CHAPTER EIGHT
“Hey, can I talk to you for a minute?”
The following day, Luke glanced up from the rack of weights to see Thad Racine staring at him.
He liked Thad. He was a good dude, and Luke had thought that long before he found out that the time he’d spent in prison for burglary had actually been a crime his brother—the team’s GM—had committed as a teenager.
He’d done it to protect Gavin, which was something Luke could respect.
He and Thad weren’t friends, exactly, but they were buddies. They’d had drinks a few times at O’Neill’s, shot the shit over a beer and played pool. So although Luke had just finished working out and he was ready to hit the shower, he didn’t mind the question.
“Sure, what’s up, man?” he asked.
“Do you remember the little girl you took the pics with and signed the stick for a few weeks ago?”
Luke frowned at the reminder of Sebastian’s niece. “Sure. The one with the sign saying I was her favorite player, right?”
Thad nodded.
Luke always wondered what the hell was wrong with the parents of kids who were a big fan of him. No one that young should look up to him. But, well, it was a weird world they lived in now.
“She was sick. Or, she had the mask on anyway,” Luke added. “And her sign said she was a fighter like me, so I kinda assumed …”
Plus, there was what Sebastian had told him, but he wasn’t fucking mentioning that to Thad.
“Yes,” Thad said with a nod. “And she is sick. She has something called PHACE syndrome.”
Luke stared at him blankly.
Thad waved it off. “Basically, she’s very sick. All kinds of heart issues along with a bunch of other stuff.”
Luke frowned. “Sounds awful. You know this how?”
“Oh. Well, someone in the media department spoke to her and her uncle after the game.”
“Is she dying?” Luke asked, swallowing hard, because fuck, there was nothing worse than knowing that some of the sick kids at the children’s hospital where the team volunteered might not make it another month, another week … and this kid? Damn that sucked.
“Not actively, no.”
Luke shot him a confused look. “What the fuck does that mean?”
“Oh. Just that it’s not a terminal illness. It’s life-threatening though.”
“So she could die from it?” Luke guessed. “But it’s not killing her right now?”
“Yes. Exactly. It sounds like she’s getting great care, but things can go sideways and …”
“Damn.” Luke stuffed his hands in the pockets of his shorts.
“Yeah.” Thad adjusted his Harriers cap.
Luke stared at him, waiting for him to get to the point. Thad must have picked up on that because he cleared his throat and said, “So it sounds like she’s been on the Make a Wish Foundation’s list for months to have a wish granted.”
Luke nodded. Lots of kids wished to spend a day with the team or meet a player.
Thad kept talking. “Anyway, Janine from the Harriers Foundation handles all those charity things and saw the pics online, put the pieces together, and is working with Make a Wish to arrange something ASAP. I was talking to her about it this morning and she said she needed to touch base with you about it.”
“Okay,” Luke said slowly.
“I told her I was heading down here for some other media duties and that I’d pass that along.”
“Thanks,” Luke said, still slightly confused. “So, what does she want, exactly?”
“To spend the day with you.”
“Fucking weird kid,” Luke said with a shake of his head.
Thad laughed. “I know, right? You’d think she’d have better taste.”
Luke smiled at that because Thad could chirp with the best of them. Made sense though, he was a former hockey player.
It wasn’t the first time the team had done something like this. It had been a couple of years though and Connor had been the player the twelve-year-old boy had wanted to meet. Luke had never been picked before.
“I mean, yeah of course, I’ll do it,” Luke said. “Like I’m going to tell some sick kid ‘no, fuck off,’” he said with a laugh. “I mean, I’m an asshole but even I’m not that much of an asshole.”
Thad grinned. “I dunno about that. But great. I’ll pass that along to Janine and she’ll get you up to speed on all the details.”
“Cool.” Luke held out a fist. “Thanks, man.”
Thad bumped back. “No, thank you. This is going to make for some great media content.”
Luke groaned. He’d forgotten about that part. He fucking hated being in front of a camera. He should be used to it by now, and he was, but he still didn’t like it.
He’d happily leave that shit to Jesse and Tanner and Graham and Rafe.
Thad grinned. “Forgot about that part, huh?”
“Yeah,” Luke groused. “Fuckin’ A.”
“Ehh, just focus on her and you’ll be fine.”
It hit Luke then that Sebastian might be there. Shit. That was a nightmare and a half waiting to happen.
“Uh, so who comes along to these things, anyway?” he asked.
“Well, she can have two guests. I have no idea who she’ll pick, but most kids bring both their parents. Sometimes there’s a nurse or something too if it’s necessary but …”
“Right, got it,” Luke said, relieved.
It would be fine then. Harper would probably just bring her mom and dad. He had nothing to worry about.
“Okay, and you’re going to listen to your body today, right?” Brie said as Harper walked between her and Sebastian on their way to the Harriers Community Ice Complex a week later. “And if you—”
“Get tired or feel bad or need a break I’ll tell you!” Harper said, swinging their hands. “But I’m good, I promise, Mommy. You don’t have to worry.”
Brie gave Sebastian a weak smile over Harper’s head.
Sebastian nodded his understanding.
She worried. Of course she did. All good parents did—and fuck Brie’s ex for walking out on his wife and daughter like that—but especially because of everything Harper had been through in her life so far.
It was impossible for Brie not to worry about her. Or for Sebastian to stop worrying, for that matter. And he was just the guncle.
“And what else did we talk about?” Brie asked.
“I need to thank Mr. Luke and the bird men and allllll the people here because they’re doing something special for me.”
Sebastian smiled at the ‘bird men’. The Mr. Luke part was the bit that made Sebastian feel vaguely queasy.
It was one thing to come to games and shout crap at Crawford through the glass, then get face fucked by him after. It was quite another for Sebastian to show up at the practice rink with his sister and niece in tow and be forced to have a conversation with the man.
He couldn’t imagine Crawford would be any too happy about it either.
Sebastian shuddered like someone had just walked over his grave.
Honestly, he’d tried to get out of the whole damn thing, but Harper had looked absolutely heartbroken at the idea of him not coming along on her special day.
Even Brie had given him a weird look when he suggested that just the two of them go.
She’d pulled him aside and said, “Look, I know you dislike the guy and you’re busy, but this is really important to her. ”
Sebastian had caved.
Because he was not strong enough to withstand Brie and Harper both turning sad faces on him at once.
When they reached the lobby of HCI, there were two people waiting for them. Janine Herman from the Harriers charitable foundation and the coordinator from the Make a Wish Foundation, Willie Munoz. Plus, several Harriers media people.
Sebastian took a long second glance at the guy in the backwards ball cap who held a video camera.
“Thad Racine,” he said with a smile, holding out a hand. “Great to meet you, Sebastian.”
Damn. He was hot.
Wait? Racine? Did that mean he was related to the team’s general manager? Sebastian was definitely going to have to look that up online. He’d never been a fan of the Harriers before but if the organization was this hot at every level, maybe he’d have to start paying more attention …
Brie had already gotten instructions about what they’d be doing that day and what to expect.
Forms and waivers had been signed, so Sebastian wasn’t surprised when a few moments later, Thad lifted the camera to his eye and the Harriers mascot—Blaze—strolled up to their group along with Luke Crawford.
Sebastian suddenly felt like he was standing on the deck of a lurching ship in Boston Harbor instead of solid flooring in the lobby of an NHL practice facility.
Crawford was dressed in black Harriers shorts and a tee over his base layers and looked … damn, he looked good. Those thick arms, covered in ink, the peep of a silver chain at his neck, the way his shorts couldn’t really disguise how muscular his lower body was …
But the moment Crawford registered Sebastian, his jaw went tight, even behind his thick beard and he narrowed his eyes, his gaze sliding right past Sebastian without stopping once.
Shit. He was pissed.
Well, it was his own damn fault.
Sebastian had messaged him on the app to warn him, but he clearly hadn’t checked his messages. The Harriers had been on the road last week, so Sebastian sort of understood but still. Sebastian had tried. It wasn’t like he had any other way of contacting him.
Harper happily shrieked, “Mr. Luke! Mr. Luke!” and launched herself at him, arms outstretched. “We’re gonna spend the day together. Can I call you Mr. Luke?”
“Sure,” he said, his face and tone softening as he crouched down to her level to get a hug. “Mr. Luke is fine. It’s good to see you again, Harper.”
Her face lit up. “Mr. Luke, I love watching you and the bird men play!”
“Bird men?” He glanced up at Brie.
“She couldn’t say Harriers when we first started watching games together,” Brie explained with a smile. “So once we explained what a Harrier was, she called you the bird men.”
Crawford laughed, a low, unexpectedly warm sound that sent a shiver of heat through Sebastian’s body.
Aww fuck.
“Bird men. That’s great.” Crawford glanced at Harper. “Now, do you want to meet Blaze? This is our mascot.”
Crawford stood, and even from where Sebastian stood, he could hear the crack of Crawford’s knees protesting.
Oof.
“Hi, Blaze!” Harper tilted her head way back to look up at the giant hawk. “You’re pretty.” She reached out and touched the red and orange “feathers” on the mascot’s wings.
Blaze preened, then held out a small jersey to her, showing off the front before displaying the back. Ross stretched across the shoulders along with the number fifty-four.
Crawford’s number.
Harper reached out, tracing her fingers across the letters. “R-O-S-S,” she spelled out. “That’s me!”
Brie grinned but there was something sad in her eyes. “It is.”
Sebastian hated that Harper had her father’s last name.
The dude didn’t deserve it. It should have been Breckon.
But he could understand why Brie didn’t want to change her daughter’s last name.
Harper might someday, once she was old enough to understand exactly how badly her father had betrayed her.
But Harper was happy now, wiggling into the jersey Blaze held out and getting it stuck halfway on.
“Need some help with that?” Crawford asked with another of those low, rumbling laughs.
The jersey nodded vigorously and stuck its arms up.
Everyone chuckled.
Those big, rough hands of Crawford’s were surprisingly gentle as they maneuvered the neck hole over Harper’s face and ponytail. She was beaming when her head popped through. “Thanks! I was stuck!”
“I see that,” Luke said.
And Jesus fuck, this was bad. This was bad. Sebastian didn’t want to like this man at all, beyond the ridiculously hot sex they’d had but this was …
He hadn’t expected this.
Despite Sebastian’s generally dim opinion of the man, he hadn’t thought Crawford would be unkind to Harper. He’d gone out of his way to give her a stick and pose for a picture with her a few weeks ago. But Sebastian had expected Crawford to be sort of gruff and awkward. Bad with kids.
Maybe these guys had really good training in how to deal with the public or something?
But as Luke held out a hand for Harper and told her they were going to go meet the other guys now, Sebastian struggled to reconcile the way Luke was acting now with the guy he’d screwed around with last week.
How could the man in front of him now possibly be the same one who’d stalked into his apartment, growled at him about the shop being open, then shoved him down into a chair, stripped off his pants, and worked him over with his hand until Sebastian was too weak to stand?
He was ashamed to say that the blowjob he’d given Crawford after probably wasn’t his best work either. Although it had ended up with Crawford’s hand on his jaw, holding him in place as he came all over his face, so … he was pretty sure they’d both enjoyed themselves.
But it was still impossible to reconcile that memory with the man who had slowed his walk to practically a crawl when he saw that Harper was struggling to keep up with his long strides.
“Is it hot in here or is it just him?” Brie muttered, looping her arm into Sebastian’s and leaning in to speak in his ear.
“Brie!” Sebastian said, surprised. His sister had sounded like she never wanted to think about a man again after her last conversation with her divorce lawyer.
He said as much to her now and she shrugged. “I’m not saying I want to date him. I’m just saying it’s pretty damn hot to see Mr. Big Bad Growly Man be all soft with my kid.”
“He’s a total asshole, you get that right?” Sebastian pointed out.
“Bet he’s still a great lay though.”
Sebastian choked on air. “What is wrong with you?”
She scowled at him. “What’s wrong with you? You’ve never had an issue with me talking about a guy like that before.”
“Yeah, but that was … it’s different. We’re at his work.”
She snorted. “Says the guy who shows up at his job to yell all kinds of rude shit to his face.”
“But I’m not sexualizing him,” Sebastian hissed.
Not at the arena or aloud, anyway. What happened in their private time or in his head was a totally different matter.
“Okay, fine. You have a point. I’ll be good. I’m just saying, I can see the appeal.”
Unfortunately, so could Sebastian. Which was exactly the opposite of what he wanted.
Fucking Crawford. He made everything difficult, didn’t he?