Falling Fast (Loving the Sound Book 1)

by Kat Obie

  Scott

  Scott heard his phone go off. He couldn’t imagine who would be calling him at this hour. He was slow to react. He missed the call but continued to pull out his phone just to find out who it could have been, despite the fact it was too late to answer the phone call.

  His teammates should all be either asleep or getting laid—either way, unlikely to call him. He knew that Alice planned on going to bed early after he changed up their plans. He saw the missed message and call were both from Alice.

  As he read the text message, he gave out the longest protracted “FUCKKKKKKKKKK” of his life.

  Scott saw red and wanted to hurt whoever broke into her place. He wasn’t the biggest guy on the team and definitely not the best fighter, but he would always protect anyone he cared about, on or off the ice.

  He got out of bed to grab a pair of pants and a shirt as he called Alice back. He knew he had to keep his temper in check since Alice didn’t need him to fight for her at that moment. She needed support. He just hoped she wasn’t in the hospital or something along those lines.

  “Are you okay? What all happened? Do you need me to come and get you?” asked Scott in a rush. He knew he needed to slow down, but he needed answers. He forced himself to stay silent for a moment so Alice could speak.

  “I’m more or less okay,” said Alice in a fairly rough voice.

  He couldn’t tell at first if she was crying or having a panic attack. He heard her take a deep breath, as if to steady herself. That pause was killing him. He needed to know if she was okay. Being more or less okay wasn’t the same thing.

  Finally, she continued. “I wasn’t hurt physically. The guy fled from my bedroom the moment I jumped out of bed. But I’m really shaken up right now.”

  “Yeah, I get that.” Scott grabbed his keys and wallet in case he got pulled over. He hit the auto-starter on his car so it could warm up while he got more details from Alice. She hadn’t said whether she wanted him to come over. At this point, he was going over regardless. “I’m coming over. But it’s going to take me a little bit to get there on these roads.”

  “Thanks. Just take your time getting here,” Alice said.

  That fired him up. She wasn’t dismissing him because he could hear the relief in her voice when he said he was coming over. But waiting for something he wanted had never been his strong suit. It was that drive that helped to catapult him to the NHL as a young kid in his twenties.

  “I won’t take my time. I want to get there as soon as I can. I think the bigger question would be that after I get there, do you want me to stay the night or do you want to come back to my place?”

  “Can I go to your place?” asked Alice really meekly. He realized there were some tears and a lot of panic going on. It was not easy for her to talk.

  As he was getting into his car and waiting for the garage door to lift, he said, “Of course you can. I wouldn’t have offered if it wasn’t okay. Can you tell me what happened?”

  He was glad the roads were plowed and the conditions weren’t that bad. The snow had stopped, but there was a lot of it on the ground, making the roads slick. He could get around without too many problems, though.

  He continued to grip the steering wheel as tight as he could to keep his emotions in check. He knew that while he was angry about the break-in, he needed to be there for Alice at that moment. She seemed so broken and not like herself. He wanted to fix it.

  She was taking her time answering his question. Finally, she said, “Not really. How was going out after the game?”

  Scott hated that she wouldn’t say what was going on in her mind or what happened. There was a good chance she was trying to distract herself from reality and just needed to hear his voice. “It was okay. Nothing too crazy. Do you want me to talk for a bit?”

  He could hear that she was still on the phone from the little gasps she made, but she didn’t say anything. He chuckled. “Did you just answer me with a nod, forgetting I can’t see you?”

  “Maybe . . .”

  Scott took a deep breath. He needed to fill more of the conversational space than usual. But he wasn’t sure what to talk about. He didn’t want to upset her more or say something dumb.

  “I’m sorry, kid, that this happened to you. But I will be there soon. I promise.” He could just fill the space with what they’d done that evening. “My night was really pretty tame. We had a couple beers together while we watched some of the west coast games at the bar. Then people started to break off. A few of the younger guys went to a strip club. Not sure what happened to Misha and Toli. I think they went to find some girls but I’m not sure. At least Toli will look after Misha and make sure they are ready for tonight’s game. Dykstman found a girl at the bar. Lager wanted to head back by then, and I figured it was as good a time as ever. I crawled into bed. Not sure how I missed your initial message. Must have been right as I was crawling into bed.”

  He wasn’t sure if Alice was still there. She wasn’t making any noise like she had initially with heavy breathing that almost sounded like crying. If he hadn’t been driving in the snow, he would have looked down at the phone, but he didn’t want to take his eyes off the road. He was already driving faster than he should have been. But after so many winters in Canada, the snow didn’t seem that bad and he could take it faster than most locals.

  “So Alice, I’m going to need you to talk a little. I know you are starting to settle down, which is good, but I also don’t know if you’re still there.”

  “I’m here. I won’t hang up. At least, not until you tell me to.”

  “So, did he get anything?”

  “My iPad is toast. My Alexa was taken but returned by the police. He got into my desk, but I didn’t notice that anything was gone. Things got moved around, though. Oh, he also got into my Goldfish.”

  “Goldfish? I don’t remember any pets at your place.” Scott heard Alice giggling in the background. He knew that he was completely off the mark.

  “Don’t you remember Goldfish crackers? I know they’re for kids, but I still enjoy them from time to time. When I went home for Christmas, my niece wanted a bag of them with the cheddar and pretzel flavors all mixed up. She didn’t like them, so I inherited the bag. And he ate my bag before I did.”

  That just sounded weird. Well, to steal a pet goldfish would be even weirder. Nothing about it made much sense. “How could you tell?”

  “Given that the bag magically moved between my snack table in the main room to the kitchen when I was asleep, it’s a pretty good guess that they got into my Goldfish.”

  “That it is, but it’s still weird. Why would you have a snack in the middle of breaking into someone’s place?”

  “Don’t know. I’ve been asking myself the same thing.”

  He approached her place. The next trick would be to find parking. He normally just parked in front of her place on the street, but that was covered in snow. They wouldn’t be in her place for too long, so he figured why not use the parking lot at her place due to the storm? He found an open spot and locked up his car.

  “So, I’m walking up now.”

  “Thank God.”

  Scott got to the door and saw Alice waiting there. She looked out of sorts as she opened up the security door. Her eyes were puffy and red from crying. They were both empty and fearful. All he could do was hug her. She melted into him. Instead of lifting her up as he normally did, he just kissed her forehead, whispering, “Je t’aime. Je t’aime.”

  He knew she would understand what he was saying and needed to hear some calming words. Normally he would never say such heavy words, but seeing her in such a state, they came out. He wanted to soothe her, and it seemed like the perfect time. He was just glad that she understood French and knew what he was saying.

  After a few moments, he switched back to English. “I’m so sorry that I wasn’t there to protect you. I should have been here.”

  “This wasn’t your fault. I’m just glad you’re here now.”

&nbs
p; Scott knew she was right, but he still felt bad. There would be plenty of road trips where he couldn’t be there to protect her. But he still wanted to keep her safe.

  While it felt good comforting Alice with one of his bear hugs, he knew that they should get going. She had work, and he had a game the next day. They both should attempt some sleep. They needed to get back to his place and away from it all.

  “Hey, we should probably get going. Before we do, let's get that door they used blocked. Which door was it?”

  He had no intention of leaving her place unprotected. He was going to put as much security in place as possible before leaving. There was no reason to have a second robbery.

  Alice was slow to say something and slower to move away from his embrace. Eventually she said, “Kitchen.”

  Scott nodded. He took charge in the moment and did what needed to be done. He anticipated doing it by himself, but Alice followed him into the apartment and continued to hold onto his hand. It was like she was afraid to let go and just wanted to be touched.

  Scott was flabbergasted by what he saw. He could see that things were moved around and out of place. Much of the place also looked like it was untouched (at least from what he remembered).

  He’d heard that a robbery looks different in real life and that’s what they meant when they said it could look staged. He could still see where they’d tested for fingerprints in the desk area—there were black smudges everywhere on what was a white desk. He knew he could probably touch anything he wanted since the police had already left.

  The main room wouldn’t have anything appropriate to block the door. He didn’t want to disrupt her normal routine too much and it had to be heavy enough to keep the door from being pushed open.

  He looked into the bedroom. That had both a small dresser and the A/C unit that he could easily move but would be large enough to cause issues getting into the bedroom.

  He hadn’t actually slept over at her place due to Chloe, so he wasn't sure how much she would be using either. Since it was winter and the A/C unit was tucked between some other furniture, he assumed it wouldn’t be in use. It would be a pain to get it out of its winter spot, though. “Do you mind if we bring this dresser into the kitchen?”

  Alice just nodded. He wasn’t used to her being so quiet. She was timid until you got to know her—then she was talkative and open. It pained him to see her like this because he knew she was hurting. He hugged her before moving the dresser. “It’ll be okay. I promise.”

  It only took a minute to move it into the kitchen area. He made sure she still had access to the drawers. She stared at him through the entire process.

  “You know, we could get another lock for your bedroom door, before you spend another night in here.”

  “You think?” she asked as if it was a novel idea. Alice was wicked smart, so he knew that if she’d had a chance to calm down, she would have thought of the same thing.

  “Yeah. It might help. No sense in relying on the main door alone. It wouldn’t be that hard to install. I can’t promise that we can do it tomorrow. But definitely soon.”

  Alice kissed him as if he was a genius. He was so tempted to pull her into her bedroom. But tonight wasn’t a night for carnal lust; it was about security and protection. He hugged her and kept everything still. He couldn’t help that he was getting hard.

  “So, are you all ready to go?”

  “Yeah. I have everything in my work bag.”

  “Let’s grab your hockey sticks too.”

  Alice looked at him as if he’d lost his mind but, regardless, headed to the front closet where she presumably kept her hockey equipment.

  Scott felt that he should help carry something so he grabbed the backpack she’d been carrying with her whenever she came anywhere after work. Most girls he knew carried purses, but she always had a backpack instead. It felt heavier than he’d expected since he knew it wouldn’t have the weight of her iPad. At the same time, he knew she carried lots of other things that wouldn’t have been taken, like knitting and notebooks.

  “Yeah, unless you want to play some full pick-up again. I promised you I would help you with your puck handling. Tonight is as good a night as any. We won’t have much time but we can do a little bit before the game. It normally helps me to feel better.”

  “Swimming or skating does it for me. It might be nice to work with the puck handling. Although it's more the speed of the puck on the ice that gets to me. I used to play floor hockey and I never had any sort of discomfort with the puck. If anything, I’m just lazy when it’s off the ice.”

  “You aren’t lazy. Grab your skates. I’ll get you some ice time.”

  Scott was trying to think when and where they would have the easiest access to ice. He knew that Corey had some ice at his house, but Scott wasn’t sure if he wanted to go there. Sometimes Corey could be a bit of an asshole without meaning to be. Also, everyone on the team would know about Alice since there was no way Corey would keep his mouth shut.

  He wasn’t even trying to hide Alice. She hadn’t been able to make it to any of his games since her schedule made it impossible to catch the whole game (although she never had an issue meeting up with him after his games). The main reason he didn’t want Corey to know was because he would be called pussy-whipped and they would blame her if he didn’t want to go out after games. He had time to figure out when they could get some ice since he didn’t plan to let her sleep alone until he had to leave for the road again in three nights.

  They left for his place. He took his time driving now that she was in his car. He relaxed, although he saw stress all over her face. Sleep would be an afterthought for him at this point. He just wanted to protect her.

  The car got a little too quiet for him. He knew there was still a good chance she would try deflecting his questions, but he was hoping she would open up some. “Did you think about calling off for tomorrow?”

  “I have to go in. We are short-staffed. It wasn’t even a real thought. Just not sure how well I will handle everything. I let my boss know that I was likely to be pretty useless with the cleaning and some tasks.”

  Scott looked at her in awe. He was glad to see that she was willing to go in and try. But he could see that she was still pretty much on the verge of another anxiety attack and not herself.

  “Do you want me to come in with you?” He actually surprised himself by offering to go. At least she worked at a gym, so he could work out and do something useful for game day prep as he stayed close by.

  “Maybe. But you’ve got your own stuff to do. Don’t you have a morning skate and pregame stuff that you need to do? I already feel like a shithead for waking you up. The last thing I want to do is screw up your game.”

  “You are not a shithead. I’m glad you called.” He took one of his hands off the steering wheel and rubbed her thigh since her hands were tucked away. He hoped that his touch was as soothing for her as it was for him. “I’m just so glad that you weren’t hurt. If anyone has a right to feel bad, it’s me. I changed our plans tonight and I should have been there. Don’t feel guilty for calling me when you needed help. Not ever.”

  “Okay,” said Alice too quietly and too tentatively. He didn’t need to look to know that she was second guessing herself.

  “Honestly, babe, it’s okay to call me anytime. I will try to pick up. If I don’t, I will hit you up when I see the missed call. I care about you so much that hockey and everything else doesn’t matter.”

  They drifted into more silence. He wasn’t sure why he didn’t put music on. Most likely because he tended to favor heavy rock and hip hop and neither seemed right.

  Scott pulled into his gated community. He was excited to bring Alice over to his place for the first time. It was much larger than Alice’s apartment. They’d talked about going there a few times but just never got around to it. Part of it was his nervousness about Chloe’s reaction. He hoped she wouldn’t nip at Alice like she had at his previous girlfriends.

  Alic
e smiled. “I didn’t realize you lived back here too. I used to do some computer support for one of my swim lessons clients here.” Scott waited to see if she would elaborate but she didn't.

  He pulled into the driveway. “Are you ready to meet the other girl in my life?” He knew it wasn’t fancy and there was room for someone to make it nicer, but it was his.

  Alice was still being quiet when she said, “I guess so.”

  Scott reached back to grab her bag from the back seat as Alice slowly got out of the SUV. He left the hockey sticks in the car for now. He could get them once she was a little bit more lively or when they woke up in the morning. He rounded the car to passionately kiss her but kept the temptation to carry her up the steps at bay.

  When he pushed open the garage door, he was immediately greeted by Chloe. “Come on, Chloe, you know you need to back up. We can’t get into the room.” His voice was firm but very playful. He wasn’t helping things since he was also scratching Chloe under the chin like he normally did.

  As the duo entered, Chloe surprised Scott in the best way possible. She didn’t act at all aggressive towards Alice. Instead, the pit bull sniffed Alice’s legs and brushed up against her, most likely hoping to get a bit of an ear scratch, which Alice provided. After getting her ear scratch, Chloe stalked off towards the bedroom.

  Odd, is she going back to bed already?

  Alice’s breath quickened again. He wasn’t sure what was going on in her head. Whatever it was, it wasn't good. He rubbed her back. “Babe, what do you want? Do you want to sit in the living room or go to bed? Do you want something to drink?”

  “Living room, I guess. Just hold me for a bit.”

  Scott scooped her up and carried her easily to his living room, which had a large TV and oversized couches. He carefully set her down on the couch and then snuggled beside her.

  He set her backpack down on the ground next to her in case she wanted to grab anything from it. Almost immediately, she grabbed out two small teddy bears that were at the top of her bag while he ran his fingers up and down her spine. One of the two bears was wearing a Flyers hoodie.