Score on Me Read online

  SCORE

  ON ME

  by Melody Heck Gatto

  Score On Me

  By Melody Heck Gatto

  Copyright © 2014

  Kindle Direct Publishing Edition

  Kindle Direct Publishing Edition, License Notes

  All rights reserved. This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  First Printing, 2014

  Editing by Emma Meade

  Cover Art by Kat McCarthy - Aeternum Designs

  Thanks to my very patient husband, who allowed me all the time I needed to complete Score On Me. The endless writing and re-writing, the reading and re-reading. It was a labor of love, but couldn't have been done without his love and support.

  And to all of the girls out there who ever thought that they weren't "pretty enough"... no matter what size or shape, you are all beautiful! There will always be someone trying to knock you down, but stand tall. Be confident and be happy.

  Do what you love and love what you do.

  Smile. Dance. Laugh. Love.

  Remember, happiness isn't measured in pounds...

  CHAPTER 1

  Can't make it, something came up, I'm really sorry.

  "Seriously? You've got to be kidding me!" Kat pounded her hand on the steering wheel. Her head started to throb and her face burned. Throwing her cell phone down on the passenger's seat, she mumbled a few four letter words. She should've expected this. Brushing her wavy brown hair out of her eyes, she took a deep breath and sighed heavily. This was nothing new; drama was Liz's middle name.

  With Liz backing out of the game it left her on her own tonight. Her knuckles whitened as she tightened her grip on the steering wheel. No one at work knew Liz all that well. But she took the chance of inviting her tonight. Wrong choice.

  It was snowing and cold, which was typical for January in Pittsburgh. Kat was driving to the Rivers arena for a Pittsburgh Renegades hockey game. The stupid heater wasn't working again, and her hands were freezing. Silently she cursed at herself, how could she forget her goddamn gloves?

  "Stupid piece of shit car," she muttered. She was irritated but it wasn't really because of her stupid car.

  At twenty-four years old, Kat Torella lived on her own in a tiny, but cute, apartment; she drove a junky little two-door, powder blue '94 Pontiac Sunbird. Kat loved her hockey; specifically, she loved Kris Lafleur. He was the team's best defenseman. He was young, about her age, and a favorite amongst females. She loved his flowing dark hair, his signature look, falling almost to his shoulders. It begged to be touched, and it always seemed to look effortlessly perfect.

  She wore her Lafleur jersey, her Lafleur earrings and she had her Renegades purse. The purse signed by Kris Lafleur. A day that was forever burned into her memory.

  The hot sun beat down on her black jersey as she waited for practice to be over. She stood there for what felt like forever, but it was well worth the wait. Even with her long dark hair gathered up in a ponytail, she was getting hot. The black fabric absorbed all of the sun, and she wished she had worn a t-shirt instead, or at least a tank top under the jersey. Finally, a few of the guys walked out to the waiting crowd. Her breath caught as she gawked, motionless. Lafleur was standing right there, just feet in front of her.

  The people in front of her brought sharpie markers and a t-shirt for the guys to sign. Looking over at them, her heart sped up and she started to sweat as panic set in. She didn't have a marker or anything for him to sign. Why didn't she think of that? She had her jersey on, so short of shoving her chest in his face to sign the black fabric, she was out of luck; but she had seriously considered it.

  She asked the people in front of her if she could use their marker. When they moved over to hand it to her she looked up. Suddenly, she was face to face with Kris Lafleur. She froze. Seriously, she could not move a muscle.

  The corner of his mouth turned up until a smile crossed his lips. He was even more handsome in person. Kat somehow managed to smile back. At least she was able to do that.

  Once he said Hello she pretty much lost it. She didn't remember standing next to him, or how she got there. She did know that she smiled a lot and asked him if he would sign her gray Renegades purse. The couple standing next to her were nice enough to take her photo with the hockey hunk.

  That photo now hung on the wall in her apartment.

  Her phone buzzed again. Grabbing it off of the seat, she knew it was going to be another text message from Liz. She was right, just a simple one word text.

  Sorry.

  Kat huffed, rolling her eyes. She could only assume that Liz had some new secret emergency pop up. No one ever knew what the emergencies were, but they happened a lot. Liz was a loner. All Kat knew was that she liked hockey. That's pretty much all anyone knew. Kat was supposed to go to the game with her sister, Gia. But Gia ended up being out of town, so Kat asked Liz. However, Liz has been MIA a lot, always running off on some mystery crisis.

  Tossing the phone back on to the passenger's seat she grabbed her travel mug and took a sip of the hot coffee, trying to warm up. It was her new favorite coffee mug. Her sister had given it to her for Christmas. It had two images of Kris Lafleur on it, one during a game and one dressed up in a suit.

  Whatever, she exhaled hard as she thought about Liz.

  Kat loved her hockey team, and was psyched to be going to the game, even if it was by herself. Her heart sank a little. As excited as she was to be going, it would be more fun with someone.

  Snapping out of her self pity, she concentrated on the road. She missed the rush hour traffic, so it only took her ten minutes to reach the university. Once she cut through that neighborhood she would be at the arena.

  Pittsburgh was a beautiful city, especially when it was all lit up. They had a new casino in town, and a really nice baseball field. There was the football field too, but Kat wasn't a fan, even though people here loved their football team. She was solely a hockey kinda girl.

  Rivers Arena had been built three years ago to replace the old arena. She was sad to see the old arena go; she had many memories there, but the new one was amazing. She parked her car in the giant parking garage attached to the arena. Walking through town in the cold was not something she enjoyed, so she made sure she could afford to park close. Walking out of the garage, she admired the huge statue on the sidewalk of the team's owner and original golden boy, Ben Nolan. As Kat passed by it, she stopped to take a picture. She felt like a tourist.

  The arena doors had just opened. She filed in to the huge building with the other early fans, and headed over to the team store. Her eyes lit up as she walked through the rows of jerseys and t-shirts. She was dizzy from looking at all of the merchandise. Purses and hats galore! So many Renegades things. Picking up a soft Renegades blanket, brushing it against her cheek it felt like a dream. The price tag read one hundred dollars, and she could just hear her poor wallet sigh. So, no blanket for her. Turning her attention to the jerseys she shook her head. Stay focused, she wasn't here for herself. She was here to buy for Gia. That afternoon Gia texted her and asked her to pick up a new Tyler Kidd t-shirt for her. Gia loved hockey too. When they were younger they would watch the games together on television, and go ice-skating.

  Gia was in the Florida Keys, enjoying the sun and warm weather with their parents. They always ask her to go too, but she had to work. Well, that was her 'go to' excuse. Catching a gl
impse of herself in a mirror, her heart fell a little. Her stomach rumbled. Spending a week or more in a bathing suit with her parents was less than enticing.

  After picking up the Tyler Kidd jersey, she handed her ticket to the arena worker at the escalator. He scanned it and handed her a t-shirt and a program book. She didn't look at either she just tucked them away inside the bag with Gia's jersey. She smiled at the older gentleman and headed up to get some coffee. Rivers Arena had the most awesome coffee shop, people at work always raved about it.

  She made a beeline for the café. Unfortunately, the line of hockey fans spilled out the door into the arena lobby. Disappointed and pouting, Kat slowly walked to her seat instead. She didn't want to miss warm ups, that was her favorite part. Coffee could wait until after the game. Since she was there alone there was no reason to rush tonight she could take her time after the game.

  Walking leisurely towards her section, she admired all the photos on the walls of the current and previous players. She could smell the tasty aroma of her favorite game time snack, nachos with jalapeno cheese. She raced to the counter forgetting all about the coffee.

  Once the tasty nachos were in her hands, she crossed the arena to her section. Kat pulled out her ticket, handing it to the female usher. "You know, warm ups are getting ready to start. They are allowing people to stand down by the glass to watch." The usher pointed to the row by the glass.

  Kat smiled at her. "Awesome, thanks!" Juggling all that she was carrying she hurried down towards the ice. She had only sat that close to the glass at practices, never at the Rivers Arena. She beat most of the crowd to the front row. Setting her bag on a seat, she took a quick look around. There were only a handful of people already there, mostly kids, each of them in their favorite player's jersey, with their noses pressed up against the glass.

  A zamboni slid up and down the ice, making sure it was fresh for game time.

  The girl next to her jumped up and down flipping around her teased hair, almost dipping it in Kat's nacho cheese. A heavy sigh escaped her lips. Scanning the crowd she knew she didn't belong here. She was in a sea of skinny blondes. For a moment the excitement drained out of her. She felt invisible. Her eyes ran over every tiny waist, large breasts trying to pop out of snug tees, and perfect asses that looked like their blue jeans were painted on. She hadn't seen jeans that size in– well, she probably never saw jeans that size. Her fat ass was nothing to stare at, unless someone was making fun of it. They might as well put her up on the jumbotron for all to see. The wide-load in the front row stuffing her face with nachos.

  Savoring the bite of crunchy chip and flavorful cheese, she fed her emotions like fat girls do. She bet these skinny girls never tasted the cheesy goodness of nachos.

  Crunching down on another chip, her eyes landed on a thin girl glaring at her as the girl looked her over.

  "Hey watch it!" The skinny girl snapped as she flipped her hair practically in Kat's cheese sauce. "Don't get that cheese on me, fatty."

  Ignoring her, Kat turned her attention to the ice. She could see her reflection in the glass, that round, chubby little girl was staring back at her. The one that was teased in school when her chubby thighs rubbed together and made her shorts ride up. The chubby girl that people would chase around at recess and laugh at her attempt to run. The chubby girl people always stared at as she ate.

  That's right, eat another nacho, tubby. The hot, gooey cheesiness will numb that pain. It always did.

  The smallest thing could set her off. As an adult she was generally happy with herself. Sure, she wasn't anywhere near skinny. But, she was happy, until she saw a reflection of herself. Well, and then there was her mom. She wasn't a bad person, but she never hid her disgust at Kat's size. She was a catalyst behind her weight worries. Kat was only a size fourteen, but that wasn't approved weight in the Torella household. That was fat. She was fat.

  She closed her eyes for a moment and took a breath. Maybe she shouldn't have sat in the front row. It would have been easier to hide farther back. Opening her eyes back up, searching the ice for the players.

  The music started. She ate some of her nachos watching the guys skate out onto the ice. She could almost reach out and touch them from here, if the glass wasn't in the way, that was. The goalies were on the ice first. They skated to their nets, and started to stretch. Kaden O'Conner, was in the net closer to Kat. He sprawled on the ice, doing splits and stretches that she didn't even think she was capable of doing! Lifting his helmet up, his dark blond hair fell in his eyes. He poured some water in his mouth, then spat it out onto the ice.

  He moved in figure eights outside of his goal. Waiting for his teammates, he skated in wide arcs around the ice passing right by where she was standing. He was so close to her. Before she had much time to think about being that close to a Renegades player, the other guys started to hit the ice. Some of them had helmets on, some didn't. There was Kris Lafleur! She could see his number from across the ice. He didn't have his helmet on and his hair was blowing around as he glided along the ice.

  He is so damn hot, she thought to herself. Her breath caught in her throat as her heart skipped a beat.

  Watching him skate gave her butterflies. She normally wasn't the type of girl to go ga-ga over movie stars or anything like that. But she had a crazy thing for this hockey player! However, Kat was no puck bunny. She loved the game; she loved it for longer than she could remember, the hot guys were just a bonus. A big bonus.

  Gia bought her a puck bunny t shirt for her birthday last year as a joke. She always teased Kat and said she wouldn't know what to do with Lafleur if she was ever lucky enough to get her hands on him. On the contrary, Kat was pretty sure she would know exactly what to do with him!

  She tossed a huge chip in her mouth. The chip was too big to fit the whole way in as she crammed it in, nacho cheese dribbled down her chin. Of course at that very moment Kris Lafleur skated towards where she was standing. He was only a few feet from her. Even though they were separated by glass her heart raced. Lafleur looked into the crowd, catching her eye. His gaze stayed on her as his teammates skated around him.

  He wasn't just looking at the fans, he was looking directly at her. She blinked a few times, thinking her eyes were playing tricks on her, but it was real. He was staring directly at her, the girl with nacho cheese dripping down her chin. Really?? Crap! I'm such a pig! She quickly wiped her chin with her napkin. Kat, you are such a slob, she thought. Her face burned with embarrassment.

  She watched as his eyes moved to the ice and he skated backwards a few strides. He was farther away from the glass, but he looked back up at her and grinned.

  Kids and girls screamed, "Lafleur!" and pounded on the glass. There was even a girl with really big boobs holding a "Marry Me Kris" sign, and bouncing more than she needed to. But, he never moved his eyes from Kat, ignoring the other fans around her, ignoring the homemade signs and even ignoring all of the big boobs. He nodded in Kat's direction with that small smile on his lips, then skated to the other end of the ice.

  She watched him speed up, skating around the net. Did Kris Lafleur just smile at her? At her?? No…

  The team was in two groups, each skating in a circle on half of the ice. Kat's eyes never left Lafleur. It was fun to see the players drop and stretch a little as the goalies practiced moving side to side, pretending to protect their net. Lafleur skated to the bench. Taking off his glove he examined the blade of his stick. Kat watched intently as he tugged at the hockey tape to make sure it was secure.

  Obviously she had just imagined that little bit of interaction between the two of them, because there was no way in hell that he picked her out of the crowd.

  There is no way he was just smiling at me, the fatty with nacho cheese dripping down her face, she thought. He was probably looking at that Barbie doll blonde over there with her boobs hanging out. Kat was not blonde nor did she look like a Barbie doll she was a curvy brunette. She sighed. It was highly unlikely that he was looking at her, but
it was nice to dream.

  Chapter 2

  Kris stepped onto the ice as the music started to echo throughout the building. His heart pounded in his chest as he looked around the arena. Fans packed the first few rows of the lower bowl. Little kids had their noses pressed up against the glass. Well-endowed young women were bouncing up and down, their boobs barely staying in their tight shirts.

  He always enjoyed warm ups. He liked being out there and taking it all in before putting on his helmet and suiting up for the game. He quickened his stride, grabbing a puck and controlling it with his stick as he sped around the ice. He stick handled it gracefully down the boards and shot it between the goalie's legs. Gliding behind the net he circled back in front and caught the rebound from Jasper's shot. Tossing it towards the net, it bounced off of Dominic's pads and flipped into the goal.

  Poor kid.

  Dom was new this year and doing his best as the Renegades backup goalie. Luckily, with Kaden in net they didn't need to call on him too much. He had talent he just needed practice to build up his confidence.

  The cheers from the fans became louder as he approached the glass.

  Looking up into the crowd of people, he laid eyes on a beautiful brunette. She was eating nachos, and a bit of cheese dripped down her chin. Wow, she had the most amazing eyes. Kris probably stared longer than he should've, but he couldn't help it.

  Once she realized she had cheese on her face, she nervously wiped it away. The whole time his eyes never left her. She was beautiful, even with cheese on her face. He didn't know why he couldn't stop watching her. He could hear the fans screaming. He could hear the females and the little kids calling out players' names. Normally he scanned the crowd admiring the big breasts and hard female bodies. But tonight his attention was stuck solely on her.

  He continued to watch the mystery girl as he skated backwards a bit. She had his jersey on. That was cute. She was cute. She wasn't flaunting her body and her boobs weren't bouncing around, but she held his stare. The whistle blew Coach Walker called the team over. Kris tore himself away from her eyes looking down at the ice. He started to skate away, but not before recapturing her attention and flashing her a small smile.