Page 45 of Brick Wall

Annie

“ H ey!” Goldie says coming out of the bathroom, drying her golden hair with a towel.

“Hey yourself,” I respond back from the comfort of our sofa. I’m wearing my comfiest pair of sweats and eating chocolate ice cream straight from the container.

She stops dead in the living room, hesitates for a second, and then asks, “Are you coming tonight?”

I just raise my eyebrow in response. I’m in an oversized old Goodick jersey that I stole from Sebastian and my hair is the very definition of a messy bun at the moment. I really had no plans to do anything beyond sulking around the house.

I haven’t seen Sebastian at all this week, and I’m not sure why.

Yes, I’m dating a professional athlete during the playoffs, but this was a bye week and a lighter week for him. I’ve also seen Bryce in our apartment a few times this week, but not Sebastian .

We’ve texted, but not nearly as much as we usually do. Sebastian has been short with his responses, keeping to one- or two-word replies. I’m racking my brain trying to think of a cause for this and coming up short.

We haven’t broken up… yet , but I can’t help but feel like it’s on the horizon.

“A few of the guys and their girls are going over to Quinn Banks’s house and are watching the game on his big screen.”

This weekend is the wildcard round of playoffs, and tonight, Saturday night, two teams in their conference are playing. This game tonight will help determine who the Revs are playing next week for their first playoff game.

“I wasn’t planning on it,” especially considering I didn’t know about it.

Goldie gives me a look, like she knows what I am thinking. She probably does.

“You should come. Sebastian will be there. You’ll get a better read of him in person than through your phone.”

Goldie has a point. I told her about last week, his mystery illness and my off-week with him, and my worry is obvious. There’s also been an empty pint of ice cream (do not judge me) in the trash every night, which is much more than usual.

“Okay, I’ll come.” I let out a large sigh and throw a sweatshirt over the jersey, and begrudgingly switch my sweats for jeans. I guess I should also tackle this messy bun before I tackle my problems with Sebastian tonight.

* * *

Bryce, Goldie, and I walk into Quinn’s beautiful mansion without knocking. We head straight for the basement, where plenty of boisterous voices reside.

I’ve been to Quinn’s house once before, months ago for a basketball game, but I haven’t seen his basement.

The basement is huge and is basically one gigantic man cave.

There is an enormous flat-screen television with an extra-large couch facing the screen on the left side of the room.

On the right, there’s a gorgeous wooden bar with four brown leather stools.

Two teammates are sitting on the stools, staring at a flat-screen TV behind the bar.

Feet is behind the bar, grabbing drinks for everyone. “I haven’t seen Sebastian yet, but Calvin just arrived.” Feet nods his head in the direction of the stairwell, and I look over and find Calvin walking through the doors.

Cal stops at the entryway and looks around the room. When his eyes find mine, he gives me a big smile and heads in my direction.

“Hey, Annie!” Cal says, giving me a side hug. “Sebastian should be here soon.” I look over Cal’s shoulders and notice Sebastian entering the room.

“I see him, thanks.” My smile is small and polite as I try not to concentrate on the nerves dancing in my belly. I’m a little worried about Sebastian’s reaction regarding my presence here, but he comes right over to us and greets me with a hug. This is a good sign, right?

I automatically take a big whiff of him, as his familiar scent of cedar and citrus happily fills my lungs. I miss this smell and him.

Sebastian pulls away from the hug first, and I suddenly feel the loss of his warmth. However, he grabs my hand and tugs me slightly away from Cal.

“I want to introduce you to some people,” Sebastian whispers into my ears.

I just nod, because I’m too happy for words right now.

“Hey, guys!” Sebastian says as we approach a few of his teammates by QB’s dart board—two I’ve met at the holiday party, and a few I haven’t.

“This is Annie. Annie, this is…”

All those names get lost in my head immediately. Shit. I don’t even remember a single name. There are five attractive, athletic guys, probably all a little younger than Sebastian.

“Annie is the head coach at Chestnut Hill’s volleyball program. Her team made it to the final four in December,” Sebastian brags.

I squeeze his hand in thanks. He looks at me in appreciation, but then lets go of my hand and folds his arms around his chest, hugging himself instead.

“Really? Must have had an easy bracket,” one guy teases in return.

“Nah, man. She’s the real deal, and this is her third year with the program,” Sebastian says in return.

“Impressive,” another teammate retorts.

The guys ask me a few questions about volleyball and my team just to be polite, and when I’m engulfed in sharing a story, Sebastian quietly steps away.

I finish my thoughts, but I quickly excuse myself in search of Sebastian.

Quinn’s mansion is enormous, but it’s a chilly December night, and luckily, the party is strictly inside. Although the basement is large, it’s primarily open concept, which makes it easy to search for someone. However, I can’t seem to find Sebastian.

I do find the host himself, Quinn Banks.

“Hey, Quinn! Have you seen Sebastian?” I ask him near the stairwell door.

“I haven’t. Sorry,” he says quickly. “Have you checked the gym?”

“Where we played basketball that time? No…” I let that last word die off slowly.

“Here,” Quinn says, while placing two bottles of alcohol on the gorgeous wooden bar top. “I have a feeling he might be there. I’ll show you how to get there.”

I follow him upstairs, through a back door that leads to his garage, and then through another back door. This house is far too big, and I have no idea where I am, but as we open the familiar door to the indoor gym, I hear Sebastian’s low belly laugh.

Here he is, playing basketball with an elementary-aged boy. Although at the moment, playing basketball is very generously put.

Sebastian is rolling on the floor, and the little boy is doing a similar pose. The basketball is between them, so I guess they are trying some new moves.

“Dad!” the little boy excitedly screams while running full force to the man standing beside me. Quinn lifts him in the air and swings him around the court.

Sometimes, I forget that Quinn Banks is a dad.

Despite being one of the biggest quarterbacks in the league, he tries to keep his personal life, well, personal.

However, that’s pretty hard to do when you are a three-time Super Bowl MVP linked to a British model and mogul, Cordelia Clarke.

However, Cordelia, who goes by Cordy, and Quinn were never married, and they split when his son was very young, if I remember the gossip correctly.

I don’t usually follow it, but it’s hard living in Boston without hearing how Quinn is currently single and is an eligible bachelor.

“Where’s Grammy?” Quinn asks his son.

His son leans towards him and loudly whispers, “She was getting really tired.”

“Yeah, I bet,” Quinn says with a smile. “Why don’t you and I go check on her and make sure she’s okay?”

“That’s probably best,” the boy says in a very serious tone, matching his dad’s.

“See you later, Crab!” QB’s son says with a hug to Sebastian before disappearing into the house with his dad.

“Crab?” I raise my eyebrow in question.

“He watched The Little Mermaid the day before he met me,” Sebastian explains while getting up from the floor, rather slowly, with the ball in his left hand. He then casually dribbles the ball without making eye contact with me.

“Ah,” I say in understanding.

“Soo, what are you doing out here?” I casually steal the basketball away from him and dribble the ball under my legs like the show-off I am.

“Just shooting some hoops with Charlie,” Sebastian says as if it wasn’t obvious.

“Does your coach know you’re playing another sport right now?

” I can’t help but tease. “Some coaches forbid that, especially during playoffs.” It’s never good to have a player get injured, but especially when they are fooling around and taking unnecessary risks.

I ask my players to keep it smart, especially in season.

“Basketball is low contact, I’d say, wouldn’t you, Coach?” he says, wrapping his hands around my waist, while trying to steal the ball from me. “Are you going to tattle?” his hot breath whispers in my ear, and I shiver in response.

I slowly shake my head, because words once again escape me. Fuck, I’m so worked up with minor contact from Sebastian. I’m pathetic.

I need to break away unless I want to get hot and heavy on Quinn’s basketball court right now, where anyone, including a child, could come in and watch.

I take a step, pivot, and then break free from Sebastian’s grasp. To distract myself, I dribble down the court and do a simple lay-up as my ball easily sails through the hoop.

Sebastian grabs the ball and passes it back to me. “Nice shot.”

“Thanks. Want to make it interesting,” I say as I causally dribble around him.

“What are you thinking?”

“Just a simple game of one on one. The loser is at the mercy of the winner, naturally.”

“I’m kind of at a disadvantage here,” Sebastian admits.

“Oh, yeah?” I playfully question.

“I’ve already been playing basketball for a while.”

“Ten minutes tops,” I take my best guess. Plus, they were rolling on the ground. Sebastian and I have wildly different definitions of basketball, if that’s the case. “Plus, isn’t he five?”

“Charlie is six, and he’s very fast.”

A laugh bursts out of me.

“All right, let’s keep it simple, one on one, five minutes,” Sebastian explains while he pulls out his phone, most likely to set a timer.

“A five-minute game?” I say, surprised. “That’ s…quick.”

He stares at me intently, lifting a brow, daring me to make a joke. I pass the ball to him to start.

“The winner gets to pick their prize,” I remind Sebastian two minutes into our game.

It’s just the two of us in Quinn’s gym, and very quickly, I wish we weren’t alone. We really need a referee for this game.

Sebastian is cheating. He’s throwing elbows, double-dribbling, and tripping me up. He’s disregarding rules in this quick game. Sebastian is also losing, hence the cheating.

We are having fun, though. I haven’t laughed this much all week. It’s nice to spend quality time with Sebastian, even if it’s only for a few minutes.

I make a jump shot, and the ball sails through the net as Sebastian’s timer goes off.

“That would be eight for me and two for you, sir.”

I grab the ball as it bounces on the court and dribble it in place.

“I’m pretty sure you cheated, ma’am,” Sebastian says while tickling me and stealing the ball away from me.

“No such thing! Now pay up!” I declare.

“Yeah, what will it be?” Sebastian says curiously. “Do you want services rendered now, or do you need some time to decide?”

I try to ignore the sexual innuendo and decide to steal the ball again, a simple task. “Nope! I know exactly what I want.” I dribble around Sebastian again.

Before either of us can say anything further, the door to the gym opens. A few teammates, many of the younger guys I met earlier, enter the court.

Sebastian stiffens immediately.

“Let’s do it later,” Sebastian says to me. “Hey, guys!” he says as he throws one of his teammates the ball. “Give up on watching the game?”

“Nah, it’s halftime, so we thought we’d get some free throws in.”

“Well, Annie just whipped my butt, so I’m out. I highly recommend stealing her for your team,” he says to one of his teammates.

With that, Sebastian grabs a few things on the bench and walks out the door, leaving me wondering, again, what is happening.