The Penalty Shot (Totally Pucked Book 5) by Maren Moore

Author:Maren Moore [Moore, Maren]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-08-31T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

Auden

I don’t know how long Asher holds me on the kitchen floor, his arms wrapped tightly around me like an anchor, preventing me from drowning. I sob until I’m empty, in the literal and physical sense. I’ve cried until there are no tears left to cry. My eyes are puffy and dry from crying for so long, and all the while, he never moves to let me go.

“I’m s-sorry,” I whisper into the silence that envelops us. I’m ashamed of how my parents acted and that he had to see it. I’m embarrassed that I lost it in front of him.

His lips kiss the top of my head, a reassuring pressure while I seemingly fall apart. I focus on the circles he’s steadily rubbing on my arm. The calming motion grounding me.

“There’s nothing to be sorry for, Auden. They were horrible to you. I’m just so fucking sorry that you’ve had to deal with this for so long. You deserve more. You deserve better.”

Tonight was the first time I’ve ever stood up to them for myself, for Alex, and look how it went.

Horrible. Even worse than I imagined. The look of disgust on my father’s face is one I will never forget. It’s branded in my brain.

“I can’t believe them, Asher. They didn’t even try to see Alex. How can you not want to see your only living grandchild? How can you be so bitter and entitled that you feel this way? To want to use the family you abandoned for your own gain.”

“I don’t know, baby. I wish I had an answer for you. I also wish I could punch him right in his smug fucking face.” He grunts.

“It’s going to be okay…I just feel raw and exposed tonight.”

I’m exhausted from the emotional warfare of the evening, and I feel drained. Mentally, physically and emotionally. Untangling myself from Asher, I sit up and grab my phone that I dropped in the doorway. Alex has to be home in thirty minutes, and I’m not sure if he ate at Callum’s, so I quickly throw together spaghetti now that the dinner I had planned for Asher has been ruined.

“I’m sorry about dinner being ruined. I really wanted to cook you dinner and have a quiet night.”

Asher walks over and pulls me to him again while he kisses the top of my head. “Stop apologizing for them. They’re responsible for their actions. You have nothing to be sorry for, baby. We’ll have another dinner. How about I finish dinner, and you take a bath? Let me pour you a glass of wine. I can handle making me and Alex food.”

He’s so kind, and patient, and sweet that it feels so surreal sometimes.

“Are you sure?”

He nods. “Lived with a group of hockey players for a long time, Aud. I can handle me and little man. Plus, I got a new comic I wanted to show him.”

“Thank you for everything that you do. I know I say it a lot, but I truly mean it.

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