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  SHOT AT LOVE

  The Renegades Series

  Renegades 8

  By

  Melody Heck Gatto

  This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.

  SHOT AT LOVE

  First edition. December 15, 2017.

  Copyright © 2017 Melody Heck Gatto.

  License Notes

  All rights reserved.This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book 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 e-book retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Written by Melody Heck Gatto.

  Cover design by Aeternum Designs

  Editor Vivid Words Editing

  Dedication

  This book is for my readers and my Ice Crew.

  Without you guys there would be no Renegades hockey team.

  Thank you all for your support and friendship.

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  CHAPTER ONE

  Luc

  “Yo! Rock-Star!” Luc heard one of the guys call when he took control of the puck in the Renegades’ practice rink.

  Luc grinned. He was one of the young guns on the Pittsburgh Renegades, and the guys had dubbed him Rock-Star after hearing the music he usually blared from his sports car. Personally, he preferred to be called Puck-Star. But he’d take what he could get. And he’d accept Rock-Star, especially if it came from a pretty young lady’s mouth.

  Like most of the rookies, he was full of himself and had a thing for the bunnies. He didn’t get a ton of playing time during games, but he was proving himself, and that was all that mattered. He’d been on the Renegades’ roster full-time the last two seasons, after having started out playing for the farm team. Things were really looking up for Luc.

  He glanced over his shoulder to see his teammate and good friend, Sam Morris, wearing a red no-contact jersey.

  “Marcella!” Sam called to Luc again “I’m open!”

  “You just want it because no one can touch you as you go in to score!” Luc laughed, but he knew the red jersey was no joke. Sam was still recovering from a concussion he’d sustained last season. His being cleared to practice with the team was a good sign, even if he was wearing a no-contact jersey. The no-contact jersey was the universal sign that a guy could play, but no one was to hit into him. Players coming off an injury were the only ones who donned the red sweaters.

  “Not like it matters,” Kaden O’Conner, one of their cocky goalies, chirped from the net. “Try your best, benders. You’re not going to get it by me!”

  Luc slid the puck to Sam, then tried to get in Kaden’s way, but Sam’s shot wasn’t hard enough and bounced off Kaden’s leg pad. Luc snagged the biscuit before Kaden could, and he circled around the net. Kaden was doing some goofy move, being a clown and trying to protect his net. As soon as Luc had a clear angle to shoot, he hit a slapshot towards the goal, banking it off Kaden’s right leg pad so it ricocheted back into the corner of the net.

  “Score! Hollah!” Luc pumped his fist in the air multiple times and skated around the net. “Hahaha, whipped you, O’Conner! Take that!”

  “Shut up, dude. It was a fluke. I barely even tried to stop it.” Kaden muttered off excuses.

  “Keep it moving, Luc. That’s enough celebrating. It’s practice, not overtime in the playoffs,” Coach Walker instructed. “Morris, head on down to the other end and work on one-timers with Sal, Brody, Jaxon, and Torin.”

  Luc watched Sam skate toward the end of the rink. The two men had instantly clicked when Luc had first got called up to Pittsburgh. He was tight with the whole team, but it was different with Sam. They were more like brothers, which was why Luc worried about Sam being back on the ice after last season’s bad hit that had his friend suffering from post-concussion syndrome.

  Kaden took a breather at the bench while Dom got ready in goal. “Yo, Luc! I see that your fan club is here this morning. What would you do without them to stroke your ego?” Dom said, before flipping his mask down in front of his face.

  “Not sure he’d ever have to find out. There’s always some puck bunny here for him,” Torin said as he flicked a puck at the open net.

  “I never have a problem getting my ego stroked,” Luc joked. He glanced at the group of girls gathered at the glass, all with his jersey on, signs for him in hands, and cameras poised taking photos and videos. He flashed a devilish smile specifically for their photo ops. But his gaze stayed in the rink, on the ice and on the puck. He wasn’t really smiling at them as much as he was smiling for them. They were groupies, and the ones who were over eighteen were puck bunnies.

  A smile was harmless. Sometimes they held up signs wanting him to take a selfie with them. It was so high-school, but they were here to see him.

  His agent had told him that catering to their fangirl moments sold merchandise. And his agent was all about the almighty dollar. What did it matter to Luc? He didn’t have a girlfriend, so there was no one to piss off. Drop a smile, a second of eye contact, no big deal. And once in a while, taking one of them up on their offer to inflate his ego in private never hurt anyone, either. It was a perk of the job.

  Glancing over at them, he didn’t see any that sparked his interest; plus, none were old enough for any fun. “Looks like a slow day,” he grumbled with humor in his voice. Moving his attention to the ice, Luc stick-handled a puck as fast as he could without losing control of it, a little warm-up move that he’d learned from Tyler, and had since made his own.

  “Yeah, maybe there’s no school today? Looks pretty young out there,” Dom mocked from behind his mask. “Better luck next time, Rock-Star.”

  “Whatever, dude.” Then Luc looked up at the very young gathering of girls wearing his jersey and waving signs for him, and he smiled. Photo op number one.

  Then he turned back to his teammates. “Ladies, are we going to play, or are we going to chat?” He balanced the puck on the end of his stick for a moment before tossing it up into the air and batting it down to the ice, right past Dom and into the back of the net.

  “Nice. Too bad this is hockey and not baseball; then you m
ight be a star,” Sal, the assistant coach, teased Luc.

  “Oh, he’s already a star in his own mind,” Dom countered.

  “Look who’s talking. It wasn’t too long ago that you were known more for your off-the-ice conquests rather than on. I’m not wrong, am I?” Luc was slowly getting annoyed. He wasn’t nearly as bad as they made it seem.

  Dom nodded, his face still shaded by his mask. “Maybe. Until I found Hailee again. Now I have no need for bunnies; I have the best girl in the world.”

  “Oh, my god! Blah, blah, blah. You and that mushy shit!” Luc growled. Dom had become a lovesick fool since getting back with Hailee, and it was fun to razz him about it.

  “Listen here, kiddo, you’ll learn. As soon as you meet that one girl who changes the world as you know it.” Dom slid towards the goalpost to stop a shot by Kris, but had to change his position quickly, and he lunged to the other side when Tyler sniped one right by him. Dom only missed stopping it by a hair.

  “Dammit!” Dom cursed out loud.

  “BOOM!” Tyler Kidd exclaimed, pumping his fist in the air.

  Coach Walker blew the whistle. That meant they had to change sides. Luc would be shooting at Kaden again. Kaden O’Conner was one half of their talented goalie tandem. He was also the class clown, the jokester of the group. He liked talking smack and playing pranks.

  Kaden skated down to Luc’s end of the ice and got settled in net. Dom took over the other end.

  They lined up against the boards and took turns shooting at Kaden, alternating using one-timers and wrist shots. Luc had his back to the screaming girls and could hear their faint calls. Flashing them a small smile and giving them a few glances, he fulfilled his duty for the day.

  On his turn, he took a hard wrist shot at Kaden. It rang off the metal pipes and he heard Kaden snicker from under his mask.

  “Maybe next time, Rock-Star!” Kaden poked at him.

  More than anything, Luc wanted to get a shot past Kaden, just one. It’d be fun to wipe that smirk off Kaden’s face. But time after time, Luc’s shots were stopped.

  Kaden was doing his normal shit, mouthing off in the goal, chirping at the guys, and any chance he got, making googly eyes at his wife, who was sitting outside the rink but behind the net, in the café.

  Just to annoy Kaden, Luc took an extra lap around the net, right along the glass. He looked long enough to catch Alison O’Conner’s attention and give her a head nod and grin.

  She waved with a friendly smile and quickly went back to her food. Even though Alison wasn’t paying any attention to him, Luc continued to smile in that direction only to irk Kaden. Maybe O’Conner would think that Luc was flirting with his wife. It’d be funny to get him all riled up. But a brunette who was sitting with Alison was what caught his eye instead. He didn’t see a rut in the ice before his skate hit it, and had to catch himself before he fell or anyone noticed.

  “You okay there, Marcella?” Coach Walker sarcastically called out.

  Luc answered with only a nod, doing his best not to draw any unwanted attention to himself.

  “Skate much, pretty boy?” Kaden called.

  “Luc might need those learn-to-skate lessons for little tykes that Tyler provides,” Sal joked.

  “I don’t know. Marcella might be a little old for those,” Tyler hollered.

  But Luc wasn’t concentrating on anything they were saying. All he could see every time he rounded the net was that gorgeous brunette with the big brown eyes. Who is she? And how can I meet her?

  CHAPTER TWO

  Kassie

  Kassie O’Conner carried her lunch tray from the café counter at the Renegades practice facility to the table where sister-in-law Ali was already seated. She took a moment to look out through the wall of glass separating them from the rink. Her brother, Kaden, skated laps with the team. He and Dom trailed behind the other guys, all of their goalie gear weighing them down. It was almost amusing. She knew from experience that his gear was heavy. Kaden had let her try it all on one time.

  The men all wore blank practice jerseys, no numbers on the back, just on their helmets. She could recognize some of the guys by sight, but some of the younger ones she still wasn’t familiar with. They didn’t really hang out with Kaden and Ali. The men she knew from her brother’s group of friends were easy to spot, and some nodded as they noticed her; others had their minds on hockey. But one of the younger guys kept his eye on her every time he skated by. Maybe she was imagining it.

  Kassie sat down at the table and turned her attention to her lunch and Ali. She grabbed a pocket mirror from her purse and pulled her long hair back into a ponytail. Somehow Ali had convinced her to come to the Renegades morning practice with her. Kassie wasn’t a big fan of hanging out around the team. Her brother knew she supported him, and she went to a ton of the games. But the stands at the practices were filled with bunnies. And she couldn’t stand puck bunnies.

  Being the sister of a hockey player, Kassie had spent time around guys like these since she and Kaden were very young. She knew, even back then, that most of them had issues staying faithful. The temptations of bunnies were too much for most of them. Add in the instant fame they received on becoming a high school hockey player. It went right to their heads.

  Kassie went back on her rule once and was burned. Chalking it up to a learning experience, after that dating disaster, she made up her mind—no more jocks. Which was why, at a very young age, she swore off all athletes. No one was happier to hear that than her brother, Kaden. After all, guys had their silly code that they didn’t date the other’s sister. And her dating rule made things much easier on him.

  Once she moved to Pittsburgh, she’d been busy with school, so there hadn’t been much time to go to the practices, anyway. That gave her an easy excuse. For the last year, she’d been working on her Medical Assistant degree. Part of that time was spent in school in Canada, and part participating in an online college course in Pittsburgh. She preferred the online classes, and because Kaden made sure she didn’t have to work while going to school, she finished her course twice as fast.

  She hated when Kaden tried to take care of her financially, but as far as she was concerned, it was this one time only. She was able to put all her time into her schooling so she could earn a degree, then start working and taking care of herself and their mom without Kaden’s generosity. He had a wife and child to provide for now, and they should be his main focus.

  Ali took a bite of her salad and shook her head. “Girl, I can’t stand that you tossed your hair up in a ponytail, have zero makeup on, and are wearing a Renegades hoodie with leggings, and you look amazing. Like, seriously, you could do a magazine shoot right now. If I throw my hair up in a ponytail and put on a hoodie, with this baby pouch that I’m still carrying around, I look like I’m homeless or something.”

  “Oh, please. You’re talking nonsense, Ali! And I always wear makeup.” It was true that she hadn’t put much effort into her appearance this morning. She wasn’t here to impress anyone. Plus, it was her day off, so today’s outfit was comfortable over fashionable.

  “Oh yeah? What? Eyeliner and a little under-eye concealer? Please tell me you at least have lip gloss on. Because if your lips look that good naked, I’m done even trying. I mean, whose lips look like that naturally? Damn, girl. How do you not have a boyfriend?”

  Ali was being overdramatic. Her hormones were obviously still wonky from having the baby. And as far as Kassie knew, Ali was still adjusting to being a mommy. For that matter, so was Kaleb. Kaden had told her that the baby had his nights and days mixed up. He was a good baby; he was just learning how to be a baby.

  Who says naked lips, anyway? And why is she looking at my lips?

  Kassie held in a laugh as she answered, trying to be aware of Ali’s tender post-pregnancy feelings. “I always wear eyeliner. But, um, I don’t really need concealer.” Kassie ducked, protecting her head as if Ali was going to throw something at her.

  “No concealer. Of course
you don’t. Ugh!” Ali rolled her eyes. She dropped her head into her hands.

  “Ali, you just had a baby a few months ago. You look amazing. So, don’t give me that shit. Baby pouch? Where exactly is this baby pouch you speak of?” Kassie looked over the table, trying to find this mystery excess weight. Her sister-in-law looked great for a new mom. There was no proof of baby weight anywhere on that girl.

  “It’s all the layers. I hide it.” Ali snickered and pulled at her t-shirt and jersey.

  Ali was the only one who thought she still had a baby pouch; no one else thought she did. The girl was gorgeous. Kassie couldn’t hold in her laugh and almost spit out her pizza. “Layers, my ass. That’s a ladies’ jersey, sis. What is it? A small? Try again. Not like you’re swimming in a men’s jersey over there. And look at your hair. I don’t think it’s ever been so shiny and full. I’m telling you, those baby hormones are a blessing in disguise. You’re beautiful, so shut up.”

  A loud slap on the glass from behind the net, amplified by the plexiglass that separated the café area from the ice rink, shook their table and made Kassie jump. “What the heck?”

  Kassie whipped her face back to the rink to see which player had done it, and her brother’s smug mug peered from behind the net. His goalie helmet was pushed up onto the top of his head, and his big goofy grin spread across his face. He winked at Ali and blew her a kiss before dropping his helmet back in place and hurrying back into his goal.

  “Shouldn’t your husband be worrying more about protecting his net than making lovey eyes at you?” Kassie joked. She knew her brother, and he liked to goof off. He took amusing liberties in practice, all the while stopping shots.

  She picked at the crust of her pizza. Looking towards the counter, she voiced her thoughts. “I kind of want another slice.”

  “What is it with you O’Conners and your pizza? Don’t you ever want a nice salad, or a burger?”

  Kassie shrugged her shoulders. “Dunno. We just like it.” Kaden and Kassie’s favorite food was pizza. It had always been. They weren’t picky; they just liked pizza.