The Dating Tutor: Alec's Story Read online

  “Cool.” After pulling her shirt back over her head, she turned to him with a quizzical look. “So is Matt seeing anyone?”

  * * * *

  Alec walked into his darkened living room and tossed his keys onto the end table. He was just picking up the television remote to watch the DVR version of the Rangers game when his father came stomping into the room.

  “It’s about time you came home,” Jerich said with annoyance. He waved a hand impatiently at his son. “I need back that fifty I gave you last weekend. I need to go buy…groceries.”

  Alec turned to gape at his father in disbelief. “It’s gone. You told me—”

  “I know what I told you! I changed my mind.” Jerich’s face began reddening, and his hands shook.

  Withdrawals. This wasn’t the first time Alec had seen his father go through this. Every time his old man had a few good days, this would happen. He never could handle staying sober. “It’s gone.” He shrugged helplessly. “I can’t get it back. Nor would I if I could.”

  “What did you say?” Jerich’s eyes flashed with rage.

  Alec calmly placed the remote back on the table and climbed to his feet. “I’m not dealing with this.” He started for the front door but stopped in his tracks at the warning tone of his father’s voice.

  “Don’t you dare walk out of this house.”

  Alec made a sound of disgust. “I’m not going to sit around and be dragged into your misery.” He yanked open the front door. “You’re not going to make me stay through that.” With that, he pushed out the front door and slammed it shut behind him.

  He was in such a blind rage as he stormed across the lawn to Ellie’s yard that he bypassed the front door. It was still early, and Mrs. Harper wouldn’t care if he came in, but he moved on autopilot. Usually when he left to escape his father, it was in the middle of the night.

  He was halfway through Ellie’s window before using the front door ever occurred to him. The thought obviously entered her mind as well, because as he entered her room, she asked, “Why didn’t you use the front door?”

  He shrugged noncommittally as he closed the window behind him and hopped down off her desk. Moving across the room, he silently plopped down to sit on the edge of her bed.

  “And why are you home so early on a Saturday night?” Ellie asked. “What happened to your date?”

  “She was boring.” He observed her reluctantly for a moment before asking, “And your date? You’re home early too, you know.”

  The giddy grin that spread across her lips at his question had Alec’s heart sinking.

  “My date was amazing!” She gave a girly little squeal. “The only reason I’m home before ten is because Jake is doing volunteer work at a church tomorrow. He is just…perfect.”

  “Oh yes. He’s so dreamy.” He tried to keep the bitterness out of his voice and instead went for sarcasm.

  “He is.”

  He regarded her for a moment in silence before asking, “I take it he kissed you then?” Even to his own ears, his voice sounded cold. He also doubted she wouldn’t notice the aggression in his tone.

  Either she truly didn’t notice or she was being cruel, because Ellie answered him in a sing-song voice. “There was a kiss.” She seemed lost in her own little dreamland, but after a pause, she spun to face him. “But I still need your help. Jake asked me to go out with him again, and I’m terrified I am going to screw things up. It’s still early in the dating game. I need my tutor.”

  Alec opened his mouth to protest, but she rushed forward and cut him off. “Please? Just for a little while longer? Once I start to get a feel for it, I’ll handle things on my own, but I just don’t feel confident enough about myself yet.”

  Her request had his stomach roiling with displeasure. He wasn’t sure he could do it anymore. He didn’t think he could tutor her and not get emotionally involved.

  She widened her green eyes with a pleading expression. “Please, Alec. I don’t trust anyone but you with this.”

  The problem was, he couldn’t tell her no either. He’d never been able to tell her no. He took a deep breath, then slowly let it out. “Fine.” At her excited clap, he held up a hand. “But only for a little while longer.”

  With a squeal of delight, Ellie threw her arms around his neck and gave him a squeezing hug. “You’re the best!”

  The best? No, he wasn’t the best. He was the chump who was about to let a girl trample all over his heart. The only thing he was best at was being a fool.

  Chapter Nine

  “What is up with you recently, man?” Matt asked as he stood with his elbow propped up on his hockey stick while he and Alec waited their turn for one final practice shot before their game.

  Alec glanced over at him after watching the shot of one of his fellow defensive players go wide of the net. “What do you mean?”

  “What do I mean?” Matt snorted and moved up a place in line. “You’ve been moody going on a week now. And I feel like you’re barely registering anything around you. Mario Lemieux could walk out onto the ice, and you’d barely notice. It’s like you’re in your own fantasy world.”

  “Trust me,” Alec said with a grin at the mention of one of hockey’s finest players in all of history. “I would notice Lemieux.”

  Matt rolled his eyes. “Okay, maybe that was a bad example, but you get what I’m saying. Something’s going on with you. I don’t like it.”

  As another one of their teammates completed his shot, both boys scooted up in line. Alec took that time to collect his thoughts. He hadn’t realized his displeasure over the whole Ellie situation had been that obvious. He was going to have to work on that. “Nothing is going on. I’m just…worried about that college application.” Okay, at least that was true.

  “Worried enough to rebuff Shannon Albright?”

  This finally drew Alec’s attention away from the mock-shootout. “She told you about that?”

  Matt nodded in affirmation. “She did. Said you turned her down because of some other girl.”

  Alec grunted in response and turned his attention to the shootout as if it demanded his immediate attention. “I didn’t want to hurt her feelings is all.” Apparently, Shannon hadn’t wasted any time in cozying up to Matt, nor had his friend shied away from discussing him with her.

  “I think you weren’t just sparing her feelings,” Matt argued. “I think this all has to do with that neighbor girl of yours. She’s gotten into your head. Bad.”

  “She has not.” Alec was relieved it was his turn to take a shot on goal, so he could get away from Matt’s accusations. When Coach Grimmly passed him the puck, he took a rough shot at the net. His shot was made with aggravation and very little precision. It went flying wildly up into the netting.

  Spinning back to Matt, he snapped, “My issues have nothing to do with Ellie. Just drop it.” With that, he made his way over to the outside of his team’s bench to await the start of the game.

  A moment later, Matt joined him. The two stood on the ice in front of the bench, an awkward silence falling between them. Matt finally tried to bring up a new, less offensive topic to discuss. “So did you look over the guidelines for that English report yet? It is a complete killer…”

  Alec had tuned him out. While Matty went on about their assignment, Alec’s eyes had landed on Ellie as she picked her way through the stands in search of a good seat. She’d come. Just like always, she’d come to watch him play. It gave him hope that things could get back to some semblance of normalcy. His heart was just swelling with optimism when he noticed the person walking closely behind her. Jake.

  He couldn’t believe she’d brought Jake to a hockey game. A hockey game! Phillips had never shown his face at a single game all season, and Alec hadn’t mourned the lack of his presence. His hands balled into fists at his sides. He knew it was irrational for him to be angry, but he was. He was angry as hell. “Shut up, Matty,” he growled.

  “Huh?” Matt looked at his friend in bewilderment, then
followed Alec’s eyes to the crowd. It was at this moment that Jake grabbed Ellie’s face in his hands and planted a kiss on her.

  Matt’s eyes shifted warily over to Alec, his expression one of sympathy. “Hey, man. I’m sorry. If th—”

  “Shut up, Matty.” Alec’s voice was a low growl.

  From her place in the stands, Ellie turned to look at him. When she lifted a hand in a friendly wave, he glared. He wasn’t feeling in a very friendly mood.

  As players began to take the ice, Alec skated in the direction of the opposing team instead of his starting position. His eyes locked onto Justin Peters, a defenseman known for his short temper.

  Alec tapped his stick aggressively against the much bigger teen’s, drawing immediate attention to himself. “That was a weak warm-up,” he taunted. He hadn’t caught any of Justin’s warm-up, but that didn’t matter. He was looking for a fight, and he knew exactly what buttons to push. “No wonder they bumped you to third line. You couldn’t hit the net if the goalie stepped out of the way for you.”

  Justin spun toward him with a narrow-eyed look of rage. “You lookin’ to get your ass kicked, Horner?”

  “Maybe I am,” Alec said with a mocking shrug. “But somehow I don’t think you’ve got what it takes to get the job done. I heard little Mackey Malloy from Western Cyprus took you down a few weeks ago. You’ve gone soft.”

  “Mackey Malloy got in one lucky shot!” Justin gave a growl of frustration and shifted agitatedly on his skates. “Who told you—” Not finishing his sentence, he took the conversation in a different direction. He pointed a finger in Alec’s face. “Soon as that whistle blows it’s on. You hear me?”

  Alec bobbed his head in complete understanding. “I look forward to it.” He would have almost felt guilty about starting an undeserved fight, but last time these two teams faced, Justin had taken a cheap shot against Matt and given him a concussion. Matty had missed the end of last season over it. Justin was a brute who deserved to take a few licks every once in a while…though if Alec looked at it that way, people probably said the same about him. Not wanting to linger on that thought, he lined up and waited anxiously for the puck to drop.

  As soon as it hit the ice, he straightened and shook off his gloves. Justin did the same, and they immediately began circling one another, looking for an opportunity to land a blow.

  Justin was the larger of the two, but Alec had speed on his side. Before his opponent could realize what was happening, Alec ducked in and delivered three quick body shots.

  Almost immediately, Justin got a meaty hand up and delivered two rough punches to the side of Alec’s head.

  Thankfully, his helmet absorbed the worst of the blows, but the impact had knocked it askew, obstructing his visibility. Without a second thought, Alec ripped it off and tossed it to the side. He shook his dark shaggy hair out of his eyes and pulled back to circle his opponent, while Justin tossed his own helmet to the ice.

  When they locked up again, Alec managed to get an arm free. He delivered a quick shot to Justin’s jaw. The other boy reared back and Alec hit him again…and again. It felt good. He harnessed all of his recent anger into the movement of his arm as it delivered the blows. It was downright therapeutic.

  Alec pulled his fist back again, but Justin got his around first. It caught Alec in the brow with enough force to jar his head back.

  Pain shot through him immediate and intense, but Alec didn’t shrink back. Instead, he pulled his arm back and delivered a right hook that knocked Justin to the ice. His opponent plopped down in front of him, blinking in dazed surprise at being knocked on his ass.

  Alec’s shoulders rose and fell with labored breaths that forced their way past his lips. Blood was trailing down his face and dripping onto his jersey. The eye that had taken the hit was already starting to swell closed.

  He was so focused on the adrenaline coursing through him that it took a moment to notice the referee who was screaming at him over the roar of the crowd. The man jerked a finger in the direction of the locker room, and Alec understood enough to realize he’d been ejected from the game.

  Cursing in aggravation, Alec snatched his helmet up, skated off the ice, and stalked down the ramp way that led to the locker rooms. The last thing he’d needed was an ejection from the game. It was further proof for Jerich that his son was nothing more than a thug.

  Entering the locker room, Alec wound back his arm and chucked his helmet at one of the locker doors. The sound of its collision echoed throughout the empty room. With a frustrated growl, he sank down to the bench in front of his locker and dropped his head into his hands. He took deep breaths, trying to still the rage that seemed to pump through his veins.

  A few minutes passed this way, with him staring at the blood that dripped from his eyebrow onto the floor. He knew this whole thing was his own stupid fault. He’d lost his temper and cost his team by leaving them short a defensive player.

  “Alec!” Ellie’s worried voice invaded his ears. She was suddenly dropping to her knees in front of him and peering into his eyes with shock evident in her own. “Alec, what were you thinking?”

  His head stayed lowered, but he lifted his eyes to hers. In a cold voice, he asked, “Why are you back here, Ellie? Shouldn’t you be with your date?” The compassionless words rolled off his tongue before he could stop them.

  Her eyes narrowed at him in response. “I cancelled with Jake. You’re my best friend. I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

  “I’m fine.” The words came stiffly from his lips. He was far from fine, but for the first time in his life, he found himself unable to divulge to her the turmoil running through him. The best friend who had gotten him through so many hard times in the past was the reason for his current misery.

  As always, she saw straight through him. She saw through the bullshit to the distressed person beneath. “You are not fine.” Her eyes danced over him, lingering on the cut above his eye. “You’re bleeding everywhere. Why would you start with someone who has fifty pounds on you?”

  This finally brought a smirk of amusement to his lips. Here he was overwhelmed with emotional crap, and she was worried about some silly fight. “I kicked his ass, didn’t I?”

  She gave him a look of disapproval. Grabbing a towel from a stack at the end of the bench, she pressed it against the gash on his forehead. “You scared me,” she admitted quietly.

  “Why?” He looked up at her with surprise. His on-ice fighting had never seemed to bother her in the past. “I’ve fought a thousand times. You’ve never cared before.”

  “I’ve cared. It’s just I wasn’t… You’ve never… This was different.” She inhaled deeply, then held that breath as she stared at him. After a moment, she exhaled and pressed the towel to his head in an effort to stop the bleeding.

  As her eyes flitted almost uncomfortably away from his, Alec gave a sigh of his own. He’d never meant to upset her. In fact, he honestly hadn’t thought it would matter to her one way or another. He was a goon; he fought. That’s how hockey went. But she was right. This had been different.

  Normally, he fought when he felt a game required it or when someone took a cheap shot at one of his teammates. Today, he’d fought because he was pissed at her. He was suddenly very ashamed of his actions. “I’m sorry. I never meant to scare you.” That was the last thing he ever wanted to do. Unable to help himself, he reached out and ran his fingers through her hair before tucking it behind her ear. “I just…” He shrugged and dropped his hand away self-consciously. “I’m a goon. Senseless violence is what I’m good at.”

  She made a sound of protest in the back of her throat. “You’re more than just a goon. You’re a good hockey player.”

  He grumbled an unconvinced response.

  Ellie pulled back, staring intensely into his eyes. “You are! You’re an amazing athlete, and I’m proud of you.”

  Alec swallowed thickly at the compliment and lowered his eyes to the ground. He stared at the droplets of blood, trying
to keep his emotions at bay. It was not good to have these sorts of feelings for her. It was making him act irrational.

  “Alec.” Her voice all but demanded he pay attention. Cupping his cheek in her hand, she forced him to look at her. “You know how amazing I think you are, right?”

  His eyes locked onto hers and held them. The passion he saw there had his heart pounding against his ribcage. For a moment, he considered that perhaps she reciprocated his feelings. He lifted a hand to cover hers. “Ellie, I—”

  “I can’t believe you pulled something like this before the game even started, Horner! I sure hope it was worth a two game suspension.” Coach Grimmly, who had obviously ducked out to check on him, rounded the bend and stopped suddenly upon seeing Ellie in the room. “Oh. Miss Harper. Hello.”

  Ellie jumped guiltily away from Alec and jammed her hands deep into her pockets. “Coach Grimmly. Hi.”

  Grimmly was a large, imposing man, but he was more fatherly as a coach than harsh. Many of the other students found him to be intimidating, but the members of the hockey team admired him completely. The coach’s massive feet slapped against the ground as he stomped over. “Well, let me have a look at it,” he said gruffly. “Are we going to need stitches?”

  Ellie peeled back the towel to reveal the gash on Alec’s head and shot the coach a nervous glance.

  Leaning down, Grimmly peered closely at Alec’s brow. After a moment of silence, he gave a harrumph. “It’s barely a scratch, boy. Why are you bleeding like a stuck pig?”

  Alec shrugged. “I don’t know. It was a lucky shot. He must have just hit me in the right place to make it gush.”

  The coach gave a snort. “Lucky. Yeah.” He dabbed at the blood on Alec’s brow before tossing the rag to the bench. “You’re real lucky that gamble paid off, or I’d be yelling up a storm.” He grinned. “Michaels got all wound up after that fight, scored us two goals.” He clapped Alec on the back. “Good job, kid. Good job.” He waved toward the exit. “Now get your butt home before I decide two games isn’t a long enough suspension. Go on.” He gave Ellie a pointed look. “Get him home. I don’t want him driving with blood running into his eyes.”