Chapter 41

Sebastian

I watch Stephanie go. Several guys eye her as she walks past, and irritation rears up in me. She has no idea how beautiful she is. “You’re a goner.” I turn at Rico’s words and can’t keep the smile off my face.

“I am.”

He gives me a genuine smile. “I’m happy for you, Man.”

I try to tear my attention away from my girl to focus on my friend. “What about you? I know we were razzing you, but there’s seriously nobody in your life?”

His face takes on an expression that I can only describe as wistful. I recognize it because I’m pretty sure it’s the same expression on my face every time Stephanie’s around...and maybe even when she’s not. ”Who is she?” I ask.

He shakes his head, his easy smile back in place. “Nobody.” I know there’s more to it than that, but I’m not going to push him. He’ll tell us when he’s ready.

“Where did Stephanie go?” Bri asks from across the table.

“She went to the bathroom,” I tell her. I glance over my shoulder but don’t see her yet.

Brielle frowns. “Sorry. I should have gone with her, but I got distracted.” I watch as Aiden leans close and says something to her; her frown increases.

“Everything okay?” I ask.

“Yeah.” She shakes her head, belying her words. When she sees that we’re all watching her, she sighs. “I’m sorry; it’s just my sister.”

I rack my brain, trying to remember her name. I met her once. “Amy?” I ask.

“Amber,” Rico corrects me.

“Isn’t she younger than you?” I ask.

“Yes. Sometimes she feels like she’s a decade younger than me,” she says and shakes her head. “I don’t know why she keeps dating this guy. He’s an absolute jerk to her.”

“What’s he doing to her?” It gets quiet around the table, and we all turn surprised eyes to Rico. He never sounds like that. I frown as I study my friend. “What?” he asks. “I hate guys that are jerks to girls.”

Gunner and Aiden agree, but I just watch Rico a moment longer. He gives me a look, and I return it with a questioning one of my own. He looks away first, and I can’t help but wonder what’s going through our goalie’s mind.

“Me too,” Bri adds. She shakes her head. “He’s such a—” Whatever else she was going to say is drowned out by the woman who stands behind the microphone to call the room to attention.

I glance over my shoulder but still don’t see Stephanie anywhere. I frown, wondering if I should go check on her...not that I can go into the women’s bathroom. I pull my phone from my pocket discreetly and text under the table asking if she’s okay. But when I hear a buzzing sound, I realize she left her phone in her clutch, still on the table. There’s movement out of the corner of my eye, and I look up and grin when I see she’s back. She leans forward and snags her purse. Then she leans towards me. “I’m not feeling well; I’m going to go. I’ll call you later.” She whispers all this without looking at me. I manage to snag her hand before she disappears on me. I tug on it gently, and she turns surprised eyes to mine. I feel like I’ve been sucker-punched when her red-rimmed eyes meet mine. I”m standing before I even realize it.

She takes a step back. “Please, just let me go,” she whispers. Shock makes me let go of her arm. She turns and walks away quickly. It takes me less than a second to follow her. She’s walking fast, but I keep my pace even so as not to make a scene in this huge room. Once we’re outside the room, I try to stop her.

“Stephanie.”

“Just let me go, Sebastian,” she says without looking back. I wince at the sound of her voice. She hasn’t had that kind of cold tone with me in a long time.

“Just talk to me. What happened?”

“I just want to go home.”

I keep following her. “Okay, I’ll take you home.”

She stops and turns around. “Please. I can’t...I just...” Her voice breaks, and it’s like a hand squeezes my heart.

“Sweetheart, what’s wrong?”

She looks up at me like she’s going to say something, but then her eyes flit over my shoulder. I turn to see what she’s looking at, and my blood runs cold. William smiles over at us before he opens the door and walks into the banquet room. I turn back to Stephanie, but she’s gone. I stand there a moment, unsure. I don’t know what the right thing to do here is. She obviously doesn’t want to talk to me right now. I go ahead and follow her outside, keeping her in my eyesight. She walks over to a waiting car and talks to the driver for a moment before looking at her phone. I’m at the door before she can climb in.

“Baby, let me take you home.” I step in front of her. “Don’t go home with some stranger.” She backs away, and I let her go. I don’t know what else to say or do. I run a hand through my hair as she slides into the backseat of the car. “Text me when you get home. Please,” I add desperately. She finally nods. With nothing left to do, I close the door. I pull out my wallet and hand the driver a hundred. “Make sure she gets all the way to her door safely.”

He nods. “Yes sir.” Then he pulls away, and I watch them go, wondering what in the world just happened. How did this night go from so good to so bad that quick? I jog up the steps and head back inside. I’m going to find that idiot and figure out what he said to my girl. My heart rate picks up, and I feel the rush of a fight coming on. I will make him regret putting that look on my girl’s face; I don’t want to ever see that devastated look on her face again. When I get back into the banquet room, I look around for him but don’t see him anywhere. I make my way over to our table and sit instead.

Rico turns to me as soon as I sit down. “What happened to Stephanie?” he whispers. Whatever’s on my face must reflect how I’m feeling at the moment because he puts his hands up in surrender. When I feel eyes on me, I look over at Brielle. She’s frowning. She points to Stephanie’s seat and lifts her shoulders. I”m more irritated than I’ve been in a long time.

She left, I mouth.

Brielle frowns. Why?

I have my theory, but I just shrug. I’m not going to have this conversation right now when we can’t do more than mouth across the table. I feel her fierce frown, but I don’t look back over at her. The speaker drones on and on. I have literally no idea what he’s speaking about, and I couldn’t care less. I just want this night to end. Every time I look at Stephanie’s empty seat, fresh anger rises in me. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. Now, her empty chair just mocks me. I check my phone every couple of minutes. I literally feel like I’m losing my mind sitting here. I’ve always been a man of action. When I feel like I can’t take it another minute, the speaker finally winds down. The MC for the night comes back to the microphone and announces that dinner is served. I could care less.

The moment the MC finishes, Bri focuses her full attention on me. “Where is Stephanie?”

“She left,” I repeat what I already told her.

I can see the concern all over her face. “Why? I texted her, but she won’t respond.”

“I don’t know. She was fine, and then when she came back from the bathroom, she wanted to leave.”

“Why didn’t you go with her?” she asks, and I can hear the accusation in her voice.

“I tried,” I tell her in a voice that she’ll understand means I’m serious. Aiden gives me a warning look, but I ignore it.

“Lose your date, Hart?” Somebody asks from behind me. I don’t have to turn to know it’s William. I also don’t have to see his face to know he’s smiling. I hope he’s enjoyed that smile because I’m about to ruin it forever. I push my chair back and stand to my feet, standing toe to toe with him.

“What did you do to her?” I ask in a low voice.

He smirks. “What do you think I did?”

His smirk makes my anger ignite, and I take a step closer. “All I know is she came back to the table crying and then left. So I’m going to repeat my question. What did you say to her?”

I am aware that Rico and Gunner are flanking me now. I have a feeling Aiden isn’t far behind. William sneers at me. “I didn’t say anything to her that didn’t need to be said.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I demand. One of the guys, I’m not sure which one, puts a hand on my shoulder. I fight the urge to shake it off.

“Hart, let it go,” Gunner says in a low voice. As captain, I know it’s his job to make sure we don’t make a scene; but I can’t handle it right now.

“Yeah, Hart, let it go,” William says with a smirk.

My blood boils, and I clench my fists to keep from punching him. “I think it’s time for you to go,” Gunner says to William.

William’s eyes narrow. Before he can say anything else, Bri comes out of nowhere. “What did you do to Stephanie?’”

He looks down at her. “Hi, Brielle.” Aiden steps close behind her. “It’s been a long time.”

“Not long enough,” she tells him. “What did you do to Stephanie?”

“I just gave her a message from her father.”

Dread fills my stomach. I notice for the first time the black eye he’s sporting; I guess I was too worried about Stephanie to notice before now. It probably makes me a horrible person, but it brings me a sense of satisfaction. “Want both eyes to match?” I ask.

He smirks, and I want nothing more than to wipe it off his face. “Go for it. I’ll just add it to the case. Or, did you forget I was a lawyer?”

“Just tell me what you said to Stephanie.”

“She can tell you herself,” he says as he backs away from our group. “Unless she doesn’t want to talk to you anymore. But don’t worry; I’ll take good care of her when she sees how wrong you are for her.”

“And I suppose you’re Mr. Right?” Rico asks with a scoff.

He just smiles and walks away. “I wish this was a game,” I mutter under my breath.

“It’s not, so sit down; you’ve already made a big enough scene,” Gunner says, sounding irritated.

“Yeah, Chloe’s going to lose her mind when she hears about all this,” Rico says.

“Reads about it? She’s going to see videos of it,” Brielle says, pointing out all the phones that are still recording.

“I’m not staying; I need to get going,” I tell Gunner.

“You have to stay; you have to give our donation check at the end,” Aiden reminds me.

I blow out a breath of frustration and sit back down. “You know William?” I ask Brielle.

“Yeah. I went with Stephanie a few times to her parents’ Christmas work party. He’s always been a jerk.”

That doesn’t surprise me in the least. I shake my leg with nervous energy as I wait; I just want to get out of here. I pull out my phone again.

Sebastian- Hey Baby, did you make it home okay?

“Dude, you’re shaking the whole table,” Rico says nudging me. I ignore him and wait for her to text. There’s nothing...no bubbles...nothing. I text again.

Sebastian- Just tell me if you made it home please

I look across the table to Bri. She must be able to read my face. “I’ll text her again.”

“Thanks.” She picks up her phone, and I bounce my leg again. “She’s home,” Bri says. I blow out a breath as she keeps texting.

“Is she okay?” I ask. I see Rico staring at me. “What?”

He shrugs. “I’ve just never seen you so out of sorts over a girl before.”

“She’s not just a girl,” I grit out.

He puts his hands up. “My bad.”

I ignore him and look over at Brielle. She shakes her head. “What?” I demand.

She looks up and scans the room. “Man, I wish he played hockey so Aiden could take him out on the ice.” Aiden smirks and wraps an arm around her. Normally, I like seeing the two of them together. Tonight, it’s like salt in a wound.

“What did he do?” I demand.

She slides her phone across the table to me. I pick it up and look at her text messages with Stephanie.

Bri- what happened? Where did you go? Oh, and can you text me that you got home safely? Sebastian’s kind of freaking out.

Stephanie- I’m home

Bri- are you okay?

Stephanie- yeah

Bri- okay if you don’t stop being vague, Aiden and I are going to leave and come over there. I’m going to play my best friends card. You need to tell me what’s wrong. What happened? Why did you leave?

Stephanie- I”m fine. Just tired.

Bri- and????

Stephanie- and you’re demanding

Bri- yes I am now tell me

Stephanie- I”m just being dramatic. I had a run-in with William. He just reminded me of a few things.

Bri- what things? And can I remind you we don’t listen to stupid people?!

Stephanie- ha! Yeah, he was just being a jerk.

My skin is crawling. I just want to know what he said to her to make her retreat like that and to cry! I’ve never seen her cry. She’s usually so strong. My fists ache to beat him up for making my girl cry.

Bri- WHAT DID HE SAY?!!!!!

Stephanie- sheesh! Dramatic much? He just reminded me what a disappointment to my parents I am, which I already know. He told me that Sebastian only wants to be with me right now because I’m new to him and that he’ll get tired of me and want somebody prettier, more fun to be around, more of a party girl. He reminded me that I’m not that...which he’s right. I’m not. And it just made all of my fears come flooding back. What if he’s right? What if Sebastian does get tired of me? What if he wants somebody that loves to flirt and party? What if I’m an embarrassment to him like I am to my parents? I don’t think I could handle that. So that’s it...just me being overly emotional and dramatic. I should probably check what day of the month it is.

I shove my chair back, and everybody at the table turns to stare at me. I slide the phone across the table to Bri. “I’m leaving. Rico, you’re doing the check.” I don’t wait for them to say anything; I stride towards the exit. My chest is burning; I don’t know if I’ve ever felt this angry in my entire life. I finally make it out of the building. A hand on my shoulder stops me, and I spin around.

Gunner puts his hand out. “Keys.”

I shake my head, stepping back. “I’m leaving, and you’re not going to stop me.”

“I’m not stopping you; I’m driving you so you don’t drive your car into a wall or a ditch. You shouldn’t drive when you’re this angry.” I toss him the keys. Minutes later, we’re driving to Stephanie’s house with me in the passenger seat.

After a bit, Gunner glances over at me. “I play hockey with you. I’ve seen you in all sorts of situations. I’ve never seen you as angry as you are right now.” It’s quiet a moment. “Want to talk about it?”

I almost grin...almost. “How hard was it for you to say that?” His silence is all I need for an answer. I don’t say anything for a minute. I don’t want to say anything at all, but I figure I at least owe him an explanation.

“William’s a first class—”

“Yeah. I got that. What’d he do?”

“He told Stephanie that I’m going to change my mind and find somebody else prettier, who likes to party more. He played on every fear she’s had about me, that I’m just a playboy, that I’ll get tired of her.” I stare out the window.

He doesn’t say anything for a few minutes. Finally, he says, “If she really knows you, she’ll know what to believe.”

I don’t say anything because I want his words to be true. The rest of the ride is silent, except for me giving him directions. We finally pull up in front of her house. “I won’t take long; hopefully she’s still up.” I close the door behind me and jog up the front steps and knock on her front door, willing her to still be awake. The door opens, and Stephanie stares up at me. She doesn’t seem to be surprised, and I wonder if Bri texted her I was coming. My eyes soak her in. I take note of the fact that she’s dressed in warm pants and an oversized sweatshirt—comfort clothes. I look into her eyes and see the remnants of tears, and my heart tugs again. “Can I come in?” I ask quietly.

She steps back and lets me in. I close the door behind me and turn to face her. Without another word, I step forward and pull her into my arms. She’s stiff at first, resisting me; but I’m stronger. Making sure I don’t hurt her, I tug a little harder until she’s finally in my arms. I take a full breath and feel the tightness in my chest begin to slowly ease as I breathe her in. She’s safe, and she’s in my arms where she belongs. The rest will sort itself out.