Mostly because he was embarrassed by the way he’d pursued her, using her as a diversion when he was unwilling to admit the woman he wanted was under his roof all along.

He was relieved Marissa saw right through his charade before he did. She deserved better.

Finn’s shoulders slumped, and his steps began to drag as soon as he spied Alek. The teacher pulled open the passenger door of the car, and Finn climbed in.

“It was nice to meet you, Finn,” the teacher said. “Good job on your homework. Have a good evening.” She waved at Alek before closing the door.

“Wow. A nice detention teacher. That was never my experience.” Alek put the car in drive and pulled away from the curb.

“ You had to do detention?”

“Don’t sound so astonished. I was a rowdy boy once upon a time, too. Except when I got detention, I had to shovel the snow off the sidewalks. No doing homework in a warm classroom. Next, they’ll be serving you milk and cookies.”

“Mrs. Levine had chips and a juice box.”

Alek turned to gape at Finn. “Seriously? And they call my generation special snowflakes.”

He shook his head and focused on pulling out of the parking lot onto the main road. Finn was quiet again while Alek wrestled with how to begin the conversation they needed to have.

“Is Aunt Sheridan mad?” Finn asked quietly.

Alek scoffed. “At me, yeah.”

“How come?”

“Because I let you go behind her back with the Instagram account. She knew it would be a distraction. Turns out, she was right.”

Finn sighed as he slid down deeper into his seat. “I’ll bet she’s really mad at me, too.”

Alek reached over and ruffled up Finn’s hair. “Nah. I calmed her down.”

He shot Alek a disbelieving look. “Really? How’d you do that?”

Multiple orgasms.

“Give me credit for having some skills,” Alek said instead.

“So she’s not leaving?”

Alek almost slammed into the car in front of them. Finn’s bottom lip was quivering when Alek looked over at him. Swearing to himself, he drove into the nearest parking lot and pulled into a spot.

“Let’s have it,” he said after he killed the engine. “Sheridan isn’t going anywhere. Why would you even say that?”

The little boy shrugged, keeping his face averted. Alek gently placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder.

“Finn,” he pleaded. “Talk to me. Where is this coming from?”

“My parents used to fight about her,” he mumbled.

Alek felt as if someone had sucker punched him. Madison and Jamie fought about Sheridan? Whatever for? The two women had always been thick as thieves. Madison was a big sister and mother rolled into one. Everything Sheridan needed at the time.

“My dad said Aunt Sheridan needed to live her own life. And she couldn’t do that in New Hampshire. My mom was mad that she only came home for a visit and then she left again. She said my aunt was ruining her life.”

Fucking Jamie. Sending his wife’s best friend away when their family was making the big adjustment away from the game of hockey. When Madison probably needed someone in her corner the most.

“Look, bud. If your aunt were going to desert you, she would have done it by now. Your dad named me as your guardian. Do you understand what that means?”

Finn nodded, but he still didn’t make eye contact.

“Well, in case you haven’t noticed, that didn’t sit well with your aunt.

You are all she has left.” A painful lump formed in his throat.

“And not even a stint in detention or relocating to Wisconsin in lieu of Spain is going to make her walk out of your life. She loves you, bud. Much more than you realize.”

Alek dug a napkin out of the center console and handed it to Finn who was sniffling in earnest.

“And while we are on that subject,” Alek continued. “I love you, too. And I’m pissed as hell that you didn’t come to me and tell me the nasty things the kids in the upper school were saying.”

“They said you would send me away!” Finn cried. “They want you to!”

He unclipped Finn’s seat belt and pulled him into a hug. “I can’t believe I have to keep saying this. No one in our makeshift little family is going anywhere. You hear me?”

“But what if it is my fault?” Finn mumbled against Alek’s jacket.

“What if what is your fault? The fact that my teammates and I are off our game? Shit happens. Nothing is guaranteed in sports or in life. But do you see any of us pointing fingers or giving up? No. That’s not how this works.

We are a team. We’ll work out the kinks and move on, or we won’t.

” He shifted Finn back into his seat and placed his hands on the boy’s face.

“The only thing I know for sure is that no one person or thing is jinxing us. Especially not you. You hear me?”

Finn bobbed his chin up and down slightly.

“We are only six weeks into the season. Don’t you dare give up on us, Finn Cobert. All we have to do is make it to the playoffs. Didn’t your dad ever tell you about the time we won the Ivy League championship?”

The boy’s face brightened at the mention of his father. “He said you guys swept the other team.”

“Sure did. But we had the worst record in the conference. Every team gets an invite to the championship, though. We played lights out against each opponent until we reached the finals. Then we swept ’em.

” He mussed Finn’s hair again. “Those upper school kids don’t even know they gave the Mayhem bulletin board material for the season. ”

“You’re gonna post those notes in the dressing room?”

“Hell, yeah, bud. Unless you’d rather I didn’t?”

Finn jumped across the console and wrapped his arms around Alek’s neck. “That’s so awesome.”

Alek hugged him back, surprised with the ferocity of his feelings. This child was the product of two people who broke his heart. Yet Alek would do everything in his power to protect him, to shield him from the hurt of others, to give him a life of joy.

The growling of Finn’s stomach interrupted Alek’s introspection.

“What’s for dinner?” Finn asked, his mind already ping-ponging to needs more important to a second-grade boy.

“Your aunt wants garlic knots and a Caesar salad from Pirelli’s,” Alek replied as he started the car again. “That means it’s a meat lover’s pizza for us guys.”

“Yes!” Finn gave him a fist bump.

“Gotta keep your aunt happy.” Alek smiled smugly, recalling just how happy he’d made Sheridan an hour earlier.

“Miss Lane said she isn’t your girlfriend even though Gunner said she is.”

Alek had hoped to avoid that particular topic of conversation. “I can see how Gunner might get the wrong impression. I took her to a party at Picard’s last weekend.”

“How come?”

“Everyone was bringing a date.” Not a lie. “And you and Gunner said she was pretty cool. I thought it would be fun to get to know her better. That’s all.”

“So you’re not gonna marry her?”

The ABS alarm pinged for a second time when he slammed on the brakes to avoid rear-ending a minivan. “No. Of course not. That’s not happening.”

“Yeah. She said never in a million years.”

Well, damn.

“She said Aunt Sheridan has my phone. Do you think she’ll let me have it back? It was my dad’s, and I want to keep it. If I promise not to bring it to school, do you think you can convince her?”

“Sure thing, Bud. If it takes me all night, I’ll work on her.” Alek said with a self-satisfied laugh.

“What did you do that you had to go to detention?” Finn asked a few minutes later.

They were so not going there. “I don’t remember.”

Finn chuckled. “I’ll ask Peri. I’m sure she remembers.”

That was what Alek was afraid of.

“You weren’t kidding when you said that kid sleeps like the dead,” Alek remarked when he closed the door to the Jack and Jill bathroom that joined Sheridan’s bedroom with Finn’s. “Mission accomplished.”

“Really? He went?” She couldn’t believe Alek had solved the problem that easily.

“Peed like a racehorse without so much as waking up.” He pulled her against his chest, burrowing beneath her hair so he could nuzzle her neck.

“Do you think it will work?”

“We’ll know in the morning.” His hand traced the outline of her breast, making her shiver. “Until then, how about you let me give you something else to think about?”

“Finn is right there in the next room.” Her protest lacked any real bite, given she was allowing him to back her up to the bed.

“Did we or did we not establish that the boy is a deep sleeper?” He pressed his hips to hers, and she couldn’t help the moan of pleasure that slipped past her lips.

“But just in case, you’re going to have to be a good girl and keep quiet,” he whispered against her ear.

“Do you think you can do that for me, Sheridan?”

It was hard for her to think with his erection making itself known against her belly.

She turned her head to the side and nipped at the corner of his mouth.

His hands made quick work of her clothes.

She shoved his sweats down over his ass, letting out a little gasp when she realized he wore nothing underneath.

He gave her a cocky look while he shucked his shirt. “I figured they were only coming off anyway.”

The bed groaned beneath their weight when he crashed down on top of her.

“Shh,” they admonished each other with a laugh.

Keeping quiet proved to be a challenge, however. Between the headboard thumping against the wall and the squeaky bedframe, they had to get creative. Not that she minded. They both ended up laughing at each other more than once. In the end, she had to bury her face into a pillow when she came.

Thirty minutes later, Alek returned from the kitchen carrying a protein shake for him and a water for her. He placed a chocolate kiss on the nightstand next to her water.

“Where did you find this?” she asked as she unwrapped it.