CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
“I still can’t believe you didn’t watch the North Atlantic Tournament,” Tanner complained as they left the ice after practice. He’d been hammering Luke about that since he got back and wouldn’t shut up about it.
“I fucking did. I just … wasn’t that focused on part of a couple of games,” Luke groused, his already warm body going even hotter as he thought about the sounds Sebastian had made while they’d screwed around on the couch.
The way he looked when he came.
Luke fucking loved hockey but c’mon, surely Tanner would understand why he’d been distracted. Of course, Luke hadn’t exactly told Tanner what had distracted him …
Tanner scowled. “I got the game-winning goal in the semi-finals, dude! I am the entire fucking reason Team USA even made it to the finals.”
“Fuck you too, dude,” Graham said with a laugh, punching Tanner’s upper arm as he walked past them. “Way to ignore my contributions.”
“I didn’t mean it like that!” Tanner called after him. “You did great, S’mores.”
Luke rolled his eyes at the stupid nicknames Tanner had for everyone.
“And I didn’t have to watch every second of every game to see that you were wildly out of position half the damn time,” he pointed out. “You’re better than that.”
Tanner squinted. “You never say nice things to me. Were you kidnapped by aliens? Are you dying? This isn’t normal.”
Luke scowled back at him. “I just told you that you played like shit. How is that being nice?”
“Yeah, but you also said that I’m better than that.”
“Well, you could be if you were fucking paying attention to your gap control and positioning,” Luke argued.
Tanner ignored that. “So if you didn’t watch the games, what did you do over break?”
“I fucking told you I watched them. Mostly I rehabbed though,” Luke said. “Did charity shit.”
He’d been a little worried that the work at Brie and Harper’s place had messed his hamstring up further, but he’d been cleared for a little light skating today. No contact, of course, but at least he’d been able to use his legs. It had felt great to get out there again.
“That’s it?” Tanner looked disappointed. “Rehab and charity? Boring.””
“I did some work on my house,” he offered.
“So you do live in a house!”
“No, I live with your m—”
“If you say my mom I will murder you!” Tanner shouted and threw himself at Luke.
He hadn’t been prepared for it and he bumped into the wall. He had on all his gear still, so it didn’t hurt but he still shoved Tanner back. He went flying and hit the other wall with a thud.
“Clayton, what part of non-contact don’t you understand?” Coach Hoyt yelled from behind them. “Crawford’s not cleared yet.”
“We’re not on the ice, coach!” Tanner called back but he hadn’t stopped grinning.
“I don’t care where we are! If you put Crawford out of commission again, I will get you sent down to Concord!”
Luke chuckled under his breath.
Those were probably idle threats. Tanner was playing too well to send him down to their AHL affiliate team and the last thing the Harriers needed was to have Luke and Tanner out at the same time.
But Tanner still looked mildly horrified. “I’ll be good! I swear.”
“Believe it when I see it,” Hoyt shouted back.
Luke hid a grin. Privately, he had to agree.
The following week, Sebastian finished his work and drove to his sister’s place with a sense of eager anticipation.
He had plans with Crawford tonight after he had dinner with Harper and Brie.
Crawford had traveled with the Harriers on their road trip and been cleared to play while on the road. They had texted a little while he was gone, which had turned into several hot jerk off sessions on video chat.
They hadn’t had a chance to hook up in person since the plumbing emergency though.
The team had gotten back late the night before last so that idea had been out. But after dinner with his family tonight, Sebastian was heading to Crawford’s place and he couldn’t wait.
Brie’s kitchen still had a hole in the wall, the peel-and-stick tiles had curled at the edges, and one small section of lower cabinets were going to need to be ripped out. But in the end, she’d agreed it could have been a lot worse—and a lot more expensive—if Crawford hadn’t been willing to help.
“Well, I guess something good is coming from your weird hookups at least,” Brie teased Sebastian as they washed and dried the dishes after dinner.
He ignored her by changing the subject to whether she’d made a decision about taking the new job.
She hadn’t, so they went around and around, debating the merits or concerns about it. Sebastian gave his sister a pointed look at the messed-up kitchen and said, “The pay raise would really help right now since you won’t let me pay for it.”
Brie made a face but nodded. “I’m seriously considering it. It’s just figuring out childcare, especially when it comes to Harper’s appointments.”
“I get that,” Sebastian had said. “But you know I’m always willing. And now that Rosaleen is working for the shop, I have some more availability. Hell, one of her cousins just applied for the position of delivery driver too, so we’ll have more backup with deliveries.”
“That’s good,” Brie said.
“I’m just saying, I feel like things are falling into place,” Sebastian said.
“I think you’re just in a good mood because you’re getting laid regularly,” Brie teased.
Sebastian laughed. “Well, it doesn’t hurt.”
For the next few weeks, Sebastian worked, went to Harriers’ games, and hooked up with Crawford occasionally. Everything settled into a nice little routine.
During the break, while Crawford had been recovering from his injury, it had felt like there was something hovering between them, unsaid and undefined. It had felt different in a way Sebastian couldn’t quite put his finger on.
It was simultaneously a relief and a small disappointment that everything had returned to normal now.
Clearly, it had just been because Crawford had been bored and, well, medicated. On top of spending more time together, of course it had led to things feeling a little different.
Honestly, it was better that it had gone back to normal now.
It wasn’t like Sebastian had wanted it to change.
Toward the third week of February, Boston got a huge dump of snow—nearly two feet in under forty-eight hours.
Although the shop was technically open, he’d told his employees to stay home and that he’d pay for the time off. He didn’t want them trying to make it to work in these conditions, especially because he knew it was unlikely they’d have many customers.
On the second morning of the snowstorms, as plows attempted to clear the streets and heavy white flakes continued to fall, Sebastian puttered around the shop, dusting the slightly neglected corners, and got a text that left him staring blankly at his phone.
Guess who’s doing a press conference today?
Sebastian stared at the text for a moment in confusion. And then it hit him what Nicky meant.
Holy shit! Does that mean what I think it means???
I’m back, baby! I’m playing tomorrow.
Sebastian grinned, setting his duster aside. Holy shit! That’s great news! How are you feeling about it?
Excited. A little nervous. Mostly excited.
That’s fucking awesome. I’m happy for you. Sebastian couldn’t stop smiling for his friend.
Yeah, it’ll be good. It’s been a long time coming, huh?
Yeah, it really has.
A wash of guilt went through Sebastian. Fuck. Maybe Brie had a point. Sebastian was fucking the guy who’d injured his friend. And maybe he wasn’t as good at compartmentalizing shit as he wanted to believe.
I really thought I might never be able to play again, Nicky sent a moment later, which only made Sebastian’s guilt deepen.
I know. Feels good to be wrong though, I bet.
Ha, yeah.
Sebastian typed out, I’m looking forward to seeing you play Boston in a few weeks. You fucking timed that well, dude.
Yeah I did. We’re gonna crush you guys.
Oh, fuck that, Sebastian said. I may live in the city now, but my loyalties are still to the New York Rockets. I haven’t jumped ship and become a Harriers fan. Ride or die Rockets, baby.
Yeah, I hear you’ve been giving Crawford hell. Chirping him every fucking game.
Someone’s got to.
You’re a good friend, Seb. Means a lot.
The guilt multiplied as Sebastian typed out, It’s nothing. But hey, we should hang out when you’re in town if you have time.
I’d love that. Gotta run though. Practice.
Unlike Boston, New York had been spared the worst of the snow.
Good luck with the press conference and the first game back! I’ll watch it for sure.
Thanks! I’ll let you know about meeting up for dinner or something when I’m in town once it gets closer.
Sounds great.
Sebastian set his phone down and sighed.
Yeah, things were starting to feel a whole lot more complicated than he would like.
The snow this morning was bad enough that practice had been cancelled.
Luke shoveled the sidewalk in front of his place, the heavy snow providing a nice workout. He did the neighbor’s too. She was an older lady who shot disapproving looks at his tattoos and when he fired up his bike in nicer weather.
But she was also a die-hard Harriers’ fan and well, he didn’t want to see an old lady collapse with a heart attack on the sidewalk, no matter how much of a sourpuss she was.
So he scraped the sidewalk, stripping off layers of clothing as he went because even if he went out bundled up, he always sweated through them by the time he got his body moving.
He even dusted some snow off the little library.
He never used it to borrow books, but when the contractor working on his house a few years ago had jokingly asked if he’d wanted it painted and re-roofed to match the house, he’d shrugged and said, “Why not?”
People stopped by often, taking out books and adding them in, and it always made him laugh as he wondered if any of them were Harriers fans and what they’d think if they knew it belonged to him.
Sometimes he even picked up books at the airport to toss in there.
Tanner had shot him a funny look on the last road trip when he’d spotted Luke with one. It had a girly-looking shocking pink cover and had been described as a “beach read”. Whatever that fucking meant.
But it was mostly women who grabbed books out of the library and he thought maybe one of them would like it.
Now, as he stood in front of his house, he surveyed the snow still coming down and groaned. He was going to be out here in a couple of hours to do this all over again.
He tossed down a little salt to keep things melting, then headed into the house.
He stripped off, leaving little puddles of snow in his entryway.
A quick shower washed the salt from his skin and he dressed in shorts and a tee before making himself lunch.
He ate, watching a sports channel, and leaned forward when he saw them discussing a New York Rockets press conference.
Holy shit, it was Nicholas Calhoun holding it too.
Luke turned the volume up as he ate, shocked to hear that Calhoun was announcing his return to the team. Luke had assumed it would be a statement about his official retirement.
Throughout the three years of being out with concussion issues, he’d tried to come back a couple of times, but every time they’d returned with a vengeance.
Calhoun had remained captain of the team, even though he’d spent huge chunks of that time away from it. Luke respected their loyalty, but damn, that was a long time for a team to be missing the head of its leadership group.
Still, as Luke shoveled food in his mouth, he was happy for Calhoun. The dude was in his early thirties now and Luke didn’t blame him for not being ready to throw in the towel on his career. It sucked that he’d missed as much prime playing time as he had.
Luke listened as reporters asked questions about his recovery and what treatments had finally worked. Calhoun was pretty vague about it, and so was New York’s head coach and general manager.
The reporters sounded almost doubtful that it would stick and privately, Luke agreed with them.
If it hadn’t worked the previous times, why would it now?
After he was done eating, Luke set his food aside. The press conference had ended and he watched some game highlights from around the league.
He pulled out his phone and thought about texting Sebastian about Calhoun. He was a New York Rockets fan. He must be pretty happy to have the team captain and previous points leader back.
Of course, that begged the question, would they have Leif Rasmussen relinquish his role as top line center to put Calhoun in? Or would Calhoun be slotted in on the second line, riding shotgun to a younger, faster, more promising player than him?
Luke was glad to see Calhoun was back. It had been a long, rough road for him, but it was going to be interesting to see how the team handled it. And Luke wasn’t looking forward to facing the one-two punch of Rasmussen and Calhoun together, that was for damn sure.
He typed out a text to Sebastian before eventually deleting it.
Things had gotten kinda … weird with Sebastian while Luke was out on IR. And the shit at Brie’s house and whatever the fuck that moment in the car had been … But nooo. It was better to keep it to sex and nothing else.
Even if he liked talking hockey with Sebastian.
Even if he had liked sitting around Brie’s old kitchen table and hearing Sebastian laugh at something Harper was doing and … fuck, he needed to stop thinking about this shit.
At this point in his life, he didn’t want or need anyone around. Why had he let himself think otherwise?
As the city streets were cleared and life returned to normal, Sebastian found himself texting more with Nicky.
Great first game back, he’d sent at first. How’d it feel?
Surreal, to be honest, he’d gotten.
They’d kept texting, and Sebastian had learned that Nicky was struggling a little with his place in the lineup.
Look, this is just between you and me, okay? he sent. Because I don’t want to be that guy. Rasmussen has earned his spot as 1C and it’s just sour grapes on my part that I’m 2C. He deserves to center the top line. But it still feels like I got fucking demoted.
I get it, Sebastian said. Or, as much as I can when I’ve never been in your shoes at that level. I think envy is normal. Not that you’ve ever been normal …
The chirping had helped. It had seemed to lift Nicky out of the little funk he’d been in and Sebastian had been glad.
Nicky had been collecting points since his comeback too.
With him and Rasmussen in the line, the Rockets were on a bit of a heater right now.
Although they were still several spots down in the rankings from where the Harriers were, it was early March now and the next few weeks were going to be interesting for both teams.
Especially when New York came to play in Boston.
Sebastian couldn’t wait.