“Fourth time’s the charm, I suppose.”
His father sighed. “I know you’re not in a good place right now. Too much time to think over the last year, and now a few more months to dwell on it? Not good for you. Better find yourself something to occupy your thoughts. A hobby. A woman. You haven’t been yourself since Christina.”
“Marina. And I don’t need a woman, Dad. I just need some peace.”
Henri made a noise of blatant disagreement.
“Right,” Bast said. “Signing off now.”
“Think about the wedding. We’re doing it in Montreal.”
“Okay, Dad.” He hung up.
Henri wasn’t the easiest person to get along with, and Bast sympathized with every woman who’d taken the plunge with him. At his heart, his father was desperate for the adulation he no longer got in hockey and had replaced that with seeking affection in all the wrong places.
Was that what Bast would be like once he’d left the game behind? Looking to substitute the high of hockey with the buzz of a new relationship? Was that what he’d been looking for that night in Jimmy’s Tap?
He scrolled through his messages. There was one from Gwen, so he called her back.
“Hey, Gwennie, how are things?”
“Bast! You didn’t have to call. I imagine everyone wants to talk to you. Are you okay?”
“Yeah, just laying low for a while. How’s my girl?”
“She’s sleeping with her teddy bear. The game took a lot out of her, and she was worried about you. How are you? Really?”
He took a deep breath. “Feeling a bit down, to be honest. The great comeback didn’t go quite how I planned, and now I’m not sure what the next steps are.” He leaned back on the bed. “I can’t believe I’m moaning about this to you.”
Gwen chuckled. “It’s fine! This must be quite the blow. And poor Rowdy, too—though maybe you’re not ready to hear that.”
That made him laugh. If she only knew. “Nah, I agree. People were pretty hard on poor Rowdy. But all is forgiven.”
“Oh, that’s good to hear. Cecy is a huge fan, especially when she heard he was a she.”
Look at that. Rowdy with her own fan base.
“I could set up a meet, if she’d like. If I’m gonna be replaced in her affections, I’m happy that it’s Rowdy doing the replacing.”
Gwen gushed that he could never be replaced—exactly what he needed to hear—and they finished the call with promises to connect when he returned to Chicago.
21
“Earth to Pepper?”
She looked up to find Bast with the remote in hand pointed at the screen. The Netflix carousel was up, and he was obviously asking her something while she’d been daydreaming about all the wicked things he’d done—and encouraged her to do.
“Say ’gain?”
He smiled. “Any preference for your viewing? Looks like it’s already logged in on Reid’s account.”
She took a closer look, her eye immediately drawn to Reid’s Watch Next list. Pretty sexy stuff. 365 Days, Sex/Life, Lady Chatterley’s Lover …
“Didn’t figure Reid as a classic lit kind of guy,” she said.
“I think he’s a gardener-bangs-the-lady-of-the-house kind of guy. Like us all. What’s this 365 Days about?”
“Some sex fest.” Which she had watched more than a few times last summer, especially that montage on the yacht.
“Any good?”
She shrugged. “Heard it’s kind of plotless. Man kidnaps woman, takes her to a remote location, bangs her senseless, and makes her fall in love with him.”
Only then did she realize that it sounded like the plot of this movie, the one she was living.
At least that last part would never happen. “Or so I hear. I haven’t seen it.”
“Cool, let’s watch it.”
Damn. She should have said she’d already watched it, but the thumbnail was super sexy and she didn’t want to admit it. Even after what they had done together, she was still shy. Now she was going to have to sit there squirming while Massimo banged Laura on every surface of his super yacht.
“Better get some snacks in.” He moved to stand, but she jumped up first.
“Let me! Popcorn? Chex mix?” Me?
“Sure, whatever you can find. I’m off my diet.”
About ten minutes later she was back with fresh-popped popcorn, the salt n’ vinegar Pringles she’d bought at the general store, a bowl of Lays (baked ones, which was probably a Reid thing—she’d heard he was meticulous about his diet), and a fun-sized bag of Twix (that must be Kennedy’s influence).
“Oh, and we need drinks. What do you want?”
“Maybe we should open some wine? Think I saw a nice Pinot on the rack.”
She used the rabbit corkscrew to open the bottle while Bast grabbed glasses. He poured the wine into one of the large bulbs before stuffing a handful of popcorn in his mouth. “Shit, this is good stuff. I always forget how good it tastes.”
“The no-popcorn regimen? Is it really so hard to be a hockey playing superstar?”
He narrowed his eyes at her teasing. “I wanted to be as fit as possible for my return. Took a leaf from Reid’s book. Now he’s the one who’s eased up—all Kennedy and Bucky’s influence—and I’m watching everything that goes into my body.”
“Who’s Bucky?”
“Reid and Ken’s dog. About a year ago, they rescued him together from the lake.”
“Oh, that rings a bell. It was all over social media.”
He took out his phone and scrolled through his photos. “Here he is. Such a dork.”
An ugly-cute mutt, wearing a Santa hat, grinned at the camera.
“Aw, he’s adorable.”
“Yeah, he is. Funny how people can be changed by the simplest things.”
“What do you mean?”
He looked thoughtful. “Reid’s life was turned upside down when he met Kennedy. They rescued Bucky, and he needed someone to look after the pathetic little pup while he was away, so Ken moved in. Changed everything for him.” He shook his head. “I’ve only been trying to get him to lighten up for years.”
Ah, she understood—or thought she did. “He started with the Rebels last season, yes? So all this change coincided with coming aboard.”
He nodded. “Yeah, for a while there, he was always the new guy on every team. Scrabbled his way up from the AHL, was shunted around a lot, didn’t really stick anywhere. But he always made it seem like it suited him. He didn’t want to get too close to anyone or anything until—” His shrug was filled with hurt. “I’m thrilled he has Ken and Bucky, thrilled that he’s more open now. But we wasted years when we could have been, I dunno, closer. He was kind of a jerk for the longest time. Not that he’s Mr. Sunshine now, but he’s improved.”
“You wished he’d changed for you. Instead it took a woman and a cute dog for him to get his hockey stick out of his ass.”
He looked relieved and maybe a touch embarrassed that she’d figured it out. “I sound like a jealous idiot. He’s happy, and he truly deserves it.”