Page 80 of Cheap Shot

“I know.” She rested her head against his shoulder. “But itsucks.”

“Tell me about it.”

“Uncle Luke!” At the sound of that nickname, he turned to see Evie and Maura O’Shea running toward him. “You came!”

“Yeah,” he said with a smile, reaching out to touch each of their shoulders since he couldn’t give them hugs like usual. “Your dad said you were gonna be here today, so I thought I’d come help.”

He was on injured reserve and the team was on break anyway. There was only so much TV or movies he could watch before he went stir-crazy.

“You haven’t been over to Grandma’s house inforeverrr,” Evie said, glaring at him through her glasses.

“I know. Sorry.” He winced. “I’ll try to come over soon.”

Catherine appeared at his elbow. “Hi, girls.”

“Grandma!” they chorused.

“Hey, Luke.” Catherine touched his shoulder, then went up on her toes, so he obligingly bent over so she could kiss his cheek.

When he’d come to Boston, he hadn’t known what the fuck to make of the O’Shea family. They were loud and affectionate, and it was a lot to deal with all at once. But he’d grown to care aboutthem. He’d seen the way they fought and made up, folded him into their family and treated him like he was one of their own.

Or, at least as much as he would let them.

“Hi, Mrs. O,” he said, bending to brush his lips across her cheek too. He had an especially soft spot for her.

Catherine smiled at the girl in his arms. “Hi, Harper. It’s good to see you again.”

“Hi, Miss Catherine,” Harper said, lifting her head.

Luke squinted at Connor’s mother. “You know Harper too?”

“Yes. We met at Sebastian’s shop recently.”

“Huh.” Luke had a lot of questions about why she’d been at Sebastian’s shop and why the fuck it seemed impossible to get away from the dude, but he’d save that for another time.

After that, it got a little bit chaotic as Luke set Harper down and Catherine introduced her to Maura, who was her age, and Evie, who was a couple of years older. Harper clung to Luke’s leg, shy again.

Sebastian stepped forward, kneeling down to talk to her. He ignored Luke, but it was hard to not think of the last time he’d been on his knees in front of him …

Luke cleared his throat and stepped back a little, trying not to think about what it felt like to dig his fist into Sebastian’s curls and fuck his mouth.

After Sebastian stood, Luke greeted him stiffly, then did his best to ignore him without being rude as they stood around talking in a small group. When it came time to start the crafts, Luke ended up with Sebastian and Harper seated across from him at therectangular table. Evie and Maura were there too, and a couple of other kids Luke had never met before.

Connor was at the other table, surrounded by a handful of slightly older kids who wanted to talk hockey. They’d brought some team merch to give out after. Thad had sounded very disappointed they were doing this without a media crew following.

After they sat, volunteers passed out craft supplies and the woman running the program talked through what the craft for today would be. It was a red cardinal made from felt in front of white birch trees.

To start, they got sheets of heavy pale blue paper and stripes of white paper and scissors. Luke helped the kids cut notches in the strips to look like tall, straight birch trees, then shaped the short one into a sideways branch.

“Yours looks funny, Uncle Luke,” Evie said, peering at his paper.

“I’m good at hockey,” he muttered. “Not art.”

Sebastian’s picture looks pretty good though, Luke thought with a frown, stealing a glance at it.

“Why do you call him Uncle Luke?” Harper asked Evie.

“Cause he’s Daddy’s friend. I’ve known him foreverrr,” Evie said, sounding a little smug. “How doyouknow Uncle Luke?”