Chapter 13

Sebastian

I follow my teammates into the locker room the next night after a loss to a team we should have beaten easily. I drop onto the bench and listen as our coach rips into us. He doesn’t say anything we don’t deserve. “And Hart, you played like a rookie out there!” I keep my face blank but feel the sting of his words. “Whatever your deal is, get it together before the next game or I’ll bench you.” My head whips up.

“Bench me?” I haven’t been benched since I started with the Green Thunder five seasons ago.

“You hard of hearing now too, Hart?”

I bite my tongue to keep from saying anything that could get me into more trouble. “No, Coach.”

He sends one last scathing look around the room. “Figure it out before our next game.” He storms out of the room, along with our assistant coaches and trainers. It’s quiet in the room for all of ten seconds.

Zac throws his towel across the room. “What was that? We played terrible out there. Hart, what’s the deal, Dude?”

Gunner stands up. “Hart’s not the only player out there,” he says with a scowl at Zac. “You didn’t play well either, and I didn’t either.” I absently wonder what’s bothering our stoic captain. Nothing ever bothers him, but something was off with him tonight. He didn’t play great either. He turns to me. “Anything you want to share, Hart?”

I stand to my feet and take off my shirt, ready to head to the showers. “Nope.”

“Tonight’s performance couldn”t have had anything to do with a certain teacher, right?” Rico asks.

I level a look at Rico. “Let it go.”

He puts his hands up. “I’m just saying maybe we should talk about it.”

“Are you still having problems with that teacher?” Gunner asks. Something about the way he asks gets under my skin, and I turn towards him. I know that taking on my captain, especially this guy who’s built like an ox, is a dumb idea. But dumb ideas are about all I’m capable of right now.

“Her name is Stephanie,” I tell him in a low voice. I hear a few ooo’s from my teammates, and I feel like boxing their ears in.

“The dark-haired teacher? She’s a hot piece of—”

I’m turning on the rookie before he even gets the words out. Surprisingly, Rico beats me to it. “If you want to keep your head attached to your body, don’t finish that sentence, Rook.”

Dylan looks around confused. “What?”

“You don’t mess with one of our own’s women. Not in here, not anywhere,” Gunner says with complete authority.

Dylan blanches slightly. “Sorry. I didn’t mean any offense.”

I should tell him it’s fine, but I don’t. “If you have woman problems, I can help you out,” Zac says, sticking out his chest like an idiot. “You may not know this about me, but I’m pretty good with the ladies.” Travis smacks him with a towel, even as some of my teammates laugh.

“Sebastian is the most popular guy on the team,” Travis says, shaking his head. “He doesn’t need any help when it comes to women. He’s with a different one every night.” The guys laugh and jeer, but I don’t. I want to rip him a new one, but he’s not exactly wrong. I’m not really with a new woman every night, but I allow people to think that about me. I play up to it by never taking the same date to an event, but it’s all for show.

“If Sebastian needs our help, he’ll tell us,” Rico says, meeting my eyes. “Isn’t that right, Hart?”

“I don’t need any help,” I manage to grunt out.

“So, things went well with Stephanie last night?” Aiden asks.

It goes absolutely silent, and I want to punch my friend. “No, it didn’t. Thanks for bringing that up.” I grab my towel to head to the showers, but Gunner steps in front of me.

“Sit.”

“I’m going to the showers.”

“Sit,” he says again. I take a breath; I’m not going to be an idiot and go against my captain in front of my teammates. He deserves respect, and I’ll give that to him. Now. Later? Not so much. I sit and cross my arms across my chest. “What’s going on with your girl?” Even though he’s trying to help, his words are like a gut punch.

“She’s not my girl. Not yet anyway.”

“You need help getting the girl?” Zac asks standing.

Rico shoves him back down. “Not your help.”

Gunner shakes his head and turns back to me. “What’s going on?”

“It’s nothing.”

“Your game or lack thereof on the ice begs to differ,” Aiden says dryly.

I scowl at him. “Come on; let us help,” Rico says. “If it helps you focus, then it’s a win for all of us.” I want to tell our goalie to just focus on keeping pucks out of the net, but I keep my mouth shut.

I look around the room and realize I’m not getting out of here until I say something. “Fine. I had a run-in with my niece’s teacher. I was interested; she was not.” Zac stands up and starts playing an imaginary violin. Dylan and Scott shove him back down.

“We got him; continue,” Scott says, practically sitting on Zac.

I grimace as I say this next part. “I might have mentioned that I was interested in a teacher and that she wasn’t interested back. Well, that made all the crazies go track her down.”

“They found a random teacher?” Dylan asks in confusion.

“Yeah,” I say on an exhale. “Well, I might have added that she was a middle school history teacher.”

Some of the guys laugh but try to hide it. “So then what happened?” Rico pushes.

“They went after her, showing up at her school, saying awful things about her online, putting out memes about her, calling her all kinds of names. And yesterday, some idiot sent black roses to her at her school with a note saying I’m better off without her.”

“They threatened her?” Rico asks in disgust.

“That’s crazy!”

“That’s just wrong.”

“Let’s go find him and put some hurting on him.”

I shake my head at my teammates. “I don’t know who it is. If I did, believe me, they’d be dealt with.”

“So how did your girl respond?” Gunner asks.

I wish he’d stop calling her that when she’s so obviously not my girl, no matter how much I want her to be. “She won’t answer my phone calls or text messages.”

“Dude, you need to go over there,” Dylan says.

“I did,” I say, leveling a look at him. “She wasn’t there.”

“And since she’s not taking your calls, you can’t get ahold of her,” Zac fills in. “Is she okay?” The fact that he’s serious for once in his life cues me in to just how awful a mess this is.

“I don’t know.” I put my head in my hands. I can’t believe what an idiot I am; I’ve never messed up as big as this. “I just want to know that she’s okay and maybe that she doesn’t hate my guts. I’m pretty sure I’ve ruined any chance of ever becoming anything even remotely close to friends.” I can’t believe I’m baring my soul to my teammates like this, but I have nothing to hide. I royally blew it.

“I know where she is.”

My head jerks up, and I stare at Aiden. “You know?” I stand to my feet. “You knew this whole time? I’ve been sick about it, not knowing where she was or whether or not she’s okay.” I advance on him, ready to punch my closest friend.

“She told me not to tell you.” His quiet words bring me to a halt.

“Is she okay?” I ask.

He nods. He looks hesitant a minute but finally says, “She went to her parents’ house.”

“Where?” I demand.

“They live about three hours away.”

“Where, Aiden?”

He crosses his arms across his chest. “Brielle and Stephanie told me not to tell you.” That cuts deep, but I push forward.

“And if it was Brielle? If I knew where she was and you didn’t and you were worried about her?”

His eyes narrow, and I know I’m pushing him right where it hurts. But I’m beyond caring. I just want to know my girl’s okay; that she’s safe. Shoot. Now I’m even calling her my girl. I try one more time. “Where, Aiden?”

“I’ll text you the address.” Relief fills me. “You better make things right with her,” he threatens. “If she gets upset, Brielle will get upset.”

“And we can’t have that happening,” Zac says with a snort. “We need him to not be at odds with his girl, or he’s mean.” Aiden gives him a look, and he ducks behind Scott. “Do you even know how scary you were before she came into your life?” he calls out.

Aiden shakes his head and meets my gaze. “Don’t mess this up.”

I’m already headed to the shower. “I won’t.” My chest already feels lighter than it has in two days. At least I have an address now. I’m going there. Tonight. I need to see that she’s okay. I need to apologize. Beg for forgiveness. Grovel. Whatever it is that will let me into her life. I have a need to be in her life. I want to be the one to make her smile, to make her day, to have her cheering for me in the stands, to wear my number. I swallow hard, feeling oddly choked up. I don’t know what it is about this girl; but I want, no I need to make her mine. I want to spoil her and love on her and let her know what it feels like to be wanted. I don’t know why, but I get the feeling she doesn’t get any of that. I’m curious to see how it goes with her parents. It will be good to meet them; maybe they’ll be in my corner. Probably not if she had to go there to escape me and this mess for a few days. I grimace. But as I finish showering, I make a commitment to not stopping until she knows. I can’t make her like me; I can’t make her give me a chance. But I can make sure she knows that I care about her, that I want her to be mine. I turn off the shower and reach for my towel. When my hand reaches nothing, I peel back the curtain. Nothing.

“Very funny. Bring back my towel.” I hear nothing but snickering. I shake my head. “What are we? In junior high?” I slide back the curtain all the way. “Fine. You asked for it.” I walk back into the locker room to the sound of snickering and applause. Aiden and Gunner just shake their heads, but I notice they do nothing to help me. “Just remember what goes around comes around,” I say as I shove my legs into my pants. When I’m dressed, I grab my keys and wallet. “Wish me luck, Guys. I’ve got to go get my woman.” Catcalls and whistles follow my statement.

“Go get her, Sebastian!” Rico calls out from behind me.

Aiden walks out with me. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. Brielle was adamant.” He runs a hand through his hair. “She’s not going to be happy with me tonight.”

“Tell her I threatened you,” I tell him. ”She’ll believe you.”

He laughs. “Yeah.” When we get to the lot, he stops. “You good?”

“Yeah. I’m going there tonight.”

He nods, unsurprised. “Just...” he runs his hand through his hair again. “I probably shouldn’t tell you this—”

“You should,” I interrupt. “If it’s about Stephanie, I want to know.”

“I don’t know a lot, but Brielle can’t stand her parents.”

My eyes widen in surprise. “Brielle loves everybody.”

He scowls. “I know.”

I ponder this new tidbit of information for a moment. “Thanks for telling me.”

He nods and walks away without another word...typical Aiden style. I climb into my Corvette, ready to make the three-hour trip. I’m not going to bed tonight until I see my girl and make sure she’s okay. But when I look at the dashboard and realize it’s after eleven, I grimace. I can only imagine how well it will go over meeting her parents for the first time at two in the morning. On second thought...I’ll get some sleep and drive to her first thing in the morning.