Page 159 of Rebound
“Yes, Coach,” Drew says.
We all mumble our apologies as we make our way through the tunnel and back into the dressing room.
“What’s wrong with Lavinia?” Drew asks again.
I’m ripping my gloves off and reaching for my phone. Her flight should have landed by now, but my phone shows no new notifications. When I check an online tracker, it shows her flight arrived an hour ago.
I call her and the phone rings and rings, no answer. Drew’s in front of me, his face stony.
“What. Is. Wrong. With. Lavinia?”
“I don’t know,” I snap at him, calling her again. “I texted her last night and this morning, but she didn’t reply. I thought she was asleep last night and on the flight this morning, but the plane landed an hour ago.” Her phone rings and rings and goes to voicemail again. “She’s not answering her phone.”
“Maybe she doesn’t want to talk to you?” Holden suggests.
I’d considered the possibility and with each unanswered text and call, I’m starting to wonder if it’s true. The thing is, I can’t recall what I could’ve said or done to upset her. I shake my head. “I don’t know. Maybe.”
“Let me call her.” Drew has his phone out of his bag in a second and I huddle in closer to him as he calls Lavinia. His green eyes remain on mine as he lowers his phone, his call unanswered.
“Maybe she lost her phone, or it ran out of battery?” Ford supplies. He’s sitting in front of his locker, unlacing his skates. Out of all of us, he’s the least worried. It makes me irrationally angry because he’s not upset that something could have happened to my wife.
“Call Jules,” Kai says, his tone level, even as his brows dip with worry. “If there was something wrong, we’d already know about it because Jules would have called us.”
“Unless something happened to Jules, too,” Holden says. In response to that, Reese tosses his gloves at him which hit Holden directly in the face. It thrills that irrationally angry part of me.
“Put it on speaker,” I tell Drew as he calls Jules.
He gets this look on his face like he swallowed something disgusting as he dials Jules. I can’t help notice that her contact is saved under her full name. Literally, her full name: Juliet Anne Love. It’s diabolical.
The call rings through, once, twice, and then, “Andrew.”
Reese flips off Holden and Holden returns the favor.
“What’s wrong?” Jules asks. “Did you miss me?”
Drew rolls his eyes. “Yeah, I miss you screaming because our arms accidentally touched at family dinner.”
“That was extremely traumatic for me, and I don’t think you should make fun of my trauma.”
Drew opens his mouth to reply, and I cut him off. “Lavinia. Where is Lavinia? I’ve been messaging her and calling her, and she hasn’t responded.”
“Well, we’ve been a little busy and she hasn’t had the chance to charge her phone,” Jules says. She sounds normal and it makes me think Lavinia’s alright, but it doesn’t quell the worry inside me.
“Are you two back?” Drew asks. “We’ll stop by.”
“We’re not back. We’re still in New York and from the look of things, we won’t be back for a few days.”
Drew takes a deep breath, and I can sense he’s about to lose his patience, so I grab his phone before he causes Jules to hang up on him.
“Jules, is Lavinia okay? Can I talk to her?”
“Um. That’s going to be a little difficult.”
“Why?”
The guys crowd around me, waiting for Jules’s answer. My heart’s beating so fast I think I’m going to have a heart attack. The only reason Lavinia can’t come to the phone is if something terrible’s happened. My mind immediately goes to Lavinia in the hospital because there’s been an accident, and she’s hurt. I need to go to her.
“She’s busy puking her guts out,” Jules says. “Like five people from the shoot came down with the flu, including Lavinia. We can’t leave until she’s feeling better. I offered to drive us back, but Lavinia’s stomach is being iffy.”
