Page 26 of Want You

He breathed in deeply and nodded. “Yes, Sully.”

There was a certain level of embarrassment, being yelled at by the coach as a veteran, especially when he had played with the guy earlier in his career. He couldn’t even remember the last time he had been at the receiving end of a coach’s ire. He could feel eyes on him, but he stared straight ahead, not wanting to see the pity, anger, or whatever feeling his teammates were conveying in his direction.

In the tunnel before heading onto the ice, Nathan bent and rested his stick across his knees as his teammates made their way out for the third period. He closed his eyes and pictured the empty seat, Scottie looking away from him, Sully’s angry face, Octavia smiling up at him, nothingness. He took a deep breath, stood straight, kicked the blade of his stick once with each skate, and made his way onto the ice.

Nathan didn’t get benched. He didn’t face being sat for the next game, he won the fucking game with a hat-trick and he didn’t look at those seats once. It was a good reminder that what he set his mind to, he usually got. Talent helped to get him to the NHL sure, but determination made up a lot of the equation. Octavia had no idea what was coming.

CHAPTER 12

OCTAVIA

She’d felt guilty not going to Nathan’s game. She knew how hard it was to get tickets to Toronto games and bet several people would have given up Christmas with their family to be able to sit in whatever seats Nathan had reserved for her.

Instead of going to the game she went out with colleagues. First a tapas bar for drinks and a light dinner before eventually wandering into one of the trendier sports bars downtown. She may not have been at the game, but she watched Nathan score three goals over the course of fifteen minutes. Stared as he screamed toward the ice after the third like he was releasing every ounce of frustration he had in life into the frozen surface.

Amanda nudged her when he was interviewed after the game. Hair damp with sweat, black spaces where his teeth should be while he grinned down at the reporter and then out to the audience, out to her. He was annoyingly well-spoken, no ums or ahs dotting his answers. He presented his thoughts and feelings in complete sentences void of the classic clichés you always heard from professional athletes.

When the reporter asked about the rumours plaguing the team, he dodged the question, saying he wouldn’t be discussing the personal life of anyone else. When he was asked about his brother, he smiled and said he was a warrior and not even being hit by a bus would keep him down. He was asked how he planned on celebrating and he said he planned to go home and have a long soak before getting ready for a ten day road trip the next night.

Ten days? Octavia looked down at the mediocre glass of white wine in front of her. She’d only finished half of it and it turned in her stomach.

“You alright?” her coworker Joe asked as she pushed the glass away from herself.

“Um, I don’t know, I’m not feeling great,” she said, already sliding off the stool and reaching for her jacket. “I think I’m going to take off and try to catch up on some sleep.”

Octavia ordered a car, but instead of putting her home address she found herself inputting Nathan’s. When she arrived at his building, she didn’t even know what to do next. He’d still be at the rink. He didn’t use the front entrance since he parked underground and went up from there.

She paced, her heels clicking as she walked back and forth. Her breath clouding in front of her in the cold January night.

“Miss?” She heard from behind her and stopped abruptly, turning to see a man in a black suit with a gold name tag standing at the door. “Are you waiting for Mr. Albertson?”

Was she waiting for Mr. Albertson? How the hell would he know?

“Yes?” she said. “Sorry, yes, I just didn’t tell him I was coming. I can⁠—”

“Come on in, he said to bring you up.”

“What?” How the hell did he know she was here? “But how, I didn’t…”

The man smiled kindly at her. “He said if I ever saw a beautiful redhead outside his building looking like she couldn’t decide what to do, that I was to let her into his home.”

“So he’s insane? What if I’m not the redhead he meant?”

“You left the other night while I was here. He told me to watch out for you.”

“Is he even home yet?”

The man shrugged. “I don’t know, we’ll find out though. I have a key, unless you’d be more comfortable out here?”

She shook her head and followed him into the building, grateful for the warm air in the lobby.

“Mr. Albertson had a good game tonight, were you there?” he asked as the elevator rose.

“No, unfortunately I had a work event.”

“Maybe you’ll be at the next one?”

Octavia made a noncommittal noise. She had no idea why she would be. She was here for one thing and one thing only. And that thing wasn’t a standing invitation to attend Nathan’s work events. He could find someone else to give his tickets to thank you very much.