21. Phillip
Chapter 21
Phillip
“ H azel’s fast asleep,” I declared as I walked into the kitchen. Cormac and Roman were standing on one side of the kitchen island, Sebastian on the other. The atmosphere was slightly tense, and they kept throwing glares at one another.
“I don’t know why you let her bring him,” Cormac said, waving a hand at Sebastian while frowning at me.
“It’s not like I gave Hazel much of a choice,” Sebastian retorted. “She’s my best friend, and I wasn’t going to let her go off with three strangers.”
“I would hardly call us strangers, considering she’s pregnant with our child.”
“Does she even know your middle names?” he asked, raising his brows.
He had a point there.
“I don’t have a middle name,” Cormac declared with confidence.
That was total bullshit.
“Your middle name is Hamish,” Sebastian said in a deadpan voice. We all turned to him with varying looks of surprise.
“How the fuck do you know that?” Cormac exclaimed. “Have you been stalking me? I bet you have. I bet you set up cameras in our house! This is all part of some weird stalker conspiracy, isn’t it?”
Groaning, I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Ignore him.”
“Last year, during the game with the Bears, you decided to scream at the top of your lungs, I’m Cormac Fucking Hamish Fucking Presley so loud, the entire rink could hear you.”
Cormac stilled, the annoyed look melting away as he remembered. “Oh yeah, I did do that. It was a damn good goal I saved!”
“You know, having him here could have his uses,” Roman said. “On the drive over here, he told me loads of information about Duchess. Regardless of whether we like him, he knows a lot about her, and we want what’s best for her.”
“As do I,” Sebastian confirmed.
“You did punch me last year, though,” Roman continued.
Sebastian snorted. “You know what, given the state of my face, I think we can say we’re even.”
Roman pursed his lips, shrugged, then nodded. “Yeah, I think I can handle a truce. For Duchess.”
Cormac glanced between us, a disgruntled look on his face.
“I think we’re all going to have to play nice for Hazel’s sake. She won’t like it if any of you guys are punching one another,” I reasoned.
Cormac groaned. “I accept it, but I don’t like it. Truce?” he asked Sebastian.
He nodded. “Truce.”
“Just so you know, there isn’t anywhere for you to sleep,” Roman declared. “There’s another room that we were intending to turn into the nursery, but it’s empty at the minute, so you’re going to be sleeping on the cold, hard floor… Are you okay with that?” His words were clearly a test. I was curious how Sebastian would respond.
He took a deep breath. “If it’s what I’ve got to do to be here with Hazel, it’s what I’ve gotta do.”
Cormac scrunched his nose. “That made far too much sense for me. Why is he making sense?”
When Hazel had agreed to move in, I expected her to come with enough bedding and soft, squishy things to fill several stores. That was part and parcel of having an omega living with you.
I hadn’t expected the books.
Which, in hindsight, was quite stupid of me, because Hazel was studying English. It made sense that, the following day, the entryway of our house was filled with boxes of books.
“Is this her entire collection?” I asked Sebastian, who was moving every box without complaint. I had to give him credit; his back was probably in pain after sleeping on the floor, yet he was lugging her stuff around without a single grumble.
“This is part of her collection. The rest is in storage.”
“Holy fuck,” I muttered.
“Hazelnut can’t pack light to save her life.” He laughed, picking up another box and heading toward the living room, where we had cleared a few shelves for her.
Shaking my head, I followed him. He seemed to know his way through our house already.
“Have you eaten?” I asked. I wasn’t exactly pleased that we had a guest, but I wasn’t going to be outwardly rude to him.
Plus, Hazel would be upset if he starved.
“I had a protein shake. Thanks.” He nodded as he opened up the box and started pulling out books. “I should probably put these on the shelves, but I feel like Hazel’s going to murder me if I put them in the wrong order. I did that once accidentally.” He shuddered at the memory.
“She can be a vicious little thing, can’t she?” I said, grabbing a few books from the box and gently placing them on the shelf.
“Oh yeah, she always has been! When we were eight, she shoved me out of a treehouse because I told her that the doll she had just gotten looked possessed.”
“You guys have been friends that long?”
“We were five when we met. We lived near each other and snuck out together a lot to go get frozen Cokes. Her parents were super strict and didn’t let her have a lot of sugar.”
My eyebrows raised. “I thought sugar was one of the primary food groups for omegas?” That wasn’t true, but it could have been, considering omegas were notorious for having sweet tooths.
“Her parents despise the fact she’s an omega. They treat her more like a beta. They had her on suppressants the moment she presented.”
I mentally filed that information away for later. Unfortunately, if Hazel’s parents were difficult, then it could make our futures somewhat uncomfortable. They were the grandparents of our unborn child, after all.
“They sound wonderful,” I declared in my most sarcastic voice.
Sebastian chuckled ruefully, pointing at me with one of the hardback books he was about to shelf. “They are something. I don’t know if I want to be in the same room as you, or on another continent, when Hazel admits that a pack of alphas got her pregnant. Her mother’s head may just explode.”
“Sounds messy. Is Hazel awake yet?” I looked in the general direction of her room.
“I haven’t heard a peep from her. You should probably go nudge her awake. She has class in two hours.”
“You have her schedule memorized?”
He shook his head. “While I have a decent memory, her schedule is absolutely insane, so I took a photo of it. I can send it to you, if you want?”
“I would appreciate that.” Knowing more about Hazel’s day-to-day life would be helpful.
I was starting to see what Roman meant about Sebastian being helpful.
“Look, I get that we’re enemies on the ice…” Sebastian sighed, standing up straight and meeting my eyes. He had dark cycles and his face was wary. “But when it comes to Hazel, I’ll happily put everything aside. I just want what’s best for her, and if you guys want the same, I think we can get along.”
I cocked my head to the side. “You don’t seem terrible. I think we could get along. You’re just going to have to make peace with the fact that you’re going to be the worst hockey player in this house.”
Sebastian’s eyes widened as he spluttered. “I am not as bad as Hazel! She can hardly walk on solid ground. How do you think she copes on ice?”
“I don’t know. I remember that goal you missed last year in the final game…” I was smiling as I spoke, so there was no real heat behind my words.
He was struggling to hold back a smile as he shook his head. “Of course, you remember that. Conveniently, we can’t get Hazel on the ice to prove how bad she is. There’s no way in hell she’s allowed within a mile of the ice while she’s pregnant.”
I grimaced. “Agreed.”
“I’ve only got one more box to pick up, so go wake Sleeping Beauty,” Sebastian said, reaching down and grabbing a few more books.
Shaking my head, I strode out of the room.
Was it possible I could get along with this guy?