CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
An hour later, as Crawford lay on his back, tinkering with the pipe that had caused all the trouble, Sebastian had to admit it was unfortunate, but the man really was attractive.
Crawford lay on the floor, his head stuck in the sink vanity, his body stretched out long. His jeans were riding a little low and the muscle shirt he’d stripped down to had slid up, exposing a slice of bare stomach and hips.
Sebastian stared at the tattoos swirled across that spot and resisted the urge to get on his knees, lean down, and drag his tongue across the ink.
It was like some kind of plumber porn come to life and he was weirdly into it.
The only thing holding Sebastian back from doing everything he imagined was Harper sitting on the closed toilet seat lid nearby, chattering away about something at Crawford.
At the moment, he was mostly grunting at her nonstop chatter, but that hadn’t deterred her a bit. Sebastian had tried to distract her with a coloring book but she kept wandering upstairs to hang out with them and Luke finally told Sebastian to leave her be.
“I don’t mind her being here,” he said quietly. “Just didn’t want her to get hurt, you know?”
So Sebastian had made Harper promise to stay in one place while he worked. So far, the only thing she was moving was her mouth and a few excited full-body wiggles for emphasis.
“Sebastian,” Brie said sweetly from the doorway. “Can I talk to you for a sec?”
He turned to look at her with narrowed eyes because his sister generally didn’t do sweet. Not with him anyway. Which meant he was about to hate whatever came out of her mouth next.
“Sure,” he said with a sigh, standing. He’d been perched on the edge of the bathtub, and his butt had been going numb anyway.
He silently followed her down the stairs and to the kitchen.
That had been torn up too and the hamper full of soggy towels sat nearby. Fans and a small space heater hummed, working to dry out the wall, cabinets, and floor.
Brie had protested about the drywall Crawford had torn out but he’d glared at her, said, “Do you want black mold growing in your house?” and she’d closed her mouth and shook her head.
He had already promised to come fix that for her as soon as it had time to thoroughly dry and Sebastian was grateful.
“What the fuck are you doing with Luke Crawford?” Brie hissed once they were inside the kitchen.
Sebastian rubbed his hands over his face. “I don’t know,” he admitted. At this point, he really, really fucking didn’t.
She glared. “C’mon, you can do better than that!”
“I’m serious!” he whispered. “I don’t know what the fuck we’re doing.”
“You act like you hate the man but upstairs just now you were staring at him like he was that Indian buffet near your place in New York that you could never get enough of.”
Sebastian snorted. Well, that was embarrassingly accurate.
She sighed. “Just be honest, Seb. Are you hooking up with him? Because that’s sure what it fucking seems like. The shirt you’re wearing definitely isn’t yours.”
Sebastian groaned. “I probably shouldn’t even be telling you this because he’s not out, but yeah, we’ve hooked up some.”
Even if Crawford had said it was fine if Brie figured it out, Sebastian still felt weird about the invasion of his privacy.
“When did it start?” Brie asked.
“Uhh, January-ish?” he said, keeping it vague.
“Before or after Harper’s day with the team—oh! It was before, wasn’t it? That’s why you were all cagey about going and he dragged you off to the bathroom. Please tell me you two didn’t hook up then.”
“No!” Sebastian protested, then lowered his voice again. “No. Of course not. He was just pissed I was there. We argued. We, uh, do a lot of arguing, actually.”
She snorted. “Oh God. I don’t know if I want the answer to this but are your hookups like that too?”
“Pretty much,” he admitted. “We push each other’s buttons a lot.”
“And this is fun for you?” She looked disbelieving.
“Weirdly enough, yes.”
“I will never understand men,” she muttered under her breath.
Sebastian fought back a smile because several times, usually under the influence of alcohol, she’d said she wished she was attracted to women because dealing with men was a nightmare.
Since she’d been by his side every step of the way as a teenager when he dealt with how his own sexuality impacted his hockey career, he didn’t think she said that lightly.
If that wasn’t proof that sexuality wasn’t a choice, Sebastian didn’t know what was.
“Okay, so how did it start?” she asked.
“A hookup app. We didn’t know who the other one was until he showed up at my door.”
“And you two fucked about it anyway?”
“Uhh, pretty much.”
“Yep,” she said with another shake of her head. “Never gonna get it.”
He shrugged.
“So that’s it then? Just sex?”
“More or less. We’ve watched some hockey together lately. We’re, I dunno … I wouldn’t say friends, exactly. But we’ve been having some fun together.”
“And you were”—she made finger quotes with her hands—“‘having fun’ when I called?”
“Sort of? We watched hockey and um, had some fun after. When you called, we were gonna have a bite to eat and then, uh, probably do more stuff.”
Crawford had made a crack about refueling so they’d have energy later, anyway.
“I don’t need to know what the stuff is.” His sister waved vaguely at him. “And Luke decided to help out today because of Harper?”
“Yeah,” Sebastian said, confused. “What the fuck else would it be?”
“I don’t know. Maybe him having feelings for you?”
Sebastian choked on air. “Feelings for me? You think Luke Crawford has feelings for me? Oh my God no. I don’t think the man has feelings unless they’re about hockey.”
“Well, at this point, you are kind of a part of his hockey playing.”
“Yeah, but not like that,” Sebastian protested. “Look, this is just both of us blowing off some steam is all.”
“If you say so.”
“I do!”
“So what about Nicky Calhoun? I thought he was your friend.”
“Nicky is my friend.”
“And you don’t feel guilty that you’re fucking the guy who ended his hockey career?” Brie’s voice was filled with disbelief.
“It’s not over,” Sebastian pointed out. “Nicky has been working his way back with the help of his medical team. It could still happen.”
“Okay, fine. Then you’re screwing the guy who injured him so badly it’s taken years for him to get back. And you’re okay with that?”
“I—I try not to think about it a lot,” Sebastian admitted.
She rolled her eyes. “Oh yeah, real mature, Seb.”
“It’s just a fucking hookup, Brie! Nicky doesn’t need to know.”
“Oh right, because there are no feelings involved, it doesn’t count!”
“Pretty much.”
“Fuck, I wish I could turn my emotions off that way,” she said with a shake of her head.
Sebastian shrugged helplessly. Because he got it. Brie felt everything very deeply and always had. She’d never compartmentalized anything in her life, except maybe pushing away the stress about Harper’s health to do her work.
But Sebastian had always been able to do it.
He didn’t really think it had anything to do with their respective genders either. Hockey had taught him to do that. And sure, there was some of the bullshit from years of playing that he’d undone but not all of it.
And sometimes, being able to keep shit in neat little boxes was a hell of a lot easier than what his sister did. Or at least it seemed that way to him anyway.
“Look,” Brie said. “I’m not gonna tell you what to do, Seb. But this seems like a fucking terrible idea to me.”
“I am aware.”
“But it’s not going to stop you?”
“Um, no.”
“Fine. Screw around with Luke Crawford and get your heart broken for all I care then!”
“Uhh.” Crawford stood in the kitchen doorway, scratching the back of his head.
“Fuck!” Sebastian said.
Brie’s expression turned sheepish. “Shit, I didn’t realize …”
“Well, even with the fans going, sound kinda travels and …” He gestured toward the hole in the ceiling.
“I’m sorry,” Sebastian said, swallowing hard. “I know you said you were okay if Brie figured it out but …”
“It’s not Seb’s fault,” Brie said. “I guessed. He just confirmed.”
Crawford waved a hand. “I don’t give a shit, okay? When I spoke up on the phone earlier, I assumed she’d find out about us. It’s … whatever.”
“Yeah, but you’re so private,” Sebastian said, the guilt multiplying.
Crawford rolled his eyes. “Seriously, we have more important shit to worry about now, okay? Can we focus on that?”
When Luke left Brie and Harper’s place a few hours later, he got a hug from both of them.
Sebastian had been quiet at the start of the drive back to Luke’s place, but when they were stopped at a light, he said, “Are you sure you’re okay with Brie knowing?”
Luke resisted the urge to beat his head against the steering wheel.
“Would it matter?” he asked, glancing over. “I mean, cat’s out of the fucking bag now. Can’t put it back in.”
“I know we can’t undo it,” Sebastian said. “But yeah, it matters. I want to know the truth. Are you really okay with it?”
“Look, I wouldn’t have gone out of my way to tell her or anything. But she’s your sister and, like I said, I knew it was bound to happen once she knew we were hanging out.”
Brie had promised she wouldn’t tell anyone else about them hooking up so there was that.
“I suppose no one was really going to believe that we’re just buddies hanging out,” Sebastian said.
“Not likely.”
“Still, I am sorry.”
“Appreciated.”
Sebastian was silent for a few moments. “What she said about me getting my heart broken … I don’t know what that was about. I told her this was just a hookup. It’s not like I have feelings for you or anything.”
“Yeah,” Luke said. He kept his gaze on the street in front of him.
“I mean, let’s not be ridiculous, right?”
“Right,” Luke agreed.
“We’d fucking drive each other nuts in a week. Hell, probably less.”
Luke chuckled. “Sure would.”
“So, anyway. I think Brie is just … not someone who knows how to handle this shit.”
“She’s also probably a little gun-shy because of the divorce.”
“Right,” Sebastian agreed. “I’m sure that’s it. But I’ll make sure she understands what this is.”
“Okay.” Luke cruised up behind Sebastian’s car and put his own in park. He glanced over to see Sebastian frowning.
“What are you doing? Don’t you need to park this in the garage?”
“I will,” Luke said slowly. “Just figured I’d drop you off at your car first. Unless you wanted to come in?”
“Ugh, I probably shouldn’t,” Sebastian said with a sigh. “I’ve got a little work to do tonight. Sorry we didn’t get to, uh, hook up a second time or whatever.”
“It’s okay. Your sister and niece come first. I respect that.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. Family should.” Luke’s voice was a little gruff and he cleared his throat. “Anyway, glad I could help. Thanks for the bagels earlier.”
“Shit, it’s the least I can do.”
“Brie didn’t have to order those pizzas either,” Luke said.
“Our family likes to feed people we, uh, people who do nice things for us, I guess.”
“Guess so.”
“So, I’ll head out now then.”
“Yeah, okay.” Luke turned to look at him. “One thing before you go though.”
He wrapped his hand around the back of Sebastian’s head and pulled him in for a kiss.
When Luke pulled back, Sebastian licked his lips, still shiny from Luke’s spit. “What was that for?”
“I wanted to.”
“Yeah, okay, it’s … you’re more into kissing than I expected,” Sebastian said.
Luke shrugged. “I like it.”
“I can tell.”
“You mind?”
“No.”
“Okay.” Luke glanced out the windshield. “We’re uh, going on the road next week. I dunno if I’ll be cleared to play. If not, I’ll be around here rehabbing, so …”
“Oh, okay. Well, I hope you get cleared.”
Luke glanced over. “Trying to get rid of me, huh?”
Sebastian laughed, his tight shoulders lowering. “No, I didn’t mean it like that. I just … I know you want to get back out on the ice.”
“Yeah, I do.” Luke wanted that more than fucking anything.
“But, uh, if you are around, I guess … text me or whatever. If you want.”
“Sure. I’ll get the new drywall up at Brie and Harper’s place as soon as I can too. It’ll just depend on when I get cleared and all that.”
“Yeah, okay. Sounds good. Uh, goodnight then.” Sebastian leaned in, brushing his lips across Luke’s one final time.
“Night,” Luke said and he watched as Sebastian got in his car, started it, and drove off.
Only then did he circle around the block to park his car in the garage behind the house.