Laces and Lace (Assassins #6) (3 page)

“I’m glad you went,” Rachel said after a few minutes. “That’s it, right? You are completely back to normal now.”

Lacey smiled as she bit into her lip. “Yup, completely normal Lacey now.”

“Awesome, now all you need is a hot boyfriend to make life a little interesting.”

“This coming from my single best friend,” she teased, causing Rachel to laugh.

“That is true, but I
am
on the prowl. All I need is a man who is clean and knows what he wants, and my life would be complete.”

Lacey laughed. “Good luck with that.”

They shared a smile before returning to their books. They had a quiz that morning. Lacey wanted to refresh herself, but she couldn’t focus. All her thoughts kept floating back to number sixteen.

“So…crazy idea.”

Lacey looked up, leaning against her hand. “And that is?”

“Wanna go to the Cats’ team party tomorrow?”

Her brows shot up as she laughed. “What? Who are you, and where is my best friend? Cause the Rachel Wise I know doesn’t go to frat parties. They are dirty, remember?”

That made Rachel dissolve into giggles, and soon Lacey joined in. “I know, but I think we need to be proactive here. We’ve been here for six months and haven’t been to any parties. We study and we go to the movies. We are nerds, Lacey!”

“I like being a nerd,” Lacey said with a nervous laugh. Her heart kicked up in speed, and everything went cold inside her. She was pretty sure she knew where her best friend was going with this.

“I do too, but I want to get laid, and no one has caught my eye. I need to broaden my boundaries, and hockey players are hot.”

Yeah, they are…especially Karson King
, Lacey thought as she slowly nodded. Even with that fact, there was no way she was getting involved with anyone.

“Plus, it wouldn’t be weird for us to be there because Grady is your brother,” she added. She was right, but Lacey wasn’t sure it was a good idea. People didn’t go to those parties to play Scrabble. They went to hook up, and hooking up wasn’t in Lacey’s vocabulary anymore.

“Yeah,” she agreed as she shrugged her shoulder. “But maybe we can go to a movie; guys are at the movies.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know,” Lacey said, letting out a breath.

“No, it’s something. Tell me.”

Biting into her lip hard, she looked away and muttered, “Karson King was staring at me this morning during practice.”

“So?”

Lacey moved her hands, rubbing her thumbs together in a nervous way. “He was looking at me like I was naked, like he wanted me, and I don’t want to give him a reason to flirt with me by showing up at the party he is hosting.”

Rachel held her gaze for a second before laughing hysterically. “Lacey Martin, are you crazy? Who in their right mind wouldn’t want Karson King to flirt with them?”

“I guess me,” Lacey breathed. “He’s trouble.”

“Oh yeah, he is, the best kind of hot trouble, which would be right up your alley. Get you right back on the horse. You need a little romance; you need to feel like a woman again.”

Having a guy reject her wasn’t going to make her feel like a woman, but she couldn’t say that. Rachel might know her condition, but she didn’t know what it was like. She thought it was nothing to worry about, when it was actually life-altering. So instead of telling Rachel the truth, Lacey shook her head and said, “I don’t want trouble.”

Reaching out, Rachel cupped Lacey’s shoulder as she gave her a look. “Trouble is fun. Come on, let’s go to the party.”

Working her lip, Lacey let out a breath. With one look into Rachel’s eyes, she knew there was no backing out. She knew it was a bad idea, but she also knew Rachel was right. She wasn’t in the hospital anymore. She wasn’t dying. She was alive, and she needed to embrace that. She needed to push her insecurities to the side and enjoy her second chance at life. So, with a slow nod, she said, “Fine, yeah, I’ll go.”

B
undled up in her trusty Cats sweatshirt, Lacey watched as the Cats sailed up the ice toward the goal. Grady had the puck and deked around two players before passing it to another, who shot but missed. NYU got the puck and went to pass it up, but out of nowhere, Karson came, stealing the puck and spinning around a player, backhanding it into the goal with ease. Along with the rest of the Cats’ side, she and Rachel flew up, screaming and cheering for the home team.

The Cats were up by one with Karson’s goal, with only six minutes left in the third. NYU had plenty of time to score, but the Cats’ defense was playing hard. Lacey didn’t think they had a chance on scoring on the Cats’ goalie, who had a streak of four shutouts. Looking down at the bench where Coach was screaming and waving his arms, Lacey knew her father was pumping his players up.

“So what number is Grady?”

“Number twenty-one—it was my mom’s favorite number since she had him when she was twenty-one,” Lacey said with a smile. Her heart ached a little when she remembered that little tidbit about her mom. Sometimes, she felt like she was starting to forget everything about her. Like how she smelled, or what it felt like when she would run her fingers through Lacey’s hair. She remembered those things, but she used to be able to imagine her mom doing them… and it would feel like she were really there. It had been twelve years since her family had lost her mom to breast cancer and, to this day, Lacey didn’t think any of them would ever be the same.

Coach missed her constantly and smothered himself with his playbook, while Grady worked harder than ever to make it into the pros. He wanted to make her proud, and every time he scored a goal, he looked to the heavens and thanked her. It always brought the tears on when Lacey saw him do it, but it was nice that he did. Lacey, on the other hand, just missed her. The year before would have been so much easier if she’d had her mom around. She would have known how to comfort Lacey since her dad and Grady were completely at a loss. They both thought Lacey was next. Hell, Lacey had thought so, too.

“That’s nice. Your mom was so beautiful. You look so much like her. I love that picture you have of you two.”

Lacey nodded, her eyes suddenly stinging with tears. Lacey was seven in the picture Rachel spoke of, and they were at the beach. It was a beautiful day and, even though it was twelve years ago, she still remembered how much fun they had. It was a couple of months before she was diagnosed and, while Lacey hadn’t understood any of it then, she was kind of glad she didn’t. Cancer was such a scary thing. It had the power to gut you and take away the people you were supposed to have for a very long time. She believed that God had a plan for everyone. She believed that maybe she was supposed to go through her mom’s cancer so she would be strong through her own battle, but at the same time, why did that have to happen to her family? Why did they have to go through the same thing twice? It felt wrong but, for some crazy reason, her faith was still intact, and she planned to live the life He had blessed her with to the fullest.

Like her mom would have.

And if that meant going to a party and actually putting herself out there like the old Lacey would have before she got sick, then damn it, she was going to do it. Deciding this wasn’t the time to be sad about things she couldn’t change, she returned her attention to the game.

“Karson is number sixteen, right?”

Lacey’s face scrunched up. “Yeah, why?”

“He’s staring at you again.”

Following her gaze, Lacey found that Rachel was right. He was unabashedly staring at her, his mouth turned up in a grin as he leaned against the boards. He was supposed to be listening to her father yell, but instead he was watching her. Looking away quickly toward Rachel, her eyes went wide. “What in the world?”

Rachel giggled as her eyes matched Lacey’s. “He is really hot. You should jump on that.”

“No way,” she said quickly, shaking her head. “A guy like that would run the other way once he got a look at me.”

Rachel’s grin fell as she reached out to take Lacey’s hand, but she brushed her off. “Don’t. I don’t want to talk about it. Let’s just watch the game.”

Lacey could see that Rachel wanted to say more but, thankfully, she didn’t, turning her attention back to the game. Doing the same, Lacey found that Karson was setting up for the puck drop. She wanted to be a good sister and watch her brother, but there was no way when Karson was demanding her attention. He was so big, so strong, and commanded the respect as the best player on the ice. She knew that the scouts were there tonight. Grady was nervous and so was her dad, but she didn’t have any doubts that Grady would be in the draft that year. It was his year. What she was surprised about was that Karson hadn’t been in it yet. He was by far the greatest player in Chicago. He needed to be in the pros, where his talent could grow.

Watching as he sailed with confidence and determination on the ice, her eyes followed his every move. He was hell on the defense, but even more so when NYU had the puck and decided to come into the Cats’ zone. He poke checked, he hit, and he was on them like white on rice. He wasn’t playing around. Soon, he had the puck on a breakaway, rushing the net. Players tried to catch up to him, but there was no catching Karson King when he was off to score. Deking the goalie one way, he sent the puck into the back of the net, winning the game and leaving Lacey breathless.

Watching as the guys all jumped on Karson while the crowd went wild cheering, Lacey’s heart went nuts in her chest. From where she stood, she could see his grin through the cage of his helmet, and she knew the feelings that were bubbling in her chest were going to do nothing but cause havoc on her heart. She wasn’t kidding when she said that Karson would run the other way from her. The sad thing was she wished she had the confidence to believe he wouldn’t. That wasn’t reality though, so she would keep her distance and stay away from Karson King.

By the time Rachel and Lacey got to the Cats’ frat house, the party was already crazy. It was Lacey’s first party, but she wasn’t innocent to what these frat guys did. Guys were upside down on kegs, playing beer pong, and shooting pucks against a guy covered in pillows for shots. It was nuts, but she couldn’t help but grin like a fool.

That was, until Grady saw her.

“Fuck,” she muttered as he beelined for her.

“What?” Rachel asked.

“Grady is coming to yell at me.”

She looked up right as Grady stopped in front of them. “Lacey, what the hell are you doing here?”

Looking up at her big brother, she shrugged as she looked around. “Came to party.”

He laughed as he shook his head, grasping her shoulders in his hand. “The hell you are. This is no place for you.”

Smacking his arms away, she glared. “For fuck’s sake, Grady. I’m eighteen years old. I think I can handle a party. I’m not a baby.”

“Yes, you are. You’re my baby sister. Go back to the dorm.”

Still glaring, Lacey took a step toward him, placing her hands on her hips. “I can stay here, have fun, and be on my best behavior, or I can go to another party, get blasted, and have sex with half the guys there. Since I apparently can’t make good choices, it’s totally up to you. At least here, you can keep an eye on me.”

Glaring back at her, he sneered, “You’re a jerk.”

“I love you too. Now, while I have you, you haven’t met Rachel yet. Rachel, my brother, Grady. Grady, my best friend, Rachel.”

Looking back at Rachel, she saw that Rachel’s face was bright with color as her mouth curved in a very sexy grin. When she glanced back at Grady, she saw the same look on his face. Reaching out, he took her hand as he said, “I don’t remember my sister telling me her best friend was beautiful.”

“That’s because I don’t try to hook my best friend up with my brother since that’s gross,” Lacey said, but she didn’t think they were listening to her.

Rolling her eyes, she watched as Rachel said, “Yeah, all she told me was that you were a beast on the ice, not that you were a sexy beast.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Lacey muttered, heading toward the kitchen for a drink. She didn’t care if they hooked up, but she still thought it was weird. Grady was not a sexy beast… he was a weirdo. Plus, he was dirty. They’d only last a day before Rachel dumped him.

Rolling her eyes, she reached in a bucket for a beer. She went to open the top but couldn’t manage it. When the cap began to cut into her hand, she placed it on the table and opened the drawer for a bottle opener, stopping when someone reached out, taking her beer.