Reflections on Ice Ch. 05

Dylan groaned at the volume of Jake's question. It drew the attention of Tristen and Seth, and he really wasn't in the mood for their brand of razzing. "She didn't dump me."

"Then what's with the long face?" Jake rubbed a hand through his still-damp hair. "Are you disappointing in bed or something?"

Feeling his ears warming, Dylan scowled and bent to lace up his shoes. "I'm not going to answer that." Though the answer was he couldn't disappoint her in bed if he never got her there. He heated further as thoughts of getting her in bed crowded his mind. No, he'd make damn sure he never disappointed her.

"Don't bug him, Jake." Tristen approached from Dylan's other side. "He's probably bored her with his one word answers to everything by now."

"Or by reading to her aloud from that boring-ass history book of his."

Dylan really didn't have the patience for their crap. He stood up, pulled his jacket off the hook behind him and started walking out without another word. Their catcalls followed him but he ignored them, tugging his jacket on and yanking his keys out of his pocket. He wouldn't even be able to escape them if he went home. Tristen would follow eventually.

He rubbed his face as he made his way through the parking garage to his truck. Maybe it was time to consider telling Tristen to move out. Then he could wallow in his self-pity for as long as he wanted without recriminations.

His phone went off and he pulled it out, relaxing when he saw the display. "Hey, Mom."

"Hi, sweetie. Did I catch you at a bad time?"

"Not at all, I'm just leaving practice."

"Oh good. How are you?"

"I'm good, Mom. How are you and Dad? Is he feeling better?"

"Yes, yes. He's fine. Lord knows you men act like you're dying even when it's just a cold."

Dylan chuckled, then laughed harder when he heard his father's colorful rebuttal in the background.

"Oh, go outside and shovel the walk, Herbert."

There was more grumbling in the background, and a door slamming. Dylan shook his head as he climbed into his truck.

"So, what's up, Mom?"

"I just wanted to call and give you the good news. Zoe is pregnant."

Dylan whistled. "Wow. Again? I thought they were done at two."

"Apparently not. Although, last time I talked to her, she said she was going to have Alfred fixed for sure."

Dylan chuckled as he started the engine. "Well, tell her I said congratulations. You'll probably talk to her again before I do."

"Probably. She's pretty busy these days, with getting the other two to school every day and working from home."

Dylan nodded as his mother went on and on about his sister and her family. He answered when she paused, but mostly listened. His mother liked to call him sometimes just to have someone different to give all her day-to-day news to. Not that he minded. He loved what he did, and loved living in Dallas, but he missed his family.

"Are you getting enough sleep, sweetie?"

Dylan smiled. "Of course, Mom."

"Even on those road trips of yours? I know some of those boys on the team are real party animals."

Boys? Dylan laughed when he thought of how they'd react to the moniker. "Yes, Mom. I sleep enough on the road as well. I hardly ever go out with the guys."

"Hardly ever, hm? No wonder you're single."

And for once, Dylan was relieved to have a different response. He ignored the twinge of guilt at telling his mother a lie. "Actually, I've been seeing someone."

Silence greeted his pronouncement.

"Mom?"

"A girl?"

He laughed at her incredulous tone. Not that his parents really thought he wasn't interested in girls. The whole family knew of his troubles meeting and getting to know women. "Well, a woman, yes."

"Oh, Dylan. How wonderful. What's her name? Is she a hockey fan?"

Dylan told her all about Cassia.

She was clearly thrilled for him. "I'm happy for you, sweetie. You'll have to bring her home to meet us this summer."

"Uh, we'll see, Mom. We haven't been dating all that long yet. We're not really talking about summer plans yet."

"Well, think about it. She sounds really special."

Dylan swallowed. "She is." And that wasn't a lie.

What a mess.

A few minutes later, they got off the phone and Dylan pulled into his parking spot at his building. He took his time walking inside and getting on the elevator. As he was getting off on his floor, his phone rang again and he pulled it out, thinking it was his dad calling to complain about his mom now. Instead, Cassia's number showed on the display.

"Hello."

"Hi. Can you come get me now?" She sounded harried.

Dylan turned around and started to head back down to his truck. "What's wrong?"

She sighed and he heard clanging in the background. "My brothers have decided to test my patience today. First, they forgot to buy coffee for the shop, again, and then they spent the whole morning telling me that dating another athlete is hypocritical and that if I think one isn't good enough for me, then neither are any others."

"What? That doesn't even make sense."

"Yeah, well, don't ask me. They've probably been hit in the head too many times. They did play football for a long time."

Dylan chuckled. "I'm sorry you're having such a rough day."

She blew out a breath. "I'm supposed to be here until four but I just can't take another minute of this. If I have to keep listening to their inane comments, I can't be held responsible for what I might do."

"Try not to kill anyone. I don't have enough bail money on me."

She laughed, and Dylan grinned as he got back in the elevator. "You're hilarious. Just hurry up."

"On my way."

She gave him directions to the garage and he put his phone back in his pocket after the call ended.

The drive to the garage gave him time to consider how happy he'd been to see her calling him. Sure, he'd woken up annoyed and frustrated but he couldn't lay all the blame at her feet. He hadn't said anything he really wanted to up to this point either. Some of it was because of his own reticence with women, and some of it was not knowing how she'd react. All he knew for sure was that he didn't think he could wait until after the wedding.

He pulled up in front of the garage and hopped out of his truck. He couldn't see inside, with the sun shining down in his eyes, but he could hear raised voices from inside the open bay doors and stopped when he heard Cassia's raised over the others.

"I said drop it, jerkface."

Dylan covered his smile with one hand. Jerkface? She must be referring to one of her brothers. And holding back.

"If I have to tell you one more time, your face is going to look like this grill, understand?"

"Why don't you get your hockey boyfriend to beat me up instead?"

"I don't need to. I know how to kick you in the balls just as well as anybody."

Dylan barked out a laugh at the image that sprang to mind. He knew, without a doubt, that she'd have done that very thing growing up, at some point or another.

At the sound of his laugh, the argument ceased and something clanged before footsteps sounded and Cassia appeared.

"Dylan, thank God you're here."

Behind her, two identical men walked out, wearing identical scowls. Dylan grinned as Cassia came closer.

"You weren't kidding."

Her jaw clenched as she shook her head. "Seriously, you are saving me from spending the rest of my life in prison."

"I'd break you out."

His comment made her smile and he smiled back. She had a spot of grease on her cheek and her hair was coming loose in wisps from her ponytail. With her grey coveralls covered in paint, grease, and other assorted stains that had distinctive smells, she looked like she'd been working for several days straight. And she'd never looked more appealing. Dylan had to shove his hands in his pockets to keep from reaching for her, figuring she wouldn't appreciate the display, not with her brothers twenty feet away. He shouldn't have worried.

She glanced over his shoulder before moving closer and reaching up to pull him close. Her expression went from determined to uncertain as she touched his face. She hesitated at the last moment, her eyes questioning, and Dylan knew what she wanted. When he felt her hand slip, he didn't let her pull away. He jerked his hands out of his pockets to pull her close, pressing his mouth on hers. He swallowed her surprised gasp and held her head still while he took the kiss as deep as she would allow.

He was sure they lost some time while they stood there, and he didn't care. When he finally let her stand straight again, she was flushed, her lips were pink, and he wanted to do it again.

"Do you have to do that in front of us?"

Cassia's expression went from dazed to irritated and she whirled to face her brothers. "No one said you had to stand there and watch, Kent."

"Someone has to look out for you."

"Oh, please. I look out for myself, thank you very much."

Dylan grinned, slipping his hands back in his pockets. He had to admit he loved listening to her sharp tone.

The twins faced them both, scowls still in place. "Well, are you going to introduce us?"

"Kent, this is Dylan Samuels. Dylan, Kent is the one on the right, with the mouth, and Kurt is on the left."

"Nice to meet you. Cassia talks about you guys all the time."

Kent's scowl deepened while Kurt started to look nervous. Dylan wanted to laugh, but knew that wouldn't help matters.

Cassia turned back to him. "Do you mind waiting a minute? I need to grab my things from the office."

"Sure. Take your time."

She narrowed her eyes and pointed a finger at his chest. "Don't do anything stupid."

"Who, me?" His grin widened. He was having way too much fun with this. That kiss had given him a high that he wasn't going to come down from for a while. "I'm an educated man. I'd never do anything stupid."

Her eyebrows shot up and her smile reappeared. "Yeah, well, they went to college and look at them."

Dylan laughed as she turned and walked away, swatting her brothers on their shoulders as she passed them. They grumbled at her but stayed where they were, eyeing Dylan. Dylan wasn't in the least bit intimidated by the looks they gave him.

"Nice shop."

Kurt crossed is arms over his chest. "Thanks."

"How long have you been open?"

"Our father opened the shop after he got married."

Dylan nodded. It did look like it had been a fixture in the neighborhood for some time. "That's great."

"Kurt! Kent! What the hell are you doing? You can't take breaks at the same time, we've been over this." A big man came walking out of the shop, and Dylan knew it had to be Keith Morgan. Kurt and Kent were twins, and spitting images of their father.

"We're just chatting with Cassia's new boyfriend." Kent gestured in Dylan's direction with one hand.

Keith spun around, a grin breaking out across his face. "Well, I'll be damned. I never thought Cass would let us meet you."

Dylan smiled and held his hand out to shake Keith's as he approached. "Nice to meet you, sir."

"Oh, none of that, boy. Call me Keith."

"All right. Keith."

"And you're Dylan. Kyle spilled the beans on you the other night."

"Kyle's here?"

"Naw, we saw him for dinner. You and Cassia were at Vivian's."

"Oh right." Dylan nodded.

"I think Cassia might have kept you all to herself for as long as she could." Keith leaned close, his tone conspiratorial. "She says we meddle."

Dylan laughed. "She tells me that too."

Keith chuckled and slapped Dylan on the shoulder. "Course she does. She complains about us all the time."

"Too much."

"Shut it, Kurt." Cassia came walking out of the shop, a bag slung over her shoulder, her grey coveralls gone. "I see you've met my dad."

"Yes, and you're both coming to dinner on Wednesday."

Cassia frowned at her father. "Is that a request or a demand?"

"You know your mama is going to want to meet him."

Cassia didn't respond. She met Dylan's gaze and he nodded. "Fine. If Dylan doesn't have a game, we'll come to dinner." She held a hand up when her father nodded. "But tell mom absolutely no surprise guests this time."

Keith's smile slipped and he nodded. "You know she feels bad about that."

Cassia didn't say anything, only nodded once before turning to Dylan. "You ready to go?"

"Sure." He looked up at Keith and the twins. "It was nice to meet you all. I guess I'll see you at dinner."

"You kids have a good night."

"See you." Cassia reached for Dylan's hand as they walked the short distance to his truck.

Once alone in the cab of his truck, Dylan didn't start the engine right away. He watched Cassia buckle herself in and meet his eyes.

"I'm sorry about that."

He lifted his eyebrows. "Which part?"

Her cheeks colored and she looked down at her hands. "All of it."

Dylan shook his head. "It's fine."

"It's just... I'm sure you didn't consider all my issues when you agreed to this."

"Your issues?" He smiled when she looked up again. "Well, you're putting up with mine, so I guess we're even."

"You don't have any issues." When he gave her a look, she smiled. "Other than the talking to women thing. But I've told you before, you don't have any problems talking to me, so it's not a real issue."

No, his issues were different now. With a sigh, he turned and started the truck.

"Would you mind if we went to my place first? I want to change out of my work clothes."

"Sure."

He drove the short distance to her apartment and they walked upstairs in silence. Cassia opened the door and walked in ahead of Dylan.

"Good, Kyle's not home." She closed the door behind them. "I don't think I could deal with any more of his apologies."

Dylan chuckled. "Has it been that bad?"

"I know he didn't mean to spill the beans, but I guess everyone was giving him a hard time on Sunday and he only wanted to get the attention off himself."

Dylan followed her into the living room. "And he's apologized?"

"Numerous times." Cassia turned down the hall. "Give me a few minutes."

"Sure." Dylan looked around, taking in the gaming system that he guessed belonged to Kyle. "Maybe we should get some pie on the way back."

"You read my mind. It's definitely a pie day."

Dylan laughed and wandered towards the kitchen, stopping when he glanced down the hall towards her bedroom. Her door was open and he watched the shadow moving around, knowing it was her. Undressing, or possibly naked already. A moment later, he forced himself to move on. He didn't need to be that pervy guy, spying on an unsuspecting woman.

He looked over the pictures stuck to the fridge, recognizing Cassia's friends in some of them. There were a few of her with her brothers, all of them smiling, which seemed strange to him after having met them.

A few minutes later, Cassia came walking down the hall, finding him looking out the window in the living room. "Did you want something to drink before we go?"

"No, I'm fine, thanks."

"So polite." She smiled and turned towards the kitchen. "I'm going to."

"Not something alcoholic, I hope."

"Hardy-har-har. Seeing as how we're going to pick up my car after my last drinking episode, that's a no."

Dylan followed her into the kitchen and leaned against the counter as she poured a drink and downed it almost in one go.

"Sorry. It's been a long day."

He nodded. "Seemed like it. I bet the hangover didn't help."

She made a face. "I wasn't that hungover. Just tired." She finished her drink and they left.

They didn't say much on the drive through town. Cassia broke the silence as they approached a red light.

"Dylan, if you don't want to come to dinner, you don't have to."

He turned to her. "Why wouldn't I want to?"

She sighed and rubbed her forehead. "My dad didn't mention that it's sort of a birthday dinner. For me."

Dylan nodded. "I know that. I remembered when your birthday is."

They fell silent again.

"Do you not want me to come?" Dylan glanced at her as the light turned green.

"What? Of course I do."

"You're not worried what they'll think?"

She snorted and shook her head. "If I was worried about that, I wouldn't have suggested this whole thing in the first place."

Dylan smiled. "Right. Well, I suppose I'll have to find you a birthday present."

"Oh, no. Please don't."

"Why not? It's what a boyfriend would do."

"Not a pretend one."

He blinked and shook his head, her words stinging more than he knew she meant them to. It wasn't like she was saying something untrue. Man, this situation was getting more and more difficult every time they saw each other.

They didn't say anything else on the drive to her car. Dylan pulled into the parking lot next to the car and waited as she got out to check that it was all right.

"Looks all right." She turned back to him, where he leaned out his window. "So should we head back to the diner?"

Dylan wanted to say yes. He knew the pie would be great, and they'd talk and laugh and have a good time, as always, but he didn't think he could pretend anymore, and he didn't know how to bring it up right now.

"I'm actually kind of beat after practice this morning." He felt like an ass as he watched her smile fade. "How about we get pie another night?"

"Sure. OK." She twisted her hands around her keys. "So I'll see you Wednesday, I guess?"

"Yeah. I'll call you." With that, he put his window up, waved, and pulled out of the parking space.

How fast things had changed. He shook his head at the situation he'd got himself into. He really didn't need these complications in his life right now, with playoffs coming up, and the team doing their best to make it into at least a wild card spot. Maybe he should never have agreed to this fake dating deal in the first place. He was such a sucker.

With a sigh, he turned onto the road and headed away from the lot, and from Cassia's hurt expression.

****

Over the next few days, although frustrated, Cassia knew she had little right to be upset with Dylan. They weren't a couple. They'd barely been friends when this had started. She just couldn't erase the image of Dylan driving away from her, saying no to pie. Or maybe just saying no to her.

She was distracted enough that she stubbed her toe at home, twice, and dropped a wrench on her face when she was working under a car one day. Luckily, it was a small one, but her cheek still bruised and swelled for the rest of the day. Her brothers took great delight in pointing it out repeatedly. In the end, she gave up and ignored them, as best as she could.

Later that night, she knew only pie would make her feel better. And yet, delicious though the coconut cream pie was, she wasn't satisfied. She nursed her coffee for a long while, idly testing the tenderness of her cheek as she stared across the counter at the wall.

"What's wrong, darlin'?"

Cassia blinked and focused her gaze on Sally. "Oh, nothing, Sall."

Sally's eyes drifted to the bruise on her cheek. "I know that's not from your nice young man. I could tell at a glance that he's not that type."

Cassia smiled and shook her head. "He's not my man, but you're right, he's not the type."

Sally set the pot of coffee down and leaned on the counter. "What's troubling you?"

"It's a long story."

"I'm not busy, darlin'."

Cassia looked over her shoulder and nodded, seeing the diner was almost empty. "It's nothing, really. I shouldn't be getting all worked up over it."

"Darlin', I've known you since you were knee-high to a grasshopper. I've seen you punch the daylights out of your own brother for stealing your last bite of pie and I've watched you make a life for yourself in that garage of yours." Sally pointed a finger at her. "I know you well enough to know that if something has got you worked up, it's not nothing."

Cassia flushed at Sally's assessment. "It's silly, really."

"Don't make me take the rest of that pie away from you."