A Better Man(68)

"Yeah!" Nicki shouted.

Jordan winced as he heard his sister yell. When he looked up to the stands, Lucy had her hand over her mouth and his sister was doing some kind of crazy touchdown dance.

As he stood over the Rock, who was laid out on the ice grabbing his sore jaw with an ungloved hand, Jordan pointed a finger. "Enough. If you have a legitimate complaint with me, you bring it to me like a man. Not like some backyard brawler waiting to catch me off guard. I'm sorry that it inconvenienced you when my parents were burned alive in a helicopter crash, but my family comes first. You don't like it, too fucking bad."

Heart pumping, Jordan skated off to rejoin his team.

"You done?" Coach folded his arms and lifted a brow.

Jordan nodded.

Seabrook leaned over and chuckled. "Really fucking nice to have you back."

Standing on the ice with his team felt great. Jordan had missed it. But as he looked up into the stands one more time and found Lucy and Nicki with their heads together, obviously talking about what had just happened, Jordan knew he'd give up everything to make things right.

"Did you see that?" Nicole was practically bouncing out of her Ugg boots.

Lucy wondered at the enthusiasm Nicole displayed over the violence. As she gave a simple nod, it worried her.

"That was badass." Nicole flopped down into the seat next to Lucy.

For obvious reasons Lucy hated violence. She hated confrontation of any kind. Oh, she had no problem standing up for herself these days, but that didn't mean she liked to engage unless it was absolutely necessary. She'd watched the big man push and taunt Jordan, and she knew Jordan wasn't the type of person to take it for too long. When the man had used his stick to whack Jordan across the chest and knock him off his skates, like Nicole, she'd felt a needy rush to retaliate. Instead she'd closed her eyes and prayed he was okay.

Fighting was a huge part of what he did for a living.

How he managed to deal with such aggression on a regular basis she didn't understand. She'd not seen that side of him until now. Knowing it wasn't the same as seeing it. Not that it made her afraid of him; it was just one more facet of his personality.



       
         
       
        

"Should I be worried that seeing your brother fight excited you?" she asked Nicole.

"No." The teen dropped her shoulders and sighed. "Nobody gets me. Why is that? I have five brothers. Five! And not a single one of them has a clue who I am."

"I think you have to actually talk to them rather than snarl at them for them to understand. I know they want to."

"And that's why Jordan brought me along?"

Lucy nodded. "You can think what you want about him but he truly loves you. And he's worried. I think if you give him a chance he'll surprise you. He won't quit on you. He wants you to be happy and he can't figure out what's wrong."

"It's a long story." Nicole leaned back against the seat like all hope was lost.

Lucy's heart sank.

"I'm not who my brothers think I am."

"Then maybe you should enlighten them."

"I don't want them to hate me. Which is dumb because they probably already do. But . . . they're all I have."

"They would never hate you. Nothing you tell them is going to change the fact that they love you and they want the best for you." Lucy couldn't imagine what could possibly be tearing apart this beautiful young girl. Losing her parents hadn't started this problem, but it had certainly added to the enormity. "I know it's scary when you're about to graduate from high school because you feel like you're just being tossed out into the world unprepared. So if you have feelings of ambiguity, I think you shouldn't worry so much. Your brothers will help you make the right choices. All you have to do is let them know what's going on."

Nicole scoffed. "I wish it were as easy as being afraid to step out into the world past graduating from high school. Which-­I know, I know-­I won't get to do unless I bring my grades up."

Lucy knew she was walking a fine line between teacher and friend. But she'd wanted to be a teacher so she could help kids. And right now, this one in particular seemed to need her friendship.

She put her arm around Nicole. "I promise I'll help you graduate if you promise you'll at least put in the effort to do the work."

The girl looked up, her blue eyes watery. "Why do you want to help me? I've been such a . . ."

"Brat?"

That brought the hint of a smile. 

"I was seventeen once," Lucy said. "It was one of the hardest years of my life. Or so I thought. When I look back now it wasn't so bad. I don't know what's going on that's making you so miserable, and I'm not asking you to tell me-­although I've got a soft shoulder you can cry on whenever you need it. All I want to do is help you get through it. I think you're a wonderful girl. You have talent, and brains, and you're strong. I know you are."