9. Sebastian
Chapter nine
Sebastian
The rest of the team chatters and celebrates today’s win, and normally I’d be joining in, but I’m tired.
I haven’t slept well on this road trip, and I’m trying to convince myself it’s a coincidence and not because of the woman who’s my new roommate.
I refuse to believe it’s because I’m worried about her.
We’ve texted a few times, but I haven’t heard from her since yesterday morning, and I hate it.
Which is crazy, because it’s barely been thirty-six hours.
But since our game was in the early afternoon, we had to be at the arena by mid-morning.
I didn’t want to risk texting her and waking her up. So I didn’t.
Grunting, I take a seat on the bench to finish getting dressed, grateful that from here, we’re heading to the airport and home. I grab my phone out of my locker and turn it on.
“Shit,” I mutter when I see I have two missed calls and a voicemail from my sister.
“You alright?” Wes asks, leaning closer to me.
I furrow my brows. “My sister called during the game, and she never calls without texting first.”
“Shit, man, hope everything is okay.”
“Me too.” I stand, putting on my suit jacket. “I’m gonna go call her back. Hopefully catch her before she goes to bed.”
I hurry out the locker room and find a quiet corner to phone my sister, not even bothering to listen to her voicemail.
“’Ello,” Harriet says, her voice laced with sleep, when she picks on the fourth ring.
“Shit, sorry, Harr. Didn’t think you’d be sleeping already. I just saw you called.”
“S’okay.” She clears her throat.
“What’s going on?”
“I’m pregnant.”
“Congrats.” I’m so happy for my middle sister and her husband. They’ve been trying to get pregnant for a while, so I can imagine how excited they are.
“Being pregnant complicates things. It was already hard juggling our farm and helping Mum at hers, but now we’re going to add a baby to the mix. When we told Mum earlier today, she said now might be a good time to think about selling.” She whispers the last part, and I rear back.
No. I can’t let that happen. It’s been in our family for generations. I can’t let my father down. I promised him I’d take care of the family, which includes his legacy, his family’s legacy—the farm.
“I talked to her two days ago. She didn’t mention anything about selling.”
Harriet sighs. “I think it’s because we told her we were pregnant. It’s not going to be feasible for us to juggle two farms. It’s already tough.”
I pace. “That settles it. I’ll come home at the end of the season and take over.” I rough a hand through my hair, tugging on the ends.
“Bash,” she says gently. “Your life is there on the ice, not here running the family farm. What about your girlfriend? Your friends? You’re just going to abandon your team and your life? I thought you wanted to play professional hockey.”
“I do, but—”
“We gotta head to the bus.” Hunter’s voice comes from behind me.
“Listen, Harriet. I have to go. I’m sorry. We’re leaving for the airport. Can we talk about this later with Mum?”
“Yeah. I probably shouldn’t have called and alarmed you. I just couldn’t …”
“It’s fine. Congrats on your pregnancy. I’m happy for you. Don’t worry about the farm. I’ll figure it out.”
“Bash …”
“Gotta go. Love you.” I hang up the phone and shove it into my pocket before following Hunter toward the exit of the arena and onto the waiting bus.
“Your sister okay?” Wes asks when I drop into the seat in front of him.
“Yeah.” I lean back against the seat as the bus starts moving.
“Want to talk about it?” Hunter asks from my left.
I stare out the window vacantly.
“My mum wants to sell the farm that’s been in our family for five generations,” I finally tell him.
“Fuck, man. That sucks,” Wes says.
I let out a strained laugh. “No shit.”
“I’m sorry. Anything we can do?” Hunter asks.
I shake my head. “No, I have to figure out how to fix this. My mum wants to retire, and I don’t blame her. My sister and her husband already have her husband’s farm. I get it. My little sister is at culinary school and has no interest.”
“It’s not up to you to fix everything,” Hunter says, and I rear back at his words, my eyes widening.
Yes. It is. I’m the oldest. I promised Dad.
It’s my responsibility. Which is why I’m going home after the end of the season.
I just have to convince my family to wait that long.
“But if you need to talk things through, I’m happy to listen. We all are.”
Wes nods.
I turn to them, grateful for this team, for these friendships that I’ll be losing at the end of the season. Maybe not losing, because I think we’ll always be friends, but it won’t be the same when I’m thousands of miles away across the Atlantic.
“Thanks.”
“So, you and Sutton, eh?” Wes asks. I blink a couple of times, processing his question. Talk about whiplash.
“Can we not?”
“I gotta say, man, I can’t get a read on her, on you two,” Wes says.
“We’re just friends. And roommates.”
“For now,” Hunter says.
It’s not that I wouldn’t be happy with being more than her friend, but now that I’m probably going back home at the end of the season for good, it wouldn’t be fair on her to start dating now, if she even wants me, and then leave in five or six months.
“I’ve tried to ask her out before, multiple times. She said no. I even went to that bloody speed dating event last year,” I say.
Hunter and Wes laugh.
I was walking out of the locker room after a workout when I overheard her telling another staff member about where she and Becca were going that night. I shouldn’t have gone, I know that now, but past Sebastian didn’t.
“I’m sorry, sir. This is a private event,” the woman sitting at the table at the entrance of the bar tells me.
“I’m not here for the event. Just one of your participants.” I glance around, searching for her. For Sutton. I know she’s here.
“There she is,” I say, shooting a cheeky grin at Sutton as I attempt to walk around the check-in table and over to where she and Becca are standing by the bar.
“I’m sorry, sir, the bar is closed for the next two hours for a private event.”
“Sebastian,” Sutton barks out.
She grabs her glass of wine and stalks over to where I’m in a staring contest with the event organizer. I know she’s doing her job, but if she’d just let me by so I could talk to Sutton. Convince her this is not how she wants to spend her Friday night. If I could talk to her alone. Plead my case.
As she comes my way, I take her in, and fuck me, is she radiant tonight.
She always is, but tonight she’s even more so.
She’s wearing a long V-neck navy dress, with flowy sleeves and a slit that goes halfway up her thigh, and black ankle boots.
Her blonde hair is curled and loose down her back.
I wonder if it’s as soft as it appears. I want to peel her out of her dress, kiss all down her body …
“What are you doing here? How did you know I was here?” Sutton asks.
“The walls have ears, love.” I wink. Now or never. “You want to date someone, I’m available. Why are you wasting a Friday night speed dating?” I hold out my arms, hoping maybe she’ll agree, to put me out of my misery.
“I told you I can’t date you,” she hisses.
“One date, that’s all I’m asking for.” I hold up a finger.
“No. Go home, Sebastian.”
“I can’t do that, love,” I tell her even as my heart breaks.
She huffs at me before stalking away. I turn to Becca, raising my eyebrows, silently pleading for her to help, to talk to Sutton, anything. Unfortunately, she gives me a little shake of her head before following Sutton over to the bar.
Only one thing left to do. “Sign me up,” I say to the organizer.
She quirks her eyebrows at me before taking my money.
“Be there for her. You never know what will happen,” Wes says, pulling me out of the memory.
I nod, turning back to the window.
When we land in Orlando, hours later, I rush off the plane, grab my suitcase, and head to my SUV to make the short drive back to my condo.
Eventually, I’m making my way up to my front door, unlocking it, and tiptoeing inside.
The dark apartment leads me to think Sutton is asleep, so I carry my suitcase farther inside, not tempting fate that the wheels won’t squeak.
“Hey you,” Sutton says when I round the corner into the dark kitchen.
I almost jump out of my skin, putting a hand to my chest and turning to the woman in question, who is standing in my kitchen, her hair mussed like she just woke up. She’s dressed for bed in an oversized shirt and a pair of shorts.
“Hey, love.” I smile. “Almost gave me a heart attack. I thought you’d be asleep.”
“Sorry. I fell asleep on the couch for a while. I was trying to wait up for you, but I’ve been so tired lately.
” She punctuates that statement with a yawn, her hand falling to her stomach, and I track the movement.
I wonder if she’s showing yet. She’s been wearing baggy shirts and dresses, so it’s not like I can tell, and I can’t exactly ask even though I really want to.
Get it together, Bash. “I woke up a few minutes ago and was debating what to do.”
I hang my suit jacket over the barstool, loosening my tie. She sets a glass of water in front of me, and I take a sip from it before meeting her eyes.
“Thanks. Did everything with the movers go okay?”
“Yes.” She narrows her eyes at me. “But they wouldn’t even take a tip from me. Said it was already taken care of.” She studies me. “You can’t keep doing this.”
I shrug off her comment because I can and I will. “I’m glad things went well. Think I’m going to change and unpack. Shouldn’t be long.” I hook a thumb over my shoulder.
“Sebastian,” she mumbles, but I’m already grabbing my stuff and hurrying into the bedroom to unpack.