CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
A cool breeze wafted over Sebastian as the sheets were peeled back.
“Alright, Flower Boy, up and at ’em.” A stinging slap landed on his ass and he jerked in surprise, muffling a laugh against the pillow.
He’d been awake for a little while, half-dozing, too tired to drag himself out of bed. They’d stayed at the hospital until Harper was out of surgery and in a hospital room, then headed to Luke’s house to crash. Brie had stayed with Harper overnight.
“Get your ass out of bed. I made breakfast,” Luke said.
Sebastian sat up. “You can cook?”
Sure, he’d made the brownies once, but Sebastian had assumed they’d come from a box mix.
Luke scoffed. “I’m a grown-ass adult. Of course I can cook. Just because you can’t do anything that isn’t in a slow cooker—”
“I can cook just fine!” Sebastian protested. “I just haven’t had time lately because of the shop—oh fuck, the shop. I need to call my employees and—”
“Already done.”
Sebastian squinted at him. “What?”
“I called your employees and let them know you weren’t going to make it in because Harper’s in the hospital.”
“You what?”
Luke’s words came out exaggeratedly slow as he said, “I called your employees to tell them you wouldn’t be in today because …”
“No, I get that part,” Sebastian said, still baffled. “But why? And how?”
“Cause you looked like you needed some fucking sleep and it’s your own damn fault for using face recognition on your phone. How fucking old is yours, by the way? You need the newer kind that won’t let it unlock unless your eyes are open.”
Sebastian let out a sputtering noise. “You used my face to unlock my phone, then called my employees—what the fuck did you tell them?”
Luke chuckled. “Dude, I was kidding about the phone. Face recognition is some bad shit though. You really should turn that off completely. Nobody needs to give big tech companies that kind of info.”
Sebastian stared at him. He definitely wasn’t awake enough for this conversation. “Back up to the beginning. If you didn’t break into my phone, how the fuck did you figure out how to get ahold of my employees?”
“I texted Catherine, who gave me Rosaleen’s number once I explained the situation and—”
“You told Catherine and Rosaleen that Harper is in the hospital?”
“Yeah.”
“Uhh, but what did you tell her about who you are to me?”
“I told her that I was your … boyfriend. Though at this point, they’d probably figured it out already, right?”
Sebastian blinked. Yeah, it was waaay too fucking early for this conversation. Though, from a glance at the clock, it wasn’t that early at all. “I just … are we … boyfriends?”
Luke sighed. “You know how much I fucking hate labels, but yes. Boyfriends, partners, whatever the fuck you want to call it. And maybe we should figure that shit out or whatever but right now, let’s just focus on one thing at a time.
We both need food. I’m sure you need to get to the hospital to check on Harper and relieve Brie. And I need to get to practice.”
“Yeah, good points,” Sebastian said, hiding a smile as he stooped to grab his underwear. Weirdly, he kinda liked it when Luke got bossy about taking care of him.
After he was dressed, he glanced up at Luke who was waiting surprisingly patiently for him to get his shit together. “Maybe we can talk some more after we get through this shit with Harper?”
“Sounds good.” Luke reached out and squeezed the back of his neck. “Now, are you gonna let me feed you or what?”
Sebastian squinted at him. “I don’t know. It depends on what you made.”
Luke rolled his eyes.
They were still gently bickering by the time they made it down to Luke’s kitchen.
Sebastian got a hilariously shocked look on his face when he glanced at the table. “Holy shit. You even set the table.”
“We don’t all eat like animals standing up in the kitchen,” Luke said with a disgusted glance. “Now sit down.”
Honestly, it was just a couple of everyday plates and forks and shit. He’d never owned fine china and he sure as fuck hadn’t put out any flowers or candles or anything. What was the big deal?
Sebastian sat down and pulled out his phone. He was quiet as he did something on it and Luke turned away to fire up the burner. “How many eggs do you want?”
“Two.”
“How do you like them?”
“Any way but over hard.”
“Scrambled it is.” Luke cracked six eggs into a bowl and whisked them with a fork, poured a little olive oil into the pan and let it heat, then dumped the eggs in on top. Seriously, this shit wasn’t difficult. That was what YouTube was for, right?
“Brie says Harper did okay last night,” Sebastian said after a few moments. “They’re doing some testing this morning.”
“That’s good.” Luke gave the eggs a quick stir with the spatula. “I’m glad.”
“I’ve got about an hour before visiting hours even start. Trying to decide if I’m going to go home and change first or not.”
“You could always wear somethin’ of mine,” Luke said. “I’ve got a Harrier’s hoodie that—”
Something hit his shoulder and Luke glanced back to see Sebastian had balled up the paper towel Luke had set out as napkins and chucked it at him.
“Not in a million years,” Sebastian said.
Luke grinned. It was good to know that whatever they were doing these days, it still felt like them.
“Ahh crap,” Sebastian said. “I should swing by Brie’s place and get some stuff for her and Harper. Whatever, I’ll just re-wear the clothes I wore yesterday, I guess.”
“How do you take your coffee?” Luke asked, pouring some into the Harriers mugs he’d set out for them both.
“Black.”
“Gross.” Luke handed over the mug.
Sebastian squinted at the design on the side, made a face, then looked up. “You don’t? Huh. You seem like a black coffee kinda guy.”
“Nope. Not even close.”
Luke had been about sixteen when he started drinking coffee and at the time, he’d needed all the calories he could get his hands on. Cream and sugar—along with his peanut butter and pickle sandwiches—were the things he refused to budge on, even when the dietician gave him that look.
He was good with the brown rice, whole grain oats, lean protein shit to fuel him up for games, but a man had to have a few indulgences.
A few minutes later, Luke dished up the oatmeal, turkey sausage, and fruit he’d made earlier, then added the freshly scrambled eggs to the plate. The whole time, Sebastian sat there with his mouth hanging open.
“You better close that thing unless you want me to do somethin’ more useful with it,” Luke warned.
Sebastian gave him a considering look. “Maybe. Do we have time?”
Luke glanced at the clock and sighed. “Probably not.”
“Damn.”
After breakfast, Sebastian helped him clear the table and load the dishwasher. “Thank you,” he said.
Luke shrugged and leaned against the cabinets. “No big deal.”
“No, not just breakfast. I mean for all of it,” Sebastian said thickly. “For babysitting Harper with me last night. Calling the ambulance. Waiting at the hospital. Being there for me when I needed it. Bringing me here so I could sleep. Making me breakfast …”
“That’s what you do when you care about someone right?” Luke said gruffly.
Sebastian nodded. “I guess I didn’t know how much you cared.”
Luke tugged at Sebastian’s shirt to pull him closer, then cupped his face in his hands. Sebastian looked tired and worried, but he was kinda beautiful too.
Luke wasn’t sure he’d ever really looked into his eyes that way before.
“I care more about you than I’ve cared about anyone in a damn long time,” Luke said quietly. “And I’m planning to care about you for even longer. I’m not an easy man to be with, I know that. But if you’ll be patient with me, I think we could be something good.”
Sebastian sighed and rested his forehead against Luke’s. “I think maybe we already are.”
“Hey, guys!” Connor called out. “Listen up!”
The locker room quieted and Luke glanced up from where he’d been pulling tape off his socks after practice. He wondered what his captain was about to say.
“Jesse got a text from my ma this morning. You all remember Harper, yeah?”
The guys chorused yes.
“Well, she was taken to the hospital last night. She’s okay,” he said when worried murmurs rose up. “But she had to have her pacemaker replaced.”
“Oh shit,” Tanner said. “That’s scary.”
Connor continued. “There’s gonna be a meeting at O’Neill’s Pub this evening about it. The SAPs are organizing it.”
“I guess Brie and Krista were hanging out last night,” Jesse added. “They were having dinner when Brie got the call about Harper. Krista and Mandy, along with Mrs. O, are organizing something to help Brie and Harper out.”
“Is it like a fundraiser?” Graham asked with a frown. “Because I’d be happy to donate.”
Jesse shrugged. “Not sure yet. I think it’s also about getting them help with like … meals after they’re home from the hospital and then babysitting and stuff.”
Luke was impressed how much they’d already done this morning. Seemed like they hadn’t said anything about him and Sebastian either, which was nice of them.
“If you have other plans, I understand,” Jesse continued. “But try to make it if you can.”
A bunch of guys nodded, most of them chorusing that they’d be there, and the impromptu meeting officially broke up.
Luke had just stripped down to his base layer pants when Connor wandered over. “Think you can make it tonight?”
“Yeah, of course,” Luke said.
“Good.” Connor slapped his shoulder, then frowned. “Shit, I wonder if we should invite Sebastian too. I know you’re not a big fan but …”
“He should be there,” Luke agreed.
“Hopefully Krista can pass that message along to him,” Connor said with a frown.
“I’ll tell him when I see him at the hospital later,” Luke offered.
So far, there was nothing online about him and Sebastian. Maybe the people in the waiting room last night hadn’t recognized him, or if they did, had been too worried about their sick kids to pay any attention to him or what he’d said.