CHAPTER SIXTEEN
It took every ounce of energy Luke had to get to the rink the next morning. He’d had to take a rideshare there because he was in no shape to make the walk back down the hill to his car, much less drive.
By the time he limped into the training room at HCI, he felt like death warmed over.
Andy lifted an eyebrow at him. “Well, that doesn’t look good.”
“It’s not,” Luke said with a grunt. He settled on the training table face down, forehead propped on his hands. The padded cushion smelled vaguely of old sweat and bleach.
Thankfully, he was the first one in the room today.
He’d slept like shit last night and all he wanted to do was go back home and crash. Or maybe just stay here. Sleep on the table while everyone worked around him. That was fine.
“Okay,” Andy said slowly as he ran careful, assessing hands across the back of Luke’s thigh. “Yeah, what the hell? There’s a lot more swelling than I expected. How’s the pain?”
“Not good.”
“No shit,” Andy said with a snort. “Pain scale?”
Luke muttered a five.
“So a seven or eight?” Andy said.
Luke grunted.
“Did you do something to aggravate it last night? Slip in the shower or something?”
“Or something.”
Even with his face buried in the table, Luke could feel the glare Andy shot him. “You gonna tell me what you did?”
“I slipped on the ice in my yard,” Luke muttered, hoping that was enough to explain it.
“Is that all? I feel like you’re holding something back.”
Luke sighed. Fuck. Apparently, he wasn’t going to be able to get away with that answer.
“I—I hooked up with someone after the game,” he admitted. “And I kinda overdid it.”
Andy let out a surprised chuckle. “Okay then.”
“Holy shit,” Tanner said gleefully. “Did I just hear that right?”
Luke groaned, hoping the table would just swallow him up.
“Who was it? Was it the hot mom?” Tanner asked, coming closer and poking Luke’s shoulder.
“No,” Luke muttered, turning his head to glare at his D-partner. “It wasn’t the hot mom.”
It was her hotter brother, he added in his head.
“The hot mom’s name was Brie,” Graham said from the doorway. “You could at least use her name, Tanner.”
“And then I really did slip in the yard,” Luke said loudly.
“Yeah, after giving it to someone gooooood,” Tanner said with a cackle.
“I hate you,” Luke muttered darkly.
“Yeah, but you—”
“Tanner, Graham, unless you have a reason to be in here, you can get out,” Andy said, sounding exasperated. “You’re not helping here.”
“I just came in to get some KT tape,” Graham said, holding up his hands.
“What’s your excuse?” Andy asked Tanner.
Tanner hopped up on the table next to Luke. “I need someone to take a look at my, uh, elbow.”
“Your elbow, huh?” Andy sounded like he didn’t believe that any more than Luke did. “Well, when I’m done with Crawford, I’ll give it a look.”
“Okay, I can wait.” Tanner swung his legs back and forth like a little kid.
Luke groaned under his breath, and it wasn’t from the pain.
“I’ll be right back, Crawford.” Andy patted his calf. “I’m gonna use the lasers on you.”
Laser therapy always sounded weird, and it kinda looked like hocus pocus because it was just the trainers using two handheld devices that shot beams of colorful light at whatever part of him was injured.
But it fucking worked.
The first time they’d used it on a knee strain, Luke had been shocked by how fast the swelling had gone down and how much better he could move it after.
“Sooo,” Tanner said when Andy was gone. “If it wasn’t the hot mom, who was it?”
“Just someone I met on an app,” Luke muttered.
“You got injured in the game and then immediately after got on an app to find a hookup?” Tanner didn’t sound convinced. “That doesn’t sound like you. Me? Yes. But not you.”
“We’d, uh, hooked up before,” Luke admitted.
“Oooh. So is this a regular thing? Are you dating? What’s her name?”
“It’s only been a couple of times, we’re not fucking dating, and I’m not telling you anyone’s name. Leave me alone.”
“Come onnn,” Tanner whined. “Don’t be like this. I want details.”
“Not gonna happen.”
“At least tell me how you hurt yourself. Was it some kind of freaky sex position? I bet you probably pick women up and fuck them against a wall all the time, right? Because they are totally into that. This one time, I was fucking this bigger girl—and like, that is not an insult, you know? I know some people are weird about it, but that’s a them problem.
She was smoking hot, love a bit of a belly—and she was shocked that I could pick her up and hold her against a wall.
I was like, ‘Babe, I’ve got you. I am a professional athlete’ and she was super into it. ”
Luke beat his forehead against the padded bench, wishing it would knock him unconscious so he didn’t have to hear another word of this nonsense. Not that he had a problem with bigger chicks, he just didn’t want to hear Tanner talk about fucking them.
Or anything, really.
“When she came, it felt like my dick was getting strangled by her—”
“And that’s more than enough of that,” Andy said sharply. “Get out, Clayton.”
“Aww. But what about my knee?”
“Since it was your elbow three minutes ago, I’m not too fucking worried about it, dude.”
“Damn it,” Tanner said, but his tone was cheerful. “Fine, I’ll go. But you’re gonna tell me something sometime, Crawford!”
“Over my dead body,” he muttered.
When Tanner was finally gone, Andy patted his shoulder. “I’ve got you, man. I could see you getting tenser by the second as he talked and what I’m going to need is for you to relax.”
“Yeah. Good luck with that.” Luke sighed. “Thanks for the assist though.”
“Sure. Okay, now I’m going to get started with the laser treatment.”
Sebastian was exhausted when he finally peeled himself out of bed.
By the time he’d gotten back from Crawford’s and crawled into bed last night, he’d been more than ready to crash. He’d woken to the sound of his blaring alarm and thought, fuck that, then hit snooze enough times that he wasn’t able to get in a run this morning.
He was bleary-eyed as he stumbled around his apartment and got ready for his workday.
Fuck, he was sore too. He didn’t mind the faint ache in his ass from where Crawford had fucked him, but he felt slightly bruised by being crushed between his body and the ground when he’d slipped on the ice and took Crawford down with him.
His ribs were actually a little tender too.
He pulled up his shirt and squinted at his side.
Yep. Definitely turning purple in spots.
Sebastian’s employees shot him a worried look when he unlocked the door for them, and he wondered how big the bags under his eyes actually were. He hadn’t looked too closely in the mirror.
He got really concerned when Morgan quietly asked him if he wanted to stay in the back while she staffed the front this morning. He shook his head, thanked her, then refilled his coffee mug, silently making a note to use some of those moisturizing eye patches Brie swore by during his lunch break.
He sent off a quick text to Crawford that said, Hope you’re feeling okay today, figuring he might not hear back until later in the day.
He doubted Crawford checked his messages when he was around the team.
Thankfully, it was a slower morning, and Sebastian was able to browse his laptop. He answered a few emails, including one with a recruiter. It felt like overkill to hire a recruiter to find him someone to work in his shop, but he was starting to get desperate.
When lunchtime rolled around, Sebastian slapped some eye patches on and took a twenty-minute nap. He was still exhausted as he ate his meal, but at least the skincare treatment made him look less like a zombie.
He returned to work and he’d just finished a gorgeous arrangement of peach-colored roses and solomio, creamy white anemone, and dusty green eucalyptus when his cell phone buzzed.
He picked it up, half-expecting to see a text from Crawford or maybe from a friend back in New York, but he straightened when he saw it was from Brie.
Harper’s fine but I have an emergency. Can you call?
“What’s going on?” he asked as soon as his sister picked up.
“Ugh. I have a surprise meeting at work. It’s just a video call, thank God. I don’t have to go in to the hospital for it, but I was supposed to go pick Harper up and there’s no way I can do both.”
Sebastian frowned. “Where is she now?”
“Physical therapy.”
“Ohh, got it. You need me to pick her up?”
“If you can.”
“I can make it work.” Sebastian ignored the laundry list of arrangements he needed to do for tomorrow. Whatever. He’d make it work. He’d stay up late tonight if he had to, even if pulling a late night two days in a row was a terrible idea.
“Are you sure?” Brie asked.
“I wouldn’t have said I could if I didn’t,” he pointed out.
“That’s a fucking lie,” she said with a laugh. “You’d tell me you could do it even if it would massively inconvenience you.”
“You and Harper are never an inconvenience,” he said firmly. “Will I have to change my plan for the day? Sure. But you two aren’t a problem and you never will be.”
“Fuck.” Brie sniffled. “Now you’re gonna make me cry.”
“Well, we don’t want that,” he said lightly. “You’ve got a video meeting to do.”
“Ugh, tell me about it. It’s with my manager and my director, too. Kathy didn’t tell me what it was about either, so now I’m stressed. I can’t get fired, Seb.”
“You’re not gonna get fired,” he assured her, but he was already thinking of ways he could help if she did. But he really needed to solve today’s issue first. “You want me to keep Harper here after, or do you want me to drop her off at your place?”
“Do you mind keeping her at the shop for a couple of hours? I’ll get a lot more work done but I know it’ll slow you down.”
“I don’t mind,” he assured her.
“You’re a lifesaver.”
“Nah, just a brother,” he said. “Do you want me to drop her off after you’re done with work?”
“Yes, and I’ll feed you dinner. I know you’ve been eating too much takeout and pre-packaged shit lately.”
“Sounds perfect,” he said with a wince because that was definitely true.
He could cook, he just … hadn’t lately. Hadn’t had time.
Hadn’t cared as long as his belly was full and not growling with hunger.
Besides, he got the good stuff from the bougie grocery store, so it wasn’t total crap.
“Text you later. Oh, wait, what time should I go get Harper?”
“Can you make it there in an hour? If not, I’ll let the PT clinic know. They’re usually understanding about it.”
“I’ll do my best,” Sebastian said, already pulling off his apron. “Love you!”
“Love you too!”
It was closer to an hour and fifteen minutes by the time Sebastian arrived at the medical building to pick Harper up. Thankfully, he found her busy coloring in the reception area and when he apologized for being late, the staff assured him it was no problem.
“Uncle Sebby!” Harper said, her face lighting up when she spotted him.
She masked whenever they were at bigger public events, but Brie didn’t force her to wear one all the time unless she’d just had a surgery or procedure done and was at especially high risk.
I want to keep her safe from infections, but I never want her to feel like I’m trying to hide her birthmark, you know? she’d told Sebastian once. Kids are already going to be mean enough. I don’t want her to feel ashamed of it.
Sebastian understood.
Thankfully, Harper seemed to be recovering well after her latest surgery, and she was one resilient kid. Physically and emotionally.
“Hey there, Harper,” he said.
“Look at my picture!” she said, waving a paper with a crayon drawing.
He took it and studied it for a minute. Was that a big red monster in the middle? Shit. Hopefully she wasn’t having nightmares again. She’d had some for a while after her so-called father left.
“Do you see? It’s Blaze and Mr. Luke holding me. Oh, and you’re there too! See?”
“I see that now,” he said, squinting at the page, not entirely sure if that was true or not. His niece probably wasn’t going to be a world-famous artist someday. Though maybe if she got into abstract art? He could see a future in that.
Either way, it was a relief to know the “monster” was just a poorly drawn mascot.
“Mommy said Mr. Luke got banged up last night.” She looked up at him with big, worried eyes. “Is he hurt?”
“Uhh, not very seriously, I don’t think,” he said. “Probably just a few bruises or something. It didn’t look too bad during the game.”
“Can you ask him?”
“Umm.” He thought about his unanswered text from earlier. “I can try? We’re not really friends or anything.”
“Yeah. You think he sucks.”
Sebastian winced and one of the receptionists let out a little cough that was probably covering up a laugh.
“He’s not my favorite player,” Sebastian agreed. “Now, are you ready to spend the afternoon with me?”
“Are we gonna make flowers?”
She’d never quite gotten the hang of saying the word bouquet and he was always charmed by the idea of ‘making flowers’.
“Yes,” he said, taking her hand. “Now, tell everyone thank you and say goodbye.”
“Thank you, Miss Laura! Thank you, Miss Rosa! Thank you, Mr. Rhett!”
They all waved goodbye but as they walked slowly to the door, she seemed to be lagging behind.
Sebastian asked her if she wanted to be picked up and carried.
“Yeah.” She yawned. “I’m tired. They made me work extra hard today.”
“Okay, kiddo. Maybe you can get a nap when we get back to the shop.”
“Wanna spend time with you,” she mumbled, her face pressed against his neck and he hugged her tighter, smiling.
Whatever sacrifices he had to make, moving to Boston had been the right choice.