The Dating Tutor: Alec's Story Read online

  “Alec…”

  “I’ve got to get ready for school.”

  “I could—”

  “No.” Alec’s words were hard and firm. “I don’t need your help.” He snatched his equipment bag out of his father’s hands and stormed past him into his room. The sooner he got accepted to a college and moved out of this house, the better.

  * * * *

  “Alright, students, pencils down. Please pass your exams to the front of the classroom.”

  Alec glanced at the clock for what must have been the hundredth time. He’d finished with his exam seven minutes ago and had sat with his test face down on his desk while he awaited the end of the period. Ellie badgering him into studying had really paid off. He’d been confident in most of his answers. And ending the semester strong would mean a better chance at a scholarship down the road.

  He waited for everyone behind him to pass their papers forward before adding his to the stack. He tapped the person in front of him on the shoulder and sent everything up to the teacher standing at the front of the classroom.

  Just as the last stack was being collected, the bell rang, signaling the end of class. Alec tossed his pencil into the front pocket of his book bag. He yanked the zipper closed and was on his feet, ready to escape into the hall for four brief minutes of peace before the next bout of learning started.

  He didn’t make it farther than two desks before someone placed a hand on his forearm, halting him.

  “Alec, wait up.”

  He looked over and was surprised to see Shannon Albright, the leading member of the bitch brigade.

  “Don’t look so shocked,” she said with a purring laugh as she fell into stride beside him. “One of the most eligible bachelors in school finds it odd that attractive females wish to talk to him? That I just can’t believe.” She tucked her arm into his. “Walk me to history class.”

  He noted that it wasn’t a request. More than a little puzzled, he hiked his book bag up higher on his shoulder and guided her out into the hallway. “I’m just…” He turned to gaze at her questioningly. “You don’t usually…socialize with me.”

  The answer she gave really had nothing to do with his comment. “I saw that goal you scored against Lincoln a few weeks ago. That was…” She shook her head as if she couldn’t find the words to describe it. “Well, it was amazing.”

  “Thanks.”

  She smiled coyly at him before falling silent. As they walked down the hallway, he could hear the click of her heels, could feel the exaggerated sway of her hips as she meandered along at his side.

  He snuck a quick glance at her, still unable to fully comprehend what was happening. Her long black hair brushed along his arm as they walked, sending a wave of goose bumps down it. Her full, pouty lips were tugged into the slightest of smirks, as if she knew a secret no one else was privy to. The look was sexy…and dangerous.

  Her dark eyes flicked to his, and upon finding him studying her, she smiled. Her teeth were in perfect alignment, their color a dazzling white. From far away, he’d thought she was flawless. This close, he knew she was.

  “It’s a shame about Felicia,” she said conversationally.

  Felicia Lockston had been his date for Saturday night, but this morning she’d informed him she wouldn’t be able to make it. She’d gotten caught cheating on a test and was now grounded for all eternity, as she’d put it. “Yeah. Sucks.”

  “That’s it!” Shannon threw her free hand dramatically up into the air. “I’m canceling my plans for Saturday night so you don’t have to spend it alone. Leaving you in the lurch like that was selfish of Felicia. I’ll be your date instead.”

  This caught Alec so off guard that he couldn’t even think of a coherent response. “Oh…well…I…”

  “It’s settled.” Standing on tiptoes, Shannon leaned close and brushed her lips against his cheek. “It was so very sweet of you to ask me to dinner.” She twirled on her heels and swept into the classroom before he could point out that he hadn’t asked her at all. She’d all but demanded it. “Pick me up at seven.”

  As she disappeared, Alec stared after her, wondering what had just happened. An expert on dating he might be, but Shannon had just schooled him. She’d managed to snag a date and hastily zip off, making it seem as if the whole thing had been his idea. If this encounter was any indication, he was in for some serious trouble.

  Chapter Five

  Alec watched with what he knew must be an expression of horror as Ellie tramped jerkily about her bedroom in her date heels. She looked like a zombie the way she was shuffling about…and not a fresh one. “No. No. No,” he chastised with a growl in his voice. “You’re doing it all wrong!”

  Ellie shot him an annoyed look that did not go unnoticed. “What did I do wrong this time?” she snapped. Her irritated bark caused her to teeter dangerously on her heels. Her arms shot out as she struggled to keep her balance, making her look like a tightrope walker at the circus.

  Ignoring her frustration, Alec took her arms and pressed them down to her sides. “Don’t walk with your hands outstretched like you think you’re going to fall.”

  “I am going to fall.”

  “If you can’t handle heels, then you shouldn’t be wearing them.” His tone was clipped and full of disapproval. Teaching his best friend to behave like a lady was turning out to be more difficult than he’d first expected.

  She let out a relieved sigh, misunderstanding his comment. “Oh thank goodness.” Bracing one hand on his shoulder, she lifted a foot and began sliding her shoe off. “I didn’t think I would last—”

  “If you take that shoe off, I will beat you with it! Then I’ll flunk you.” She’d obviously missed the point of his tirade. It wasn’t to let her get out of wearing heels; it had been to motivate her to learn to walk properly in them. This made him wonder if she’d been paying attention to anything he’d been telling her over the past hour.

  Ellie froze with her finger inside the strap of her shoe, and her eyes slowly lifted to his. “I thought you said…”

  “I was telling you to man up and learn to walk in high heels!”

  “Man up?”

  He nodded vehemently. “You’ve only got a little over a week before you need to be perfect at this. Stop whining and learn to saunter in heels!” He gave a sound of frustration and stepped back to look at her. As he did, a notion started forming in his head. Much like the Grinch, he got a wonderful, awful idea. With a grin that very much matched the holiday figure’s, he said, “We’re doing a crash course here. Come on.” Grabbing her wrist, he tugged her out of her bedroom and down to the first floor. “You’re either going to learn to walk in those, or you’re going to break an ankle.” He shot her a wicked grin over his shoulder. “We’re going to play ping pong in the basement.”

  “Ping pong?” Her words came out a screech as she wobbled unsteadily down the steps behind him.

  “If you can learn to play ping pong in heels, you can handle dinner and dancing no problem.”

  Ellie came to an abrupt halt behind him, tugging with resistance against his hand. “Dancing? No one said anything about dancing!”

  He rolled his eyes in response. “That’s what DeNuzio’s is known for! Where have you been living? Under a rock?” It was as if she’d done no research for this date. She was going in blind, something he hadn’t expected from someone so studious.

  “Excuse me, Alec,” she said cuttingly. “Most boys our age can’t afford a place like that. It’s usually burger joints and mini-golf.”

  This reminder drew a snort of disgust from him. No one else could come up with the money for places like DeNuzio’s. Jake was like a peacock, preening and showing off. He was fake. “You’re the one dating a preppy rich boy. Complain to him, not me.”

  Ellie opened her mouth to object, but thankfully her mother walked into the living room that fanned out at the bottom of the steps and caught sight of them on their way down. She saved Alec from listening to his friend’s retort.<
br />
  “Good afternoon, Alec,” Cindy Harper greeted. “How is hockey coming along, dear?”

  He grinned sheepishly. It was flattering that Mrs. Harper took such an interest in his sport. She’d even come to a few of the games with Ellie to cheer him on. “It’s alright.” Then he realized he hadn’t seen her since he’d gotten some very exciting news. “I got that A on my jersey this year. Assistant captain.”

  Cindy wrapped him in a giant hug. “Keep this up. You’ll get a scholarship no problem.”

  He chuckled, feeling a blush creep across his cheeks. He hoped she was right. More than anything. “Thanks.”

  She patted him on the shoulder before stepping back to look between the two of them. “So what are you two up to this evening?”

  “Ping pong,” Alec said with a devious grin. “That table downstairs has been calling to me.”

  “Lovely.” Cindy waved a hand at the basement door, indicating the two of them should head down and enjoy themselves. “Well, I’m heading out to pick up some groceries. The two of you have fun!”

  Ellie grumbled something unpleasant under her breath and began clomping down the steps.

  “We will,” he answered more politely. As they descended into the basement, he gave a low whistle of appreciation. “No matter how many times I’ve been down here, I am still impressed.”

  Ellie merely shrugged indifferently.

  He shook his head at that. These two unappreciative women lived with every man’s dream right under their feet and couldn’t care less.

  The house’s previous owner had built a sports bar on the lowest level, creating a literal man cave. Pale woodwork lined the walls, nicely framing a slick, fully stocked bar. The walls were covered in sports memorabilia the girls had been too indifferent of to tear down. The prized jewel was a big screen, high definition television that dominated one of the walls.

  Cindy only ventured downstairs to do laundry or sneak a bit of wine with her girlfriends, and Ellie only used the room when he dragged her down there to watch hockey games. It was a shame that the benefits of such an amazing room were completely lost on them.

  Flicking on the light switch, he turned to Ellie. “You ready for some ping pong?”

  “No?”

  He shook his head with a grin of amusement at the way she’d answered with a question. “Too bad.” Snatching up a paddle from the table, he tossed it in her direction. He watched with a brow arched in enjoyment as she fumbled awkwardly in an attempt to catch it.

  Predictably, the paddle eventually slipped through her fingers and hit the floor. She gave a growl of frustration and bent in an outlandish struggle with her heels to pick it up.

  Alec leaned back against the table and watched from beside her as she struggled. He laughed soundlessly, knowing he would receive a fist to the gut if she knew he was taking such pleasure in her clumsy nature. She really was hopeless. “Heaven forbid Jake throw something to you. You’ll make a fool of yourself, and the date will be over before it starts.” He’d been laughing as quietly as possible to avoid her wrath, but a snort finally escaped him. Thankfully it came off more scornful than humorous, so she wouldn’t know he was laughing at her. “Though I’m sure you have nothing to worry about. Jake wouldn’t want to dirty those pretty manicured fingernails of his with physical activity.”

  “Be nice.”

  At the warning note in her voice, Alec chuckled. “I don’t mean anything by it. Jake’s cool as far as I’m concerned. He’s just not…”

  “He’s not a jock,” she said in a matter-of-fact tone. “He doesn’t enjoy pummeling other guys for icing the puck.”

  Alec rolled his eyes at this. It was like she knew nothing about hockey. Whatsoever. “I’ve never started a fight over icing. Do you even pay attention to the games?”

  With a warm laugh, she ran her thumb lightly along a cut over his eyebrow. “You’ve started fights because a player looked at you the wrong way. It doesn’t seem out of the realm of possibility for you to start a brawl over icing.”

  Damn. Well, if that didn’t actually make a little bit of sense… Laughing, he pushed her hand away. “Yeah. Yeah.” Making his way around the far side of the table, he picked up his own paddle. “I’ll start a fight with your rich boy toy if he doesn’t keep his hands to himself next weekend.”

  Ellie approached the table with a worried frown. “Don’t go getting all protective big brother on me.” Cautiously lining up her paddle, she tapped the ball across the table to him.

  Protective big brother. Was that how he was behaving? He was an only child and used to only worrying about himself. It was odd, this uncomfortable feeling in his chest. He supposed he was just nervous for her, something he wasn’t used to. He was concerned Jake would take advantage of her compassionate, innocent nature and end up leaving her crushed.

  He still couldn’t fathom why Jake Phillips had asked her out. Ellie was sweet and wholesome. Guys like Jake made their way through the popular crowd, breaking hearts as they went. He was worried Ellie was going to get hurt if she went through with this. She was too innocent, too trusting. “I just don’t like his type. Rich preppy boys always feel as if they’re entitled to whatever they want. Just be careful, okay?” He tapped the ball back to her, lining up an easy return.

  She arched a brow as she returned the ball to his side of the table. “Jake isn’t like that. He’s a good guy.”

  His fingers clenched around the handle of his paddle in irritation, and he sent the ball back toward her a little more roughly than intended. “I know what guys are like. More so than you. I’m just looking out for you.”

  She had to lunge to the right to return the ball. “Well, if he turns out to be a creep, I’ll let you go all hockey jock on him. I promise.”

  For some reason, that idea filled him with delightful anticipation. Though despite his eagerness, the thought of getting into a fight with Jake Phillips was laughable. Jake wouldn’t last two minutes if the two of them were to throw down. It would be a joke.

  He gave a sniff of amusement as he smacked the ball roughly to her left corner after making her go right. “Pretty boy wouldn’t know what hit him.”

  In her frantic attempt to get back to the ball, Ellie tripped. With a yelp, she latched onto the table with a vise-like grip to keep from falling to the floor. Her eyes squeezed tightly closed, and she let out a breath that stated her obvious relief at not colliding with the ground.

  The ball hit the ground and skittered off.

  He couldn’t hold in his laughter. She looked so ridiculous sprawled halfway across the table. “You are the worst girl ever,” he accused as she opened her eyes to glower at him. “You’re in way over your head.”

  With an expression of pure stubbornness, Ellie righted herself, marched over to the fallen ball, and snatched it up. “Your serve,” she said, tossing the ball to him.

  She wasn’t a quitter. He’d give her that. With a grin and a nod of appreciation at her conviction, he said, “Alright. First one to a hundred points wins?” At her annoyed look, he burst into laughter.

  * * * *

  Alec was just heading home for the evening when Ellie’s mother pulled into the driveway. He waited for her to park and made his way over to the car to help her with the bags of groceries. “Perfect timing. Let me help you get these inside.” He scooped three large paper bags full of food into his arms from the backseat.

  “Thank you, Alec. You’re such a polite boy.”

  He snorted at this. If anyone who knew him on the ice heard that, they wouldn’t believe it.

  She grabbed a few bags of her own and led the way back into the house. Holding the door open for him with her hip, she asked, “So how was your evening?”

  “Good,” he said as he placed his bags on the kitchen counter. “I was helping Ellie get ready for her date on Saturday.”

  Cindy made a tsk sound. “Yes, the date. She’s nervous about that, huh?”

  He chuckled. “Nervous enough to do a practice dat
e with me.”

  She snickered in amusement and turned to look at him after setting her own bags down. “A practice date?”

  He nodded with a wry grin. “Yeah. She’s annoyed about it, but I’m making her go through the full drill with me. I’ll point out everything she does wrong so it won’t happen when she’s out with Jake.”

  “That’s very sweet of you. She could use the confidence boost where dating is concerned.”

  He nodded his agreement as he headed for the door. “Don’t I know it.” As an afterthought, he added, “If you could, make sure she takes our date Saturday seriously. If she doesn’t, she’s not going to learn anything.”

  “I will,” she promised. “I’ll do the excited mom bit.” Laughing lightly, she added, “Surely that will annoy her as well.”

  He grinned slyly, enjoying their camaraderie over harassing her daughter. “No doubt it will. Thanks.” He nodded in parting. “Have a nice evening, Mrs. Harper.”

  “You too.”

  He waved and headed out the door. As he crossed over into his own driveway, he noticed the garage light on. The beam of light stretched out into the dusky driveway. The door was up, and he could hear a clanking noise coming from inside.

  As he approached with a frown of confusion, his father came out holding two paper-wrapped bundles in his hands.

  “Meatball sub?” Jerich asked, holding one of the foot-long sandwiches out to him.

  Alec took it and narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “What are you doing out here?”

  “I figured we’d fix up that car of yours, get it running.”

  Alec knew his expression must have been one of astonishment. His father was asking to work on the car with him? His father was volunteering for the two of them to spend some quality time together? “Yeah?” he asked, almost afraid he’d heard wrong.

  Unwrapping his sandwich, Jerich took a hearty bite. “Yeah. Figured it could be fun. I picked up all the parts we need earlier today. We’re good to go. So long as you’re up for it.”

  Alec grinned. He couldn’t help himself. He peeled back the wrapping of his sub and took a bite. “Definitely. Let’s do it.”