36. Sebastian
Chapter thirty-six
Sebastian
I’m running on fumes when we land in Orlando late on Thursday after our seven-day road trip, as are most of the team given how quiet the plane was.
We played four games over the past week, and it was not good—one win and three losses, one of which we lost in overtime and one that was a shutout.
Three fucking points out of a possible eight.
I thought we had a few of the games in the bag, but between missed penalties, goals being taken off the scoreboard, and missed stoppages, we ended up losing.
Pretty terrible. I’m also still sore from the hit I took during Saturday’s game.
I’m so ready to be home with Sutton. I miss her, so very much. Her and our baby. And the cats too, can’t forget them.
I’m so thankful Coach gave us tomorrow off. I thought for sure he’d want to get an extra practice in after how badly we played during this road trip, but I think he realized that we need rest more than extra practice.
Wes offered to take me home, so I follow him out to his Jeep when we get off the plane, and he makes the short drive to my condo.
“Thanks for the ride,” I tell him when he pulls up in front of my building.
“No problem. See you Saturday.”
With a wave, he drives away, and I head into the building and up to my condo.
Once inside, I set my bag down, slip my shoes off, and bend down to greet Bert and Ernie who have come running.
It’s after midnight, so I assume Sutton’s already asleep, which means I’ll have to wait until tomorrow to kiss her, tell her how much I love her and missed her.
When I walk into the living room, my heart drops at the sight in front of me—Sutton lying on the couch, a blanket pulled up to her chin.
“Love,” I whisper as I pad over to her. Why isn’t she in bed?
“Bash,” she says, lifting her head off the pillow and looking at me.
I gasp when I see that her face is red and splotchy, her eyes bloodshot. My heart rate picks up. Did something happen to the baby? Dear God, I hope not. Did she get hurt? Sick? More bad news from her family? Her sister? The cats are here, so it’s not them.
“What happened?” I drop to my knees next to her. “Are you okay? Is it the baby?”
She stops me with a finger on my lips. “We’re both fine.”
She moves her hand, and I reach for it, holding it as I wait for her to speak. She opens and closes her mouth a few times, but no words come out.
Instead, she starts crying, and I scoop her up and sit down with her in my lap.
She curls against me, and I wrap my arms around her.
I kick myself for not being here. For not being able to protect her from whatever is going on.
Fucking hell, I hate hockey right now, taking me away from her, from them, when she needs me.
She hiccups a breath. I rub her back, waiting for her to speak, but she doesn’t.
I hate seeing her crying. I need her to talk to me, tell me what’s going on so I can figure out how to fix it or at least know how to support her.
“Love, you’re scaring me a lot. What’s going on?”
She buries her head in my chest. “It’s bad. This is all my fault.”
“I’m your husband, Sutton. It’s you and me against the world. If there’s one person you can tell anything, it’s me.”
She finally lifts her head, wiping the tears away. “Promise me you won’t judge me when I tell you.”
I shake my head, tightening my hold on her, my heart racing. “I’d never judge you.”
What the fuck happened? Did she find the father of her baby? My stomach drops. It wouldn’t be the end of the world if she did. But would she be crying about it? Maybe if he wanted custody or was cruel to her. If that’s the case I will hunt him down and make him regret that.
“I went to meet Glenn on Tuesday, and my father showed up.”
“Bloody hell,” I growl, remembering that she told me about the meeting. In my haste to comfort her I forgot all about that meeting. And her fucking father had the audacity to show up?
“It gets worse. He demanded I sign over the hotels to him. Said they should have been his all along.”
“No,” I hiss.
Damn it.
If only I’d been there with her. I should have been there with her.
I should have gone to Coach and told him that there was a family emergency and I needed to get home.
He would have understood. I’d have paid whatever fine there was or gotten benched for a few games.
Wouldn’t have mattered. She said she had it handled and I figured it would be fine, it was only supposed to be a meeting with the lawyer to sign paperwork.
“He threatened me, you, your family’s farm, the team, everyone we love. He basically implied that the team could get caught in a betting scandal.” She swallows roughly. “Said your injury was just the beginning,” she says, voice shaking. “I don’t want anyone else to get hurt.”
“He knows about my family?”
I blink a few times trying to process what she said.
Her father knows about my family’s farm.
He’s willing to somehow fake a scandal that could get the team in a boatload of trouble just to get what he wants from Sutton.
She wasn’t kidding when she said he uses his money to get what he wants, not that I didn’t believe her when she told me, but fucking hell.
“I’m sure the minute he heard who I married, he went and dug up whatever leverage he could find to hold over me.
I’m sorry. This is all my fault.” She wrings her hands.
“I’m not sure what choice I have. I’ve spent the last forty-eight hours trying to come up with a solution that doesn’t involve giving my father what he wants, but I don’t think there’s another way.
” Her shoulders fall, and she leans against me.
“I’m sure I could sue my grandmother’s estate for my inheritance, and they’d have to give it to me, but knowing my father, he’d still go through with his threats”
“We’ll think of something.” I tell her, even though I don’t know what that something is right now or if there’s even a way. But there’s got to be, right?
She plays with the buttons on my shirt. “I can’t risk you or anyone else getting hurt or losing their jobs or career.”
I rub her back, peering down at her and thinking about what she said for a few beats. We have to at least try.
“We have to go to the GM with this. Those calls were bad the past few games. I know it, Coach knows it, everyone knows it. Plus, there’s the hit to Hunter the other week, the one to me, the goal on Saturday that wasn’t a goal, and all the other shit that’s been going on.”
“We have no actual proof,” she says quietly. “My father will deny it. Say I’m making it up because I’m pissed at him. He’ll turn it on me and make it my fault.”
“Fucking hell,” I spit out. “He is not winning. Someone has to know something.” I refuse to believe that he’s just going to get away with this. I refuse to let him. Even if it takes all my time and energy, I am not going to let Sutton’s father win.
She shakes her head. “Even if they do, what are the chances they’ll speak up? I’m sure he’s paid off anyone who does know.”
“There’s got to be another way. We’ll go to the GM tomorrow. Bring him the evidence.” Alex Alverez, our team’s General Manager, has to be able to do something. Ask for an investigation. Something. Anything. “Maybe he can talk to the other GMs, see if anyone knows anything.”
“We can try, but it feels so hopeless,” she whispers, fiddling with her rings. “You don’t know what my father is capable of.”
I rub a hand down her back. “I don’t care. No one threatens my wife, my team, my family, and gets away with it. We’ll figure it out.”
“We can try.” She sags against me. “The longer it takes for me to sign those papers, the more risk there is that someone gets hurt, badly, or worse.”
“I know. That’s why we need to talk to the guys and to Mr. Alverez. Maybe even Coach. Your father is not going to win. At the very least, we are not going to let him win easily.”
She’s silent for a few beats before she says, “Thank you, Bash.”
I drop a quick kiss to her forehead. “No need to thank me. I want you and our daughter to be safe.”
She inhales sharply. “What did you say?”
“I want you and our daughter to be safe.” It was a slip of the tongue to say our daughter, but I meant it. I can only hope that she’s alright with me saying it.
“Do you mean it?”
“Of course. I love you, and I love your daughter like she’s mine. I hope that’s okay.”
She takes my hand and lays it on her belly.
“Say it again,” she whispers.
I repeat myself, and my eyes widen at what feels like a kick.
“Was that?” I ask as I stare down at her belly, willing little miss to kick again.
“Yeah.” She grins up at me. “She’s been extremely active today, but she started kicking when she heard you. She knows the sound of her daddy’s voice.”
I blink a few times. Who the hell is cutting onions in here? I draw her closer to me.
“I love you, Sutton Henderson. You two are my whole world. I will do whatever it takes to protect you, both of you. I hope you know that.”
She hugs me back. “I know. I love you so very much. I want the three of us to be a family, to raise our daughter together.”
I wipe my eyes. Now someone really is cutting onions. She shifts to face me, and then she’s kissing me. We get lost in each other for a few seconds before I pull away and lean my forehead against hers.
“It’s late. We should get you to sleep.”
She yawns, moving off my lap. I get to my feet and follow her into our bedroom, my mind going in a million different directions as I try to come up with a way to solve this problem her father has created.
Because there’s no way in hell I’m going to let him win.
Whatever it takes, I will protect what’s mine at all costs.