Hard Checked (Ice Kings #4) - Stacey Lynn Page 0,92

finally win the Cup.

They have game four later tonight in Vegas. Sebastian’s been quiet since their loss the other night and has been ultra-focused. I have plans with a bunch of the girlfriends and wives to watch it at Mikah and Paisley’s place. Mostly, I plan on hogging Debbie’s new little boy all night.

The door opens to the bar and I face it, ready to serve whoever would wander in here this early and my jaw drops.

“Hey! What are y’all doing here?”

As if I’ve summoned them, Debbie, Paisley, and Katie saunter in, purses thrown over their shoulders, dressed to kill in their Ice Kings shirts and jerseys with jeans or shorts.

“You’re in a good mood,” Katie strangely says.

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

Paisley’s gaze slides to Debbie and then Katie. An eerie sensation prickles the back of my neck.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong,” Katie says too fast. Much too fast.

The way her gaze slips to Debbie and then Paisley makes that prickle at my neck heighten and slide down my spine. “What is it?”

“You don’t get Google Alerts for Sebastian?” Debbie asks, even more weirdly.

“Uh. No. Why would I?”

“I have an alert set for the Ice Kings.”

I glance at Paisley and Katie. “Is this normal? For everyone?”

“I have one for Jude,” Katie says. “But I don’t really pay attention. Debbie thrives on gossip though.”

“So, why would Google Alerts put me not in a good mood?”

“Because of this.” Debbie grabs her phone and types in her password. While looking at her screen and flipping through something on her phone she says, “But I figured you would have already seen it, so really we came to make sure you were okay.”

She hands me the phone and I’m already reaching for it. What I see makes my brows pull together.

“Who is this?”

In the photos she’s pulled up, there’s Sebastian. He’s in a restaurant with chandeliers and wearing a dress shirt and I assume his dress pants. He would have worn a suit to the game the other night. And in his arms? A stunningly beautiful woman with red hair.

“It’s Madison,” Katie says, lowering her voice. “She’s in Vegas.”

“What?” Something cold falls like a rock in my stomach. “She’s there?”

“Or she was the other night. Like I said,” Debbie says, voice softening to a tone I don’t like. It reeks of pity. “I didn’t know if you’d seen it, so we wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“I haven’t seen it.”

And I’ve talked to Sebastian several times since then. He’s had opportunities to tell me he saw his ex-wife. He’s had chances to tell me he hugged her. Kissed her.

God. I see it. His lips at the top of her head, her holding him tightly. The way her manicured fingernails are digging into his biceps. The upturn of his lips on her skin. It’s burned now into my brain, and I see it when I close my eyes. The image of Sebastian. Kissing. Another woman—a woman who he was married to up until only a few months ago.

And it’s a woman he’s been in love with since he was fifteen.

He’s had tons of time to tell me he saw her when he called.

Is this why he’s been quiet?

“I…” I shake my head, try to gather my thoughts. “He didn’t say anything.” And I hate the tremor in my voice.

The emotions bubbling. The fear. The worry.

“Why wouldn’t he tell me?”

I glance up and jolt. I’ve practically forgotten they were there, and when I see the concern lining their eyes, that rock in my stomach turns to something sour.

“I think I’m going to throw up.”

I drop the phone to the bar and hurry to the restrooms. My stomach churns and my hand goes to my stomach.

Oh God.

I fling open the stall door and drop down to a squat.

Sebastian’s now having a child. His child. What’s stopping him from going back to Madison and having everything he could possibly want? The woman he loves and his own, flesh and blood, child.

“I’m so sorry, Gigi. I didn’t… I didn’t think this would upset you so much.” It’s Debbie and I barely register her presence in the bathroom until the stall behind me opens and a hand rests on my back. “I wasn’t thinking, but when I saw the photo, I just wanted to make sure you were okay. If I would have thought you hadn’t known I wouldn’t have done this.”

“It’s fine.” I croak like a frog. There’s nothing in my stomach to throw up, but I’m dizzy and that sour ball