He couldn’t wait.

As Lucas turned onto Broadway heading towards Aiden’s school, his phone rang.

When he saw it was Levi, he answered. “Hey.”

“That was some kind of shopping spree you just went on.”

Fuck.

“Yeah, so?”

“So I think you need to be cautious of the money you are spending Luc. You have to pay your baby momma a good chunk of change every month, and you can’t be blowing money the way you used to.”

Lucas rolled his eyes. “For one, Fallon is her name. For two, I make over seven million a year just from the Assassins, and then I have endorsement deals with Nike and Jockey. Why in the world do I need to watch my spending when I take my girlfriend to the mall?”

“So you were shopping for Fallon? Why waste that kind of money on her when she has recently received a huge check from you and is also getting a monthly payday?”

Lucas let out a frustrated breath. “I am going to pretend that you did not say that, and I am also calling Jessie tomorrow and asking her what my funds are looking like.”

Lucas hung up the phone and threw it on the seat. Levi frustrated him to the core and he wasn’t going to be told who and what he could spend his money on. He had saved a lot when he was in rehab and if he wanted to spend it on Fallon, Audrey and Aiden, he f**king would! No one was going to tell him different!

Lucas pulled in behind a Mercedes and let out another frustrated breath. This was what he worked for; he skated hard and worked hard at what he did to provide for the people that meant the world to him. How dare Levi try to tell him what he could and couldn’t spend his money on?

Fuck him.

Lucas was fuming, but when his eyes fell on Aiden’s bright happy face running towards his truck, all thoughts of Levi and money were gone and the happiness of seeing his son replaced them all. Lucas opened the door and met Aiden half way, hugging him tightly.

“Hey buddy,” he said as Aiden grinned up at him.

“Hey Dad! Ms. Lemar needs to talk to you,” Aiden said as a cute little blonde came towards them. She was young and the first thing Lucas thought was that she would be perfect for the new kid, Tate, on the team. Lucas was starting to like the kid a lot and figured that he might bring him with him to pick Aiden up one day.

As soon as he learned some English.

“Hi, are you Aiden’s dad?” she asked sweetly.

“I am,” Lucas said holding out his hand. “Lucas Brooks.”

“Hi, Melanie Lemar, Aiden’s teacher. It’s wonderful to finally meet you. Aiden talks about you all the time,” she said and Lucas smiled down at Aiden.

“Nice to meet you, too.”

“The reason why I needed to see you was that I need a signature on this form for Aiden. I think Ms. Parker forgot to send it back in,” Ms. Lemar said, handing him a bright green sheet. Lucas’ stomach sank as he tried to focus on the words. Not only was the color messing with his eyes, the words were freaking tiny! He glanced up at Ms. Lemar with a charming smile.

“I’m sorry, I forgot my glasses. What is this?”

“Oh! I’m sorry! It’s for our field trip next week to the Adventure Science Center! If you would like to volunteer you can sign here,” she said, showing him. Lucas smiled widely at her and signed his name, quickly also marking the spot for volunteering. It sounded like a great idea; he would even get Fallon to come, or maybe Audrey.

“Thanks so much, Mr. Brooks. Again, it was nice to meet you!”

“You too, Ms. Lemar, I’ll see you next week. Come on bud,” Lucas said with a wave. Aiden walked ahead of Lucas, jumping into the backseat before Lucas shut the door. Lucas got into the driver side and drove off towards Fallon’s house. Usually Aiden was talking nonstop but he wasn’t today so Lucas looked up in the mirror at Aiden and asked, “Hey, you okay?”

Aiden looked up at him, his eyebrows drawn in together. “Dad, you don’t wear glasses.”

Lucas cleared his throat nervously. “Um, well.”

“You told Ms. Lemar you do, and I have never seen you with them. I even checked your bathroom for contacts, you don’t have those either.”

Lucas nodded, his stomach turning as Aiden continued, “You never read to me, and you always ask me to read stuff.”

Lucas was looking out the windshield as his heart jackhammered against his chest at the thought of telling Aiden about his dyslexia. Would he laugh at him? Would he think he was stupid? Aiden was smarter than any regular kid and very perceptive. Lucas should have known that it wouldn’t take long for Aiden to catch on to Lucas’ disorder. Lucas was scared and like he knew Aiden would, Aiden asked, “Dad, can you read?”

Lucas cleared his throat again because his mouth was extremely dry all of a sudden. He slowly shook his head, swallowing loudly before saying, “Nope bud, I can’t.”

Aiden looked worry when Lucas glanced back at him. “Why not? Did Grandma not teach you?”

Lucas licked his dry lips. “She tried, but I have a disorder called dyslexia. It takes me a minute to read things because all the words jumble up and switch around.”

Aiden was quiet for a moment before asking, “Can I help you? Or can Mommy?! She taught me to read, she is the best.”

Lucas smiled as he nodded. “She is, but it’s hard, and I have to work really hard to learn.”

Aiden blinked twice before looking down at his cast. Lucas didn’t know what to say, so nothing else was said during the ride to Fallon’s house and that surprised him. He expected a lot of questions from Aiden and for him not to ask, he wondered if he was scared or something. When they arrived, Lucas parked the truck beside Audrey’s car and got out, opening the door for Aiden, but he didn’t move. Aiden looked over at Lucas with a look of worry before saying, “You shouldn’t give up Dad. Even if it’s hard, you can do it. You can do anything — that’s what you always say to me.”