Rebound

47. Roman

FORTY-SEVEN

ROMAN

I start to worry when, by the next morning, I still haven’t received a text from Lavinia. I fell asleep, my phone still clutched in my hand and when I unlocked it, the last message was still from me, wishing her a good night and telling her I’ll see her today.

It’s completely unlike her not to reply to messages. She thinks it’s rude to leave someone on read, whereas I think someone has to end the conversation.

I get up, get ready, feed the cats and spend fifteen minutes helping Kita hang a planter.

My phone is buzzing when I get back to my apartment, so much so that it’s close to falling off the counter.

My heart thuds wildly, thinking the worse has happened.

I pick up the phone and my heart sinks in disappointment when I see the messages aren’t from Lavinia. It’s the HoBros.

Crystal (Reese)

Has anyone seen a crop top?

Destiny (Holden)

In general? Yes, I’ve seen plenty.

Crystal (Reese)

No, I mean I’m missing a crop top.

Trixie (Ford)

How are your missing clothes our responsibility?

Crystal (Reese)

It’s the HoBros solidarity!

Trixie (Ford)

I refuse to accept this solidarity.

Crystal (Reese)

You can’t do that; you’re a part of the sacred group chat.

And if you leave, I’ll add you back.

Destiny (Holden)

Drew’s the only one who’s ever attempted to leave, not realizing we’ll keep dragging him back until the day we die.

Sassy (Drew)

I don’t remember making this commitment and frankly, it makes me uncomfortable.

Kandi (Kai)

Everything makes you uncomfortable.

Sassy (Drew)

Not you, too. Has no one considered we’re debilitatingly codependent?

Crystal (Reese)

But that’s the best part of the HoBros.

Destiny (Holden)

Do you think we scared Roman away?

Bubbles pop up at the bottom of the screen, showing that Trixie (Ford) is writing a response. I set down my phone and briefly consider putting it on silent. Why did I want this again? Suddenly, I see my future and it involves a phone which never stops buzzing. My life will never be silent again.

I switch over to Lavinia’s chat. I have nothing to panic about. I have her flight information correct; she’s probably on the plane right now if everything went according to plan.

Roman

Hope you boarded the plane safely and have a safe flight. I’ll see you when you get in. Let me know if you need me to stop by and make dinner for you and Jules.

I finish getting ready for practice and leave my apartment after giving the cats plenty of pets.

Practice is grueling and I miss every shot I take. Coach is pissed. I w’ll be surprised if he lets me on the ice for our next game because that seems to be his favorite punishment.

“What are you doing?” Ford snaps, when I miss the goal once again. “You could have made that goal in your sleep.”

“Maybe I left it open for you since I know you wouldn’t have gotten it,” I snap back.

“Don’t be an ass.” Ford jabs his stick into my side, but with the gear in place, I hardly feel anything.

“Can’t help what he already is,” Drew says, skating by us.

“What’s wrong?” This comes from Kai. Since we’re close to the goalie net, he can hear everything. I shake my head, but his brown eyes are penetrating, even from under his helmet. How is he able to do that?

“It’s Lavinia,” I admit.

Saying her name is like dropping blood into shark infested waters. Even as gross as the analogy is, it’s exactly what happens. The guys are suddenly surrounding me, even though I wasn’t that loud.

“What’s wrong with Lavinia?” Drew demands.

“This is not time for gossip!” Coach yells. “When you’re on the ice, you’re playing or practicing. Save the conversation for the dressing room. Back in position. Now!”

The guys skate away, and Drew remains, waiting for an answer.

“Callahan!” Coach’s command has Drew grinding his jaw and skating away, spraying ice everywhere.

The team’s even worse now and after an hour of missing goals and fucking up plays, Coach calls the practice to an end. It’s followed by thirty minutes of telling us we’re getting complacent and just because we won the Stanley Cup last season doesn’t mean we’ll win it again.

“Whatever the fuck is wrong, fix it.” Coach’s eyes move over each one of us. “I don’t want to go through this again at practice. Am I fucking clear?”

“Yes, Coach,” Drew says.

We all mumble our apologies as we make our way through the tunnel and back into the dressing room.

“What’s wrong with Lavinia?” Drew asks again.

I’m ripping my gloves off and reaching for my phone. Her flight should have landed by now, but my phone shows no new notifications. When I check an online tracker, it shows her flight arrived an hour ago.

I call her and the phone rings and rings, no answer. Drew’s in front of me, his face stony.

“What. Is. Wrong. With. Lavinia?”

“I don’t know,” I snap at him, calling her again.

“I texted her last night and this morning, but she didn’t reply.

I thought she was asleep last night and on the flight this morning, but the plane landed an hour ago.

” Her phone rings and rings and goes to voicemail again. “She’s not answering her phone.”

“Maybe she doesn’t want to talk to you?” Holden suggests.

I’d considered the possibility and with each unanswered text and call, I’m starting to wonder if it’s true. The thing is, I can’t recall what I could’ve said or done to upset her. I shake my head. “I don’t know. Maybe.”

“Let me call her.” Drew has his phone out of his bag in a second and I huddle in closer to him as he calls Lavinia. His green eyes remain on mine as he lowers his phone, his call unanswered.

“Maybe she lost her phone, or it ran out of battery?” Ford supplies. He’s sitting in front of his locker, unlacing his skates. Out of all of us, he’s the least worried. It makes me irrationally angry because he’s not upset that something could have happened to my wife.

“Call Jules,” Kai says, his tone level, even as his brows dip with worry. “If there was something wrong, we’d already know about it because Jules would have called us.”

“Unless something happened to Jules, too,” Holden says. In response to that, Reese tosses his gloves at him which hit Holden directly in the face. It thrills that irrationally angry part of me.

“Put it on speaker,” I tell Drew as he calls Jules.

He gets this look on his face like he swallowed something disgusting as he dials Jules. I can’t help notice that her contact is saved under her full name. Literally, her full name: Juliet Anne Love. It’s diabolical.

The call rings through, once, twice, and then, “Andrew.”

Reese flips off Holden and Holden returns the favor.

“What’s wrong?” Jules asks. “Did you miss me?”

Drew rolls his eyes. “Yeah, I miss you screaming because our arms accidentally touched at family dinner.”

“That was extremely traumatic for me, and I don’t think you should make fun of my trauma.”

Drew opens his mouth to reply, and I cut him off. “Lavinia. Where is Lavinia? I’ve been messaging her and calling her, and she hasn’t responded.”

“Well, we’ve been a little busy and she hasn’t had the chance to charge her phone,” Jules says. She sounds normal and it makes me think Lavinia’s alright, but it doesn’t quell the worry inside me.

“Are you two back?” Drew asks. “We’ll stop by.”

“We’re not back. We’re still in New York and from the look of things, we won’t be back for a few days.”

Drew takes a deep breath, and I can sense he’s about to lose his patience, so I grab his phone before he causes Jules to hang up on him.

“Jules, is Lavinia okay? Can I talk to her?”

“Um. That’s going to be a little difficult.”

“Why?”

The guys crowd around me, waiting for Jules’s answer.

My heart’s beating so fast I think I’m going to have a heart attack.

The only reason Lavinia can’t come to the phone is if something terrible’s happened.

My mind immediately goes to Lavinia in the hospital because there’s been an accident, and she’s hurt. I need to go to her.

“She’s busy puking her guts out,” Jules says. “Like five people from the shoot came down with the flu, including Lavinia. We can’t leave until she’s feeling better. I offered to drive us back, but Lavinia’s stomach is being iffy.”

My legs seem to give out and I sit down with a thud, my body sagging with relief. I rub a hand over my face and through my hair. A flu, I can deal with. Someone places a hand on my shoulder and squeezes.

“Can I talk to her?” I ask.

“Hang on.” The call goes silent, and I think she’s put me on mute.

“If I throw up during this call, don’t take offense. I still want to be married.” Lavinia’s voice is gravelly and nasally. She sounds exhausted.

“I’m relieved to hear I don’t make you want to throw up,” I say.

“I’m surprised to hear it,” Drew says. “He makes me want to throw up every day I have to look at his face.”

“Last night you wanted to kiss me,” I say.

“Ugh, I don’t have the energy for this,” Lavinia says. “Which is something because I really want to hear how my brother tried to steal my husband.”

Drew sits down next to me and for the first time, I notice a smile on his face and the tightness around his eyes is gone. “You can have him. Pretty sure you’re the only one who can put up with him.”

“Well, the cats sweeten the deal.”

“Rest up, Blossom. I’ll see you soon,” I promise.

“Kiss the kitties for me.” It’s the last thing she says before the call disconnects. I use Drew’s phone to text Jules’s number to mine because I can’t go through this again. I bend down to unlace my skates, in a hurry to change and get out of here.

“At least you didn’t overreact,” Ford says, off-handedly. I sit up, grabbing my folded towel, and throw it at him. He’s not expecting it, and it hits him square in the face. Reese laughs and covers it with a cough when Ford glares at him.

“Now that’s a good goal,” Kai says blithely.

His remark seems to lighten the mood and suddenly, we’re all laughing at the absurdity of the last fifteen minutes. The tension breaks and my body feels lighter than it has since this morning. Huh. So, this is what they mean when they talk about having friends.

It’s not silly little text messages that don’t lead anywhere. It’s having a support system when you feel like nothing really makes sense, but these people do. My eyes meet Kai’s across the room, and he seems to realize what I’m thinking, giving me a small smile.

“One would think.” Our laughter stops abruptly, like someone pulled a plug and all eyes swing to Coach Cross, who’s entered the dressing room.

“That given your poor performance at practice, you’d be reflecting on how to get better instead of laughing like this is a fucking joke. ” His eyes move over us one by one.

Time for me to take one for the team. “It was my fault. I was distracted because of Lavinia.”

“Maddox, we’ve all been in relationships and needless to say, none of us have been distracted when doing our jobs.”

“Clearly no one remembers Jenny,” Kai says quietly.

Reese gasps and then groans, throwing his head back. “Oh my god, bro. Why would you say her name out loud? She can sense the disturbance in the Force.”

I’ve no idea who Jenny is and what her relationship is to Kai and Reese. Normally, I’ll want to find out because I’m sure it’s bound to be entertaining if it involves Reese. Right now, my only priority is getting out of here and going to Lavinia.

“It’s not that,” Drew is explaining to Coach. “Roman couldn’t get in touch with Lavinia and thought something horrible had happened. She’s sick, so she didn’t come back as originally planned.”

Coach sighs, running a hand over his light beard. “Fine. This is the only exception I’m going to make for the rest of the season and playoffs, if we ever get there again.”

I guess now isn’t the time to tell him I’ll probably miss practice tomorrow. Not a problem. I’ve always been a ‘ask for forgiveness’ rather than ‘ask for permission’ type of guy.

“Put some clothes on,” Coach commands, before pushing open the dressing room door. Sage enters, one hand covering her eyes and the other thrust out in front of her.

“Is everyone decent? I don’t want to accidentally get an eyeful of…stuff.” She’s wearing a dress as green as the plant she’s named after.

“Stuff?” Holden mouths.

“We’re all good, Sage,” Drew says. I notice everyone, except Reese, dons a t-shirt so Sage doesn’t get an eyeful of bare chest.

“Do you want me to cover up?” Reese asks cheekily.

Sage’s cheeks turn pink. “Actually, if you don’t mind being objectified on the internet, can I record you like that?”

Kai slaps a hand on Reese’s shoulder and shakes him lightly. “There you go, buddy. Your dream come true.”

“Your dream is to be objectified?” Sage asks, amused.

“Actually, my dream is to be a swimsuit model, but this is close enough.”

I can’t tell if he’s being serious. There’s so much I need to learn about these guys, and it’ll probably take years. I wonder if Lavinia knows them all very well. Who am I kidding? She probably knows everything, right down to their astrological signs. My girl likes to know her friends very well.

There’s a pressure in my chest which tells me something is very off.

I’m too attached and there’s a possibility Lavinia isn’t.

I’m her rebound relationship, technically.

How many of those last? How many accidental marriages last?

I’m too much of a pessimist to think Lavinia and I will somehow be the exception, no matter how much I want her to stay with me.